German officer dies after raid over guns
BERLIN — A German police officer died early Thursday, a day after being shot by an anti-government extremist who had hoarded dozens of weapons at his home, officials said.
The 32-year-old officer succumbed to his injuries in a hospital, said Elke Schoenwald, a spokesman for police in the Middle Franconia region. Three other officers were injured in the shootout — one from gunfire and two others by flying glass.
An armed response unit had been sent to the man’s home in the Bavarian town of Georgensgmuend on Wednesday to confiscate more than 30 weapons he legally possessed for hunting. Area authorities had revoked the 49-year-old’s license because he appeared increasingly unreliable, Schoenwald said.
The man, who was being held and whom police didn’t identify, had a history of defying authorities and refused to allow officials to conduct a check on the weapons over the summer, she said.
The man was a supporter of the Reich Citizens’ Movement, an extremist group that refuses to acknowledge the authority of the postwar Federal Republic of Germany.
Spain court overrules bullfighting ban
MADRID — Spain’s top court on Thursday overruled a controversial local ban against bullfighting in the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia, saying it violated a national law protecting the much-disputed spectacle.
The Constitutional Court ruled that Catalan authorities generally could regulate such public spectacles, and even outlaw them, but in this case the national parliament’s ruling that bullfighting is part of Spain’s heritage must prevail.
Catalonia banned bullfighting in 2010. The decision was part of the growing movement against bullfighting but it was also seen as another step in the Catalan government’s push to break away from Spain.
“There’ll be no bullfights in Catalonia regardless of what the Constitutional Court says,” Catalan Land Minister Josep Rulls said.
U.K. to pardon men convicted of gay sex
LONDON — The United Kingdom will posthumously pardon thousands of gay and bisexual men who were convicted of sexual offenses that were decriminalized decades ago, the government announced Thursday. In addition, the process for people who are still alive and want to clear their name will be streamlined.
Consensual sex between men over age 21 was decriminalized in England and Wales in 1967, in Scotland in 1980 and in Northern Ireland in 1982.
Under the British proposal, deceased people convicted of sexual acts that are no longer criminalized will receive an automatic pardon, but no deceased individual would be singled out by name.
Under a 2012 law, many living people who were convicted of sexual offenses that are no longer illegal can apply to have their names cleared and their offenses expunged from their criminal records.
Under the plan announced Thursday, they will receive an automatic pardon, without additional review by the government. Some 15,000 of 65,000 men who were convicted under such laws are still alive, said John Sharkey, a member of the House of Lords who put forward the proposal.
Casualties few after Philippines typhoon
VIGAN, Philippines — Typhoon Haima weakened and blew out to sea Thursday after smashing into the northern Philippines with ferocious wind and rain overnight. Flooding, landslides and power failures were evident, but large casualties appeared to have been averted after nearly 100,000 people fled to safer ground.
At least seven people were killed in the storm, officials said.
Two construction workers died in a landslide in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers perished in another landslide and another was swept away in a river and remains missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet. A 70-year-old man died apparently of a heart attack in an emergency shelter while another man died after being pinned by a fallen tree in Isabela province.
Haima, with sustained winds of 140 mph, hit northeastern Cagayan province late Wednesday then barreled northwestward before blowing out into the South China Sea, according to forecasters.