Views clash in Calif. Prop. 8 trial
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Two diametrically opposed views on same-sex marriage are at odds in a court case challenging California's Proposition 8, analysts say.
A trial on the constitutionality of Prop. 8, which legally defines marriage as between a man and a woman and was voted into the California constitution in 2008, was set to begin Monday in the San Francisco federal courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Plaintiffs are seeking to overturn the ballot initiative, which last year was upheld by the California Supreme Court. They contend Prop. 8 violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender, saying that the measure unconstitutionally revoked the marital rights of one "disfavored group of citizens" because of an appeal to fear and prejudice.
Prop. 8 backers, however, dispute that gays and lesbians still face significant discrimination in California, where same-sex domestic partnerships have been legalized, and that the measure merely enshrined the traditional definition of marriage into the state constitution, the Chronicle reported.
Whatever Walker finds, his ruling is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, legal analysts say.
Yemen leader willing to talk to al-Qaida
SANA'A, Yemen, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Yemen will track down al-Qaida terrorists who don't renounce violence, but will extend an olive branch to those who do, the country's president says.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Abu Dhabi television during the weekend "dialogue is the best way" to deal with al-Qaida, but vowed "to stand up to the challenges" of group members who don't renounce terrorist acts, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Saleh's comments came after after influential Yemeni cleric Sheik Abdul Majid al-Zindani denounced what he called U.S. pressure on the country's government to combat al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which has claimed responsibility for an alleged attempt by a Nigerian man to detonate explosives aboard a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day, the newspaper reported.
Analysts said Saleh's willingness to embrace Islamic extremists who renounce violence show he's determined to deal with al-Qaida in his own way. He has a long history of striking deals with militants, they say, noting he is probably using them now against Shiite rebels in the north.
Washington is boosting aid to Yemen to fight terrorists, but the Post said Yemeni officials have made it clear they do not want American troops on their soil.
North Korea ties Korean War to nuke talks
PYONGYANG, North Korea, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- North Korea indicated a new peace treaty to replace the truce that ended the Korean War should be part of negotiations to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea said Monday peace talks should be either part of the so-called six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program or a separate negotiation, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
North Korean officials also said they wouldn't return to talks with South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States unless the United Nations lifted sanctions imposed after nuclear and ballistic missile tests North Korea performed last year, the news agency said.
"If a peace treaty is signed, it will help resolve hostile relations between North Korea and the United States and speed up the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement published by North Korea's state-run news agency.
Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative on North Korea who visited Pyongyang in December to try to persuade North Korea to return to the six-nation talks, said a peace treaty and other incentives could be broached only after denuclearization discussions gained "significant traction."
Ninth Malaysian Christian church attacked
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The ninth Christian church since Friday has been attacked in Malaysia in reaction to a controversial court ruling, the BBC reported Monday.
Without naming sources, the BBC said buildings at the church were attacked with what appeared to be home-made gasoline bombs while another church was vandalized with paint.
It said no one was hurt in the latest attacks, which have come since Malaysia's high court ruled non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" to describe God. Opponents say the ruling will be used by Christians -- who make up 9 percent of Malaysia's population -- to win converts from Islam.
The government, which is appealing the ruling, reportedly has said attacks are the work of extremists. The BBC quoted an unnamed government minister as telling foreign diplomats: "These were not just attacks on houses of worship. These were attacks on the values and freedoms all Malaysians share."
UAE sheik acquitted in torture trial
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates royal family member has been acquitted of torturing a man in a videotaped beating.
A court in Dubai Sunday found Sheik Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan not guilty on charges of causing bodily harm to an Afghan grain dealer, whose 2004 beating was taped and shown on U.S. television, CNN reported.
The three-hour tape apparently showed Issa beating the man with a nailed board, burning his genitals with a cigarette lighter, shocking him with a cattle prod and pouring salt into his wounds as a security guard looked on. But the court acquitted him, ruling that medication he had been given diminished his responsibility.
Issa had a "lack of criminal responsibility," the court found, defense attorney Habib al-Mulla told CNN, adding that the sheik "was under the influence of drugs" that "deprived him from his poise and caused him to carry out acts that were out of consciousness and that were photographed with the intention for later extortion."
Human Rights Watch has urged the UAE to "inquire more broadly into the prevalence of abuse and torture by security personnel, others in positions of authority, and private citizens."
