A top Taiwan court ruled in favour of gay marriage Wednesday, a landmark decision that paves the way for the island to become the first place in Asia to legalise same sex unions.
The constitutional court said Taiwan's current Civil Code, which stipulates an agreement to marry can only be made between a man and a woman, "violated" the constitution's guarantees of freedom of marriage and people's equality.
It gave Taiwan's government two years to implement the ruling.
If parliament does not make the change within two years, the court said same-sex couples could register to marry regardless, based on its interpretation.
"The current provisions of the marriage chapter do not allow two persons of the same sex to create a permanent union of an intimate and exclusive nature for the committed purpose of managing a life together. This is obviously a gross legislative flaw," a statement from the court said.
The push for equal marriage rights has gathered momentum on the island with hundreds of thousands rallying in support.
But there has also been anger among conservative groups, who have staged mass protests against any change in the law.
The court ruled that the decision to allow gay marriage would contribute to social stability and protect "human dignity".
For Taiwan's pioneering gay rights campaigner, Chi Chia-wei, one of the petitioners who brought the case to the constitutional court, the decision was the culmination of 30 years of activism.
"I'm leaping with joy like a bird," Chi, 59, told AFP.
"I hope parliament will prioritise the bill instead of dragging it on for another two years," he added.
Supporters from both camps had gathered in central Taipei to await the decision, with hundreds of pro-gay marriage campaigners flying rainbow flags outside parliament.
A panel of 14 grand justices made the ruling - a majority of 10 was needed. Only two judges dissented.
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi will open a new round of talks with some of the country's myriad ethnic groups on Wednesday, looking to revive a stuttering peace process after a tough first year in power that saw the worst fighting with rebels in years.
The conference comes amid continued tensions between ethnic armed groups, the military and Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, and it is unlikely to see any new groups join a landmark ceasefire accord negotiated by the previous administration.
Ending decades of near-perpetual civil war is Suu Kyi's stated No. 1 priority - which she sees as key to unlocking the resource-rich country's potential and guaranteeing basic development for its more than 50 million people.
Among issues on the agenda are whether the states that make up Myanmar would be allowed to draft their own constitutions and the status of religion.
In a last-minute boost to the conference, local media reported that several groups that have recently clashed with government troops, and whose attendance had been in question, would be joining the negotiations.
"It's unlikely that any new groups would sign the NCA, but they will discuss a set of potential consensus points," said Yangon-based analyst and former United Nations diplomat Richard Horsey, referring to the National Ceasefire Agreement negotiated by a quasi-civilian transitional government that took office after the end of junta-rule in 2011.
"The fact that there will be more of them in the room is a positive development."
Ethnic armed groups have complained that Suu Kyi has taken a top-down, approach to the process, unilaterally dictating the agenda, often ignoring or misunderstanding their grievances and siding too closely with the military.
When Suu Kyi took charge of the peace process last year, she dismantled a peace centre set up by the previous government that was leading talks with the rebels. Some observers say the move undermined the trust built up over the years.
"They should do more informal meetings. And the peace brokers between the groups, I think the government should recognise them and expand their role," said Aung Thu Nyein, the director of training at the Institute for Strategy and Policy, referring to informal peace negotiators.
Several conflicts have reignited since Suu Kyi took power, displacing an estimated 160,000 people, according to data from the United Nations.
A coalition of four rebel groups comprising one of Myanmar's most powerful militias, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), staged attacks on security forces in the north of the country in November.
In the spring, fighting with Kokang rebels in the hills along the Chinese border sent about 20,000 refugees fleeing to China's Yunnan province.
The conflict in northwestern Rakhine state, where an army crackdown on Rohingya Muslim insurgents forced 75,000 people to flee to Bangladesh amid allegations of widespread atrocities, is separate from the peace process and will not be discussed at the five-day conference in the capital Naypyitaw.
"I want to hope for the best. But this is not an easy process," an ethnic Shan woman told Reuters in Yangon. "No side wants to change their current position and lose or reduce their power and opportunities."
Qatar said on Wednesday its state news agency had been hacked, after it reported remarks purportedly by its ruler criticising aspects of U.S. foreign policy in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia.
The comments attributed to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani continued to be carried by media in some other Gulf Arab states, even after Qatar said the report was fake, suggesting renewed strains between Qatar and some of its Gulf Arab neighbours.
"The Qatar News Agency (QNA) website has been hacked by an unknown entity. A false statement attributed to His Highness has been published," the Gulf Arab state's government communications office said.
"An ongoing investigation will be put in place to look into this matter. The statement published has no basis whatsoever, and the competent authorities in the State of Qatar will hold all those (involved) accountable."
Ties between Qatar and other Gulf Arab states suffered an eight-month breach in 2014 over Qatar's alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group whose political ideology challenges the principle of dynastic rule.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have used their oil and gas revenues to influence events in other Middle Eastern countries, and rifts between them can alter the political environment in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The hacked report, which said Sheikh Tamim had spoken at a military graduation ceremony, cited him as being critical of renewed tensions with Gulf Arab adversary Iran.
A government spokesman told Reuters the Emir had attended a graduation ceremony for Qataris doing national service, "however, he did not make any speech or give any statements".
The incident happened four days after Qatar complained publicly that it was the target of "an orchestrated barrage" of criticism by unknown parties in the run-up to Trump's visit alleging the Gulf state supported terrorist groups in the Middle East.
Trump met Sheikh Tamim and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders on his trip to Saudi Arabia on Saturday and Sunday, where he renewed his assertion that Iran was a leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Iran denies the allegation and says Saudi Arabia, the dominant GCC power, supports militant Islamist armed groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State. Riyadh, in turn, denies that.
Arguments over the Brotherhood, the most influential Islamist group in the world, were at the heart of a rift among Gulf Arab states that in 2014 saw Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdraw their ambassadors from Doha. They only returned after Qatar said it would not allow itself to be used by the Brotherhood for its activities.
Chi Chia-wei will find out on Wednesday if his decades long fight to make Taiwan the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage has been a success.
Chi, 59, a pioneering Taiwanese gay rights activist, is the celebrated face behind one of the most controversial legal cases the island democracy has seen in recent years, where 14 judges must rule if the civil code, which states that marriage is between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.
The constitutional court’s landmark ruling will not only determine the success or failure of draft new parliamentary laws to introduce marriage equality, but could cement Taiwan’s reputation as a beacon of liberalism in a region where the LGBT community faces increasing persecution.
Chi, an equal rights campaigner since he first came out as a gay teenager in 1975, remains pragmatic about making civil rights history. “If it doesn’t work out this time, I’ll keep on fighting for the people, and for human rights,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
But he is determined that one day, the fight will be won.
“Somebody has to do it. I don’t want to see any more people commit suicide because they don’t have marriage equality,” he said.
Last October the suspected suicide of French professor, Jacques Picoux, who was unable to marry his Taiwanese partner of 35 years, Tseng Ching-chao, became a rallying call for Chi and other LGBT activists.
His struggle is also personal. Chi’s lawsuit, launched two years ago and supported by the municipal government in the capital, Taipei, is the latest of several attempts to get legal recognition for his 30 year relationship with his partner, who wishes to remain anonymous.
In 1986, when the nation was still under martial law, Chi was imprisoned for five months after submitting his first petition asking for gay marriage to be recognised.
As a flag bearer for equality, he hopes to inspire other LGBT activists fighting a crackdown across Asia.
On the eve of Taiwan’s court ruling, two gay men face a public caning in Indonesia. In South Korea, the military has been accused of carrying out a witch-hunt against gay recruits. In Bangladesh, 27 men were arrested last week on suspicion of being gay, a criminal offence.
Back in Taiwan, the political stakes of Wednesday’s decision are also high.
When President Tsai Ing-wen’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) passed the first draft of a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in December, it prompted a fierce conservative backlash.
The issue has split Taiwanese society and vocal protests from a coalition of religious and right-wing family groups have caused many legislators to have second thoughts.
The fate of the legislation, soon to face a second reading, now lies in the hands of the court, believes Yu Mei-nu, the DPP parliamentarian who drafted it.
If the court ruled clearly in support of same-sex marriage and President Tsai offered her unequivocal support, it would embolden wavering legislators to vote in favour of the new laws, she argued.
“If the grand justices make a decision that is not very clear, and it depends on a legislative yuan [parliament] vote, then it will be difficult. I think most legislators will abstain,” she said.
“We want her (Tsai) to be braver. If she can come out and say ‘yes I support it’ then it will be passed.”
Ahead of her election last year, Tsai voiced her support for marriage equality in a Facebook video. “In the face of love, everyone is equal,” she said.
But as she marked the first anniversary of her inauguration this weekend with low public approval ratings, Tsai faced criticism from all sides over her handling of gay marriage.
“It’s a little bit depressing for us. Before the election, she was really pro-gay rights. But now she has kind of disappeared,” said student Vic Chiang, 23, at a Taipei rally last week on the International Day Against Homophobia.
Meanwhile, Robin Chen, a spokesman for the Coalition For Happiness of Our Next Generation, which links support for gay marriage with increased HIV infections, criticised the government for rushing the laws through.
“The majority of the population does not know what’s happening,” he said. “We need to discuss things on different levels because family is the foundation of society.”
His fears were shared by Father Otfried Chan, secretary-general of the Chinese Regional Bishops Conference, who believes the court will likely back gay marriage. “There is no debate,” he said. “It’s a one-sided game.”
Nerves are frayed ahead of the ruling, with both sides intending to demonstrate outside the court.
But for
Chi, the choice is simple.
“To legalise marriage would mean that Taiwan’s civil code and constitution will say that gay people are people,” he said. “If the law can be changed, Taiwan’s gay community will have human rights.”
Dozens of students at Indiana's Notre Dame University protested White House policies on Sunday by walking out of a commencement speech by Vice President Mike Pence, who criticized political correctness at American colleges.
The members of the graduating class -- dressed in cap and gowns together with some two thousand classmates -- stood up and quietly left the school's football stadium when Pence began delivering his speech, videos posted online showed.
Others cheered and some booed.
Notre Dame, in the city of South Bend, is one of the country's most prominent Catholic universities.
Pence, who received an honorary degree from the university, said that "far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness -- all of which amounts to nothing less than suppression of the freedom of speech."
"These all-too-common practices are destructive of learning and the pursuit of knowledge, and they are wholly outside the America tradition," he added.
A religious social conservative, Pence is a former Indiana governor who was born in the state and also served as one of its representatives in Congress for 12 years.
The protest comes amid a mounting controversy over what constitutes free speech at college campuses since the election of Donald Trump as president in November, with students objecting to appearances by divisive conservative figures. Some schools have canceled events.
In addition to Pence's record as governor, the protesters said they wanted to voice objections to Trump's threat to civil liberties and policies such as his attempts to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority countries.
"The participation and degree-conferring of VP Pence stand as an endorsement of policies and actions which directly contradict Catholic social teachings and values and target vulnerable members of the university's community," Notre Dame student Xitlaly Estrada said in a statement by the student group WeStandForND, which organized the protest.
More than 100 people walked out, organizers said. Many wore rainbow pins or flags, a symbol of gay pride.
Pence delivered his speech while Trump was on the first day of his first trip abroad as president. In a speech in Saudi Arabia, he called on Middle Eastern leaders to help defeat Islamist extremism.
