Prince William and Kate Middleton Announce Their Engagement


THE GUARDIAN: Prince William and Kate Middleton engagement announced: Prince William and Kate Middleton announce their engagement today after weeks of speculation >>> Stephen Bates and James Meikle | Tuesday, November 16, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Royal wedding: marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton 'a great day for our country' – Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced they are engaged to be married, on what David Cameron hailed as a "great day for our country". >>> Laura Roberts | Tuesday, November 16, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Royal wedding: Kate Middleton to become sixth Queen Catherine – Kate Middleton, or Catherine Elizabeth to use her birth name, will one day become the country’s sixth Queen Catherine, though she will hope to avoid the unhappy and often grisly fates of almost all of her predecessors. >>> Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Tuesday, November 16, 2010


THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Royal wedding: Prince William and Kate Middleton say time is right for marriage – Prince William and Kate Middleton have said the time is now right for them to get married. >>> Peter Hutchison and Laura Roberts | Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin. Photos: People.com
Bristol Palin to Levi Johnston: 'It's Over'
PEOPLE.COM: And just like that, they were off again. "It's over. I broke up with him," Bristol Palin tells PEOPLE exclusively of her second try at an engagement to Levi Johnston, father of her 19-month-old son Tripp.

Palin, 19, says the relationship soured on July 14, the very same day they announced their marriage intentions to the world. Palin says he told her that evening he might have fathered a baby with another teenage girl. (Palin did not name the young woman, but a pregnant former girlfriend of Johnston's has since publicly denied his paternity.)

In an emotional phone interview with PEOPLE, Palin spoke through tears about feeling heartbroken, humiliated and trapped – while Johnston acted cool. "There's been no remorse," she says, adding that she's seen him only once in the past three weeks.

"The final straw was him flying to Hollywood for what he told me was to see some hunting show but come to find out it was that music video mocking my family," she says. "He's just obsessed with the limelight and I got played." Continue reading and comment >>> Sandra Sobieraj Westfall | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Monaco: Albert II annonce ses fiançailles
LE FIGARO: Le prince Albert II de Monaco, 52 ans, a annoncé aujourd'hui ses fiançailles avec la sud-africaine Charlene Wittstock, 32 ans.



Le prince Albert II, né le 14 mars 1958, est le fils du prince Rainier III et de la princesse Grace, née Kelly. Il a succédé à son père le 12 juillet 2005. Charlene Wittstock, de nationalité sud-africaine, est née le 25 janvier 1978 à Bulawayo au Zimbabwe. Avant d'arriver à Monaco, elle était éducatrice pour enfants, et a été championne du 100 mètres dos du Commonwealth.



Le prince et la nageuse, qui se sont rencontrés il y a plusieurs années, faisaient fréquemment des apparitions publiques ensemble, dans des événements sportifs et culturels, ou au Bal de la Rose qui ouvre chaque année la saison monégasque. Ils avaient accordé il y a quelques mois une séance de photographie privée au magazine "Point de vue", ce qui pour les observateurs du protocole des cours royales et princières était la pré-annonce officielle des fiançailles. >>> AFP | Mercredi 23 Juin 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Albert of Monaco to marry Olympic swimmer: Prince Albert of Monaco is to marry his long-term girlfriend, the South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock. >>> Fiona Govan | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Malawi Court Convicts Gay Couple of Gross Indecency and Unnatural Acts
Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A court in Malawi yesterday convicted a gay couple of gross indecency and unnatural acts in a case that has highlighted the persecution of homosexuals in Africa and drawn international condemnation.

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, who will be sentenced tomorrow, face at least a decade behind bars. They were arrested in December after testing Malawi’s anti-gay laws with a public “engagement ceremony” before a wedding planned for this year.

The action outraged authorities in the deeply conservative country, one of the poorest in Africa. The men have been in prison ever since, despite an international campaign for their release and reports of maltreatment.

Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa, sitting in the old colonial capital of Blantyre, convicted both men of engaging in gay sex, which he said was “against the order of nature”. The couple’s lawyer argued that their actions had not victimised anyone.

“Unlike in a rape case, there was no complainant or victim in this case,” he said. “Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society.”

That argument fell on deaf ears in a country in which gays are now in hiding. Large crowds have jeered and pilloried the men on each occasion that they have been brought to court. At a previous court appearance Mr Chimbalanga, who was sick with malaria, was forced to return to the court room to mop up his vomit. >>> Jonathan Clayton, Johannesburg | Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Related articles and videos here

We Have Been Beaten in Jail, Say First Openly Gay Couple in Malawi
Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga performed a public engagement ceremony. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Since they became the first openly gay couple in Malawi to be engaged, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza have been arrested, put in prison and charged with offences that could lead to a 14-year jail sentence.

Between true love and gay martyrdom, however, is the brutal reality of life in a Malawi prison. Yesterday, in their first interview since being jailed, the pair claimed that they had been beaten in prison, and demanded to go to court to prove their innocence.

While Mr Chimbalanga, 20, who dresses as a woman, spoke defiantly of his love for the man he plans to marry, Mr Monjeza, 22, said that he was “drunk” when they met and was considering ending their engagement. The couple, who denied three charges of unnatural practices between males and gross indecency, performed a public engagement ceremony in front of 500 onlookers last weekend. They were arrested two days later.

With gay rights campaigners warning that the case marks a new wave of homophobia in Africa, the pair have been held since then at Chichiri prison in Blantyre, where the warders appear bemused by the level of hysteria surrounding their charges.

In an interview with The Times at the weekend, Mr Chimbalanga — visibly more at ease than Mr Monjeza, who appeared confused and disorientated — said: “I love my husband and laws should not prohibit love.” >>> Raphael Tenthani in Malawi and Valentine Low | Monday, January 04, 2010

Argentine Gay Couple Becomes First in Region to Marry
BBC: Two Argentine men have become the first same-sex couple to marry legally in Latin America.

Alejandro Freyre, 39, and Jose Maria Di Bello, 41, tied the knot in a civil ceremony in the southern city of Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego province.

Gay marriage is illegal in Argentina. However, the Tierra del Fuego governor issued a special decree allowing the couple to wed there.

Roman Catholic leaders in the country expressed alarm at the move.

A judge in the capital, Buenos Aires, prevented the couple from marrying there earlier this month. Church anger >>> | Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Two Gay Weddings on Two Continents, But Only One Happy Ending
THE GUARDIAN: Argentinians celebrate first same-sex marriage, while couple in Malawi are arrested and charged

Jose Maria Di Bello, left, and Alex Freyre kiss during their wedding in Argentina. Photograph: The Guardian
It was a tale of two weddings continents apart, but there was to be only one happy ending.

In Argentina, Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre made history as the first same-sex couple to marry in Latin America. Thousands of miles away, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza became the first gay men to tie the knot in Malawi.

The different reactions to the two ceremonies, however, suggested that while gay rights in Latin America are advancing, in Africa they are going into reverse.

Although Di Bello and Freyre had to rely on subterfuge, a progressive provincial governor and a 1,500-mile trip to the continent's southern tip, their union was greeted as a breakthrough. Chimbalanga and Monjeza, however, were swiftly arrested and charged with gross public indecency. Campaigners warned that the move indicated a conservative backlash against homosexuality across Africa. >>> David Smith in Johannesburg and Rory Carroll in Caracas | Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Malawi 'Gay Wedding' Couple Deny Indecency Charges
BBC: Two gay men arrested in Malawi after getting engaged have pleaded not guilty to charges of gross public indecency.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza appeared at a court in Malawi's biggest city Blantyre, where they will ask for bail on Monday.

The pair held a traditional engagement ceremony over the weekend - believed to be the first gay couple in Malawi to start the process of getting married. >>> | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Homophobic Malawi
iAFRICA: A gay couple was jailed for "gross indecency" in Malawi after the country's first same-sex public wedding ceremony over the weekend, as several African states were clamping down on homosexuality.

A police spokesman told AFP that Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, the first Malawian gays to publicly wed in a symbolic ceremony on Saturday "will appear in court soon to answer charges of gross indecency."

Homosexuality is banned in the conservative southern African country where the public discussion of sex is still taboo.
Malawi's penal code outlaws homosexuality and sodomy, which is punishable by a maximum of 14 years in jail.

Countries such as Uganda, Senegal and Burundi have intensified their efforts to repress homosexuality in a continent where 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual gay sex.

Hundreds of people attended Saturday's ceremony held at a guesthouse in Blantyre and spiced with traditional and hip-hop music. The couple wore traditional robes. >>> | Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Obama reste déterminé à discuter avec l’Iran malgré la répression
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: TENSIONS | Barack Obama a assuré dimanche qu’il restait déterminé à engager des négociations directes avec l’Iran, malgré la répression de la contestation des résultats de la présidentielle dans la République islamique.

"Nous avons certains intérêts en matière de sécurité nationale à ce que l’Iran ne développe pas d’armes nucléaires, n’exporte pas le terrorisme et nous avons offert à l’Iran une voie pour rejoindre la communauté internationale." Dans une interview au New York Times (NYT), Barack Obama admet que des dirigeants de l’opposition iranienne ont été arrêtés ou intimidés mais a insisté sur le fait que la répression ne fermerait pas la porte aux négociations. >>> AFP | Lundi 06 Juillet 2009