Last week was ...

A busy one for love and marriage.

In Argentina the mayor of a Buenos Aires suburb banned gays from using pay-by-the-hour "love motels" but on the following day, a 62-year-old judge faced impeachment after renting such a room with a young lady. After she had left, local reports say that the judge hit the concierge several times with an empty champagne bottle then threatened to imprison the entire staff.

Meanwhile in Iran, a senior cleric announced his approval of "temporary marriages" as a way of curbing moral corruption and deviation. "Temporary marriage is religiously legitimate and laudable and preventing it leads the youth to offensive acts," said Ayatollah Mohieddin Haeri Shirazi.

In Toronto, however, two men who had met and formed a relationship over the Internet, were found in bed together having both committed suicide using a drug recipe they found on the Internet. One was a transvestite from Chicago. According to an agency report, the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention has a Web site warning the public of the dangers of suicide.