A gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state tied the knot in a first-of-its-kind wedding for Cuba, a sign of how much the country’s attitude toward sexuality has changed since gays and transsexuals suffered persecution in the early years after the revolution.
Bride Wendy Iriepa, 37, arrived at a Havana wedding hall in the afternoon in a vintage Ford convertible and a full white wedding gown, flowers in her hair and holding a rainbow flag.
Neighbourhood residents came out of their homes to gawk at the wedding party and the journalists mobbing the car. (PA)
Tribute paid
The family of a hotel receptionist found stabbed to death alongside a colleague have paid tribute to her.
Alice Adams and Tibor Vass, both 20, were discovered at a house in Harlington, west London, on Wednesday. They had died of multiple stab wounds.
Both Miss Adams, from Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, and Hungarian national Mr Vass, of Harlington, were receptionists at the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel.
Bat on plane
Health officials are still looking for 15 passengers who were on a flight in which a bat flew inside the airplane’s cabin so they can protect them against the possibility of rabies.
Danielle Buttke of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said they have contacted 35 of the 50 passengers on the August 5 Delta Air Lines flight 5121 that was operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
She said none of the passengers they have spoken with required treatment.
The plane was flying from Madison, Wisconsin, to Atlanta when the bat emerged. No one knows if the bat had rabies because it escaped.
Blimp blown away
Heavy winds lifted a 128-foot-long blimp moored at the Ohio State University airport into the air, and it has not yet been located.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol says no one was aboard when strong winds lifted the blimp just after midnight today at the Don Scott airfield in Columbus. The blimp then began drifting eastward.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Rudy Zupanc had said the Federal Aviation Administration tried to locate the blimp via radar, while its owners were trying to spot it from the ground.
However, later in the day a 94-year-old Ohia woman claimed to have had found the blimp in her yard. The blimp is marked with a logo for Hangar 1 Vodka. (PA)
Caravan blaze
A man and a woman have died following a fire in a caravan at a popular seaside holiday park, police said.
The pair, aged in their 40s, were found after emergency services turned out to Combe Haven Caravan Holiday Park in Harley Shute Road, Hastings, East Sussex.
Police and fire investigators were conducting inquiries at the site to establish how the fatal blaze started shortly after 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Gay rights march
Hundreds of gay, lesbian and transgender people marched with supporters in a southern Nepal town to demand equal rights under a new constitution the country is writing. The estimated 500 demonstrators danced, chanted slogans and marched around Narayanghat, a town about 100 miles south of the capital of Katmandu today, which is also Nepal’s festival of Gaijatra honouring the dead.
The gay community has been holding demonstrations on the festival day in the capital, but it was the first time activists organised a rally outside the capital.
Baby in bin
A two-year-old girl has been rescued from a bin in Spain after her parents abandoned her, officials have confirmed.
Residents in the south-east town of Cabezo de Torres heard crying sounds coming from the rubbish container on Saturday night. After removing several plastic bags, they found a girl “crying, sweating and with panic showing in her face”. Her parents have been arrested and are awaiting trial on suspicion of having abandoned a minor.
Killer bull returns
A killer bull has claimed another victim after goring to death a 29-year-old man during festivities in the eastern Valencia region, officials have said. The bull – named 'Raton', or mouse, – has killed two other members of the public during festivals over the last 10 years. (PA)