Nation cautioned against Mandela panic

SOUTH Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is "doing very, very well" while undergoing unspecified medical tests at a military hospital, the nation's defense minister said Monday.

The office of the presidency said the anti-apartheid icon was being kept in the hospital for a third day for more tests.

Mandela is revered by South Africans, and by many people around the world, for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and for preaching reconciliation once he emerged from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars. He won South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994 that marked the end of apartheid.

South Africans tensely awaited word Monday on Mandela even as authorities tried to offer reassurances, but gave no details.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula spoke to journalists outside 1 Military Hospital in the capital, Pretoria, after seeing Mandela, 94. She offered the first government confirmation that Mandela, who has received military medical care since 2011, is at that hospital.

"He's doing very, very well," she said. "And it is important to keep him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause a state of panic because I think that is not what all of us need."

A statement issued later Monday by the office of President Jacob Zuma said Mandela "had a good night's rest. The doctors will still conduct further tests today. He is in good hands. "

On Saturday, Zuma's office announced Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital for medical tests and care that was "consistent for his age". Zuma visited Mandela Sunday and found the former leader to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

After serving one five-year term, the Nobel laureate retired from public life and later settled in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area. He last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. He has grown increasingly frail in recent years.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Springsteen, Lady Gaga join Stones concert

BRUCE Springsteen, Lady Gaga and The Black Keys will join the Rolling Stones for the final concert marking the band's 50th anniversary.

The Stones have played in London and New York on their 50 and Counting tour.

The band will perform on Wednesday at the 12-12-12 concert in New York City to raise money for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt braces for rival protests in Cairo

EGYPT was bracing for rival protests to take place in Cairo on Tuesday over a bitterly divisive referendum on a new constitution, prompting President Mohammed Morsi to order the army to help "preserve security".

The duelling demonstrations, organised by Islamists backing Morsi and the largely secular opposition, raised fears of street clashes like ones last week in which seven people were killed and hundreds injured.

Morsi's decree instructing the military to fully co-operate with police "to preserve security and protect vital state institutions for a temporary period, up to the announcement of the results from the referendum" came into force on Monday.

Army officers "all have powers of legal arrest," it says.

The military, which has urged dialogue and warned it "will not allow" the political crisis to deteriorate, has for several days kept tanks and troops deployed around Morsi's presidential palace.

Late on Monday, soldiers merely watched as more than 100 anti-Morsi demonstrators milled around in front of the palace, an AFP correspondent said.

The rights group Amnesty International called Morsi's security decree "a dangerous loophole which may well lead to the military trial of civilians," recalling the 16 months of army rule that followed the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak last year, until Morsi's election in June 2012.

The opposition, made up of secular, liberal, left wing and Christian groups, has said it will escalate its protests to scupper the referendum.

It views the new constitution largely drawn up by Morsi's Islamist allies, including some who want to see Sharia law implemented one day, as undermining secular traditions, human and gender rights, and the independence of the judiciary.

Morsi has defiantly pushed on with the draft charter, seeing it as necessary to secure democratic reform in the wake of Mubarak's 30-year autocratic rule.

The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, has called for huge protests in Cairo to reject the constitutional referendum, which is scheduled for Saturday.

"We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people," National Salvation Front spokesman Sameh Ashour told a news conference.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, said Islamist movements would counter the protests with their own big rallies in the capital in support of the referendum.

"We are calling for a demonstration on Tuesday, under the slogan 'Yes to legitimacy'," the Brotherhood's spokesman, Mahmud Ghozlan, told AFP.

Morsi's camp argues it is up to the people to accept or reject the draft constitution.

Cairo schools informed parents they would be closed as a precaution on Tuesday.

A group of senior judges on Monday said pro-Morsi Islamist protesters would have to lift a week-long sit-in outside the constitutional court before they would consider overseeing the referendum.

If the charter is rejected, Morsi has promised to have a new one drawn up by 100 officials chosen directly by the public rather than appointed by the Islamist-dominated parliament.

But analysts said still-strong public support for Morsi and the Brotherhood's proven ability to mobilise at grassroots level would likely help the draft constitution be adopted.

If that happens, warned Eric Trager, analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, it would "set up the country for prolonged instability."

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Putin slams US 're-Sovietisation' claims

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has denied that he is trying to reinvent the Soviet Union, dismissing as "rubbish" accusations by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton last week called Putin's initiative to unite former Soviet countries into a Eurasian Union and Customs Union "a move to re-Sovietise the region."

While meeting top activists in his presidential campaign on Monday, Putin dismissed such comparisons, saying there are economic rather than political reasons for uniting the former Soviet allies.

"It's very strange to hear when some colleagues abroad say that ... it is a rebirth of Russia's ambitions as the former Soviet Union. What rubbish.

"This is a process which is totally natural.

"We have a common language, to a certain extent a common mentality, a common transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure," he said.

Russian State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin was even more abrasive in his comments, comparing Clinton's "intervention and prevention of positive processes" of post-Soviet integration to the "clumsy gait of a lame duck," according to Interfax news agency.

Clinton is due to leave office when President Barack Obama begins his second mandate following his presidential election victory last month.

"Let's make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it," Clinton said last Friday ahead of meeting Russia's foreign minister in Dublin.

Uniting ex-Soviet countries into the Eurasian Union was first proposed by Putin in a pre-election article last October.

He called the project a "historical breakthrough" that will change the geopolitical configuration of the continent.

Currently Russia is in a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which is proclaimed as a basis for further integration in the region.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Life-sized replica of Noah's Ark unveiled

A FULL-SCALE replica of Noah's Ark has opened its doors to the public in The Netherlands.

Stormy weather on Monday could do nothing to dampen the good mood of its creator, Dutchman Johan Huibers. In fact, the rain was appropriate.

In the Biblical story, God orders Noah to build a boat big enough to save animals and Noah's family while Earth is covered in an enormous flood.

Johan interpreted the description given in Genesis to build his ark. It measures in at a whopping 130 metres long, 29 metres across and 23 metres high.

Huibers says he realised a 20-year dream to educate people about history and faith. The ark has received permission to receive up to 3000 visitors a day.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

McDonald's sales rise in November

MCDONALD'S says that a key sales figure rose in November.

The increase follows a decline in October, the first drop in McDonald's key monthly sales gauge in nearly a decade.

The US-based company said global sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 2.4 per cent for the month ended November 30. The figure is a key metric because it strips out the impact of newly opened and closed locations.

The figure rose 2.5 per cent in the US It went up 1.4 per cent in Europe, where it gets 40 per cent of its business, as strength in the UK, Russia and other markets were offset by weakness in Germany.

In the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East and Africa, it edged up 0.6 per cent, hurt by results in Japan.

Systemwide sales, which includes sales at all restaurants, rose 3.2 per cent.

After years of outperforming its rivals, McDonald's has seen sales growth slow as the company faces intensifying competition and an uncertain global economy. Its global revenue at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 1.8 per cent in October. The last time it had dropped was in March 2003.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

At least 13 dead after floods in Congo

AT least 13 people have died in the Republic of Congo and two dozen others were injured after torrential rains caused homes to collapse in southern Brazzaville.

A Red Cross official said 13 bodies had been recovered over the weekend, while Laurel Kihounzou, mayor of the southern Brazzaville district of Makelekele, told reporters that at least 26 people were injured.

According to witnesses, dozens of houses collapsed after a river in the Makelekele neighbourhood burst its banks.

Police confirmed the death toll, adding that they had provided shelter to nearly 600 residents affected by the flooding.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Duchess of Cambridge pregnant

KATE Middleton is expecting a baby and has been admitted to hospital with acute morning sickness, St James' Palace has announced.

The BBC reports that members of the royal family are delighted by the news.

A Palace spokesman said the duchess was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in central Lnodon with very acute morning sickness and is expected to stay for several days.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope takes to Twitter

POPE Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex in time for Christmas as the Vatican tries to woo the global internet generation.

"The first tweets will be answers to questions sent to the pope on matters of faith. The public can start sending them starting now," Vatican communications adviser Greg Burke said at a press conference on Monday.

The account carries a picture of the pope waving and its number of followers rose from around 2,400 at the time of the announcement to more than 24,000 just an hour later, with numbers continuing to rise sharply.

An introductory message of the account based in "Vatican City" read: "Welcome to the official Twitter page of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI."

"Pontifex" is a Latin word meaning "pontiff", the pope's official title.

Benedict will only follow his own account in other languages for the moment and there are no plans for a Facebook account yet, Burke said, adding: "Twitter can be more effective than Facebook in passing on the Pope's message."

The tweets will be in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish and more languages could be added in future.

Several fake Twitter accounts already set up in the pope's name have been used to mock the 85-year-old pontiff, but the Vatican said it was not worried about the risk that hostile messages would be tweeted on the real account.

Burke, a former correspondent for US channel Fox News brought in by the Vatican in June to overhaul its public-relations operation, said the pope's Twitter account would create "a free market of ideas, and that is good".

It would serve up "pearls of wisdom coming from the heart of the pope", he said, though the 140-character messages will not be written by the pope himself but by Vatican officials who will submit them to him for approval.

"We are going to get a spiritual message. The pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no one is going to be putting words into the pope's mouth. He will tweet what he wants to tweet," Burke said.

The Vatican said: "The pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena."

Benedict wants "to ensure that the good news of Jesus Christ and the teaching of his Church is permeating the forum of exchange and dialogue that is being created by social media," it added in a statement.

The aim is to "dialogue with men and women of today wherever they are," said Cardinal Claudio Maria Celli of the Pontifical Social Communications Council.

The news of the elderly pontiff's decision to join Twitter received mixed reactions on the online community.

"Does this mean we can just tweet our sins instead of showing up for confession?" asked Twitter user Sandra Hayes.

Ryan Babel said "will he be the first priest to legally be able to follow children?" -- one of many Twitter quips on the Church's sex abuse scandals.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More

Britain seeks appeal over terror suspect

BRITAIN'S interior ministry said on Monday that it has applied for permission to appeal against a decision by judges to block the extradition of terror suspect Abu Qatada to Jordan.

"We confirm that we have submitted our grounds for appeal," a Home Office spokesman told AFP.

A judge will consider the bid to challenge last month's move by Britain's Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) blocking the extradition over fears that evidence obtained through torture could be used in Abu Qatada's trial.

The radical Islamist cleric -- dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe -- was released on bail following the SIAC ruling, in a severe blow to the British government.

British authorities have kept him in custody for most of the last decade and repeatedly tried to send him to Jordan to face trial.

Abu Qatada was convicted in absentia in Jordan in 1998 for involvement in terror attacks, but both British and European judges have accepted his argument that evidence obtained by torture might be used against him in a retrial.

Prime Minister David Cameron said last month that he was "completely fed up with the fact that this man is still at large in our country".

Abu Qatada, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin in his early 50s, is currently under curfew 16 hours a day and is wearing an electronic tag, but he is free to leave his home in northwest London between 8am and 4pm.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled earlier this year that he could not be deported while there was a "real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him" in a possible retrial.

Home Secretary Theresa May ordered his extradition anyway after Jordan gave assurances that he would be treated fairly.

But SIAC, a semi-secret panel of British judges that deals with national security matters, agreed last month with the European judges that he should not be deported, and he was freed on bail.

The commission said statements from Abu Qatada's former co-defendants Al-Hamasher and Abu Hawsher may have been obtained by torture and created a risk that any trial would be unfair.

The government can only challenge the ruling if it is found that there were legal problems with SIAC's ruling.

The cleric, whose real name is Omar Mohammed Othman, arrived in Britain in 1993 claiming asylum and has been a thorn in the side of successive British governments.

Videos of his sermons were found in the Hamburg flat used by some of the hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He has also defended the killing of Jews and attacks on Americans.

A Spanish judge once branded him the right-hand man in Europe of the late Al-Qaeda leader although Abu Qatada denies ever having met bin Laden.

23.53 | 0 komentar | Read More