Archbishop Tutu wins $1m for 'speaking truth'

Tutu has recently called for the prosecution of Tony Blair and George Bush for their role in invading Iraq [EPA]

 

A foundation promoting good governance in Africa says it will give anti-apartheid hero Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa a $1m award for "speaking truth to power".
The London-based Mo Ibrahim Foundation announced the one-off award on Thursday, saying Tutu "is and has throughout his life been one of Africa's great voices for justice, freedom, democracy and responsible, responsive government".
A Nobel peace laureate, Tutu was an anti-apartheid leader during the most desperate years of the struggle against racist rule and has continued to be outspoken on world events.
He has been particularly critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and China's treatment of Tibetans.
Last month Tutu caused a stir, calling for Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister, and former US president George W Bush to face trial in The Hague for their role in the Iraq war.
Writing in the Observer newspaper, Tutu, who turned down an invitation to attend a conference in South Africa where Blair was the main speaker, accused the two men of lying about weapons of mass destruction.
He said the invasion left the world more destabilised and divided "than any other conflict in history".
The foundation, founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim, also gives an annual $5m prize for good governance in Africa, awarded to a former head of state.
Recent recipients of the award include former presidents Festus Mogae, Joachim Chissano and Pedro Verona of Botswana, Mozambique and Cape Verde respectively.

source:aljazeera

Mikel Obi launches ‘Matured Money Minds’ record label

Super Eagles and Chelsea FC midfielder John Mikel Obi has ventured into music business.

With the help of his younger brother Patrick Obi, the 25-year-old football star has set up his Matured Money Minds (MMM) entertainment label and has already signed  a couple of music acts.

The acts include: Charass, Kido, Edgar, and Splash.

Obama’s 20th wedding anniversary falls on debate night

President Barack Obama and wife Michelle will be marking their wedding anniversary with a debate night.
The couple’s 20th anniversary is Wednesday, the same day the president will hold his first debate with Republican rival Mitt Romney. “Go figure,” the first lady said in a recent television interview.

The president says he and his wife have planned a belated anniversary celebration on Saturday. His campaign is also asking supporters to sign an electronic anniversary card for the first couple.
The Obamas will at least spend their anniversary in the same city, a rarity given that both are frequently in battleground states in the campaign’s final weeks. Mrs. Obama plans to be in the audience in Denver when her husband takes the debate stage.

source: the washington post

South African President Jacob Zuma opens new Eastern Cape schools

South Africa President Jacob Zuma opened 49 new schools in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday as the government moved to improve education in the province with a multi-million rand programme to replace "mud schools" with proper facilities.
 
Mphathiswa Senior Primary School pupils sing to welcome President Jacob Zuma to their school in the Eastern Cape, 2 October 2012
A total of 12 450 learners in the districts of Libode, Lusikisiki and Mthatha are expected to benefit from South Africa's Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (Asidi), which aims to eradicate inappropriate schools, as well as refurbish dilapidated and ill-equipped schools.
At Mphathiswa Senior Primary School, Zuma marked the programme's implementation "by replacing 49 inappropriate schools with new schools, providing 190 schools with electricity, providing 237 schools with sanitation and providing 173 schools with water," the Presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 49 school sites, located in the Libode, Lusikisiki and Mthatha Districts, were handed over to 16 contractors in January. The construction value is approximately R675-million.
Small primary schools would be provided with seven classrooms and medium primary schools with 14 classrooms, while each school would be provided with a Grade R classroom, administration block, science laboratory, multi-media centre (library and computer lab), multipurpose class room, nutrition centre, ablution facilities, water infrastructure and electricity, the Presidency said.
Countrywide, the programme had so far seen 155 schools in seven provinces being provided with sanitation facilities, 187 with water and 99 with electricity.
In the 2012/13 to 2013/14 financial years, the programme aims to replace 100 inappropriate or "mud schools" with new schools while providing 714 schools with electricity, 514 schools with sanitation and 1 069 schools with water.
In the 2013/14 to 2014/15 financial years, it aims to replace 346 inappropriate schools with new schools.
Opening the new Mphathiswa Senior Primary School, Zuma reiterated his call for teachers to be in school, in class, on time, teaching for at least seven hours a day. "We cannot meet our target of 100 percent enrolment for 2014 while we do not have proper schools and qualified teachers," he said.
"The challenge remaining on the part of this school and the other schools we are providing with new facilities is to ensure that these facilities are maintained in good form and that every attempt should be made to preserve this investment for the benefit of future generations.
"Our learners, educators and our parents need to know that new facilities are not all that is needed for quality education," Zuma said.
The President said that quality education also depended on the enthusiasm and dedication of learners and the skills and commitment of educators.
"We would also like to invite communities to make more use of our schools. Remember, they are public schools, not state schools! Use them after hours for social, cultural, religious or sporting activities. Make them the centre of your community - a place where children feel at home.
"School sport events, or music festivals, create a wonderful sense of community spirit, and help also to seal some of the gashes that remain in the fabric of our society," he said.
Source: SANews.gov.za

South Africa scientist wins US research grant

The University of Cape Town's Professor Valerie Mizrahi was one of only 13 science researchers in the world to receive a Senior International Research Scholar (SIRS) award from American non-profit organisation Howard Hughes Medical Institute last week.
Mizrahi is the director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at UCT and is studying the organism that causes human tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The institute looks to understand metabolic flexibility and identify vulnerabilities within the disease in order to discover new drugs to combat the disease.

Scientific and technological skills are key to South Africa's competitiveness

Furthering biomedical research

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) International Programme supports scientists working in countries outside the United States where further basic biomedical research can be furthered.
The SIRS programme is the latest of the institute's policies to assist scientists around the world and aims to strengthen the global network of biomedical researchers.
Each senior research scholar will receive an annual grant of US$100 000 for five years and will get the opportunity to present their research at HHMI, which will facilitate the exchange of new ideas, stimulate research and allow for collaboration.
"These senior international research scholars are world leaders in their research areas. They will complement our efforts to support international early career scientists in a positive way," HHMI's vice president and chief scientific officer, Jack Dixon, said in a statement.
  
Professor Valerie Mizrahi from the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town

Mentoring the next generation of scientists

"Scientific research is a global endeavour, and these grants will provide an opportunity for these highly creative and accomplished scientists to explore new avenues of biomedical research and to mentor promising early career scientists across the world," said HHMI president, Robert Tjian.
The opportunity to mentor young scientists falls under the institute's new initiative, the International Early Career Scientist Programme, which provides funding for a select group of scientists who are in the early stages of their careers and working outside the United States.
It was launched earlier this year.
"What inspired me is the focus on mentoring early career scientists," Mizrahi said. "That's where my passion is and that's what I want to throw my energy into."
Mizrahi has won numerous other awards through the course of her work, including the 2000 UNESCO-L'Oreal for Women in Science, the 2006 Distinguished Woman Scientist Award from the Science and Technology Department and the Order of the Mapungubwe: Silver for contributions to biochemistry and molecular biology in the country.
She was also elected into the Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology and given an 'A' rating by the National Rearch Foundation in 2009.
SAinfo reporter

Latter-day Saints Gather for General Conference

Thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) will gather this Saturday and Sunday at the Conference Centre in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, USA to attend general conference. Millions more around the world, including the United Kingdom, will watch on the Internet or by satellite broadcast in more than 6,000 Church buildings.

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Presiding at the 183rd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be President Thomas Spencer Monson, the 16th president of the Church.

General conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are gatherings of leaders and members of the Church and anyone else wishing to hear messages of faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel. Scriptural doctrines are taught, hymns are sung and prayers are given, all in effort to urge people to live more Christian lives.

source: mormonnewsroom

Film Sliming Obama Parents Hits Swing States

Images of President Obama and Frank Marshall Lewis (Dreams From My Real Father)

With President Obama pulling out ahead of Mitt Romney in some national voter polls, it's no surprise that some right-wing partisans are resorting to tactics of pure desperation. Wild conspiracy theories and attacks on a candidate's dead mother are about as low as anyone can go -- even more troubling when they attract the endorsement of a GOP  official.

For a while now, pictures purporting to show Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, modeling in 1950s bondage and fetish porn have been floating around the darker corners of the Internet. Now, though, they’ve made their way into a pseudo-documentary, Joel Gilbert’s Dreams From My Real Father, which is being mailed to voters in swing states, promoted by several Tea Party groups and by at least one high-level Republican. At the same time, Dinesh D’Souza’s latest book, Obama’s America—the first of all his works to hit the top spot on The New York Times bestseller list—has a chapter essentially calling Dunham a fat slut. If Obama is reelected, it’s hard to imagine where the right goes from here.
It’s tempting to ignore Dreams From My Real Father because it’s so preposterous. The movie claims that Obama’s actual father was the poet and left-wing activist Frank Marshall Davis, who Dunham met through her father, who was a CIA agent merely posing as a furniture salesman....

source: the root