Angela Merkel votes against same sex marriage

Angela Merkel has voted against same-sex marriage in Germany because she believes that “marriage is between a man and woman”.

Despite her opposition, the Bundestag voted to legalise equal marriage by 393 votes to 226, and the Chancellor said she hoped the move would improve social cohension.

“For me, marriage in German law is marriage between a man and a woman and that is why I did not vote in favour of this bill today,” she told reporters moments after the historic vote.

“I hope that the vote today not only promotes respect between different opinions but also brings more social cohesion and peace.”

The Chancellor said she supported the bill’s introduction of full adoption rights for same-sex couples – a move she had previously opposed – and was fighting anti-LGBT discrimination.

Apple Is Quietly Scrubbing the App Store

Apple has made a small, but important change to its App Store guidelines that could have a profound impact on the apps available in its marketplace.

Following the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this month, Apple changed its App Store review guidelines to now ban "apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service," accordingto TechCrunch, which found the change. In other words, any apps that are made with tools that produce copycat programs could be rejected from Apple's marketplace.

While most apps available to the company's iPhones are originally designed using traditional design tools, like Apple's own XCode program, there are thousands that rely upon templates. In most cases, the template-based apps are designed by developers who don't have formal coding knowledge or simply want to get a program to the App Store quickly to capitalize on a trend. For instance, after the simple game Flappy Bird become an overnight success in the App Store, thousands of clones that used a similar template flooded the App Store in hopes of attracting users to their similar gameplay.

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However, the new App Store guidelines would allow Apple (AAPL, +1.43%) to ban certain apps that egregiously use templates to deliver software. The revised guidelines will ostensibly help Apple manage spam apps that are designed with templates to quickly get programs into the App Store that serve ads or perform unnecessary functions for developer financial gain.

There are several legitimate template-based app services available to users, allowing them to quickly create programs for Apple's iPhone. They include services like PhoneGap and TapJet, as well as Apple's own app suite with IBM, which allows corporate customers to create programs for their operations using pre-defined features.

So far, Apple hasn't targeted those companies, and although the company cites commercialized templates in its new guidelines, it's unlikely it will turn its attention to those services. According to TechCrunch, which has been analyzing the change, Apple has removed "hundreds of thousands" of apps as part of a broader App Store scrubbing over the past year. But Apple has left popular template-based services alone and is instead focusing on less-useful services that quickly produce lookalike apps for users to scam or spam iPhone owners.

For its part, Apple hasn't commented on the how the change might affect developers and users, and the company doesn't share its app removal tally with the public.

Apple did not respond to a Fortune request for comment on the report.

French general accused of using fighter jet for weekend commutes to ProvenceHow

The acting chief of the French air force has been accused of using a fighter jet to commute home at weekends.

General Richard Reboul is alleged to have used an Alpha Jet at least 10 times over the last year, flying between his workplace in Bordeaux to his weekend property in Provence.

Flying at its maximum speed of 620mph (1,000kmph), the jet would have been able to complete the 327-mile trip (600km) in just half an hour.

The commute would normally take around seven hours by train, six hours by car or an hour by conventional plane, followed by a 30-minute car ride.

Using around 800l (176 gallons) of fuel per hour, French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine estimated the fighter jet journeys could have cost the air force and French taxpayers tens of thousands of euros over the past year.

The alleged misuse came to light after General Reboul switched to a small military transporter for his trip, along with a pilot and co-pilot, who are said to have dropped him off and returned to collect him on Monday morning, the Canard reported.

France's new defence minister, Florence Parly, has ordered an investigation, saying there would be "consequences" if the alleged "abuse of resources" is confirmed.

General Reboul stepped in as interim air force chief after his superior, General Serge Soulet, died in May.

Alpha Jets are normally used for training purposes and light attack missions, and additionally perform in Patrouille de France, the country's aerobatic display team.

Labour seeks to exploit Tory divisions over Brexit

Labour will seek to exploit government division on Brexit today in the final round of House of Commons votes on the Queen's Speech.

Jeremy Corbyn will call for MPs to back a "jobs first" Brexit that delivers the "exact same benefits" as the single market and customs union.

He will hope his amendment to the Government's legislative programme can exploit apparent Tory divisions on whether to prioritise the economy or immigration in the Brexit negotiations.

Labour's wide-ranging amendment also reproduces many of the policies in its manifesto and Mr Corbyn urged MPs of all sides to support it, claiming Mrs May had no mandate for continued austerity.

Mr Corbyn said: "I'm hoping that some Conservatives would recognise that the writing is on the wall for the economics of austerity and the economics of greater inequality.

"I would also hope that the other opposition parties would recognise that what we're saying actually makes good, sound common sense.

"If you want a future that works for all you've got to invest in it. You can't cut your way to prosperity: you invest your way to prosperity."

The Tory minority government has to get through the final vote on its legislative programme on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday evening, it defeated a Labour amendment calling for an end to the public sector pay cap by 323 votes to 309, a majority of 14.

Hero officer describes fight with London Bridge attackers

A hero police officer who fought all three London Bridge attackers with only his baton says there was "instant darkness" when he was stabbed in the head by one of the terrorists.

PC Wayne Marques, 38, had not long begun a night shift when he heard screams.

After spotting customers and bouncers at a nearby bar standing "like deers in the headlights", he knew something was wrong.

Initially he thought it was pub fight or a gang fight "at the most".

But he soon witnessed people being attacked in Borough High Street.

PC Marques said: "I don't remember everything that happened that night. Part of my memory is still in patches.

"I remember being on patrol. Me and my colleague were on London Bridge Street.

"I heard a female's scream. It was definitely a woman's scream. I heard one scream that sort of echoed and made its way up London Bridge Street, on my left hand side.

"So I looked down the street and I couldn't see who was screaming.

"But what did attract my attention is that there is a little restaurant that becomes a club and a restaurant at weekends, called Tito's.

"I remember the bouncers and the people in the queue, the people having a cigarette.

"Every single one of them, they were like statues."

Image:PC Marques fought all three attackers with only his baton

PC Marques continued: "I remember grabbing my baton with my right hand and I racked (extended) it.

"I took a deep breath and I just charged the first one (attacker).

"As I got near him I swung at him with everything I had as hard as I could, straight through his head, trying to go for like a knock-out blow."

He heard the attacker "yelp in pain".

PC Marques, who was stabbed numerous times, had major injuries to his head, left hand and left leg.

He has recovered his sight after being wounded just above the right eye.

Discussing that horrific injury, PC Marques said: "He'd hit me so hard that my right eye went lights out straight away. I just went blind."

He believes the fight, in which he was set upon by all three attackers, lasted for up to 90 seconds.

"The second one and the third one, I was basically fighting left to right," he said, "because I only had one eye so I'm moving left to right, left to right."

At that stage the first attacker stabbed him in the leg.

"I'm thinking, 'S***, there's a knife in my leg while I'm fighting the second one and the third one,"' he said.

After he'd been stabbed in the hand he remembered little except "swinging (my baton) all over the place".

Regarding his injuries, PC Marques said he "didn't realise how badly I was hurt".

He added: "The adrenaline, the fighting, all of that, I could feel what they were doing to me but I couldn't feel it at the same time.

"I could just feel that I'd been cut and hurt."

Donald Trump's bid to replace Obamacare dealt blow as healthcare bill vote delayed

Donald Trump has suffered an embarrassing setback on a key campaign pledge after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell delayed a vote on his legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The draft bill was meant to mollify moderates and hardliners in the Republican Party, but opposition quickly mounted on both sides.

The news that 22 million would lose health insurance coverage, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), dealt a major blow.

The Republican bill now will not be considered until after the Senate's week-long 4 July recess.

There are deep ideological divides in the discussion of the bill.

Image:Trump and members of Congress discuss the Affordable Care Act

For hardline Republicans, the plan did not go far enough.

They demanded states be allowed to waive a ban on insurance companies charging sick people more, and they wanted states to be given the chance to opt out more easily.

Moderate Republicans, however, felt it went too far. They wanted more investment in mental health and addiction programmes.

The draft bill struggled from the outset. Three Republican senators said they would vote against the motion to begin debate before it even hit the Senate floor. With the party requiring 50 votes to push the bill through, it could only afford to lose two. Many more members expressed reservations.

The legislation was drafted in secret and the President largely took a back seat. But minutes before news broke of an imminent delay, the White House scrambled to invite senators to discuss the issues.

A bus waited outside the capitol and at the same time Mr McConnell told reporters he would work to get more on side.

Image:Donald Trump with families whose insurance premiums reportedly rose after the Affordable Care Act

That olive branch came too late for any legislative progress. Mr Trump is learning just how difficult and complicated healthcare is.

Unlike the first House bill, the Senate did not wait for the floor to debate before pulling the plug. The stakes are high and some senators have already said they cannot see themselves being swayed.

Mr Trump will likely try to remind them of their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, but Republicans are quickly realising that owning healthcare is not easy.

If they win, they know they will still have to spend years defending taking away health insurance from tens of millions of Americans.

But they cannot afford to walk away empty handed. If they struggle to pass this, making headway on tax reform and infrastructure will be even harder.

Cholera breaks out in IS-Philippines war zone in Marawi

The first cases of cholera have been recorded in emergency shelters for families fleeing the conflict in the southern Philippines city of Marawi.

Almost a quarter of a million people have been forced to leave their homes, as the fight against IS-linked militants enters its second month.

Tens of thousands are now living in crowded evacuation centres, where the regional health secretary told Sky News conditions are "below the threshold of any human being".

The cholera cases have been isolated, but he said there was particular concern over the potential for the spread of Malaria and Dengue Fever, which is known to be a problem in Marawi.

"We want a regular uninterrupted supply of clean water, toilets for them to use, and of course decent living conditions," Kadil Sinolinding, Secretary of Health for Mindanao, told Sky News.

More than three thousand people are living at the centre, we saw four working toilets.

"The evacuation centre is way below the threshold of any human being," Mr Sinolinding said.

"But people content themselves. We are surviving. We are all survivors here."

The small rural clinic where he spoke has become a basic hospital.

We watched as a young boy was rushed in with a head injury.

He had fallen outside in the rain. He needed stitches, but was otherwise okay.

In a quiet corner, a mother sat comforting her son on a camp-bed as he was treated for severe dehydration.

Nearby one-year-old Abdul Salam Acmad was attached to a drip, suffering from diarrhoea, which can be especially dangerous in young children.

The nurses said his family had walked the three miles here from Marawi.

We were told four children died from the symptoms of diarrhoea before they could reach medical help after escaping the city.

Three were two years old or younger.