Spain’s Lower House of Parliament approved the Socialist government’s gay marriage Bill on Thursday, a major step toward making Spain the third European country to legalise same-sex marriages. Belgium and The Netherlands are the only two other European countries that have legalised gay marriages.
Zimbabwean police on Thursday charged a second journalist from a privately owned weekly with publishing false information in an article alleging a scandal over ballot boxes and papers from last month’s elections, a lawyer said. The Standard‘s editor was charged on Wednesday in connection with the same article.
The economic crisis in Zimbabwe could affect South Africa as the country’s major trading partner on the continent, the South African Reserve Bank cautioned on Thursday. "The continued economic meltdown in Zimbabwe may have wider economic implications," the Reserve Bank said.
World number six gold-miner Harmony on Thursday announced the appointment of former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano to its board of directors, with effect from Friday. Harmony chief executive Bernard Swanepoel said: "We are extremely pleased former president Chissano has agreed to become a non-executive director."
Children want to see more drama on television, they are interested in news and current affairs and watch television at times when only soap operas are broadcast. These are some of the findings from a study called What Children Want, conducted by the Media Monitoring Project in South Africa.
Former Ecuadorean president Lucio Gutierrez was waiting on Thursday for permission to leave for political asylum in Brazil, after Congress sacked him for violently crushing a demonstration and swore in Vice-President Alfredo Palacio to replace him as head of state.
After an outbreak of African horse sickness in KwaZulu-Natal, horses may not be moved into or out of the province, the provincial agriculture department announced on Thursday. ”The outbreak is concentrated in the Midlands right up to northern KwaZulu-Natal,” said the department’s spokesperson Vusi Zuma.
The Democratic Alliance has criticised President Thabo Mbeki for his statements on HIV and Aids made during his state visit to Singapore on Thursday, saying he should stay out of the debate. Mbeki said experts at a World Health Organisation conference agreed with him that nutrition is an important aspect of the fight against Aids.
Liberation struggle veteran and company director Paul Langa has been appointed as new head of the Robben Island Museum. Langa, who studied political science at the University of the Witwatersrand before leaving the country to join Umkhonto weSizwe, served a 14-year sentence on Robben Island.
Fewer cases of Marburg fever were reported in Angola this week, but medical experts said on Thursday it is too soon to say this indicates the hemorrhagic virus is waning. And countries of the region, under the 13-member Southern African Development Community, are certainly not dropping their guard. This week saw two scares in South Africa as travellers, both from Angola, suffered high fevers.