Politics

The UK House of Commons voted yesterday to approve the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at third reading, with 366 MPs supporting and 161 MPs opposing. The Bill proceeds today to the House of Lords. The legislation continues to draw strong criticism from right wing Conservative MPs and has caused political trouble for Prime Minister David Cameron. Opponents of the Bill led by Tim Loughton MP submitted an amendment to allow opposite sex couples to enter into civil partnerships, which were introduced in 2004 as an alternative to marriage for sam

With over 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees in a hunger strike against their incarceration, President Barack Obama, on Tuesday, renewed his push for the closure of the facility. President Obama addressed a news conference at the White House on Tuesday saying he would have a team of officials review the issue before again appealing to Congress to close the prison holding "terror" suspects in Cuba. "I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe," he said. "It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hur

Earlier today in Massachusetts, two explosions went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that left two people confirmed dead according to local police. A third explosion went off at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library located 8 miles (12.8 kilometres) from the race finish. No deaths were reported at the site of the library explosion. The explosions went off at approximately 2:30pm Boston local time. A third explosion at the Boston Marathon site went off at approximately 4:00pm Boston local time, with the Boston police aware

France's upper house voted yesterday to approve a bill to allow same-sex marriage to be legal following protests for and against the bill. The bill also makes it legal for gay couples to adopt children, and is scheduled to return to the lower house next Wednesday. The bill is being supported by the ruling Socialist party and by President Hollande, as well as by the Communists and Greens. Hollande's justice minister Christiane Taubira said it would "move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect" and would streng

The South African Government has said Nelson Mandela, formerly a President of the country, has been readmitted to hospital. Their press release states this is due to the return of a lung infection Mandela has experienced before. Mandela was taken into hospital just prior to midnight local time (0200 UTC) last night. Current South African President Jacob Zuma made an "appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts," he said, adding: "We have full confidence in

The President of Chad Idriss Deby has confirmed that the senior Al-Qaeda commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid has been killed by French troops in Northern Mali. Abou Zeid is a senior commander in the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb who are fighting French-backed Malian forces, he was killed along with 40 other militants four days ago in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range. He is believed to have been behind the abduction of 20 Westeners as well as the killings of British national Edwin Dyer in 2009 and French national Michel Germaneau in 2010. Pr

In the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, two councillors from the Scottish National Party (SNP) began a petition Friday, the day after Comhairle nan Eilean Siar — the local government council for the Western Isles — said it would discontinue flight services between the islands of Benbecula and Barra as part of its 2013 / 2014 budget. The petition — entitled "To petition the Scottish Parliament that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar maintains its support for the lifeline air services between Stornoway, Benbecula and Barra" — has also been launched in respon

Preparations are underway ahead of the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championship, with a flag exchange taking place Tuesday, volunteer recruitment ongoing, USParalympics unveiling a new uniform for their team, skiers like the United States's Jon Lujan actively training for the event and other skiers competing in preparation for the Championships in a World Cup event Wednesday. Tuesday in La Molina, Spain, the president of Governmental Railways of Catalonia, Enric Ticó, and the mayor of Alp, Ramon Moliner, were gifted with flags by representati

The Moscow authorities confirmed they recorded the highest level of snowfall this winter in the capital city of Russia in 100 years. Recent heavy snow has produced major traffic jams since Monday. The traffic stopped in queues up to 20 km long. The weather caused bad visibility and icy roads. The airport services were not affected until late Monday, when the authorities had to divert even the prime minister Dmitry Medvedev's plane heading from Sochi. The plane landed safely in St. Petersburg and had to wait for better conditions. The record am

Binyamin Netanyahu is set to be re-elected as prime minister of Israel despite losses suffered by his party, Likud. An alliance of centre-left parties has increased their share of the votes. Likud now have 31 seats in the Knesset. Netanyahu has stated he seeks to form "as broad a coalition as possible". The newly-formed Yesh Atid party led by former television presenter Yair Lapid is set to play an important part in negotiations over the formation of a coalition government. As a result of Yesh Atid winning 19 seats in the Knesset, Lapid has b

The Philippines said yesterday it will take China to an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on a series of territorial disputes involving the South China Sea. According to Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Manila chose this move after exhausting "almost all political and diplomatic avenues." He also says he has already informed the Chinese ambassador in Manila. Disputes such as those involving the Scarborough Shoal and China's Nine-dotted line map are likely to be tack

The South African government has reported that former President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from a hospital in Pretoria, where he was hospitalised December 8. Mandela received hospital treatment for gallstones and a lung infection. Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said Mandela "will undergo home-based high care at his Houghton home until he recovers fully". Mandela was hospitalised for eighteen days, his longest hospitalisation since 1990, when he was released from prison after 27 years. Current president Jacob Zuma visited Mandel