Ukraine Lawmakers Get Into Huge Rumble — Again

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday as the country became the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favor of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading.

(Darren Sethe)

UEFA chief Michel Platini on Saturday said he hoped Euro 2012 co-host Ukraine would solve its deep political crisis, as the ex-Soviet nation braced for bitterly-contested presidential polls."Things haven't exactly been easy with regard to Ukraine for the past two years," Platini told reporters on the eve of the qualifying competition draw for the 2012 European championships in Warsaw, capital of Ukraine's fellow-host Poland."Between the financial crisis and the political problems in Ukraine, it's not been particularly simple.