World News

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- The world's first elected openly gay head of government has retired. Johanna Sigurdardottir, 70, ended her political career on Saturday, capping 35 years of public service in Iceland, where she served as Prime Minister since 2009. [ Read more → ]

NOVO-OGAREVO, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that agreements with other countries on the matter of adoption of Russian children may be changed to ban such adoptions if those countries legalize same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation's heartland and triggered huge demonstrations that tapped into intense discontent with the Socialist government. Within hours, fiery clashes broke out between protesters and riot police. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- French lawmakers have legalized same-sex marriage after months of bruising debate and street protests that brought hundreds of thousands to Paris. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- Police say legions of officers and a small battery of water cannon are at France's National Assembly as lawmakers prepare for a final vote to legalize gay marriage. [ Read more → ]

TIRANA, Albania -- The Albanian Prime Minister, in a historic first for this tiny Balkan nation, met Monday with two LGBT activists to express his full support for LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Paraguay’s president-elect, Horacio Cartes, said Monday that he’ll urge Congress to approve Venezuela’s entry into Mercosur, and he apologized for making anti-gay comments during the campaign. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- The speaker of France’s National Assembly on Monday received an envelope filled with gunpowder and a threatening letter calling on him to delay Tuesday’s planned vote on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

NICE, France -- A gay man was attacked and beaten unconscious over the weekend in the latest anti-gay attack in France amid increasing tensions and daily protests leading up to a crucial government vote that would legalize same-sex marriage in France. [ Read more → ]

ASUNCION, Paraguay – An anti-gay tobacco magnate, who recently compared gay people to "monkeys" and threatened to remove his genitals if his son married another man, was elected president of Paraguay on Sunday. [ Read more → ]

WELLINGTON, N.Z. -- New Zealand's Prime Minister has granted permission to Parliament member Maurice Williamson to appear on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" after Williamson became the unexpected face of gay rights for his "big gay rainbow" speech last week in favor of marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

PARIS — Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to sunny Paris boulevards on Sunday to protest the expected passage this week of a bill legalizing gay marriage. One protestor called the bill "a threat to the social fabric." [ Read more → ]

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A judge in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro on Friday published a legal ruling authorizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

A Peruvian father faces allegations of setting his 22-year-old son on fire after learning he is gay and HIV positive. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- Four people have been detained on suspicion of carrying out an attack at a Paris gay bar, the Interior Ministry said Thursday, amid nationwide tensions over a bill that would legalize gay marriage. [ Read more → ]

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay -- Tobacco magnate Horacio Cartes, Paraguay’s leading presidential candidate, has come under fire for comments he made comparing gay people to “monkeys” and threatening to remove his genitals if his son married another man. [ Read more → ]

New Zealand will become the 13th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage as a bill to amend the current marriage law was approved moments ago by the country’s Parliament in its third and final reading on Wednesday. [ Read more → ]

New Zealand is expected to become the 13th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage as a bill to amend the current marriage law comes before the country's Parliament for its third and final reading later tonight. [ Read more → ]

PARIS -- French police arrested dozens of anti-gay marriage protestors on Monday after they tried to set up a campsite outside the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, in advance of next week's planned final vote on the country's marriage equality law. [ Read more → ]

LONDON -- Britain's high court has upheld a teaching ban on a Christian educator who told pupils lifestyle of gay people was "disgusting and a sin." [ Read more → ]