Michael Jackson’s prosecutors on Friday were set to wrap up a week of explosive testimony in which jurors heard how the star allegedly performed oral sex on a young boy and fondled others. Jackson is on trial for allegedly fondling another 13-year-old boy at his Neverland ranch two years ago, but the prosecution hopes the prior cases will show a pattern of child abuse in his past.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was firmer in noon trade on Friday, lifted by the weaker rand and stronger world markets. It was a fairly quiet morning’s trade, with more interest in the Super 12 rugby than the market, dealers said. By 11.55am, the all-share index was up 0,64%. Industrials and financials strengthened 0,85% and 0,7% respectively.
The funeral of Pope John Paul II, one of the largest in history, began on Friday on a windswept St Peter’s Square with an open-air requiem Mass attended by world leaders, Roman Catholic cardinals and a multitude of pilgrims. To the tolling of a bell, the pope’s coffin was carried out by 12 black-garbed Vatican officials.
With Brian Lara and three other stars back, there are high expectations for the West Indies against South Africa in the second Test starting on Friday at Queen’s Park Oval. Without the foursome, the West Indies surprised South Africa at Guyana by making the visitors bat to a draw.
Perth capped an impressive week of recruiting on Friday with the appointment of former Wallaby prop Ben Darwin assistant forwards coach of the new Super 14 franchise. Darwin is currently head coach of Sydney club Northern Districts and will remain as such until the end of the Tooheys New Cup before relocating to Perth in October.
Rwandans reburied the bodies of more than 20 000 victims of the 1994 genocide who had been dumped in mass graves as the country marked the 11th anniversary of the massacre. Many survivors said the memory of the government-orchestrated massacre remains fresh.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, banned from entering the European Union, was able to go to Rome for the pope’s funeral because of waivers in EU rules on sanctions for such countries as Zimbabwe, Belarus and Myanmar, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.
A man in eastern China tried to divorce his wife who has the same Chinese name as the cancer-causing dye Sudan I, which has made headlines across China in a recent food scare, state media reported on Friday. The husband of Su Danhong, the same Chinese name for the harmful Sudan Red dye, came home one day and told her he wanted a divorce.
It’s National Cleavage Day and, despite the chilly weather, temperatures are set to rise as women across the country expose their embonpoint in tops slashed to the navel (with a little help from cantilevered undergarments). So, is this day only for well-endowed women or are those whose chests resemble two Disprins on an ironing board included?
A seething mass of pilgrims pushed their way into St Peter’s Square on Friday, desperate to secure a front-seat position for the funeral on Friday of Pope John Paul II. Police opened the square to the crowds at 7am, leading to a dangerous crush at the entrance before the crowd was shepherded toward metal detectors.