Parliament

A major row is developing over a new book that says that many of South Africa's leading whites, including politicians who insist on maintaining "racial purity" here, may have black ancestors.

PARIS - The French Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt, voting after months of often angry debate and sometimes violent protests in the streets. Members of the Socialist government chanted "Equality, equality" and stood up to applaud the results of the 331-225 vote in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. The center-right opposition party immediately announced its intention to appeal the law. Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, a strong supporter of the bill, said she was "overcome with emotion.

ATHENS - Greek conservatives won at the polls Sunday in national elections but fell far short of enough seats to take power, deadlocking Parliament and deepening unease over the country's economic future and its continued membership in the Eurozone. With 72% of the votes counted, Antonis Samaras and his center-right New Democracy party had 19.7% of the vote, giving them 111 seats - far short of the number needed to secure an outright majority inGreece's300-seat Parliament. Samaras, 61, has three days to try to form a coalition before passing on the task to the runner-up party.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani court on Tuesday barred former President Pervez Musharraf from running in next month's parliament elections, derailing the onetime general's bid for an unlikely political comeback in the country he ruled for nearly nine years. Widely disliked among Pakistanis as an autocrat who undermined democracy and allowed corruption to flourish, Musharraf never was seen by analysts as having much of a chance in the elections slated for May 11. He has virtually no political backing within the country, and he still faces charges that he did not provide enough security to prevent the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and allegedly ordered the killing of a Baluch nationalist leader in 2006.

A new political era in Egypt began Saturday as Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliamentary elections to inherit a nation mired in economic crisis and desperate to move beyond military rule and the corrupt legacy of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's dominant political and religious force, won 47% of the 498 seats in the lower house of parliament, according to official final results. The ultraconservative Salafi Islamist party Al Nour won nearly 25%, followed by the secular parties New Wafd and the Egyptian Bloc, with about 9% each.

A new People's Council or parliament will be elected Feb. 10 under a presidential decree issued Thursday night.

Lawmakers approved by only a one-vote margin a sweeping revision of France's constitution that gives parliament greater power but also adds privilege to the president. The slim passage reflected the controversy over the reform, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy but vehemently rejected by the leftist opposition. The change got one more than the 538 votes needed for a three-fifths margin. Parliament can now veto major presidential appointments, and the president can jointly address the two houses of parliament.

About 80 opposition lawmakers forced their way past police barricades and into Sri Lanka's suspended Parliament, announcing that they would file an impeachment motion against the president. Opposition parties said they should be allowed the use of some rooms in the building despite being banned by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who suspended Parliament last week to avoid a possible defeat on a pending no-confidence motion.

Militant Corsican nationalists occupied the French Mediterranean island's parliament building while police outside used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Corsica's capital. A fire erupted on the building's fifth floor. Its cause was not immediately clear. Nationalists occupied the building after several hundred people demonstrated to protest what they said was growing repression on the island.

ATHENS - Racing against time and short on choices, Cyprus lawmakers on Friday made an abrupt about-face, agreeing to emergency legislation as part of yet another bailout formula cobbled together to secure a $13-billion lifeline to keep its weak banks afloat and avert a devastating default. After 25 members of Cyprus' parliament abstained from voting, two voted against the plan and one walked out, 26 lawmakers approved the creation of a national solidarity fund to manage state assets, including public and private pension funds.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber attacked a popular sporting event Wednesday in northern Afghanistan, killing eight people including relatives of the Afghan parliamentary speaker as a crowd of thousands commemorated the coming Persian new year. Spectators said the attacker targeted the family of Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, speaker of the lower house of parliament. Ibrahimi's brother, father, nephew and cousin were among the dead, said Amanuddin Quraishi, governor of Imam Sahib district in Kunduz province, where the attack took place.

In a key victory Tuesday for same-sex couples in France, a measure allowing them to marry and adopt children passed the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly. The measure, pushed through by the Socialist administration of President Francois Hollande, passed by a vote of 329 to 229. It now goes to the Senate, which is also controlled by the Socialists and their allies. A vote is scheduled for April 2. If the bill passes in the Senate, France will join 11 other nations, including Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal.

NEW DELHI -- India executed Mohammad Afzal Guru on Saturday, an Indian national from divided Kashmir convicted of providing logistical support for a notorious 2001 attack on parliament that killed at least seven people and fanned regional tension. Authorities hoped this would put an end to a painful chapter in the country's history but braced for violence, erecting barriers, deploying hundreds of security forces and slapping a curfew on parts of Kashmir. Residents of the disputed region, which has had a separatist insurgency for decades, learned of the restrictions through mosque announcements made during morning prayers.

LONDON -- British lawmakers voted Tuesday to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, siding with majority opinion in the country but exposing major divisions within the ruling Conservative Party. Nearly seven hours of debate in Parliament culminated in a 400-175 vote in favor of a bill that authorizes same-sex marriages but also exempts religious organizations from having to perform them. The measure puts Britain on track to join other European nations, including Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands, in opening up marriage to homosexual couples.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Polls closed in Jordan on Wednesday night in elections that King Abdullah II called part of a major governmental reform initiative but that opposition parties boycotted as offering insufficient change. The state news agency said that at least 56% of eligible voters cast ballots in the election for the 150-member lower house of parliament. Results were expected Thursday. Abdullah touted Wednesday's election as the centerpiece of his reformist agenda, an answer to street protests in his own nation and the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East.

Aborigines in white body paint danced and sang traditional songs in Parliament today in a historic ceremony that was Australia's recognition that the land on which the capital, Canberra, was built was taken from Aborigines without compensation. Aborigines of the Ngunnawal tribe called on their ancestral spirits to welcome newcomers to Parliament in a ceremony held in a hall of the national legislature. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accepted a traditional "message stick" of welcome. On Wednesday, he will offer a formal apology to thousands of Aborigines who were taken from their families as children.

Indonesia's parliament endorsed the military's policy of shooting rioters on sight, amid fresh bloodshed at both ends of the vast archipelago. At least 20 people died over the weekend in renewed Christian-Muslim violence in the eastern region once known as the Spice Islands and two more in the restive western province of Aceh, officials said. The parliament endorsed armed forces commander Gen. Wiranto's orders to his troops to shoot rioters or troublemakers on sight. Wiranto's deputy, Maj. Gen.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Tens of thousands of protesters led by a firebrand Islamic cleric descended on the Pakistani capital Monday in a fierce outpouring of anger and frustration with the government that many worried could destabilize the country ahead of national elections this spring. The size of Tahirul Qadri's "Long March" to Islamabad from the eastern city of Lahore appeared to fall far short of his predictions of more than a million people. The caravan of hundreds of buses, vans, motorcycles and cars jammed with demonstrators was allowed to enter the capital and hold a rally on a main thoroughfare roughly two miles from parliament.

MOSCOW - Russia's parliament took a first step Wednesday toward banning the adoption of Russian children by American parents, a move intended as retaliation for an anti-corruption law recently passed by Congress. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted 399 to 17 in favor of a bill that included the ban and also would annul an adoption agreement between the two countries that Russia ratified in July. The measure still has to be approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin, who has sent mixed signals about his support.