Bill would broaden gay marriage rights

OSLO - The government proposed a marriage law yesterday that would give gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals, including church weddings, adoption, and assisted pregnancies. The bill would replace a 1993 law that granted gays the right to enter civil unions similar to marriage but did not give them other benefits enjoyed by married couples. The measure would give gays the right to a church wedding but does not require any minister or religious organization to perform the ceremony. It was not clear whether parliament would approve it without changes. (AP)

BERLIN - A US soldier who took his former girlfriend hostage was fatally shot yesterday in a confrontation with police. The 30-year-old soldier, stationed in Schweinfurt, tied up his former girlfriend in her apartment in Koenigsberg and threatened her with violence, but she escaped, police said. Officers said they opened fire when the soldier assaulted them with an M4 rifle. The soldier's name and hometown were not immediately released. (AP)

MAKHACHKALA - Russian forces yesterday raided a forest camp in the volatile North Caucasus province of Dagestan, leading to a shoot-out in which six suspected militants, a police officer, and an Interior Ministry officer died, authorities said. In separate violence in Ingushetia, another province near Chechnya, unidentified assailants shot and killed a federal agent and a gunman killed a police lieutenant. (AP)

JERUSALEM - Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria that it would hold Damascus accountable if Hezbollah in Lebanon launched attacks on the Jewish state, Israeli and European sources said yesterday. The sources said the warning stemmed largely from Israeli concerns that Hezbollah would launch salvoes of cross-border rockets to coincide with any major Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. (Reuters)

DAMASCUS - A bus carrying high school students rammed into a house in northern Syria and flipped over yesterday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 34. The accident occurred when the brakes on the bus failed as it traveled from the northern city of Idlib to the port city of Tartus. Twenty-three of the dead were students and one victim was inside the house. The students were planning to take a tour on their day off. (Reuters)

LIMA - Archeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway, and irrigation systems at the famed Sacsayhuaman fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco. The temple casts added light on pre-Inca cultures of Peru, showing that the site had religious as well as military aims. It includes 11 rooms and contains mummies and idols. The excavations were directed by Cuzco's National Culture Institute. (AP)