Greece recognises same-sex civil unions

ATHENS • Greece yesterday approved a Bill granting same-sex couples the right to a civil union, becoming one of the last European countries to give them legal recognition after years of opposition from the influential Orthodox Church.

A number of European Union nations, including Britain, Spain and France, have legalised gay marriages, but some southern and eastern European states have made slower progress.

The new Greek law resolves property and inheritance issues, but makes no provisions for the adoption of children.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Kim Dotcom extradition approved by NZ judge

Wellington • A New Zealand judge has ruled that Internet mogul Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload founders can be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted on money laundering, racketeering and breach of copyright charges.

US authorities allege the now defunct Megaupload file-sharing site netted US$175 million (S$246.4 million) and cost copyright owners at least US$500 million.

Dotcom, a German national with permanent residency in New Zealand, said he has filed an appeal against yesterday's ruling.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Vegas car attack: Woman charged with murder

LAS VEGAS • An Oregon woman accused of ploughing her car into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip, killing one person and injuring dozens, was charged with murder on Tuesday as investigators sought clues to what motivated the rampage.

Lakeisha Holloway, 24, who had her three-year-old daughter with her in the car at the time, has been charged with one count of murder for the death of a 32-year-old Arizona woman who was among the pedestrians struck by the car.

REUTERS

7 kids among 13 dead in migrant boat sinking

ATHENS • At least 13 people, including seven children, drowned when their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea, the latest tragedy involving migrants flocking to Europe.

The overloaded boat went down off the Greek island of Farmakonisi overnight, sending 29 people into the water, said an official with the Greek port police yesterday.

Some 700 people, many of them children, have lost their lives trying to cross the Aegean to Greece this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration, many of them refugees fleeing conflicts in Syria and elsewhere.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE