No image available
/ 18 October 2006
The Dutch Reformed Church has come out in favour of a single law for all marriages, including gay unions. It made the proposal in a submission this week to Parliament’s home affairs portfolio committee, which is weighing up whether to approve a Civil Unions Bill, separate from the existing Marriage Act, to cater for same-sex partnerships.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
South Africa has the ability to safeguard every person coming to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the chief executive of the Local Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”There is no question that this country has the capability to safeguard every person that comes here for the World Cup,” Jordaan told a press conference.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people — triple the official death toll — during anti-government protests following last year’s election, a senior judge appointed to investigate the violence said on Wednesday. Unarmed protesters were shot, beaten and strangled to death, said Wolde-Michael Meshesha, vice-chairperson of the government-backed inquiry.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
The Barmy Army, a group of die-hard English cricket fans, have scoffed at fears hooligans will accompany a flood of up to 50 000 British tourists expected in Australia during the upcoming Ashes tour. The comments came after New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said on Tuesday he had sought intelligence from British police on known troublemakers.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
Chinese officials accused the United States of double standards on Wednesday for criticising China’s oil investments in Africa, and insisted the country had a positive role to play in the continent’s development. China’s booming energy demand and Africa’s bountiful oil resources are mutually beneficial, the officials said.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
Reuters, a British provider of news and financial information, said on Wednesday revenue grew 3,3% in the third quarter, putting the company on course for full-year growth of 5% to 6%. Revenue for the three months through until September 30 was £631-million, up from £611-million in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
South African Airways (SAA) board chairperson Jakes Gerwel came under fire from ruling African National Congress (ANC) members of Parliament for not attending a meeting with the National Assembly public enterprises portfolio committee on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
Israeli police said on Wednesday they were on the lookout for 40 vibrators and a $200 dildo after thieves plundered the automobile of a noted sexologist in Tel Aviv. "Thieves broke into her car and apparently stole from her a caseload of vibrators," police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said. "It’s difficult to say the exact value of the items stolen."
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
Saddam Hussein’s troops drove truckloads of terrified Kurdish villagers into the desert and gunned them down by the hundreds, a witness told the ousted Iraqi leader’s genocide trial on Wednesday. After managing to escape, the detainee ran off through the night and fell into a ditch of the recently killed, in the middle of a vast field of burial mounds left behind by a systematic slaughter, he told the court.
No image available
/ 18 October 2006
South African President Thabo Mbeki has ended his mediation role in Côte d’Ivoire’s political crisis and a regional body recommended that the heads of the African Union and a West African body replace him. ”President Mbeki’s mediation role in Cote d’Ivoire has ended upon his own request,” African Union chairperson Denis Sassou Nguesso said on Tuesday.