Saturday, 15 November 2008
Friday, 14 November 2008
Man 'tried to sell' albino wife!
Police in southwestern Tanzania say they have arrested a man accused of attempting to sell his albino wife.
The man was allegedly planning to sell his wife to two Congolese businessmen for around $3,000.
Albinos have been living in fear in Tanzania after a series of killings due to a belief their body parts can make magic potions more effective.
At least 27 people with albinism have been killed since March, including a seven-month old baby.
President Jakaya Kikwete ordered a police crackdown on those involved in the killings, and 170 witchdoctors have since been arrested.
But BBC investigations suggest that some police are being "bought off" in order to look away when such crimes are committed.
Angry parents
Rukwa regional police commander Isunto Damian Mantage said the fisherman was arrested following a tip-off from an informer, according to the Daily News newspaper.
His wife was not aware that he was planning to sell her off, police say.
Mr Mantage says the wife's angry parents have decided to take back their daughter.
The businessmen managed to escape arrest, and are suspected to have fled back to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The police have asked Interpol to help track them down, the newspaper reported.
The recent attacks on albinos have been linked to witchdoctors who are peddling the belief that potions made from an albino's legs, hair, hands, and blood can make a person rich.
Albinism affects one in 20,000 people worldwide, but in Tanzania the prevalence appears to be much higher.
The Albino Association of Tanzania says that although just 4,000 albinos are officially registered in the country, they believe the actual number could be as high as 173,000.
A census is now underway to verify the figures.Monday, 10 November 2008
Obama's Inner Circle Shares Inside Story
A must read!
(CBS) When Barack Obama began thinking of running for president two years ago, he turned to a small inner circle of political advisors from his 2004 Senate campaign. Like Obama, they were talented, laid back and idealistic with limited exposure on the national stage.
But with the candidate's help, they orchestrated what some consider one of the most improbable and effective campaigns in American political history. They took a little-known senator with a foreign sounding name and almost no national experience and got him elected as the 44th president of the United States. They did it by recruiting and vesting millions of volunteers in the outcome, by raising more money than any campaign in history, and by largely ignoring that their candidate happed to be a black man.
When President-elect Obama gave his victory speech Tuesday night in Chicago's Grant Park, he was quick to give credit. "To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics,” the president-Elect said, “You made this happen.”
Who was Obama talking about and how did they do it? Ninety minutes after the speech ended, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft sat down with them in a Chicago hotel suite. It was 1.a.m. Wednesday and the reality of it all was just beginning to sink in.
"We just left Grant Park. What are you feeling'?" Kroft asked.
"Little numb. A little tired. A little overwhelmed," David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist and political alter ego, replied.
The group also included David Plouffe, the camera shy campaign manager and field general who made it all happen. "Yeah. I mean, it's been a 22-month road, and a lotta twists and turns. But you know, I think he filled the stage tonight," Plouffe told Kroft.
There was senior aide Robert Gibbs, who was always at Obama's side, his former and future press secretary. "And it was fun to watch all the people come out who've been part of the campaign. And…," Gibbs rasped, clearing his throat.
He told Kroft he lost his voice "within the last few hours."
And finally Anita Dunn, a relative newcomer who handled communications, research and policy.
The only person missing from the brain trust was the candidate himself.
How big a role did he play in this campaign?
"Well, no one had a bigger role, you know. The great thing about our campaign was we didn't have a lotta discussion about what our message was or what he wanted to do," Plouffe said. "From the beginning, he knew exactly what he wanted to say. And it's one of the reasons we were successful. A lotta campaigns will spend hours every day wondering about how to change their message. And he was pretty clear about what he wanted to say, where he wanted to take the country, and either people would accept it or they wouldn't."
It began 22 months ago on a frigid day in Springfield, Ill., almost it seemed on an impulse. There was no money and no real organization - only a vast untapped reservoir of disaffected voters and potential volunteers.
"This campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us. It must be about what we can do together," Sen. Obama said in the February 2007 Springfield speech.
Axelrod recalled, "When we started the campaign, we met around a table like this. And there was just a handful of us. You know, we started with nothing. And Barack said to us, 'I want this to be a grassroots campaign. I wanna reinvigorate our democracy. First of all I think that’s the only way we can win and secondly I want to rekindle some idealism that together we can get things done in this country,"
Asked if they seriously thought Obama had a shot, Plouffe told Kroft, "We thought he had a shot. I actually think we knew what big underdogs we were. And he got into this in a very unusual way. Most people plan this from years. They spend a lotta time in Iowa and New Hampshire planning for it. We got into this very unconventionally."
"We planned for days days…," Axelrod joked.
"For days," Plouffe replied, laughing. "And in many respects, that made it challenging. But I think we were better for it. Because we were more agile. We were not afraid to take risks. And we didn't have the stifling pressure of expectations."
"My fundamental concern for him wasn't whether he had the capacity, 'cause I think he's the smartest guy that I've ever worked with or known," Axelrod said.
"But it was whether he had that pathological drive to be president. You know, so often, what defines presidential candidates is this need to be president, to define themselves. He didn't have that. And, you know, we told him, 'You're gonna have to find some other way to motivate yourself.' And he did, which was what he could do as president."
Continue reading story here>
Calzaghe wallops Roy Jones Jnr!
It's been a bad week for the old guys - first John McCain, and now Roy Jones Jr. In both cases, you didn't have to be Nostradamus to predict the result.
What did the fight at Madison Square Garden in the early hours of Sunday morning prove? That Joe Calzaghe is one of the greatest fighters Britain has ever produced and that Jones' best days are long behind him. But then most of us knew that already.
What it did reveal is that the pride of Newbridge, still blowing like a whirlwind at the age of 36, has got plenty left in the tank. What price a swansong at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium next summer? I'll lay you 2-1.
Calzaghe said in his autobiography that he thought Jones was "washed up" three years ago after shocking knockout defeats to Antonio Tarver (twice) and Glen Johnson. He revised his opinion in the build-up to this fight. But he was right first time.
For the first four rounds some journalists ringside thought they might be witnessing a Garden classic, to rank alongside Robinson-LaMotta and Ali-Frazier. But from the sixth round on Jones was just another Garden ghost. As Jones said later, "Joe's pitter-pats were harder than I thought".
However gratifying it was to see Calzaghe put in a virtuoso performance at the "mecca of boxing", you'd be a hard-hearted fight fan not to feel sad at seeing the once untouchable Jones lumbering forward with hands held high, bloodied, just waiting for the final bell to toll.
Continue reading this story here>
A legend is dead! RIP Mama Africa!
South African singing legend Miriam Makeba has died aged 76, after being taken ill in Italy.
She had just taken part in a concert near the southern town of Caserta, the Ansa news agency reported.
The concert was on behalf of Roberto Saviano, the author of an expose of the Camorra mafia whose life has subsequently been threatened.
Ms Makeba appeared on Paul Simon's Graceland tour in 1987 and in 1992 had a leading role in the film Sarafina!
Ansa said she died of a heart attack.
'Mama Africa'
Ms Makeba was born in Johannesburg on 4 March 1932 and was a leading symbol in the struggle against apartheid.
Her singing career started in the 1950s as she mixed jazz with traditional South African songs.
She came to international attention in 1959 during a tour of the United States with the South African group the Manhattan Brothers.
She was forced into exile soon after when her passport was revoked after starring in an anti-apartheid documentary and did not return to her native country until Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
Makeba was the first black African woman to win a Grammy Award, which she shared with Harry Belafonte in 1965.
She was African music's first world star, says the BBC's Richard Hamilton, blending different styles long before the phrase "world music" was coined.
After her divorce from fellow South African musician Hugh Masekela she married American civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael.
It was while living in exile in the US that she released her most famous songs, Pata Pata and the Click Song.
"You sing about those things that surround you," she said. "Our surrounding has always been that of suffering from apartheid and the racism that exists in our country. So our music has to be affected by all that."
It was because of this dedication to her home continent that Miriam Makeba became known as Mama Africa.
Hat tip: BBC News
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Living with the dead
An elderly woman has been living with two skeletons and a badly decomposed body of her siblings in a suburb of Chicago, one of whom may have died at least 20 years ago, authorities said on Saturday.
The remains were found covered by sheets in various parts of the house in Evanston on Friday but no foul play was suspected.
Authorities said one of the siblings was last seen alive in the 1980s, the second in 2003 and the third in May.
The woman living in the house, described as "upwards of 90 years of age," was cooperating in the investigation and was taken to a facility for care.
Authorities, who did not release the names of the deceased, said a care worker had alerted them to the situation. Autopsies were due to be performed on Saturday.
As reported on Yahoo News
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Friday, 7 November 2008
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Black church burnt after Obama win!
Fire began hours after vote, prompting fears it was arson
A predominantly black church under construction in Springfield was destroyed by fire early yesterday, just hours after Barack Obama's landmark victory, triggering concerns that the building was purposely set ablaze in a possible hate crime.The blaze started at Macedonia Church of God in Christ at 3:10 and caused an estimated $2 million in damage.
Church officials pledged to rebuild, but the concerns that their building was targeted dampened a mood that had been so uplifted in the night of Obama's historic win to become the nation's first black president-elect.
"This was a special time in our nation's history, but I also know not everybody was happy and celebrating," said Bishop Bryant J. Robinson Jr., head of the church. "After 71 years of being an African-American, you know these things happen."
Located on King Street, the church was moving to the site at 215 Tinkham Road, where the fire occurred.
Fire officials were quick to emphasize that the blaze remains under investigation, but the unknown nature of the fire triggered an inquiry that will involve local and state investigators and federal agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is standard procedure for the ATF and local and state officials to investigate after a place of worship burns, and the FBI agreed to assist because of the unknown cause of the blaze.
"I want to caution people not to jump to conclusions and to allow the investigation to take its time and allow the investigation to follow the evidence trail," said state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.
He acknowledged that the congregation could be wary considering the fire's timing, but said investigators have not fully examined what happened. Coan said investigators will inspect the building today using accelerant-sniffing dogs, and detectives will also interview people in the neighborhood. He said the investigation could be a lengthy process.
"Clearly, a fire that occurs in a house of worship, with the close proximity to national events yesterday, is something in the mind of investigators, but it's most important we not reach any conclusions based on the circumstances of those events, but rather allow the evidence to lead us to the conclusion," Coan said.
Responding firefighters found the steel and wood-framed structure fully engulfed.
Firefighters worked to prevent the blaze from spreading to houses, said Dennis G. Leger, a Fire Department spokesman. He said two garden sheds had minor heat damage.
Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, Leger said.
The church, with a construction price tag of $2.5 million, had been more than 75 percent complete, Robinson said. But nothing inside could have sparked a fire on its own, he believes. The electrical system had not been installed.
No one had done anything inside that could have started the fire, he said. Instead, he fears the building was targeted, with the timing of the fire too coincidental to make it random.
"Somebody came in there with an agenda of their own, I believe," Robinson said, recalling days of black churches being torched in the South.
"I've seen segregation. I've seen Jim Crowism," he said. "We've come quite a ways, but we're not that perfect union yet. There's obviously a remnant of that kind of behavior still being practiced, for whatever reason."
The congregation had seen some resistance from the suburban neighborhood when construction was proposed, but the opposition was centered on having such a building in a residential area, and was not related to its 250 members, neighbors said.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the fire, regardless of the cause, is heart-rending for the community. He said he met early yesterday with Robinson, an old friend of his family, and promised that the city would assist with the rebuilding while a task force conducts an extensive investigation.
"Obviously, it's a tragic event," said Sarno, who attended the groundbreaking for the church a year ago.
"It's a sensitive situation. Any house of worship would be a sensitive situation, and that's why it's imperative the experts do their investigation."