In Brief

Anti-gay bill threatens democracy ABUJA – A bill that would ban same-sex marriages in Nigeria threatens democratic progress because it would also restrict freedom of speech and association, the campaign group Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Nigeria but the government introduced a bill last year explicitly to outlaw gay marriage in response to its legalisation in some Western countries. Offenders would go to prison for five years.Human Rights Watch said the bill had implications beyond the issue of same-sex marriage because it would also punish anyone who advocates the rights of gay and lesbian people and would silence any discussion of the topic.”A sweepingly homophobic bill being fast-tracked through Nigeria’s National Assembly threatens human rights and Nigeria’s democratic progress,” the group said in a letter to legislators calling on them to reject the bill.* Granny finds grenade in groceries NAPLES, ITALY – A 74-year-old Italian grandmother who bought a sack of potatoes at her local market found a live grenade among the spuds.”I found a bomb in the potatoes,” Olga Mauriello said in a telephone interview with Reuters.”I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that’s where the bomb was.But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got all dirt off.And then I realised ‘It’s a bomb’!” Police said the pine cone-shaped grenade, which had no pin and was still active, was the same type used by US soldiers in Europe in World War Two.Authorities believe the mix-up happened at a farm in France, where the grenade was plucked from the ground along with potatoes.To the woman’s relief, police and explosives experts in the small town of San Giorgio a Cremano, near Naples, recovered the grenade and safely detonated it on Wednesday.* Senegal’s opposition cries foul DAKAR – Senegal’s interior minister on Wednesday dismissed claims of fraud in the presidential election as groundless, as the opposition Socialist Party continued to cry foul.”These are allegations without any foundation …based on no proof,” Ousmane Ngom told RTS state television.The opposition meanwhile continued to denounce the outcome of Sunday’s election that has apparently swept incumbent leader Abdoulaye Wade back into power in the first round of voting.The socialists, who ruled the west African country for 40 years until Wade came to power in 2000, have alleged massive fraud in Sunday’s poll and plan to challenge the results.Provisional figures published by the official APS news agency late Tuesday gave the 80-year-old Wade 55,7 per cent of the votes cast in the first round of the election, more than enough to avoid a run-off round.Nampa-Reuters-AFPOffenders would go to prison for five years.Human Rights Watch said the bill had implications beyond the issue of same-sex marriage because it would also punish anyone who advocates the rights of gay and lesbian people and would silence any discussion of the topic.”A sweepingly homophobic bill being fast-tracked through Nigeria’s National Assembly threatens human rights and Nigeria’s democratic progress,” the group said in a letter to legislators calling on them to reject the bill. * Granny finds grenade in groceries NAPLES, ITALY – A 74-year-old Italian grandmother who bought a sack of potatoes at her local market found a live grenade among the spuds.”I found a bomb in the potatoes,” Olga Mauriello said in a telephone interview with Reuters.”I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that’s where the bomb was.But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got all dirt off.And then I realised ‘It’s a bomb’!” Police said the pine cone-shaped grenade, which had no pin and was still active, was the same type used by US soldiers in Europe in World War Two.Authorities believe the mix-up happened at a farm in France, where the grenade was plucked from the ground along with potatoes.To the woman’s relief, police and explosives experts in the small town of San Giorgio a Cremano, near Naples, recovered the grenade and safely detonated it on Wednesday.* Senegal’s opposition cries foul DAKAR – Senegal’s interior minister on Wednesday dismissed claims of fraud in the presidential election as groundless, as the opposition Socialist Party continued to cry foul.”These are allegations without any foundation …based on no proof,” Ousmane Ngom told RTS state television.The opposition meanwhile continued to denounce the outcome of Sunday’s election that has apparently swept incumbent leader Abdoulaye Wade back into power in the first round of voting.The socialists, who ruled the west African country for 40 years until Wade came to power in 2000, have alleged massive fraud in Sunday’s poll and plan to challenge the results.Provisional figures published by the official APS news agency late Tuesday gave the 80-year-old Wade 55,7 per cent of the votes cast in the first round of the election, more than enough to avoid a run-off round.Nampa-Reuters-AFP