It’s time for the news with Kandy Korrespondent!

On Monday, California performed its first round of legally recognized same-sex marriages. Among the first love-birds to say the magic words, were Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, the original plaintiffs in the 2004 lawsuit challenging the gay marriage ban as unconstitutional. In San Fransisco, pioneering gay activists Phyllis Lyon, 84, and Del Martin said “I Do” in a ceremony initiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a record 2,386 marriage licenses were issued on Tuesday June 17th. An average June day’s count is 460. California is the first state to allow same-sex couples from other states to wed. While for most out of state couples such an action is purely symbolic, New York State has said that it will recognize all CA unions.

While marriage-protectionists mainly stayed out of the lime light on Tuesday, they have already begun to plan their campaign for the November ballot initiative banning gay marriage once again in CA.

In Other News:

The crisis in Zimbabwe is beyond alarming. Earlier this week, the secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tendai Biti was arrested as he returned from South Africa on treason charges, “for publishing a document that was explaining a transitional strategy around March 26″. If convicted he faces the death penalty. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was also detained for the third time. Read More »

It’s the News with Kandy Korrespondent!

Democratic presidential nominee-apparent, Obama and soon to be ex-presidential candidate Clinton shared a private tête-à-tête on Friday marking the first step towards re-uniting the much divided Democratic Party. Neither the meetings’ location nor content have been disclosed.

Meanwhile, Clinton supporters are mounting an intense effort to pressure Obama into offering Clinton the post of vice president. On Tuesday, Senator Clinton told supporters that she would be “open” to being Obama’s running mate if it would help the Democratic Party win the White House. Read More »

There are still no results from Zimbabwe’s March 29th presidential elections. In my first blog I talked about the growing apprehension of the populace during the initial post-election week. My second blog discussed the legal fights and growing danger faced by Zimbabwe opposition party members. This time we’ll be checking out the amazing diplomatic stalling techniques of South African President Mbeki during this crisis.

In her ever-so diplomatic approach, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this past week that, “It’s time for Africa to step up” and deal with this crisis. (nice job of passing the buck Condi)

South Africa has the largest economy within Africa—giving it major bargaining power with states such as Zimbabwe.

Enter South African President Thabo Mbeki.

He traveled Zimbabwe on Saturday April 12th to meet with Mugabe. Following these talks, he declared that there was “no crisis” in Zimbabwe.

Hmmm… Read More »

“Things are very confusing, looks like we are heading for a civil war and total destruction, its a ticking time bomb, any thing can happen any time”
That quote comes from Raj, in Harare, Zimbabwe on the BBC’s comment page.

Zimbabwe’s election (held March 29th) still has no clear winner. The opposition, led by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC) accused incumbent Robert Mugabe of “preparing for poll war”.

The opposition petitioned Zimbabwe’s High Court to demand the immediate release of the poll results.

The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) countered by questioning the courts jurisdiction over the issue.

On Saturday, moreover, police prevented the opposition lawyers from entering the court to give their arguments. Luckily they made it into the court on Sunday.

On Monday the High Court ruled that it does have jurisdiction. The judge heard the case Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party said it wanted to re-check the election results because it feared discrepancies…. Right. Read More »

Zimbabweans headed to the polls this past Saturday (March 29th) in a historic vote challenging President Robert Mugabe’s 28-year iron grip on the presidency.

The challenging party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced soon after the polls closed that they were in the lead. According to the BBC, as of Monday night, (March 31) they claimed that their candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, had won with 60% of the vote.

While Mugabe has intimated that he will honor the people’s decision, the delay in announcing the decision has many fearing the worst.

Nana Ampofo, an analyst for Global Insight, told the BBC that; “It’s still not clear that the election results are fixed but there are definitely reasons to be concerned.”

Rumors abound of election rigging: Read More »