Paris, May 18 (EFE).- French President François Hollande signed a gay marriage bill into law on Saturday, bringing the country's first same-sex weddings closer to reality. The legislation signed by the Socialist head of state was published in the Official Gazette a day after the Constitutional Council threw out a challenge by the center-right Union for a Popular Movement party. Opponents of the bill, which parliament passed last month, had organized large demonstrations in recent months and said they would stage a new mass protest on May 26.

Tunisian security forces deployed in strength on Saturday after Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia called on its hardline Islamist supporters to defy a government ban on its annual congress. There was a heavy police presence at tollbooths along the main highway from the capital to the central city of Kairouan where the Salafists have vowed to hold Sunday's gathering, AFP correspondents reported. Police were singling out for checks the private minibuses that ply between Tunisian towns, with special attention paid to men with beards, as sported by Salafists.

The Japanese government on Saturday vowed to provide $2 billion in financial support for resource development projects by Japanese companies in Africa over the next five years, and to enhance training of personnel in the continent's resource industry. The initiatives were unveiled during a meeting that brought together ministers and representatives from Japan and 15 African countries in charge of resource issues. The event was held ahead of a summit-level international conference on African development next month in Yokohama.

Austerity or growth? Europe's struggling economies have faced the question without fully answering it in recent years, but the United States is on track to do both. Projections unveiled this week by the Congressional Budget Office indicate the US deficit will shrink more than 40 percent during fiscal 2013, returning to its lowest level in five years.