Saturday, 25 May 2013 18:12
Posted by Muhammad Iqbal
KIEV: Around a hundred gay rights activists marched in Ukraine on Saturday despite fears of violence, marking the first gay pride event in the ex-Soviet country, where homophobia is widespread and socially accepted."This can be considered a historic day," Elena Semyonova, a representative of the organisers, said after the event."We felt like we were full-fledged citizens whose rights are respected," she told AFP. The march went ahead despite strong public resistance. City authorities had said they had received more than 500 complaints from members of the public ahead of the planned gay pride march, while more than 60 parliamentary lawmakers signed a letter calling for a blanket ban on all gay pride events in May and June.A Ukrainian court on Thursday ruled that no events could be staged in the centre of Kiev on Saturday because of City Day celebrations so the march organisers had opted for a smaller gathering ...
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KIEV: Around a hundred gay rights activists marched in Ukraine on Saturday despite fears of violence, marking the first gay pride event in the ex-Soviet country, where homophobia is widespread and socially accepted."This can be considered a historic day," Elena Semyonova, a representative of the organisers, said after the event."We felt like we were full-fledged citizens whose rights are respected," she told AFP. The march went ahead despite strong public resistance. City authorities had said they had received more than 500 complaints from members of the public ahead of the planned gay pride march, while more than 60 parliamentary lawmakers signed a letter calling for a blanket ban on all gay pride events in May and June.A Ukrainian court on Thursday ruled that no events could be staged in the centre of Kiev on Saturday because of City Day celebrations so the march organisers had opted for a smaller gathering ...
KISTA: Parents and volunteers have been patrolling the streets of Stockholm's immigrant-heavy suburbs to help quell riots that have raged for almost a week, serving as a successful deterrent to troublemakers and winning praise from police."They have helped a lot in reducing the unrest," Stockholm police spokeswoman Karin Solberg told Swedish news agency TT.Sweden has since the 1980s had a network of volunteers called "Nightwalkers", usually made up of parents who walk the streets of ...
MOSCOW: Eleven people were wounded in an apparent suicide bombing in Russia's restive Dagestan region Saturday, a spokeswoman for the regional interior ministry said.The bomber, believed to be a woman, blew herself up not far from the interior ministry building in the centre of Makhachkala, spokeswoman Fatina Ubaidatova told AFP.The latest attack in the troubled Northern Caucasus region comes after twin car bombs killed four people and wounded several dozen in the same city on ...
PARIS: The head of the German central Bundesbank Jens Weidmann said on Friday that eurozone countries should be able to default, a possibility which the EU has gone to great lengths to avoid during the current crisis."In this crisis we have paid great attention to avoid the risks of default" given concerns about contagion to other eurozone states, said Weidmann, an advocate of conservative fiscal and monetary policies.However, the risk of default should exist, he ...
GRENOBLE: A Catholic priest at the posh French ski station of Megeve has been stripped of his functions at the request of the Vatican for being a member of a Masonic lodge, his parish said Friday.Father Pascal Vesin of the Sainte-Anne d'Arly-Montjoie parish was ordered by the bishop of Annecy, Yves Boivineau, to halt his functions due to his "active membership" of the Grand Orient de France, a large Masonic organisation.A statement from the parish ...
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LJUBLJANA: Slovenia's parliament agreed on Friday that a balanced budget rule should be written into the constitution, as part of efforts by the new government to restore investor confidence in the embattled eurozone country.In line with a principle adopted in most European Union countries in response to the eurozone crisis, the general government budget will have to be balanced, with exceptions possible only under "extraordinary circumstances".Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek's centre-left government wanted the much-delayed "golden ...
MADRID: A Spanish judge on Friday ordered an investigation into the tax affairs of King Juan Carlos's youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, adding to the woes of the scandal-hit royal family.A judge in Palma de Mallorca demanded the tax authorities provide him with a report on Cristina's property and non-property assets, investment funds, financial assets and deposits, a copy of the order showed.The judge, Jose Castro, is presiding over an inquiry into allegations of embezzlement against ...
