ESTONIA: Parliament narrowly backed the legalisation of gay partnerships yesterday, becoming the first former Soviet republic to do so.
Members voted 40-38, with 23 absent or abstaining, in favour of a civil partnership Act that recognises the union of all couples regardless of gender.
The Estonian Human Rights Centre hailed as “historic” the new law which takes effect in 2016.

NETHERLANDS: Investigators revealed yesterday that the body of one Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 passenger was found wearing an oxygen mask.
Spokesman Wim de Bruin said that the Australian victim did not have the mask on his face, but its elastic strap was around his neck.
The revelation raises questions about how much the 298 people on board knew about their fate when the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July.

GERMANY: Four leading economic institutes slashed their growth forecast for the European Union’s powerhouse yesterday, blaming the weak eurozone and uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis.
They predicted that Germany’s economy will expand by only 1.3 per cent this year and 1.2 per cent in 2015, compared with their April forecast of 1.9 per cent this year and 2 per cent next.
It follows a recent string of disappointing hard economic data, including big drops in factory orders, industrial production and exports in August.

PAKISTAN: Intelligence officials reported yesterday that US drone strikes, hours apart, have killed at least five militants in a north-western tribal region near Afghanistan.
They said that the first two-missile attack had hit a vehicle in the village of Datta Khel in North Waziristan, killing two militants late on Wednesday.
Two more missiles flattened a militant compound, killing three militants in the same region early yesterday.

UKRAINE: President Petro Poroshenko approved legislation yesterday to purge government bodies of about a million officials linked to the rule of his predecessor Viktor Yanukovych.
He claimed that the law is aimed at restoring public trust in authorities.
Critics say that the purge amounts to a political witch-hunt, while prosecutors warn that the legislation may be unconstitutional.

VIETNAM: Crew member Pham Van Hoang explained yesterday that oil tanker Sunrise 689, which was missing for a week, had been hijacked by pirates.
Mr Pham said that a group of more than 10 men, possibly Indonesian, armed with guns and knives in two speedboats, boarded the tanker shortly after it left Singapore for Vietnam on October 2.
He said that the pirates had destroyed communication and navigation systems and siphoned off some of the oil into their vessels before abandoning ship.

ITALY: Premier Matteo Renzi’s government survived a confidence vote on labour law liberalisation in the Senate yesterday after a raucous debate that degenerated into scuffles.
He declared himself “very satisfied” with the 165-111 vote for measures which German Chancellor Angela Merkel had called “an important step in the right direction.”
The changes include erosion of job protection and tighter access to funds for workers on temporary layoffs.

UNITED STATES: Angry crowds gathered in St Louis yesterday after an off-duty police officer, working for a private security firm, shot and killed an 18-year-old black youth.
The protesters likened the incident to the August killing of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white officer in nearby Ferguson, although the off-duty policeman claimed to have been shot at.
St Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said that he could not explain why the officer had needed to discharge 17 shots.