Miracles in France are not, apparently, what they were. Or not according to the critics of a new initiative in Lourdes, the famous centre of Christian pilgrimage in the mountains of south-west France, known for the scores of Catholic believers who, it is claimed, have recovered from serious illnesses there.
Celebrities always complain about invasions of privacy, so when the gossip website Gawker allowed fans to post sightings of their favourite stars on a street map of Manhattan, it was bound to cause a stir. But one of Hollywood’s biggest names, George Clooney has taken the battle back to the stalkers.
A convoy of cars, their roof racks piled high with boxes and bags, inches along the hairpin bends of the mountain road, passing men on foot bent double under the weight of sacks of belongings. Passengers point at piles of rubble where their homes stood before the Pakistani earthquake ripped them apart six months ago.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on Saturday as he wound up a three-day state visit to South Africa and headed home to face factional violence in Gaza. Abbas paid tribute to the African National Congress veteran as the ”father of all liberation movements”.
The African National Congress has accused the Democratic Alliance of illegally trying to purge Cape Town city manager Wallace Mgoqi from his post. ”It has been clear from [mayor Helen] Zille’s media comments that she is determined to fire Dr Mgoqi by any means,” Matthew Parks, an ANC deputy secretary in the metro, said on Saturday.
An African National Congress meeting at Schweizer-Reneke in the North West was abandoned after an exchange of blows among branch members, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Saturday. The meeting was about the election of a mayor who has been surrounded by controversy, the station said.
More than a month has passed since authorities in Kenya pledged a fresh drive against high-level graft in the corruption-riddled East African country, but no assets have been seized, as promised. The first group of high-profile Kenyans suspected of looting public coffers recently appeared in court on related charges.
Rivers swollen by recent rain and melting snow flooded towns in the Czech Republic and Germany, and forced evacuations of thousands people from their homes on Saturday. Eight cities in Germany were affected by floods, with 1 300 people forced to leave their homes.
Employers in the private security industry reached a three-year wage agreement on Saturday night with 14 unions from the sector, parties said in a joint statement. Negotiations began last year and resulted in a two-day strike in March. According to the agreement, there will be a 26% increase in benefits over a three-year period.
African leaders have the capacity to assist the African masses, despite systematic distortions of African history, President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday. Delivering a lecture on perspectives on Africa, Mbeki said this capacity could see Africans analyse their collective strengths and weaknesses and plot a way to a better future.