World in brief

Women seek gay divorce in Canada

TORONTO - Two Toronto women who were among the first same-sex couples to marry in Canada are seeking what might be the first Canadian same-sex divorce.

The women were married on June 18, 2003, a week after a landmark court decision legalized same-sex marriage in Ontario, Canada's most populous province. They had been together for nearly 10 years, but separated after five days of marriage.

The women are now seeking to change Canada's divorce law, which applies only to marriages between a man and a woman. Their identities have been kept secret by court order.

While more than 3,000 same-sex couples have married in the last year in Canada, the Canadian Divorce Act has not been challenged and amended to reflect the new reality of gay marriage.

"These people were legally married, but under the law of our land cannot be divorced until the Divorce Act is changed," said Julie Hannaford, a lawyer for one of the women. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.

UNITED NATION - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Sudan on Wednesday to take immediate action to disarm Arab-backed militias and warned that the international community might step in if it doesn't move quickly.

Annan and his special representative in Khartoum, Jan Pronk, made clear they want a speedy restoration of security in the vast region where a 15-month conflict has killed up to 30,000 people, forced over a million to flee their homes and left 2.2-million needing food and medicine. But neither set a deadline.

SORRENTO, Italy - Opponents of whaling won a victory Wednesday in their battle against the use of grenade-tipped harpoons when the International Whaling Commission approved measures aimed at saving the giant mammals from what animal-rights activists say are slow, painful deaths.

Prowhaling nations insist this method of slaughter is quick and usually painless. But the animal-rights view won out, with the 29-22 approval of a resolution proposed by antiwhaling nation New Zealand. The resolution does not ban grenade-tipped harpoons or impose another slaughter method. Rather, it says the technique can cause whales to suffer and it orders the commission to research different killing methods.

WASHINGTON - The Senate agreed Wednesday to effectively eliminate trade barriers with Morocco, one of America's oldest trading partners and closest allies in the Arab world.

The 85-13 vote in the Senate, expected to be followed by House action Thursday, would make Morocco only the eighth country in the world with a free trade relationship with the United States.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Ten militant fighters were killed Wednesday when they attacked a U.S.-led force near the hometown Mullah Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader, the American military said. Elsewhere, 11 Afghan militia soldiers were killed in an ambush.

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