The leader of Italy's separatist Northern League party, Umberto Bossi, came under attack yesterday for accusing Pope John Paul of meddling in domestic politics.
Bossi, who regularly stirs controversy, turned his fire on the Vatican at the weekend, saying the Roman Catholic Church had taken a step backwards under the leadership of Polishborn John Paul.
The comments were condemned by the Vatican paper, L'Osservatore Romano, and appeared to damage attempts at forging a political alliance between the league and the main centre-right opposition bloc.
"[Bossi] is a dwarf who thinks he is a giant," L'Osservatore said in an editorial, adding that the Northern League leader should respect the Pope, calling him "a true giant of contemporary history".
The former South African president, P.W. Botha (81), who was notorious for his bombast, was unusually reticent on the date of his marriage to former traffic warden Reinette Te Water Naude (50).
He quoted Gen Jan Smuts: "Remain calm and let things develop."
Ms Te Water Naude recently caused consternation by presenting her father with a giant condom for his 90th birthday. Elize, Mr Botha's wife for 54 years, died three months ago.
Aboriginal activist Burnum Burnum (61), who once planted an Aboriginal flag on the white cliffs of Dover to claim England in the name of Australia's indigenous people, has died in Sydney after a heart attack.
Burnum Burnum, instantly recognisable by his flowing white beard as for his outspoken views on Aboriginal issues, marked the 200th anniversary of British settlement of Australia in 1988 by claiming Britain as a "colonial outpost".
"You know, if old whitey could plant a flag here then he thought it only fitting that he plant . . . a flag over there," Burnum Burnum's friend Chicka Dixon said yesterday.