Cuba, Ethiopia, Qatar.

Today's three stories you should know.

Sep 26, 2022

Cuba

Cubans have voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to legalize same-sex marriage as part of a sweeping “family law” that also introduces measures to tackle gender-based violence, protect the elderly and give broader rights to grandparents. The law, which contains more than 400 articles, was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%, according to the electoral commission. Despite the margin of victory it faced strong opposition from religious groups who argued it would undermine traditional values. “Love is now the law,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Twitter after the results were announced.

Ethiopia

Debris from an Ethiopian government drone strike has hit a truck carrying humanitarian aid in the country’s war-battered Tigray region, the UN has said. The World Food Programme says about 13 million people in Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar are in “desperate need of food assistance.” Fighting erupted in the region last month after five months of calm, sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing. The Ethiopian government responded to the UN’s statement by saying aid groups shouldn’t operate in areas where it is targeting rebels.

Qatar

The hugely influential Muslim religious leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi has died at 96. Qaradawi was a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood and a vocal supporter of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. Exiled in Qatar for much of his life, he became one of the most recognizable figures in the Sunni Muslim world through his popular Al Jazeera TV show, “Shariah and Life,” on which he fielded phone calls, answering questions on everything from day-to-day life to complex theological issues. Qaradawi became infamous in the West for his support for suicide bombings against Israel during the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising, from 2000 – 2005. He also supported the insurgency against US troops after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.