I find it impossible to comprehend how anyone could pay for sex. I’m not keen on the commodification of the body, its coarsening of sexual expression or the exploitative working conditions. But my difficulty is less a question of deeply held principles and more a matter of my reservations about paying to be touched by strangers.
Crime in Africa is repelling foreign direct investment, despite rates of return being much higher on the continent than anywhere else, according to a United Nations report. Corruption is also a major concern for investors, the report states, with some firms losing between two and nine percent of their sales to bribes in Africa.
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At least 37 members of a wedding party died and another 25 were injured on Tuesday when their bus plunged down a gorge in a mountainous area of northern India, police said. The overcrowded bus skidded off a winding road and hurtled down the gorge in Rudraprayag district in the state of Uttaranchal.
Homosexuality is against the Bible and so same-sex marriages should not be allowed, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. The court is hearing an application to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that the common law should be developed to allow same-sex marriage.
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai appeared in a magistrate’s court on Tuesday for a routine remand hearing on a treason charge over protest marches he led nearly two years ago. His lawyer complained that the state has taken too long to bring the Movement for Democratic Change leader to trial.
One man was arrested as protesting members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) clashed with police in central Cape Town on Tuesday. About 2 000 workers marched through the city to voice their opposition to privatisation of basic services such as water and electricity.
Kenya on Tuesday dropped murder charges against a prominent white rancher over the killing of a game warden for lack of sufficient evidence, the country’s top prosecutor said, as officials blamed police for rushing a flimsy case to court. The high-profile charge has rekindled deep colonial-era resentment.
A Constitutional Court application relating to same-sex marriage began with gasps of disbelief and laughter at the state’s apparent understanding of such relationships on Tuesday. ”Same-sex partnerships are a relatively new phenomena,” said the Department of Home Affairs’ advocate, sparking laughter in the gallery.
Jeers and cries of disbelief greeted a remark by Minister of Education Naledi Pandor in the National Assembly on Tuesday that the government is not against any language in South Africa. Pandor told MPs the time has come to ”make the learning of an African indigenous language compulsory in our schools”.