Thursday, July 19, 2012
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
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World News
Suicide bomber kills Syrian top ministers
“Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make thee right decision. The choice is ultimately Iran’s.””
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PAUL ARHEWE
WITH AGENCY REPORTS
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outh Africans disregarding their differences in colour and social status came together yesterday to honour Nelson Mandela, the deeply loved statesman who helped bring freedom to their country. The good deeds done on Mandela’s 94th birthday ranged from building houses to performing free eye cataract operations. Education officials estimated nearly 12 million children kicked off celebrations at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) with resounding “Happy Birthday” choruses in schools from well-funded private institutions to barely furnished rooms in villages. Millions more South Africans joined in from offices, buses, train stations and Mandela Square, set amid the plush skyscrapers and exclusive boutiques of Johannesburg’s Sandton City. Mandela spent the day quietly with family and friends in southeastern Qunu village, according to Sello Hatang, a spokesman for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. An AP Television cameraman caught the venerated leader with a champagne flute in his hand, flanked by his wife, Graca Machel, and former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, before a ribboned two-tiered birthday cake. Well-wishers placed flowers outside the Mandela homestead and local villagers sang, danced and shared birthday cake. Convicts from the district prison joined in the spirit, volunteering to spruce up the village school by painting and cutting grass. Communities in South Africa dedicated 67 minutes of the day
– United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clintonn
South Africa honours Mandela at 94
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a key player in the fight against Islamist extremists, was “critical” in hospital in Brussels yesterday, diplomatic sources told AFP, though his government denied he was unwell. The one-time Marxist who toppled the bloody dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 was in a life-threatening condition, said a diplomat who asked not to be named. “He is in a critical state, his life is in danger,” said the diplomat. “He is in a critical state but is alive,” said another. In Addis Ababa, however, government spokesman Bereket Simon denied reports that the 57-year-old premier who has held power in the populous African nation for over two decades was ill.
End of AIDS pandemic in sight – US expert Nelson Mandela celebrating his birthday with family in Qunu, South Africa yesterday
to volunteer work and projects for the needy — one minute to mark each of Mandela’s 67 years in public service. South Africa came to a virtual standstill early in the day as strangers greeted each other in the streets and even infants at one pre-school waved at passersby and sang: “We love you, Tata,” or “great father,” a supreme term of endearment. But the spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness that Mandela epitomizes has lost its luster in the country as the fruits of political liberation have failed to bring
most South Africans a better life. Control of Africa’s biggest economy remains firmly in the hands of the minority whites. The education system to uplift poor South Africans is a shambles. Violent crime is rampant. A small percentage of blacks have become millionaires, some through corruption and ties to Mandela’s governing African National Congress. The Rev. Frank Chikane, a veteran of the governing African National Congress and former director general in the South African presidency, berated the coun-
PHOTO: AP
try’s leaders as falling far short of Mandela and his principles, compromising themselves with greed and corruption instead of serving the people. In a speech marking the U.N.designated International Mandela Day, Chikane said Mandela and his contemporaries were never “for sale ... There were no tenders, no houses, no fancy cars.” He said a woman veteran of the struggle for democratic rule had called him crying, to say “It pains me to think that this is what my husband died for.”
24 die as Tanzania’s ferry sinks off Zanzibar
Tanzanian ferry carrying at least 250 people has sunk near the island of Zanzibar. An operation to rescue passengers has been launched by the navy and police. The boat had left the city of Dar es Salaam earlier in the day. The navy said the MV Skagit got into difficulty because of strong winds. A Zanzibari minister said 24 people had died. Two are said to be Europeans. Dozens of other people are missing and 145 people have been rescued. The BBC’s Aboubakar Famau in Dar es Salaam said the MV Skagit left the mainland at 12:00
WORLD BULLETIN Ethiopia’s PM in critical state in hospital
local time (09:00 GMT) bound for the main island of the semi-autonomous archipelago. The journey usually takes about two hours. Thirty-one children are believed to have been on board, our reporter says. A safety officer at the Zanzibar Port Corporation told Reuters news agency the ferry was now “bottom-up”. Last September, nearly 200 people died when an overcrowded boat with 800 people aboard sank off Zanzibar. The route between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar is a busy crossing, popular with both Tanzanians and foreign tourists.
Wrapped in blankets survivors of the MV Karama Star Gate, ferry accident PHOTO: AP are brought into Malindi port in Zanzibar yesterday.
Three decades into the AIDS pandemic an end to new infections is in sight, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “We don’t even know if a cure is possible. What we know is it is possible that we can end this pandemic even without a cure,” Fauci told AFP in an interview ahead of the International AIDS conference July 22-27 in the US capital. Some 34 million people around the world are living with human immunodeficiency virus, which has killed 25 million since it first emerged in the 1980s. The theme of this conference, held every two years, is “Turning the Tide Together,” and is based on experts sharing knowledge of the latest advances and how to best implement them in order to halt new cases of HIV/AIDS.
ICC launches probe into Mali’s crisis
Mali rebels are accused of executions, rapes and the use of child soldiers The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched a preliminary inquiry into alleged atrocities committed in rebel-held northern Mali. ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the move followed a request by the Malian government, BBC has reported. Armed groups - including Islamist rebels - are accused of executions, rapes and the use of child soldiers. The rebels took control of northern Mali after an army coup in March in the impoverished West African country. “I have instructed my office to immediately proceed with a preliminary examination of the situation.”