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/ 30 January 2005

Vatican grumbles about gay marriages

The Vatican again on Saturday strongly condemned same-sex marriages as well as states which have legalised the practice, during an audience between Pope John Paul II and members of the Holy See’s top appeals court. ”Homosexual unions and co-habitation cannot be considered as marriages,” said Cardinal Antoni Stankiewicz.

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/ 30 January 2005

‘The Jackson case is not really about the law’

The court house in Santa Maria looks like a fortress. Three lines of steel fencing, reinforced by sandbags, now guard its entrance. Twitchy security guards watch for suspicious characters as they supervise the erection of the metal walls. This is not some new anti-terrorist measure, nor preparations for the prosecution of a violent criminal gang. It is all for the King of Pop.

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/ 29 January 2005

Serena wins Australian Open

Serena Williams had lost the first four games and was in pain, wincing on almost every swing. Her shots lacked their usual zing. Her hopes for a seventh Grand Slam appeared to be doomed. Then, with a little help from the trainer, the woman who calls herself the toughest fighter in tennis started getting her power back.

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/ 29 January 2005

Zimbabwe tells Cosatu to mind its own business

Zimbabwe on Friday warned the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to stop meddling in its internal affairs. Envoy Simon Khaya Moyo said reports that the African National Congress had changed its mind about Cosatu’s planned fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe and was supportive of it, were contrary to what they had learned from the party itself.

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/ 29 January 2005

Boesak comes in from the cold

Former anti-apartheid activist Allan Boesak was welcomed back into the fold in Bishopscourt on Friday evening by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongokulu Ndungane. Earlier in the month Boesak received a presidential pardon from Thabo Mbeki, expunging his criminal record of a fraud conviction.