Archbishop Christodoulos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, is facing trying times. Last week, Greece’s newly inaugurated President, Karolos Papoulias, spurned tradition by refusing to kiss him. Days earlier, his closest confidant, Theoklitos, the Bishop of Thessaliotis, resigned amid accusations of homosexuality and drug dealing.
A powerful earthquake jolted southern Japan on Sunday, killing an elderly woman and injuring at least 381 people, disrupting transport and prompting a tsunami warning that was later cancelled. Buildings swayed, and aftershocks continued to rattle the region. Genkai, an island off the coast of Kyushu, was evacuated after homes collapsed and roofs caved in.
The Aids pandemic carries the face of a woman, former president Nelson Mandela told thousands of people gathered at Fancourt, George, on Saturday night for his second Aids benefit concert. The purpose of the 46664 concert was to give a voice to the women of Africa in the fight against Aids, he said.
Washington likes to hold up Afghanistan as an exemplar of how a rogue regime can be replaced by democracy. Meanwhile, human rights activists and Afghan politicians have accused the US military of placing Afghanistan at the hub of a global system of detention centres where prisoners are held incommunicado and allegedly subjected to torture.
World champion Michael Schumacher lowered his targets for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix after a disappointing performance in first qualifying in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Schumacher could only manage the 14th-fastest time of the day and was forced to watch his rivals speed away into the distance with their new models.
Caleb Ralph scored two of Canterbury’s six tries on Saturday as the Crusaders claimed a 41-19 win over the Auckland Blues in a Super 12 rugby match. Five of those tries, including a penalty try, came in the first half at Eden Park as the Crusaders preyed on their traditional rival’s turnovers to lead 34-0.
New South Wales emerged from a ”difficult week” and made light of the absence of controversial lock Justin Harrison with a 25-10 win over the Stormers at Aussie Stadium on Saturday. The Super 12-leading Waratahs made it four wins from as many starts, though they failed to pick up a bonus point for the first time this season.
Burundi’s President Domitien Ndayizeye has ratified the country’s new power-sharing Constitution as the country slowly progresses towards putting behind it an 11-year civil war. The Constitution evens the balance between the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis who dominated the country since independence in 1962.
Amid a string of dazzling track performances from Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Geraldine Pillay, Alwyn Myburgh and Leigh Julius, a cloud of concern hung over Jacques Freitag, who struggled with a sore back and managed a 2,25m winning clearance at the final Absa Series meeting at Pilditch in Pretoria on Friday night.
Seven months after a scandal that shook the Athens Olympics, Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were cleared of evading drug tests in a surprise decision that could be challenged by the International Association of Athletics Federations. A Greek sporting tribunal voted 4-1 to clear the runners on Friday.