The United States Senate blocked on Wednesday a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, defeating a measure strongly backed by President George Bush and Christian conservatives. With a 49-48 vote, the measure fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed to move to a formal vote in the 100-member Senate.
For the first time in 21 years, the top four seeds have reached the semifinals of the French Open in Paris. And while many purists may be hoping for a dream Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final, two very in-form players are determined to spoil the party.
Australian coach John Connolly on Thursday named an untried front row combination to face England’s formidable pack this weekend in a bold gamble for his first Test leading the mis-firing Wallabies. Connolly will start Test debutants Tai McIsaac and Rodney Blake alongside three-cap prop Greg Holmes in the front row.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) emerged victorious when residents of Tafelsig in Mitchell’s Plain voted for their candidate Sheval Arendse in Wednesday’s by-election in Cape Town. The by-election was the focus of Wednesday’s 14 by-elections around the country as it increases the majority of the DA-led multiparty coalition in Cape Town to two seats in the 210 seat council.
An increasingly powerful Islamic militia rolled through its newly captured territory and installed a religious court in one town as the remnants of a United States-backed alliance of warlords desperately tried to regroup. The Islamic Courts Union controls the Somali capital and surrounding areas after defeating the secular warlord alliance in weeks of battles that killed at least 330 people.
The deputy secretary general of the United Nations was on Wednesday night accused of making ”a very, very grave mistake” after calling the Bush administration hypocrites who were feeding a right-wing anti-UN frenzy in middle America.
Internet giant Google may reverse its decision to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, one of the company’s founders has said. Sergey Brin said the Californian company had ”felt that perhaps we could compromise on our principles, but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese” with Google.cn.
African leaders, farmers and heads of international development agencies will meet in Lagos on Friday hoping to bring a new lease of life to the continent’s degraded soil and so tackle food shortages affecting over 200-million Africans. The theme of the summit, which runs from June 9 to 13 is "Nourish the soil, feed the continent."
Do South Africa’s media avoid sensationalism? Do the media make a good contribution to addressing poverty and HIV/Aids in South Africa? What influence do the media have on South African society at large? This week, take part in an interactive quiz with 10 checkpoints to rate the health of South Africa’s media.
China said on Thursday it is battling a proliferation of new power plants that are being built without permission and threaten to upset plans for a more environmentally friendly energy mix. Local authorities have been moving ahead with new power plant construction to meet a serious electricity shortage in recent years.