NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

WORLD/ BAHRAIN TROOPS FIRE ON CROWDS: Bahraini security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters, witnesses and opposition activists say. The protesters were fired on after they had streamed into the centre of the capital Manama from the funerals of protesters killed in a security crackdown earlier this week. Witnesses said the army fired live rounds and tear gas, and officials said at least 25 people had been hurt. Many of the protesters are calling for the overthrow of the royal family. Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa appeared on state TV today to promise a national dialogue once calm has returned. The prince, who is also deputy supreme commander of the army, called for everyone to withdraw from the streets. The Royal Family, numbering into the hundreds, has ruled Bahrain with an iron fist for over 200 years. Protesters say that the Royal Family is corrupt and lives lavishly, using the public's money for their own personal enjoyment.

WORLD/ VIOLENT CLASHES CONTINUE IN LIBYA: There have been renewed clashes between protesters and police in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, witnesses say. They say 3 people were killed in the city's el-Kish area and at least a dozen others elsewhere. The claims cannot be independently verified by media organizations. Benghazi has been the scene of protests in recent days, with reports that at least 15 people were killed in clashes with security forces on Thursday. Reports are also coming about clashes in the neighbouring city of Al-Bayda. 2 exile groups told Reuters that al-Bayda was now "out of the control of the Gaddafi regime". Large public protests are rare in Libya, where dissent is seldom allowed by long-serving leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, who the protesters want gone.

WORLD/ JAPAN ENDS ANTARCTIC WHALING SEASON: Japan has stopped its annual Antarctic whale hunt before the end of the season, saying "harassment" by US activists had made it impossible to continue. The hunt had been halted temporarily last week, after the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society chased the Japanese fleet's mother ship. Now the fisheries minister says the fleet will return home. Sea Shepherd said the decision was "great news". Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 but Japan uses a regulation permitting hunting for scientific research. Iceland and Norway have lodged official objections to the ban and continue to hunt commercially.

WORLD/ MOSCOW MAYOR SAYS NO GAY PRIDE MARCHES: Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin says that the city does not need gay Pride marches. When asked by a radio station if a march would be permitted this year, he said: “I doubt it.” The Moscow News reported that Sobyanin continued: “I have my own opinion on this. Moscow absolutely does not need this and I am not in favour of it".  The city’s last mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, repeatedly banned the marches on pretexts of health and safety and has called gays and lesbians “satanic”. In October, the European Court of Human Rights upheld 3 complaints over Moscow’s Pride ban. A Russian gay rights leader complained to the court that the parade bans in 2006, 2007 and 2008 breached the European Convention on Human Rights. The court agreed.

US/ HAWAII CIVIL UNIONS BILL TO BE SIGNED NEXT WEEK: Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie will sign the civil unions bill into law at a Washington Place ceremony next Thursday. Senate Bill 232 bill, which passed its last step at the Legislature yesterday when the Senate voted 18-5 in favor, allows same-sex couples to enter into civil unions starting January 1. Hawaii will become the 7th state to grant civil unions to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself. 5 states and Washington, DC, permit same-sex marriage. After the Senate vote, Abercrombie said civil unions "respect our diversity, protect people's privacy, and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha." "This has been an emotional process for everyone involved, but that process is now ended," he said. "Everyone has been heard; all points of view respected. For me, this bill represents equal rights for all the people of Hawaii".