U.K. to allow gay couples to marry

• Gay couples in Britain are to be allowed to "marry" and given the right to hold traditional weddings under unprecedented reforms that would end the historic legal definition of marriage.
• The current ban on same-sex "civil partnership" ceremonies being conducted in churches and other places of worship would be lifted under plans expected to be unveiled by Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone.
• Such ceremonies could also be allowed to have a religious element such as including hymns or readings from the Bible, according to The Sunday Telegraph. "It is understood that they could also in future be carried out by priests or other religious officials," it said.