Uruguay moving to lift ban on gays joining the armed forces

September 21st, 2009 Uruguay says pulp mill is not polluting riverTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Uruguay denied Argentina's claims at the United Nations' highest court that a pulp mill on a river separating the two countries is polluting the air and water, saying Monday it meets environmental protection standards. Argentina argued last week at the World Court that Uruguay breached a 1975 treaty by authorizing construction of the mill on the River Uruguay without consulting its neighbor.

September 15th, 2009 Uruguay law may not enable gay adoptions after allMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — A closer reading of an adoptions law promoted by Uruguay's gay rights groups suggests it might not enable adoptions by gay and lesbian couples after all. With the law awaiting President Tabare Vazquez's signature, gay rights groups have been celebrating the prospect that Uruguay could become the first country in Latin America to give gay and lesbian couples the opportunity to adopt.

September 14th, 2009 Argentina accuses Uruguay of int'l law breachTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Argentina argued Monday at the U.N.'s highest court that Uruguay "flagrantly breached" international law by authorizing the construction of two pulp mills on the river that separates the two countries. One of the mills has already been built and Argentina's chief representative at the International Court of Justice, Susana Ruiz Cerutti, called it "a bad mill in a bad place." She told judges the mill that turns eucalyptus trees into pulp, the base ingredient for paper, already is pumping pollution into the waters of the River Uruguay and releasing foul-smelling gas into the air close to an Argentine tourist town.

September 9th, 2009 Uruguay clears way for gay adoptionsMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay is clearing the way for homosexual couples to adopt children. The Senate's final approval Wednesday makes Uruguay the first country in Latin America to allow gay and lesbian couples the opportunity to adopt.

August 28th, 2009 Uruguay: Remains not disappeared dissident'sMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — DNA testing has determined that skeletal remains found last year in an Uruguayan cemetery do not belong to the daughter-in-law of Argentine poet Juan Gelman. A forensic examiner had recommended that the remains be examined.

August 28th, 2009 Uruguay lawmakers OK gay adoptionMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Lawmakers in Uruguay have approved a bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt. Despite opposition from Uruguay's Roman Catholic Church and some of the political opposition, the 99-seat Chamber or Representatives on Thursday passed the bill 40-13, with the remaining members absent.

August 14th, 2009 Uruguay Senate OKs millions for dirty war victimsMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay's ruling party wants to pay $17.4 million in reparations to victims of state oppression during its dictatorship. A reparations bill passed the Senate on Wednesday and now goes to the lower house of the legislature, where the ruling party has a comfortable majority, and leftist President Tabare Vazquez is expected to sign it.

August 7th, 2009 Uruguay: Ex-dictator's son says quit MercosurMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — A former dictator's son who's running for president suggested Thursday that Uruguay should give up on the Mercosur trade bloc and follow the Chilean model of establishing bilateral trade deals with as many countries as it can. Pedro Bordaberry, leading the Colorado Party into October's elections, said Mercosur — which counts Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members — "has not complied with its first article, which is the free movement of people and goods within its membership." He also referred to Argentine demonstrators' three-year blockade of a river-border bridge in protest of potential pollution from a paper factory in Uruguay, saying the neighbors' relations "are at their worst since 1953, when (Argentine) Gen.

July 15th, 2009 UPM to buy pulp mill, forest in UruguayHELSINKI — Finnish paper firm UPM-Kymmene Corp. said Wednesday that it plans to take over the Fray Bentos pulp mill and forest plantations in Uruguay from Finnish forest cooperative Metsaliitto Group in an asset-swap arrangement.

July 13th, 2009 NEW YORK — Nations that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in their armed forces, as compiled by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara: Australia Austria Belgium Britain Canada Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Ireland Israel Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Slovenia South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Uruguay

July 1st, 2009 Gates says he wants to soften gay expulsion rulesWASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he wants to make the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the armed forces "more humane" until Congress eventually repeals it. He said he has lawyers studying ways the law might be selectively enforced.

May 13th, 2009 White House: Legislation key for gays in militaryWASHINGTON — The White House says it won't stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military while the Obama administration works to repeal a decade-old policy banning openly gay people from serving in uniform. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Barack Obama does not plan to intervene in current cases against men and women who announce their homosexuality.

May 12th, 2009 White House: Law only answer for gays in militaryWASHINGTON — The White House says it won't stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military while the Obama administration works to repeal a decade-old policy banning openly gay people from serving in uniform. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Barack Obama does not plan to intervene in current cases against men and women who announce their homosexuality.

May 10th, 2009 Obama aide: Gays in military policy under reviewWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military is in the early discussions. But retired Marine Gen.

April 29th, 2009 Navy commits to appear in 2013 Armed Forces BowlANNAPOLIS, Md. — Navy has signed an agreement to appear in the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Tex.