The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests. The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church’s training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI.
The Democratic Alliance says it will take the speaker of Parliament’s decision to disallow a question to President Thabo Mbeki on the arms deal under legal review. DA leader Tony Leon said Speaker Baleka Mbete had refused to allow the party to question Mbeki on the matter when he comes to Parliament next week, on the grounds that the subject is not of national or international importance.
Forensic experts from the South African Police Service on Saturday night sealed off the ANC headquarters at Albert Luthuli House in downtown Johannesburg to probe a fire that caused extensive damage to the offices of ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe, The Sunday Times reported.
At least 30 people, including several children, were wounded on Sunday in a ferry bomb blast in an area of the southern Philippines plagued by Muslim insurgents, officials said. The crudely-made bomb was hidden among liquefied petroleum gas tanks, and the explosion ripped through the back section of the ferry as it was about to leave for Zamboanga.
Last-ditch attempts to rescue Iraq’s political process appeared to have collapsed on Saturday when negotiations over a new Constitution acceptable to all three major communities ended in failure and disarray. Sunnis, who are concentrated in central Iraq, fear a federal structure would deliver the country’s oil wealth to the Shia and Kurdish communities.
A diary found at the scene of a Cypriot airliner crash outside Athens could provide clues to one of the most perplexing disasters in aviation history, it has emerged. Crash investigators will study the diary of the plane’s co-pilot, Pambos Charalambous, who secretly chronicled his concerns about technical problems with the doomed Helios Airways Boeing 737.
The British government was under attack from development charities on Sunday night for allegedly wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on aid to Malawi by paying it to United States consultancies. It has been revealed that more than £700 000 (about R8-million) of a £3-million (R34-million) project was spent on hotel bills and meals for US workers.
Uganda’s pioneering HIV/Aids programme, which showed the world that the epidemic could be turned around in Africa, appears to be in crisis as the government stands accused of obstructing the distribution of millions of condoms while preaching that no sex is the best prevention policy for single people.
The New Zealand All Blacks kept their Tri-Nations hopes alive on Saturday when a late try by Keven Mealamu saw them snatch a dramatic 31-27 victory over South Africa. The Springboks still lead the table but will be overtaken if the All Blacks beat injury-ravaged Australia next weekend.
Gil Morgan used an eagle, six birdies and an adventurous par on the last hole to take a two-stroke lead after two rounds of The Tradition on Friday. Morgan finished with an 8-under 64 for a two-round total of 11-under 133 in the final major of the year on the 50-and-over Champions Tour.