Milestones

RECOGNIZED. Gay Marriage, under the Civil Union Bill passed by South Africa's national assembly; in Cape Town. If the bill is ratified as expected by Parliament's upper house and President Thabo Mbeki, South Africa will become the first African nation to grant the same legal status to all marriages regardless of partners' sexual orientation. It was proposed after the Constitutional Court ruled last year that laws prohibiting gay marriage violated a guarantee of equal rights in the constitution.

FREED. Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, Pakistani-born British Muslim sentenced to be hanged for the 1988 killing of taxi driver...

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