House Republicans back down from across-the-board ban on women in combat News
House Republicans back down from across-the-board ban on women in combat

[JURIST] Republicans on the US House Armed Services Committee [official website] early Thursday backed off on an amendment to a defense bill that would have further limited women's participation in military operations, instead adopting the language of a Pentagon policy that bans women from direct ground combat roles. The amendment [PDF Washington Post report] would have banned women from support units [AP report] as well. Committee Democrats [PDF letter opposing amendment], as well as the Army, said the original amendment was too broad and would have negative effects. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.