Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 —53
Nelson Mandela critically ill in hospital
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ELSON Mandela has become critically ill in hospital, the South African presidency has announced. In a statement, President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela's doctors were "doing everything possible to get his condition to improve". "He is in good hands," said Mr Zuma. South Africa's first black president, who is 94, was taken to hospital earlier this month for the third time this year, with a recurrent lung infection. The statement said Mr Zuma had visited Mr Mandela in hospital in Pretoria on Sunday evening and was told the former president's condition had worsened over the past 24 hours. "The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands," said President Zuma, using Mr Mandela's clan name by
which he is widely known in South Africa. There has been little information about Mr Mandela's condition in recent days. On 13 June Mr Zuma, who releases all updates relating to the revered leader, said the former president's •Nelson Mandela health continued to improve but that his preaching reconciliation condition remained despite being imprisoned serious. More recently, one for 27 years. He left power of Mr Mandela's after five years as grandsons, Ndaba president. The former Mandela, said his president and Nobel Peace grandfather was getting Prize winner is believed to better and he hoped he have suffered damage to his lungs while working in would be home soon. Mandela's wife, Graca a prison quarry. He contracted Machel, thanked all those who had sent messages of tuberculosis in the 1980s support, saying they had while being held in jail on brought "love, comfort and the windswept Robben hope". Mandela is revered Island. Mr Mandela for leading the fight against retired from public life in white minority rule in 2004 and has rarely been South Africa and then seen at official events since.
On Saturday, it emerged that the ambulance in which Mr Mandela was taken to hospital on 8 June broke down, meaning he had to be moved to another vehicle. But Mr Zuma said he had been assured that "all care was taken to ensure his medical condition was not compromised". "There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care," he said.
N. Africa’s Al-Qaeda says European hostages still alive
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IGHT hostages North Africa’s AlQaeda is holding are still alive. In a statement on Twitter, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it would soon release a video of the captives. Five of the hostages are said to be French, the nationalities of the others are not clear. The statement came after rallies were held across France organised by families of four of the hostages. The events in Paris, Saint-Cere, Nimes, Nantes and Orleans marked 1,000 days of their captivity. “We would like to reassure the families and parents of the hostages of their children’s safety. We will soon, God willing, air a new video showing the five French hostages,” the statement said, reproduced on several jihadist websites. It repeated previous statements by AQIM that the group would kill the hostages if France carried out any new military operations in North Africa. France sent troops to Mali in January after al-Qaedalinked militants threatened to over-run the capital,
*Supporters of four French hostages held rallies marking 1,000 days of captivity
Bamako. AQIM said it remained open to negotiations. Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe, Pierre Legrand and Marc Feret were kidnapped in Niger by militants in September
2010 in the town of Arlit while working for a French nuclear firm. A video released in September 2012 provided the first evidence that they were still alive. Mr Legrand’s grandfather, Rene Robert,
told French TV on Saturday that “there have been a lot of missed opportunities, there has been a lot of time lost and it is time to bring this situation to an end”.
Malaysia declares smog emergency
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A L AY S I A declared a state of emergency in two parts of the southern state of Johor on Sunday, as smoke from land-clearing fires in Indonesia pushed air pollution above the level considered hazardous.
The illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, to the west of peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem during the June-September dry
season. The “haze” caused by fires in Riau province on Sumatra has also shrouded neighbouring Singapore but air quality in the city state improved over the weekend after reaching hazardous levels.
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museum has probed into a real-life cause of a mummy’s tomb after a relic almost 4,000-years old started moving on its own. The 10-inch-tall statuette of a man called Neb-Senu, which dates back to 1800 BC, mysteriously spun180 degrees with nobody going near it, the Mirror reported. Curators were baffled after they kept finding it facing the wrong way and rigged up a time-lapse camera to catch whoever was moving it. But incredibly the camera shows the figure
4,000-yearold mummy in UK spins moving on its own accord in front of crowds of visitors who passed by with hardly a second look. TV brainbox Brian Cox, who presents programmes such as the Wonders of Life, is among a group of experts being asked if they have any idea what is causing the phenomenon. The statue has been in the Manchester Museum for over 80 years.
Edward Snowden seeks Ecuador asylum
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U G I T I V E whistleblower Edward Snowden embarked on a new stage in his life on the run on Sunday night, fleeing Hong Kong by plane to Russia and lodging a bid to claim asylum in Ecuador. Snowden has also had his U.S. passport revoked, an official said Sunday. It was annulled before he left Hong Kong for Russia and while that could complicate his travel plans, the lack of a passport alone could not thwart his plans, the U.S. official said. If a senior official in another country or with an airline orders it, a country could overlook the withdrawn passport, the official said. Snowden, a former CIA contractor who leaked the controversial US spy programme, also made fresh claims about US hacking attacks against China, which yesterday
•Edward Snowden termed the US as the “biggest villain” in cyber espionage. Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is seeking asylum in Ecuador, the Quito government said on Sunday, after Hong Kong let him leave its territory despite Washington’s efforts to extradite him on espionage charges. An aircraft believed to be carrying Snowden landed in Moscow, and the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks said in a statement he was “bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum”
15 killed in Kenya attack
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T least 15 people were killed in a grenade attack on Sunday in a remote village in northern Kenya where low-key clan clashes have displaced hundreds of people in the past week, the Kenya Red Cross and local officials said. P a s t o r a l i s t communities in northern Kenya have long wrangled over the control of highly valuable grazing land. But the fighting, in which more than 20
villagers have been killed in the past two days in Mandera county, near the east African nation’s frontier with Ethiopia and Somalia, has marked an escalation in tension. Residents say the political class in the area are using clan militia to jostle for top positions in the local administration and to settle old scores. The epicenter of the fighting is located about 800 km from the capital Nairobi.