Global Quickies: Germany Votes for Love, Museum Celebrates Pride, and Fines for Hate Speech
GERMANY
“German MPs have voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, prompting joyous and unusual scenes in parliament as Green party politicians tossed glittered confetti across the chamber and gay couples sitting in the public gallery kissed and embraced.”
FRANCE
“The French politician, women’s rights champion and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil has died at the age of 89. Best known in France for her instrumental role in legalising abortion in the 1970s, she went on to serve as the first president of an elected European Parliament.”
SPAIN
“Madrid’s Prado museum celebrates LGTB art through the ages. Gays, lesbians and transgender people have been a feature of art — and life — throughout the ages, from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance, 18th-century Japan to Native American tribes. That’s the message conveyed by Madrid’s Prado Museum, which has organised a special tour through its collection to mark WorldPride 2017, one of the globe’s biggest celebrations of gay rights, taking place in the Spanish capital.”
GERMANY
“Germany’s parliament voted Friday to punish social media giants with fines of up to €50 million if they systematically fail to remove illegal hate speech. Berlin took the measure, one of the toughest in the world, after a surge in racist and incendiary speech online, particularly since the arrival of around one million asylum-seekers since 2015.”
INDIA
“Protests are taking place across India against rising attacks on Muslims and Dalits (formerly untouchables) by vigilante cow protection groups. […]Cow slaughter is banned in several Indian states and those found violating the law can be jailed for up to 10 years. Parliament is also considering a bill to bring in the death penalty for the crime.”
UK
“A woman who was stabbed in the face and neck by a stalker, has dismissed a police apology as “meaningless” because she made 125 reports to the force before the attack.”
Featured image: The Castor and Pollux group at the Prado Museum (source)