Gay pride parades draw huge crowds after marriage rulings

By Ronnie Cohen

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dancing, cheering and toting placards, gay rights supporters took to the streets in huge numbers at annual gay pride parades across the United States on Sunday, with attendance boosted by recent Supreme Court rulings in support of same-sex marriage.

Gay pride celebrations were held in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and several other cities by marchers energized by the top court's rulings extending federal benefits to married homosexual couples and striking down a ban on same-sex marriages in California.

In San Francisco, two couples who sued to overturn the California ban led nearly 1 million people in one of the biggest parades in years. Some people carried signs that read "Thank you, Supreme Court!"

The two couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, got married on Friday, hours after the ban was lifted.

On Sunday, crowds cheered as they rode through the parade in a baby-blue convertible with rainbow-colored cans dragging from the back of the car. Some in the crowd were dressed in rainbow colors, others wore bridal dresses and tuxedos.

In New York, Edith Windsor, whose lawsuit prompted the Supreme Court decision to grant gay couples federal benefits, was among the grand marshals leading New York's Gay Pride march down Fifth Avenue.

Windsor, 84, recalled her late spouse, Thea Clara Spyer, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, before leading the parade to shouts of "Edie!"

"Thea, in her wheelchair, and I would watch the parade together every year," she said.

The annual gay pride parades mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. A police raid in 1969 on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, set off protests that popularized the slogan "Out of the closet and into the streets." The protests are widely credited with ushering in the modern gay rights movement.

Organizers of the gay parades in several cities said they planned for large turnouts after the Supreme Court issued its rulings on Wednesday.

The rulings came amid rapid progress for advocates of same-sex marriage in recent years in the United States and internationally. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. support for gay marriage.

On Sunday, supporters of gay marriage also cheered news that a U.S. Supreme Court justice rejected a long-shot bid to halt same-sex marriages in California.

Justice Anthony Kennedy denied the request from supporters of the California gay marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, which state voters approved in 2008. Same-sex marriage opponents asked the high court on Saturday to overrule a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order that lifted an injunction barring same-sex unions.

On the streets of New York, many people heralded the rulings.

"It's awesome," said Howard Tran, a 36-year-old pediatric nurse who attended with his husband and their five-month-old twins.

The San Francisco parade was led by a contingent known as Dykes on Bikes, a lesbian motorcycle club.

Raucous cheers from the crowd also went up for California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Kamala Harris, both heterosexual politicians who have expressed strong support of same-sex marriage.

Newsom waved to the crowd as he rode with his wife and two young children in a white BMW with a rainbow striped hood.

(Additional reporting by Noreen O'Donnell in New York; Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-pride-parades-draw-huge-crowds-marriage-rulings-005350280.html

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Senegalese president defends anti-gay law

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Senegalese President Macky Sall has defended his refusal to decriminalize homosexuality one day after publicly clashing with President Barack Obama on the issue at a joint press conference.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Sall said it was important for other countries to refrain from imposing their values beyond their borders. He compared his position on homosexuality to other countries' positions on polygamy, which is widely practiced in Senegal.

"We don't ask the Europeans to be polygamists," Sall said. "We like polygamy in our country, but we can't impose it in yours. Because the people won't understand it, they won't accept it. It's the same thing."

Senegal's penal code calls for prison sentences of up to five years and fines of up to $3,000 for committing "an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex."

Despite the law, Sall maintained that gays were not persecuted in Senegal, and were prosecuted only if they violated the law. He also said the population, while opposed to homosexuality, was not actively intolerant.

"I think in Senegal people are very quiet. They are not very violent, even for the homosexuals," he said.

Local activists strongly disagree, pointing out that more than a dozen homosexuals are currently in jail for no other reason than their sexual orientation, with guilty verdicts having been handed down despite a lack of evidence. They also say extortion and other forms of discrimination are rampant.

In February 2008, police rounded up men suspected of being homosexuals after a Senegalese tabloid published photographs of a clandestine gay wedding in a suburb of Dakar. Gays went into hiding or fled to neighboring countries, but they were pushed out of Gambia by the president's threat of decapitation.

A report released this week by Amnesty International says 38 African countries ? about 70 percent of the continent ? criminalize homosexual activity.

In four of those ? Mauritania, northern Nigeria, southern Somalia and Sudan ? the punishment is death.

These laws appear to have broad public support. A June 4 Pew Research Center survey found at least nine of 10 respondents in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria believe homosexuality should not be accepted by society.

Sall warned that because of these views, public advocacy on behalf of gay rights could prompt a strong negative reaction. "We need to be careful, because in Africa and in certain Muslim societies, these are subjects that can provoke fundamentalism," he said.

In a December 2011 memorandum, Obama instructed federal agencies to promote gay rights overseas, drawing strong protests from some African officials and many of his African fans. But while experts say the U.S. has forcefully pushed for gay rights behind closed doors, the public positioning has been discreet, with officials often citing concerns about putting local activists in danger.

Prior to this week's Africa trip, Obama's second since becoming president, some advocates had pushed for him to vocally advocate for gay rights, saying the respect he commands in much of Africa could help sway public opinion.

At Thursday's press conference in Dakar, Obama said everyone should be equal under the law regardless of cultural differences. "When it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally," he said.

In response, Sall said Senegal was "still not ready" to decriminalize homosexuality. He said the country was "very tolerant" but needed more time to address the issue.

Though Obama's visit was seen as an opportunity to showcase Senegal's stability and history of peaceful democratic transition, the front pages of local newspapers on Friday were dominated by talk of the exchange on homosexuality. The newspaper Liberation, for example, praised Sall for his "courageous" stance and, alongside a photo of Obama and Sall, ran a banner headline that played on Obama's famous campaign slogan: "No, we can't."

Sall said Friday that he was not disappointed that the issue of homosexuality had received so much attention. He said he welcomed the opportunity to contrast his views with Obama's.

"I'm not disappointed, because I'm a democrat and I can understand very well the position of President Obama on this topic," Sall said. "We are friends. We are partners."

Asked Friday if he thought the day might come when gays are accepted in Senegal and throughout Africa, Sall said it was impossible to predict.

"I don't know what will happen in 10 years, because the world changes," he said. "It depends on each culture or each civilization. We have to take time. Because people need time to absorb. It's not something you can have in one day."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senegalese-president-defends-anti-gay-law-165212208.html

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What are your views on keeping native birds as pets? - Talk Budgies ...

General Budgie Talk Chat about general budgie stuff here.

I'm placing this thread in this category because this has to do wit the Normal Light Green Budgies that are native to Australia. Before that, I'd like to state that it's illegal in my country to have wild animals and birds as pets that are native to the country - mainly because we believe that wild animals are meant to survive in the wild. domesticating will cause extinction. Does USA, UK and Australia have similar laws regarding caging of wild birds and animals? For example, Indian ringnecks, the Green wild type is native to our country. If the Forest force finds them in possession of any human, even in the market, they will be fined and jailed. However its mutations are permissible to be kept as pets, as mutations that occur naturally die out because they're cast out from the flock and fall prey to predators faster. Which brings me to the question, is it all right in Australia to house Normal Light Green budgies in human aviaries? It would not have been permitted in my country for the reasons stated above. don;t necessarily agree 100% with our laws because I believe birds that have been bred and raised by humans would face difficulty adapting to the wild if set free after they've become heavily dependant on humans. I'd like some thoughts on this matter.

Uk you can keep native species but they must be close rung with the correct ring for the species. You must keep paperwork on their heritage and if you see them you have to give the new owners a copy of this to price they are captive bred. Any endangered species on the cites articles must also have the relevant paperwork and be close rung. It is illegal to take birds. Chicks. And eggs from the wild. If you have to rear a bird you have found it must be returned to the wild if that isn't possible due to disability etc you have to get a license for it. I have no problem with native birds being kept providing they are captive bred. Most of ours do not make good pets though they are kept in aviaries. If we ban the keeping of native species we have no captive population to fall back on should they become endangered.

Hatchling ? Profile: Number of Budgies: 2 Budgie Experience Level: Budgie Lover Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Raleigh, North Carolina Posts: 100 Gallery: 0 Karma:

Unless you are a Native American, which my boyfriend loves to rub in my face constantly (he is Navajo), because they have rituals where they need them or something. Anyways, in the US most of the laws are to protect raptors, since many like the Peregrine are endangered. I personally wouldn't really want to keep any of the native birds in my area - they are all finches and sparrows and the like and they probably would not adapt well to captivity. Give me my personable parrots any day! On a side note, the only native parrot to the US would be the Carolina Parakeet, which is sadly extinct. Maybe they can clone it and I can become a rehabilitator hahaha

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Source: http://talkbudgies.com/showthread.php?t=119425

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Judge: Hobby Lobby won't have to pay fines

Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. A challenge to the federal health care law faces its most prominent test yet in a full 10th Circuit hearing in Denver on Thursday. Hobby Lobby stores is challenging a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morining-after birth control pill. The Oklahoma based arts and crafts chain says the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Hobby Lobby and a sister company will not be subject to $1.3 million in daily fines beginning Monday for failing to provide access to certain forms of birth control through its employees' health care plans, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton set a hearing for July 19 to address claims by the owners of Hobby Lobby and the Mardel Christian bookstore chains that their religious beliefs are so deeply rooted that having to provide every form of birth control would violate their conscience.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said Thursday the companies were likely to prevail, comparing the companies to a kosher butcher unwilling to adopt non-kosher practices as part of a government order.

Until the hearing, the government cannot impose fines against Hobby Lobby or Mardel for failing to comply with all of the Affordable Care Act. The companies' owners oppose birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, such as an intrauterine device or the morning-after pill, but are willing to offer the 16 other forms of birth control mentioned in the federal health care law.

"The opinion makes it very clear what is a valid religious belief and what is not," said Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The group is representing the companies and their owners, the Green family.

Heaton asked the government and companies to seek some sort of solution before the hearing, given that the 10th Circuit has already cleared the way for the companies to challenge the law on religious grounds. While not binding beyond the states in the 10th Circuit, Thursday's ruling could benefit others that oppose all forms of birth control, Hardman said, such as Catholic hospitals.

"We got a fantastic opinion from the 10th Circuit, which will impact all the cases," she said.

The companies had faced fines totaling $1.3 million daily beginning Monday. Had they dropped its health care plan altogether, they could have been fined $26 million. The only alternative would be to pay for birth control that violates its religious beliefs, the companies' owners said.

The appeals court on Thursday had suggested the companies shouldn't have to pay the fines, but there were unaddressed questions pending at the lower court. Heaton resolved those Friday in the companies' favor: Hobby Lobby had shown they would suffer financial or spiritual consequences, and that an injunction was in the public interest.

In fighting Hobby Lobby and other companies that oppose some or all forms of birth control, government lawyers had said companies cannot pick which portions of the Affordable Care Act with which they will comply.

Spokesmen for the Department of Health and Human Services have repeatedly declined to comment on pending lawsuits over birth control coverage.

Electronic court filings did not show any response from the government to Hobby Lobby's latest injunction request, but Heaton said in his order that lawyers from both sides had weighed in.

Hobby Lobby's lawyers have said the U.S. Department of Human Services has granted exemptions from portions of the health care law for plans that cover tens of millions of people and that allowing the companies an injunction would be no great burden to the government at the expense of the Greens' religious freedoms.

The companies' lawyers calculated potential losses at $475 million in a year ? $100 per day for 13,000 workers ? while harms to the government are "minimal and temporary."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-28-Hobby%20Lobby-Birth%20Control/id-e17f67f0cf9c42db92380e11bdb9cdcf

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iMore show and ZEN & TECH double double features today! Watch them all here!

We're playing a massive amount of post-[WWDC(http://www.imore.com/wwdc-2013), inter-Talk Moble catchup here this week, and to take it to it's most extreme level, we're not only doing both the iMore show and ZEN & TECH today, but we're doing two episodes of each of them! That's four podcasts back-to-sorta-back today! Here are the details!

• 1pm PDT/4pm EDT/9pm BST: iMore show 353 with Peter Cohen and Daniel Jalkut.
• 5pm PDT/8pm EDT/1am BST: iMore show 354 with Brain Klug
• 6:30pm PDT/9:30pm EDT/2:30am BST: ZEN & TECH double feature with Georgia

We'll post the shows a few days apart so no one's feeds get jammed, but if you want to catch them all now, today, live, be here!

Want to go full screen? Head to iMore.com/live. Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for "mobilenations". Want to subscribe to any or all of our shows? Head on over to our podcast page.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/nfoSxzObS1E/story01.htm

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US consumer spending up 0.3 percent in May

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. consumers spent more in May as their income rose, encouraging signs after a slow start to the year. But spending was weaker in April, February and January than previously estimated.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that consumer spending rose 0.3 percent last month, nearly erasing a similar decline in April. Income rose 0.5 percent.

At the same time, economists said the downward revisions to spending for three of the first four months of the year signal weaker growth in the April-June quarter, which ends this week.

Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said he thinks growth has slowed in the second quarter at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent. That's down from his previous forecast of a 2 percent rate. Economists at Barclays have cut their forecast from an annual rate of 1.8 percent to a sluggish rate of 1.4 percent.

Tepid growth could keep the Federal Reserve from scaling back its bond purchases later this year. Chairman Ben Bernanke spooked investors last week when he said the Fed will likely slow its bond-buying this year if the economy continues to strengthen. But Bernanke added that if the economy weakens, the Fed won't hesitate to delay its pullback or even step up its bond purchases again.

The bond purchases have helped keep interest rates low.

Dales also noted that the inflation gauge the Fed watches most closely has dropped to a record low of 1.1 percent, well below the Fed's 2 percent target. When inflation falls too low, the Fed normally keeps rates low to try to boost prices.

Economists are hopeful that growth will pick up in the second half of the year, and some recent data have been encouraging. Consumers, benefiting from low inflation, spent more at retail businesses in May, notably for cars, home improvements and sporting goods.

U.S. factories are fielding more orders. Higher home sales and prices are signaling a steady housing recovery. And employers added 175,000 jobs last month, in line with the average job growth over the past 12 months.

Steady job growth has lowered the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent, down from 10 percent in 2009. And this week the Conference Board said a better job market helped lift Americans' confidence in the economy rose to the highest level in 5? years.

Still, on Wednesday the government downgraded its estimate for growth in the January-March quarter to a 1.8 percent annual rate, sharply below its previous estimate of a 2.4 percent rate. The main reason for the revision was consumer spent less than initially estimated. Some economists said the revision suggested that an increase in Social Security taxes this year was squeezing consumers more than expected.

The tax increase has lowered take-home pay for most Americans. A person earning $50,000 a year has about $1,000 less to spend this year. A high-earning couple has up to $4,500 less to spend.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-27-Consumer%20Spending/id-4bef0c9dcb1644ebb75ffbc46bfb8537

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Japan factory output up 2 pct, CPI stops falling

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan got a dose of upbeat economic news Friday when the government said industrial production rose 2 percent in May from April, the fourth straight monthly increase, while the most-watched consumer price index stopped falling for the first time in seven months.

For years, Japan has been dogged by deflation, or falling prices, which can drag on economic growth, and the Bank of Japan has set a goal of 2 percent inflation within the next two years.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, has embarked on an ambitious economic revival program since taking office six months ago through massive monetary easing, public works projects and structural reforms ? dubbed the "three arrows" of "Abenomics."

Data released by the government showed that the nationwide consumer price index minus fresh foods, which can be volatile, was unchanged from a year earlier after being in negative territory for six months. The last time it was zero percent was last October.

And the core CPI figure for June in Tokyo ? often used as a predictor for the nation ? rose 0.2 percent.

Investors bid up the Japan's benchmark stock index by more than 50 percent between the end of last year and May amid hopes for a revival, and the economy grew a stronger-than-expected 4.1 percent in annual terms in first quarter.

But share prices have fallen back over the past month amid concerns about the effectiveness of Abe's reform plans, a feeling that prices rose too high too fast, and concerns over the possible scaling back of the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing as the American economy improves.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped more than 3 percent by midday Friday, but those gains seemed more linked to a diminishing of concerns about the Fed's policies and a weaker yen, which was trading at about 98.7 yen to the dollar.

In another bit of other good news, the government said the jobless rate remained at 4.1 percent in May for a third month.

The outlook for Japan's vital manufacturing sector is a bit choppy. Despite the month-on-month gain, industrial production fell 1 percent compared with a year earlier. Manufacturers are projecting a 2.4 percent drop in June, followed by a 3.3 percent rebound in July, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The report said shipments rose 0.8 percent from the previous month, while inventories fell 0.3 percent, an indication of increased economic activity.

Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Japan Securities Ltd., said she is optimistic that Japan's economy will continue to improve in the coming months.

"Domestic consumer demand is following the growth in industry production," she said. "I think it's the result of a promising economic push."

Nishioka said preliminary indications suggest the CPI will rise 0.4 percent in June. She said that the yen's depreciation, which boosts profits at Japan's giant exporters such as Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., should help to buoy the economy.

"In 2012, the CPI didn't stay up because the overall economy was looking down," she said. "I think what's different this time is that the depreciation of the yen looks strong. If that continues, the rest of the economy will follow."

Abe has said reviving the economy is his top policy goal, and trumpeted his economic accomplishments over the first six months of his administration on Wednesday.

"Just as we were losing hope that we may never get our economy to grow back, we regained some confidence and think that perhaps Japan can play an active role in the center of the world once again," Abe said.

He also said a strong economy is key to assertive diplomacy. "A country that has lost economic power cannot demonstrate strength in diplomacy," he said.

__

Associated Press Writer Azusa Uchikura contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-factory-output-2-pct-cpi-stops-falling-050247316.html

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