I have decided to open this new thread "Only in Naija" to expand the scope of my other thread "The Nigerian Political Class And Their Foreign Counterparts"https://www.nairaland.com/639186/nigerian-political-class-foreign-counterparts/7#14738231which centered mainly on the antics of politicians.

With this thread, we would be also be able to look at other sets of people and events.

Enjoy!

Military Brutality Again

A Daily Searchlight reporter, Andy Odoom, three policemen-L/Cpls Jonathan Fiagbedzi, Bright Amanfo and Mohammed Mansur were victims of the latest round of military brutalities in town.

It was instructive that as the aforementioned persons were being assaulted, bystanders, who could not countenance the ongoing aberration, hooted at the soldiers. Without doubt, the public reaction suggests that the people are opposed to this brutish conduct and would not brook anymore of it.

It took place at a section of the very busy Malam- Kasoa road where[b] a soldier, driving an army vehicle with registration number 73 GA 34, got angry at a reporter who could not pull off for him to overtake him.[/b]

Mr Odoom, the reporter who was at the wheels, had offered the cops a lift but received slaps from the soldiers because of his understandable inability to pull off the road because of the almost bumper-to-bumper traffic situation on the road. When one of the cops queried the soldiers for being unruly, he too was beaten up, paving the way for his colleagues, including a female soldier, to beat up the other policemen.

It was an unprovoked assault session, offering bystanders a spectacle they palpably despised, although the soldiers visibly relished their unruly conduct.

We have composed two editorials on military brutalities since the Independence Day assault on a press photographer by some military policemen and an officer.

Matters bordering on human rights can never be over flogged. It is for this reason that we are re-visiting the issue of military brutalities, with a view to having those responsible for ensuring discipline among uniformed personnel, wake up to their responsibilities.

We are in a 2013 Ghana, peopled by civilised citizens who would not brook 1979 brutalities. We would repeat for the umpteenth time that this nonsense must stop.


We recall a portion of our last editorial on the subject following a so-called apology rendered by government to the victim of the Independence Square military brutality. In that editorial, we expressed misgivings about the government apology explaining that the remorse should have emanated from the military followed by a genuine probe and an appropriate sanction against the defaulters.

Now that another group of soldiers has done the unthinkable of beating up enforcers of the law, which supersedes military law, we think that they have crossed the red line and the need for the military high command to wake up cannot be over-emphasised. Indeed, the situation does not lie within the realm of a PR statement because if we sweep it under the carpet, we would be sending an erroneous message to recruits at the Armed Forces Recruits Training Centre that they can assault civilians including policemen when they so wish and no action would be taken against them. Is this the kind of Ghana we are building in a democratic dispensation?

The gross indiscipline sweeping across the country has doubtlessly not spared the regiments and it is a worrying development which we ignore at the peril of civility in our society. Is there a silent order to soldiers to start beating their civilian compatriots in town?


Source: Daily Guide
Story from Modern Ghana News:
http://www.modernghana.com/news/452051/1/military-brutality-again.html

Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Following the brouhaha about the Alams pardon, let's consider this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 13, 2001, - 1:18 am
Clinton’s Pardons Get Worse

The pardons hit the fan fast and furious in the waning hours of the Clinton presidency.

“You’re not saying these people didn’t commit an offense,” Bill explained about his pardons in the Jan. 22 New York Times. “You’re saying they paid, they paid in full, and they’ve been out long enough after their sentence to show they are good citizens.”

Trouble is, these “good citizens” who “paid in full” keep getting worse:


Everybody knows about Marc Rich, the billionaire fugitive, who never served a day in jail and currently lives “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” in Switzerland. On the FBI’s most wanted list, he was the largest tax evader in U.S. history and sold out America by selling oil to the Iranians, while they held our hostages captive. Why the pardon? Could it be because ex-wife Denise gave millions in contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Hillary’s Senate campaign, Bill’s Presidential Library and the Clintons’ furniture spree?

Then there was Mel Reynolds — ex-congressman and child molester extraordinaire. Likening a prospective party with an underage Catholic schoolgirl to hitting the Lotto, he now works for Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH advising kids. Why did Clinton pardon Reynolds? Because the Rev. Jesse asked him to.

Carlos Vignali — a drug kingpin and one of the largest cocaine dealers in U.S. history — is the latest newsworthy Clinton pardonee. Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times detailed Vignali’s career as “the central player in a cocaine ring that stretched from California to Minnesota,” delivering more than 800 pounds of cocaine. Why did Clinton pardon Vignali, who served only six years of a 15-year sentence for convictions on three counts of federal narcotics violations? Maybe because his father, rich Los Angeles entrepreneur Horacio Vignali, a la Denise Rich, donated over $160,000 to mostly Democrat politicians who wrote to Clinton and then-Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for clemency for Vignali.

And since it’s Black History Month, here’s some black history about the white, Hispanic Vignali. In the game of “Clinton Monopoly,” this kingpin drew a “get out of jail free” card, while his 30 co-defendants — many of them poor blacks — are rotting away in the federal penal system. One of them, Todd Hopson, was described as “an uneducated Black kid with a noticeable stutter” whose mid-level role in a Minneapolis drug ring “was nothing compared to Vignali.” But don’t expect to hear the NAACP and other civil-rights businesses attack their hero Clinton over his racially-profiled pardons. They’re too busy attacking new President Bush.

The only one missing from Clinton’s pardon list is O.J. Simpson. Oh yeah, he wasn’t convicted.

And darn, Clinton just missed the chance at posthumously pardoning Billy the Kid. Descendants of BtK, among the most notorious outlaws and killers in the Old West, are asking New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson to pardon “the Kid.” Sentenced to hang for murdering then-Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady by shooting him in the back 16 times, BtK escaped from jail by murdering two deputies.

Why should BtK, a.k.a. Henry McCarty, a.k.a. William H. Bonney, be pardoned? Well, why not, with the types Bill Clinton has pardoned.

“The Kid’s” great-grandson, Elbert Garcia, and other family “just want to see if Billy could be pardoned,” said New Mexico State Rep. Ben Rios, who is helping BtK’s family in their bid for the pardon. With drug kingpins, child molesters, and billionaire tax-evaders who sold out U.S. hostages to terrorist nations on Clinton’s pardon list, BtK would make it a royal flush. President James Garfield, who occupied the White House at the time of the Kid’s crime and execution in 1881, had the good sense, unlike Clinton, never to grant such an outrageous pardon.

But, at least, in contrast to Clinton’s unconscionable pardons, the Kid’s relatives have the guts to admit their part in their ridiculous effort. The Vignali’s claim they “have no idea who” helped them or why, even though Vignali told his Minneapolis lawyer he got out because “word around prison was that it was the right time to approach the president.” And presidents send word to federal inmates every day, right?

[b]When news of the Rich pardon swirled, Denise Rich, through her spokesman Bobby Zarem, said she “didn’t know about the pardon. She was completely and totally taken by surprise,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s not something she would have wanted.” Really? As it turns out, not only was it something she knew about and wanted, the pardon was the result solely of her aggressive campaign, including the large contributions to the Clintons. Congressman Dan Burton, who is investigating this, is trying to offer Ms. Rich immunity, in exchange for her testimony. Given her big lie from the beginning, how will he know she’s ever telling the truth?
And there are the allegations that Ms. Rich may be Monica, Part Deux. She visited the White House over 100 times last year, mostly while Hillary was out of town. Then, there’s Clinton’s description of her as one of his “closest friends” and statements of some sort of “relationship.” The New York Times wrote of Ms. Rich’s “certain direct charm,” and her friend, talk-show host Geraldo Rivera, speaks of her desire “to be a kind of Pamela Harriman,” the late Democratic Party fund-raiser, who charmed the wealthy Averill Harriman into marrying her and Clinton into naming her ambassador to France.[/b]

But how will we ever know? After all, Bill and Monica both lied and got away with it. And virtually everyone involved with Clinton’s pardons is lying. Take Hillary, please. She denies any role in the Rich pardon.

“I know nothing about that,” she told the New York Post.

“I do not believe that anyone ever approached Sen. Clinton,” Rich’s lead pardon lawyer, Jack Quinn, told House investigators, Thursday. But both Quinn and Hillary were at a fund-raiser at Ms. Rich’s New York penthouse apartment in October, raising money for Hillary. Why was Quinn there, if not for the pardon? What were they discussing — the price of tea in China?

Remember Bill Clinton’s promise, in 1992, that his would be the most ethical presidency in history. He signed executive orders in 1993, preventing former administration staffers from lobbying him. But, in December, he signed a new order revoking the 1993 ones, just in time for former staffer Quinn, a former White House counsel and Gore chief of staff, to lobby for Rich’s pardon.

On the last day of his presidency, after pardons were announced and Bush was inaugurated, Clinton went to a Chappaqua, N.Y., deli for a sandwich. The New York Times reports that Kathleen McAvoy asked her daughter, Siobhan, “Don’t you want to have a president’s signature?”

“He is not a president,” Siobhan replied firmly.

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/54/clintons-pardons-get-worse/

Friday, Jan 16, 2009 01:00 PM +0100
[size=18pt]The real reason Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich[/size]

During Eric Holder's confirmation hearing, Arlen Specter scolded the attorney general-designate, but no one mentioned Israeli pressure.
By Joe Conason

The real reason Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich

From beginning to end, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Eric Holder’s nomination as attorney general observed the ban on candid discussion of the main objection to confirming him. The forbidden topic: the real reason behind the pardon of Marc Rich eight years ago, a controversial action that Holder reviewed as deputy attorney general — and that he failed to oppose for reasons he did not mention.

In an editorial that appeared on the morning of the hearings, the Washington Post urged the Senate to question Holder “closely” on the Rich matter. But it is difficult for senators (and editorial writers) to ask pertinent questions when they are completely ignorant of the real background and motivations of the players in the case. Even now, the true machinations behind the Rich pardon cannot be discussed honestly — perhaps because they implicate the government and the security services of the state of Israel.

Sitting quiet and grave before the committee, Holder listened as Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., one of the leading windbags of our time, held forth on how dreadful Rich is and how awful the pardon was. The fugitive trader, who still lives in Switzerland, had “a reprehensible record,” Specter said — alluding to reports that Rich did business in Iraq and Iran. The Pennsylvania Republican demanded to know how Holder could possibly have recommended a pardon for such an odious figure.

No doubt Holder was advised by the president-elect’s transition team not to argue with Specter or anyone else about Rich. He must have been told not to talk about the foreign-policy issues that heavily influenced his view of the Rich decision. So he offered a meek mea culpa, took his lumps from Specter, and promised that his mistakes had made him a better man. Considering that his objective is to get through the hearings without undue stress, that was probably the wisest course. Telling the truth would only have inflamed the Republicans and the press, while creating unwanted drama for Obama.

Still, it would have been a refreshing change from the usual confirmation minuet if instead of humbly apologizing, Holder had tartly instructed the buffoonish Specter, his fellow senators, the press, and the public about the actual circumstances of the Rich affair. He might have started with the fact that continuous lobbying on Rich’s behalf from the highest Israeli leaders and their American friends — among whom Specter no doubt counts himself — became even more intense in the days before Clinton left office. He could have noted that such pressures coincided with Clinton’s efforts to conclude a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. And he could have explained to Specter that Rich’s deals in Iran and Iraq were often related to his other role — as an asset of the Mossad who gathered intelligence and helped to rescue endangered Jews from those regimes.

It is clear that Holder and his colleagues in the Justice Department had ample reason for concern over the proposed pardon, in part because pardoning a fugitive violated precedent. But for the Post to call him “the pardoner” in a front-page headline directing readers to the editorial was grossly unfair. Clinton had sole constitutional discretion to grant the pardon, and he would have done so whether Holder liked it or not.

But Holder understood that there were deeper reasons why the pardon was likely to be approved, which had nothing to do with the political and charitable contributions of Rich’s ex-wife, the Manhattan socialite Denise Rich. The New York Times offered just a hint in a front-page story that appeared shortly after the Holder nomination was announced. Only at the very end did the Times mention the pressure from “the Israelis” that had persuaded Holder not to oppose the pardon — as he told Beth Nolan, then the White House counsel.

Placed in its international context, that remark puts an entirely different coloration on Clinton’s decision and on Holder’s forbearance.

As the president mulled Rich’s application, he was preoccupied with his final and most ambitious efforts to revive the Mideast peace talks that had imploded at Camp David during the summer of 2000. He was talking virtually every day with Ehud Barak, then Israel’s prime minister, trying to persuade the Jewish state’s leader to approve concessions to the Palestinians. That was only weeks before national elections were to take place in Israel, with Barak trailing in polls and heading toward defeat.

Echoing Barak’s pleas on behalf of Rich were Clinton’s old friend Shimon Peres, former Mossad director general Shabtai Shavit, and a host of other important figures in Israel and the American Jewish community. Winning the pardon was a top priority for Israeli officials because Rich had long been a financial and intelligence asset of the Jewish state, carrying out missions in many hostile countries where he did business. Although commentators in the mainstream and right-wing media have discounted this aspect of the controversy, they often seem as unfamiliar with critical facts as the average senator.

Following weeks of preparation by Clinton, the last round of serious peace talks opened in Taba, Egypt, on Jan. 21, 2001, the day after he signed the Rich pardon. Those negotiations eventually failed, yet they came closer to achieving a workable settlement than any before or since.

Meanwhile the fugitive financier, as he is still known, has never returned from his lair in Zug, Switzerland, to the United States. (The mainstream press never mentions that, either.) In other words, he has never used the pardon — perhaps because he would first have to pay up tens of millions of dollars he owes in back taxes, a condition set by Clinton.

Clinton’s decision is subject to harsh criticism in both substance and appearance, even by smart people who know the truth. But the pardon power exists so that presidents will be free to make such hard choices for reasons of state. As a lame duck, Clinton had no other means to induce his Israeli partner to take any risk for peace. All of this has been ignored ever since by the likes of Arlen Specter and the Washington Post — and was obscured once more because Holder didn’t want to start an argument with the Washington establishment, which forgets nothing and, even more reliably, learns nothing.


Joe Conason is the editor in chief of NationalMemo.com.

http://www.salon.com/2009/01/16/holder_4/

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Business News of Monday, 25 March 2013

Source: Daily Guide
No electricity, no tariff increases - Tarzan tells ECG


Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, popularly known as ‘Tarzan’, has challenged power producers in the country to provide reliable and sufficient electricity before they clamour for tariff increases.

He said government and the power producers comprising Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Grid Company (GridCo), Northern Electricity Development Company (NEDCO), TAQA and Asogli, must assure consumers constant power supply throughout the country before thinking about tariff increases.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby, an energy expert, stressed that service providers would have to resolve the inequities of the power sector both structurally and performance-wise before tariffs are increased. He made the comments during an inaugural lecture organised by the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO) on Thursday evening on the theme: Tarzan @ 60, Reflections on 25 Years of Public Service.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Darkness Gets Darkness-Shedding load to Power Ghana’s Development,’ Dr. Wereko-Brobby noted that Ghana cannot develop under the current phenomenon of ‘Dum so, Dum so’ (flippant power outage). He indicated that under his stewardship at VRA, the Authority got a combined tariff increase of 200 percent in two years.

“The sticking point has always been that all the promises that the utilities make about ensuring reliable supply because they’ve got the right tariffs, falls down.” “Nobody is happy about running generator for their business, petrol prices have gone up and therefore the cost of even operating generators have soared but I think that it is disingenuous and completely unacceptable for power producers and their politicians and others to keep talking about inadequate tariffs,” he said.

He also noted that the electricity providers must make it a priority to always supply adequate energy and not let things go bad to the extent of the load-shedding. “I don’t say this to boast, when I went to VRA, I said we are here to put lights on, we are not here to manage load-shedding and if we’ve got 200 percent in tariffs we must ensure the consumers get what it is they’ve paid for.

Tarzan insisted that the tariffs are more than adequate, stressing that the tariffs must be matched with the quality of service to those who pay the tariffs. “As I said earlier the producers have got SRPs (Strategic Reserve Plants or generators) in their homes, they don’t suffer it, they don’t pay for the diesel in the SRPs, and you (consumers) have to pay.

We simply cannot sit down and say that people need to pay for service that they don’t enjoy. So the argument about tariffs is not about adequacy, it is about matching what we pay to getting what is supplied.”

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=268918

No more tax millions for Zuma's wives, says ANC

MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA and ZINE GEORGE | 20 June, 2012 00:02


THERE will be no holy cows in the ANC leadership race - not even President Jacob Zuma's four wives.

That much is clear in the latest salvo from the Eastern Cape ANC: it wants the cost to the nation of the wives to be discussed at the ruling party's policy conference next week.

On Monday, as a special meeting of the provincial general council wrapped up in East London, members of the ANC's economic transformation commission supported a proposal that taxpayers should have to support only the first wife.

"What was made clear during the discussions was that, as taxpayers, we cannot afford to continue financing so many wives,'' said one of three delegates to the commission who spoke to The Times's sister paper, the Daily Dispatch.

"Only wife number one should get benefits from the state. Our understanding is that when [you] a man decides to have more than one wife, you are able to support the others. Then deal with it."

The delegate said the meeting felt strongly about the issue.

"We supported [the proposal] and if anyone for any reason suppresses some of our recommendations, there are channels to take the proposal forward."

Another delegate said a member of the ANC Veterans' League first raised the issue, arguing that the spousal benefits for a president's wives should be reconsidered.

The proposal to remove the benefits of Zuma's second, third and fourth wives, will be tabled at next week's ANC policy conference in Midrand, provided it receives support at Friday's special Eastern Cape executive council meeting.

If it is adopted by the policy conference, and later endorsed by the elective conference in Mangaung in December, then only Zuma's first wife, Sizakele Khumalo, would be entitled to spousal support.

The commission did not give feedback to delegates on Monday, denying the conference the right to adopt or reject the proposal as a provincial policy recommendation.

ANC provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane said: "The nature of deliberations at the [general council meeting] inspired prolonged engagements, which meant we didn't have enough time for the commission to make presentations to the plenary."

Zuma's support in the Eastern Cape is not clear-cut. Opponents in the ANC who are lobbying for him to be replaced as party president by his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, have influence in some regions.

Zuma's wives have been regarded as a contentious issue since he became president in 2009, in particular the increased resources allocated as their "spousal budget".

In October last year - before Zuma took a fourth wife - it was revealed that about R700000 had been budgeted for car hire for his spouses over two years.

When Zuma married Bongiwe Ngema this year, his office dismissed speculation thatan extra burden would be placed on taxpayers.

The Presidency said: "The rules allow for partnerships to be recognised. As such Ngema already has secretarial support provided for by the Presidency, so there will be no change in support arrangements."

According to the Presidency, the budget for the presidential spousal support office was R15.5-million in the 2009/10 financial year.

This was almost double the cost to taxpayers during Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe's terms in office. Spousal support in 2007/08 was R8.4-million and R8-million in 2008/09.

Earlier this year, Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said it was "grossly incorrect" that taxpayers paid for the wives' upkeep.

"The spouses pay their own living or household expenses, be it food, mortgages, lights, water and so forth. Nothing is paid for by the state in the spouses' four households. They live in private homes."

The wives did not have constitutionally defined roles or obligations, so they were not remunerated by the state, Maharaj said.

"There are, however, expectations that spouses will provide support to the president in the execution of his duties, and specifically so at state and official functions.

"The Presidency therefore provides reasonable administrative, logistical and other support ."

Zuma has married six times. His other current wives are Nompumelelo Ntuli and Thobeka Mabhija.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2012/06/20/no-more-tax-millions-for-zuma-s-wives-says-anc

Anger mounts against Zuma over soldiers killed in Central African Republic
Premium Times
Published: April 1,2013

South Africans suggest Zuma’s impeachment over soldiers killed in Central African Republic

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is facing intense anger and criticisms a week after 13 South African soldiers he deployed to Central African Republic, CAR, were killed by rebels that took power there.

The soldiers were killed while attempting to block the Seleka rebel group from reaching CAR’s capital, Bangui. Another 27 South African soldiers were wounded.

Leading opposition voices have continued to rally opinion against Mr. Zuma’s decision and many have called for his impeachment, accusing the president of lying to the parliament committee about the true intent of the deployment.

Leading opposition party, Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille said on Monday, “The conclusion is inescapable that the South African troops were deployed to defend the faltering and dictatorial Bozize regime.”

“If this is so, President Zuma’s position both as president of the republic and commander in chief of the armed forces, becomes untenable,” she told a news conference.

Ms. Zille said her party will present a motion in parliament Tuesday to demand the withdrawal of South African troops.

Mr. Zuma said the soldiers were sent to the troubled Central African nation to train its forces and help disarm the rebels but it turned out they took part in fighting to defend ousted president, Francois Bozize.

There are also new allegations that the soldiers, a small force of 200, were in CAR to protect mining interests of the governing African National Congress.

The party has denied having any business in the country rich in diamonds, uranium and other resources and has threatened to sue two newspapers, Guardian and Mail, which have done extensive reports on the allegation.

Reports have also emerged that Mr. Bozize himself was in South Africa to see Mr. Zuma just days before the fall of his government to apparently seek more support.

South Africans have questioned why Mr. Zuma, who possibly knew how dire the situation was, failed to withdraw the soldiers or reinforce them.

Many South Africans have also called on Mr. Zuma to report Central African rebel leader, Michel Djotodia, who has declared himself president, to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for using child soldiers.

South African soldiers who fought in CAR said they were shocked to find out they had killed some underage persons among the rebels.

“It was only after the firing had stopped that we saw we had killed kids,” said one soldier, among the 27 wounded, quoted by The Sunday Times of Johannesburg. “We did not come here for this … to kill kids. It makes you sick. They were crying for help … calling for (their) moms.”

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/127824-anger-mounts-against-zuma-over-soldiers-killed-in-central-african-republic.html

'ANC not in the diamond business'

Mar 28, 2013 | Sapa | 52 comments
The ANC is not in the diamond business and does not know why South African troops were sent to the Central African Republic (CAR), the party said.

"We are not in the business of business; we are in business of politics, and our business of politics has been done in South Africa," spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.

"We are not in the business of diamonds, we are in the business of politics."

Mthembu was responding to an article in the Mail & Guardian, according to which the South African military's involvement in the CAR had been entwined with ANC-linked deals.

It reported that Didier Pereira, a special adviser to ousted CAR president Francois Bozize, partnered with "ANC hard man" Joshua Nxumalo and the ANC's funding arm, Chancellor House, to secure a diamond export monopoly from in the CAR.

In 2006 Pereira signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the CAR mining ministry. It was intended to create a public-private partnership, Inala Centrafrique. A South African company, Serengeti Group, which was majority-owned by Nxumalo, had a 65 percent stake in it.

Inala's attempts to control diamond mining in the CAR failed by March 2008, the M&G said.

Mthembu said the ANC was not a signatory to the MOU.

"This matter started in 2006... To my knowledge, the ANC is not a signatory," he said.

"Secondly the ANC has no interest in the CAR... We don't know what was uploaded in the MOU. The ANC cannot comment on why troops were deployed to the CAR, only government can comment on that."

He said the MOU was signed long before Jacob Zuma became president.

"That was under comrade Thabo Mbeki's time. We think people who can explain why our troops were there [in the CAR] is our government and the SA National Defence Force."

Mthembu said the ANC did not get involved in government matters.

"We don't interfere on issues of government. As the ANC we have no business interests. It is very disingenuous for the ANC's name to be dragged [into this]."

Last weekend, 13 SANDF soldiers were killed and 27 wounded in the CAR during an attack by rebels.

Bozize came to power in 2003 when he toppled his predecessor, Ange-Felix Patasse, in a coup.

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2013/03/28/anc-not-in-the-diamond-business

Zuma: Questions on CAR endanger South Africa
02 Apr 2013 13:38 - Phillip De Wet


It was a speech thin on condolences but heavily laced with accusation and warning.

[size=14pt]
"The problem in South Africa is that everybody wants to run the country," President Jacob Zuma told a memorial service for the 13 soldiers killed in the Central African Republic (CAR) last week.

"There must also be an appreciation that military matters and decisions are not matters that are discussed in public, other than to share broader policy."

Those who demand that military strategy be discussed in public, Zuma said, "should be careful not to endanger both the national interest and the security of the republic while pursuing party political goals".
[/size]


Zuma said: "The tears of grief from the families are both inevitable and deserved, because of the calibre of men we have lost. To the families, your pain is shared by thousands of South Africans in many corners of the country and the continent.

"When future generations ask what kind of men and women these were, who gave so much of their lives to the service of the people of South Africa and the continent, we will be able to boldly say how special they were, to put their own lives at risk for such a noble mission of building peace in the continent."

A dozen metres away, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille sat stone-faced. The DA on Monday said it would call on Parliament to demand that Zuma withdraw remaining troops from the CAR.

But Zuma also appeared to be referring to the likes of the South African National Defence Union (Sandu), which was vocal in its criticism and demands for information.

Zuma echoed the sentiments expressed by the ANC on Monday, saying there were those who sought to dishonour the dead "peddling various unfounded allegations and conspiracy theories".

Perpetual campaign
"We will not be side-tracked by those who are on a perpetual campaign against this democratic government," Zuma said. "Let me emphasise that we reject any insinuation that these soldiers were sent to the CAR for any reason other than in pursuit of the national interest and the interests of the African continent."

The 13 soldiers, he said, died in pursuit of South Africa's national interest and in pursuit of peace on the African continent.

Zuma said future military action in the CAR region would depend on decisions yet to be taken with the African Union and a regional economic body. That continues to leave unanswered questions on the disposition of South African troops, with conflicting reports that most have been withdrawn to Pretoria, or just south of Bangui to the Democratic Republic or Congo, or that a small contingent still remained in the CAR.

The military has referred such questions to the presidency, and the presidency has referred questions back to the military. Both had promised a press conference on Tuesday, but that did not come to pass.

Nor did Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula shed any light on Tuesday. Speaking at the memorial service she merely asked for Zuma to share his comfort and wisdom.

The only detail of the deaths of the 13 soldiers to be shared with families at the event, which the military described as a church service, came from the commander of Combat Team Charlie. His group was caught at a forward position overrun by rebels, he said, and tried to make its way back to the nearby base when it was ambushed. In the dark soldiers first sought refuge in bushes and tall grass, then fought their way back to base.

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-02-zuma-questions-on-car-endangers-south-africa

François Hollande rocked as minister confesses to lying over tax evasion

Former Budget Minister admits he had €600,000 in an illegal offshore bank account

Paris

Tuesday 02 April 2013

In a bombshell confession, the former French Budget Minister, Jerome Cahuzac, has admitted that he had lied repeatedly to the President, parliament and public and had cheated on his taxes for 20 years.

Mr Cahuzac's admission he had €600,000 in an illegal offshore bank account dealt a devastating blow to a Socialist president and government already facing public rage over tax rises, cuts and high unemployment.

President François Hollande said tonight that Mr Cahuzac had committed an "unpardonable moral fault" by lying for four months to the Elysée Palace and the National Assembly. However, in a further, deep embarrassment for the President, the investigative newspaper, Le Canard Enchainé will report today that Mr Hollande saw evidence pointing to Mr Cahuzac's possible guilt as long ago as December.

Mr Cahuzac, 60, previously a highly paid plastic surgeon, was fired by the Elysée last month from his high-profile job as Budget Minister – in effect the minister responsible for spending cuts and tax enforcement. This followed a declaration by the state prosecution service that the voice in a recorded telephone conversation from 2000, admitting ownership of an illegal, Swiss account, appeared to be the minister.

At the time, Mr Cahuzac continued to proclaim his innocence. After months of denials, he made a double confession: publicly in his blog and privately, to two magistrates.

"I was caught up in spiral of lies," he wrote. "I fought a torturous internal battle to try to resolve the conflict between my duty to tell the truth and my anxiety to fulfil the mission with which I had been entrusted."

The admission bears some resemblance to the confession, after years of denials, by the former British environment minister, Chris Huhne, that he had conspired with his wife Vicky Pryce to avoid speeding penalty points. Several French newspapers have suggested that media allegations about Mr Cahuzac's off-shore account, may be linked to a contested divorce with his wife, Patricia Cahuzac.

Mr Cahuzac, admitted that he had held illegal accounts abroad – first in Switzerland and then in Singapore – for 20 years. He said that he had ordered that €600,000 remaining on his Singapore account to be transferred to France.

The French investigative website, Mediapart, which has also led the way in allegations of wrongdoing against ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, first revealed the existence of Mr Cahuzac's Swiss account last December.

Mediapart placed online a recorded telephone conversation from the year 2000 in which a politician discussed his embarrassment at having an account with UBS in Switzerland. Mr Cahuzac denied to President Hollande and to the Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, that the voice was his. However, Le Canard Enchainé will report today that President Hollande was told by the interior ministry in December that the voice on the tape was "close to" that of Mr Cahuzac.

The former minister also faces investigation over the source of the funds paid into the Swiss and Singapore accounts. His lawyers said that the money came from his lucrative and successful practice as one of Europe's leading specialists in hair transplants.

Magistrates are, however, investigating allegations that some or all of the money came from under-the-counter payments by pharmaceutical companies to promote their products.

The shockwaves from Mr Cahuzac's initial dismissal last month were rapidly overwhelmed by news that ex-President Sarkozy had been formally accused of abusing the mental weakness of a billionaires to fund his 2007 campaign.

Politicians on the moderate left said that Mr Cahuzac's repeated lies had compounded a "crisis for democracy in France".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/franois-hollande-rocked-as-minister-confesses-to-lying-over-tax-evasion-8557621.html

Internet secrets of 'jetrosexual' Chuka Umunna the party-loving MP being hailed as Labour's Obama

Mr Umunna is a member of ASmallWorld, dubbed MySpace for millionaires
He asked members for best nightspots to avoid 'trash and C-list wannabes'
The 34-year-old MP for Streatham is registered under his middle name

By Gerri Peev

PUBLISHED: 22:32 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 06:34 GMT, 5 April 2013

In public he’s a hard-working man of the people, a rising star from South London tipped to become Labour leader one day.

In private, however, it seems Chuka Umunna – hailed by his admirers as Britain’s Barack Obama – is happy to be a man of the social elite, with a distinct taste for the high life.

The former DJ, now Labour’s shadow business secretary, belongs to an exclusive online club for so-called ‘jetrosexuals’, where he asked for tips on the best nightspots to avoid the ‘trash and C-list wannabes’ of London’s West End.

Fellow members of ASmallWorld, which has been described as MySpace for millionaires, reportedly include Tiger Woods and Naomi Campbell.

The invitation-only website, which was founded by Swedish investment banker Erik Wachtmeister, currently features an article about ‘mile-high hook-ups’ on private jets. It has also been described as a hunting ground for ‘sugar daddies’.

Mr Umunna, the 34-year-old centre-left MP for Streatham, South London, is registered on the social network with his middle name, Harrison.

In July 2006 Mr Umunna was still working as an employment lawyer, but was beginning to make a name for himself as a left-wing commentator.

On ASmallWorld, however, he was bemoaning the lack of ‘decent’ clubs in London’s West End, writing: ‘Is it just me or is there a serious lack of cool places to go in central London at the weekends.

‘Most of the West End haunts seem to be full of trash and C-list wannabes, while other places that should know better opt for the cheesy vibe.’

Praising a club he had recently visited in Kensington, he asked for suggestions for ‘a trash-free, decent night’.

Two years later, when he was hunting for a safe Labour seat, Mr Umunna turned to the website for more advice, this time for ‘what’s hot right now’ in Miami. He said he was spending ten days in the city, and listed a string of exclusive clubs he had visited during a previous trip.

These included Mynt Lounge, which boasts of having the ‘tightest door policy and the most fabulous crowd’.

A-list: Fellow members of ASmallWorld reportedly include Tiger Woods and Naomi Campbell

It is visited by ‘A-list celebrities’ including Ricky Martin, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

Its owner Romain Zago says: ‘Mynt is for the famous and fabulous’.

Mr Umunna’s other favourite, Mokai, promotes ‘Sexy Bitch Wednesdays’ which are reputed to attract ‘A-list celebrities’.

It also runs Weekend Warrior Fridays, where ‘everyone is beautiful after 4am’. He also took time to visit Nikki Beach, an oceanfront ‘sexy South Beach nightclub’ and Forge, which holds champagne happy hours.

A PR for the elite Opium string of clubs contacted Mr Umunna through the social network and offered him VIP passes, but last night the MP said he had not accepted the freebies.

But he did accept an invitation to a private party for ASmallWorld members at the British Luxury Club in London, which features a bar made of Swarovski crystals.

Tory MP Chris Heaton-Harris said: ‘In public [Mr Umunna] likes to portray himself as a man of the people. Yet we know in private he has a lack of respect for the public.

‘Chuka, or should I say Harrison, has been outed as the ultimate champagne socialist who revels in living the high life, brands the public C-list celebrities and trashes our capital city. You can’t get more out of touch than that.’

While he has not posted on the site since he became an MP, Mr Umunna last night confirmed that he is still a member of ASmallWorld.

When contacted by the Mail, he apologised for any offence caused by the comments.

A spokesman for Mr Umunna said: ‘Chuka used the ASmallWorld social network in the past, which is similar to Facebook.

‘Though his user account on the site still exists, he has not posted a thread on the site for many years, since long before he was elected as a Member of Parliament.’

The spokesman also said that Mr Umunna’s interest in ‘house music’ was well known, as he used to be a DJ.

He added: ‘In terms of the post from 2006, these were comments made on a private social network well over half a decade ago.

‘Though light-hearted in tone and context, and made long before he became an MP, Chuka accepts the choice of words used were not appropriate and apologises if any offence may have been caused.’


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304227/Internet-secrets-jetrosexual-Chuka-Umunna-party-loving-MP-hailed-Labours-Obama.html

Graduate with physics PhD, 31, fell to his death from block of flats after taking job in call centre he was over-qualified for

Dr Philip Elliott recently competed a degree at Reading University
In the weeks leading up to his death he had suffered a number of career knock backs
The 31-year-old fell from the roof of an apartment block in west London

By Tara Brady

PUBLISHED: 18:22 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 00:26 GMT, 5 April 2013


An academic jumped off scaffolding to his death when he was only able to find a job in a call centre after finishing his doctorate, an inquest heard today.

Dr Philip Elliott, 31, who had recently completed a PhD in physics at Reading University, was seen on the sixth floor of an apartment block in west London just after 11am on January 27 this year.

Police tried to call him down but he fell from the property in Cromwell Street, Kensington, an hour later, the hearing was told.

Westminster Coroner's Court heard Dr Elliott - who was also a qualified engineer and was described as a 'high academic achiever' - had suffered a number of career knock-backs in the weeks leading to his death.

His landlord of seven years Harry Duphnath said the most recent he knew of was in December last year.

In a statement read to the inquest Mr Duphnath said: 'I was aware Philip had started a job with Southern Electric - I think in a call centre - which wasn't what he aspired to.

'He mentioned being frustrated at work and unhappy about being there and had started looking for other jobs and going for interviews.

'The last one was the week before Christmas in 2012.

'I saw him ironing his shirt getting ready for the interview.

'While I was there he checked his emails and he had one which said the interview had been cancelled.

'He was a bit low about that, but he wasn't angry. He said that he would plod on and keep going.'

The landlord said he received a text message from Dr Elliott on January 24, three days before his death, apologising for not doing some tidying up.

It read: 'Sorry. I've had a terrible time the last three weeks. Thanks for your patience. I can't explain how stressful it's been, but I appreciate it's not your fault.'

Mr Duphnath said him and his wife Sonia were 'utterly shocked' to hear Philip had taken his life days later.

Det Con David Gadsby, of the Metropolitan Police, said a resident in the block where Dr Elliott died reported hearing footsteps on the roof at 9.30am that morning, but thought nothing of it and went back to bed.

An hour-and-a-half later a motorist driving past the building called police expressing concern a man might be preparing to jump.

Officers arrived within five minutes but were advised not to talk him down as it was too dangerous to get out onto the scaffolding.

Paramedics who were already on the scene tried to revive him but the science mad graduate was pronounced dead from multiple injuries at 12.10pm.

Westminster Coroner Darren Stewart said he could not be sure beyond reasonable doubt that Dr Elliott meant to take his own life as it could have been a 'cry for help.'

Recording a narrative verdict, he explained: 'It is clear he was a high academic achiever in science, having achieved a PhD from the University of Reading, but he had not been able to get a job for some time.
Scene: Dr Philip Elliott was seen on the sixth floor of this apartment block in west London on January 27 before he fell


'He took work which was perhaps not entirely suited to his skill sets in that he was working in a call centre.

'However, it shows Dr Elliot was committed to gaining employment and to progressing in his life.

'What is clear from the evidence is that he received a number of blows to his confidence in terms of jobs he aspired to which were either unsuccessful or withdrawn.

'It is clear that this had an impact on his general morale, and on the 27th of January 2013 Dr Elliott climbed up on to some scaffolding in Cromwell Road, Kensington.

'Officers decided not to try and talk Dr Elliott down as it would have been dangerous to them and to him.

'Sadly, shortly thereafter, Dr Elliott made a gesture with his arms and appeared to dive towards the ground striking the pavement.'

He added: 'Police enquiries revealed no indication Dr Elliott's actions were planned or that he had intended to take his life, nor is there any evidence to suggest Dr Elliott was subject to any mental health care.

'Whilst perhaps disappointed and suffering from a degree of depression due to his lack of work opportunities he was otherwise a fit, intelligent young man who had achieved well at university.

'It makes the outcome of what occurred on January 27 2013 all the sadder due to that.

'I am not satisfied on what has been presented before me as to be certain Dr Elliott intended to take his own. It is entirely possible this could have been a cry for help.'

None of Dr Elliott's family attended the inquest in central London, but they have since set up a remembrance page in his memory.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304096/Graduate-physics-PhD-31-fell-death-block-flats-taking-job-centre-qualified-for.html#ixzz2PaewLUdd

[size=16pt]Michelle Obama mistakenly calls herself a "busy single mother"
[/size]

First lady Michelle Obama mistakenly called herself a "busy single mother" in an interview on Thursday with Burlington, Vt. CBS affiliate WCAX, before quickly catching herself and identifying instead as "busy working mom."

Discussing the struggle many parents face in balancing work and home life, the first lady reached for an empathetic tone, beginning, "Believe me, as a busy single mother...or, I shouldn't say 'single' - as a busy mother..."

She seemed to catch her flub almost immediately. "You know, when you've got the husband who's president, it can feel a little single, but he's there," she clarified of her husband, President Barack Obama.

"And as a busy working mom, and before coming to the White House, I was in that position as well - working, driving kids to practice, not having enough time to shop or cook, not having the energy," she added.

During an earlier interview with Boston CBS affiliate WBZ, which focused mainly on Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative to combat childhood obesity, the first lady also addressed competing pressures faced by moms who have to juggle work and home life. "One thing I tell young women...is there's no one plan that fits everybody's life, and we have to be flexible," she said. "We have to listen to ourselves, our own passions...and not measure our successes by someone else's life."


see video here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57578042/michelle-obama-mistakenly-calls-herself-a-busy-single-mother/

Some reactions to the story on the CBS website

jlhudg23 says:
Freudian slip. The truth comes out. Their "marriage" is a sham for political convenience. See "Clinton, Bill and Hillary" for reference.

And what's with the blatant lies about driving the kids around? These people have been catered to for years.

Liars and the lies they tell...
reply


SabineGraham says:
[b] I don't think this was a slip of tongue. She really meant it and her correction wasn't convincing.

I feel rather sorry for this woman. Smart and accomplished in her own right but left dumbed down and playing 15th fiddle to her ungrateful husband who'd rather lavish attention and praise on other women these days. This 2nd term is already shaping up to be a solo act for Obama the peacock while his wife is left trying to figure out exactly where she fits in now that he no longer needs her to win elections and only seems to want to do strictly obligatory public events with her.

It must be incredibly awkward and humiliating to be interviewed on a day when the entire news media is buzzing about her husband's public gushing over another woman who isn't even half as smart as his own wife or possessing the premier Princeton and Harvard ivy league degrees, genuine, warm, engaging and witty nature Mrs Obama has in spades. Mrs Obama is so much more appealing, youthful, fitter and lovelier than Kamala Harris in the opinion of this English lad.

But as the president traipses around embarrassingly crossing acceptable social (and might I add marital) boundaries, his brilliant wife is yet again left publicly humiliated and wondering why on earth she's given up her own ambitions, independence and personal and professional fulfillment for the self-serving, self-indulgent and sneaky twit she's married. He'll probably never grow up or ever be the fully attentive husband she desires, that is of course when he isn't trying to exploit her for his own selfish political purposes.
What an awful life to sign on to and who knows how he'll treat her and what he'll resort to after he leaves office and no longer enjoys the attention and fawning from women that come with being president. Depressed men are known to be even more irrational and unpredictable than her negligent and egotistic husband has been on his power trip. I hope she'll still be around to save him from himself yet again.[/b]



tommy1243 says:
Such a phony geisha. Need to return Michael Jackson's coat.
reply


RepubliCon_Liar_RobMe- says:
LMAO...... MOOCHELLE is so STUPID and thought she was on WELFARE and was a SINGLE mother. Of course she is on a higher kind of welfare MOOCHING million dollar VACATIONS and living it up at the TAXPAYERS expense.
Next she'll be referring to BARRY as her "DAUGHTERS or BABIES FATHER" like the rest of the WELFARE QUEENs.......
reply


JoeKlip says:
No single mother has the money to spend on multi-million vacations on the taxpayer's money.
reply


Mary-Mergatroid says:
Poor dear; life must be truly exhausting with only 24 assistants. How Do you do it all?
reply

[size=14pt]Obama is accused of sexism after calling California attorney general, 48, 'by far the best-looking' lawmaker in the country at fundraiser
[/size]
By Meghan Keneally and Hayley Peterson

PUBLISHED: 21:32 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 08:29 GMT, 5 April 2013

President Obama is being accused of sexism for publicly remarking on California Attorney General Kamala Harris's good looks at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Thursday.

The President said of the 48-year-old: 'She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated, she’s tough...She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general,' Obama said, adding, 'It's true! C'mon!'

According to a pool reporter who attended the event, Obama was doting on Harris, 'noting a couple of times that she is, objectively, easy on the eyes.'

Commentators both liberal and conservative immediately took to Twitter to blast his remarks as 'unsettling,' 'disgraceful' and 'disrespectful.'


'Obama's comment about Kamala Harris is disgraceful and really terrible for workplace equality,' wrote Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine.

Added Rebecca Traister, writer for The New York Times Magazine and Salon, 'On What planet in [Obama's] mind did he think that sounded like the right thing to say?'


Obama's supporters argue that the president and Harris, who is not married, are good friends and that it shouldn't be considered a crime to compliment a women on her obvious good looks.

'The fact that this has in some way become a story about his overall respect of women (or lack thereof) is a slap in the face to the first lady, the first daughters, and every other woman who appreciates a compliment that extends far beyond appearance from the president or any other man,' Angela Rye, a Democratic political consultant, told Politico.

Michelle Obama has not commented on the controversy , but she did have a slip-up of her own on Thursday in a TV interview where she accidentally called herself a 'single mother.'

During an interview with Burlington, Vermont CBS affiliant WCAX, the first lady was discussing healthy foods and how the demands of raising a family can leave little time for nutritious cooking.

'Believe me, as a busy single mother, Obama said, before quickly correcting herself, 'Or I shouldn't say single - as a busy mother.'

Explaining her slip-up, she added, 'Sometimes, you know when you've got the husband who's president it can feel a little single. But he's there.'

Obama remarked on Harris' looks on the same day that Michelle Obama slipped up in an interview and called herself a 'single mother.'

Ms Harris is a Democratic favorite and a trailblazer in her home state.

Her mixed race descent - having been born of an Asian Indian mother who emigrated to the U.S. from Chennai and a Jamaican American father- made her the first female, African American and Asian American attorney general in the state.

On top of that, she is the first Indian American attorney general in the country.

Her career shows no sign of stopping, as she is regularly mentioned when pundits speculate about possible Supreme Court nominees should a new judge be appointed during President Obama's second term.

Another possible track for her is the gubernatorial one, as attorney general is a common springboard position for those hoping to climb the local ladder.

Little is known about her current romantic situation, except that she was in a serious relationship with the former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown.

The two were a serious item and dated when he was the Speaker of the California State Assembly, but they reportedly broke up in 1998.

There are no pictures of President Obama and Ms Harris together at Thursday's event, which was a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee held at the home of John Goldman, the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304202/President-Obama-blasted-sexist-calling-California-attorney-general-best-looking-lawmaker-country.html#ixzz2PalgMWtp

'I'm going to die, please help me': Tragic plea of ten-year-old meningitis boy given Calpol and sent home from hospital

William Cressey, 10, died day after being sent home from Darlington Memorial Hospital with Calpol and a cardboard tray to be sick in

Nurse Christopher Kirby is up before the Nursing and Midwifery Council accused of misconduct over the care of William in February 2005

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 10:38 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 23:45 GMT, 4 April 2013


A schoolboy tearfully begged doctors to help him hours before he died from meningitis, a conduct hearing has been told.

Ten-year-old William Cressey pleaded with them: ‘Please help me. Why won’t you help me? If you don’t help me, I am going to die. Please help me, I don’t want to die.’

William was prescribed Calpol and sent home from hospital because doctors thought he was suffering from a migraine, his mother said.

Hours later Cheryl Cressey took him back to the ward but he suffered a fit and died later that day. Mrs Cressey said she repeatedly alerted doctors and nurses to her son’s deteriorating condition, but was dismissed as a ‘neurotic mum’.

Christopher Kirby, one of the nurses in charge of looking after him, is appearing before the Nursing and Midwifery Council in central London.

He admits failing to carry out proper observations on William and record keeping errors. But he denies walking away when a colleague asked him for help with the boy.

William, from Croft, County Durham, was admitted to Darlington Memorial Hospital on February 28, 2005 but by 9am the following day the decision was made by the doctors to send him home.

Mrs Cressey told the hearing: ‘William’s eyes were seriously protruding and he was having difficulty in closing his lids over his eyes.

‘I told a nurse that his eyes were really causing him suffering and she went to senior male nurse Christopher Kirby.’

Mrs Cressey said the nurse explained the situation to Mr Kirby.

‘His reply was, “Well you know what to do about that don’t you?”, she replied, “no”, and he said, “Just don’t touch it”, and then he walked away.’

Breaking down in tears, she added: ‘William heard this and said: “That was not very kind, was it mum?” Tears rolled down his face.’

She said her son lay on the bed writhing in agony and vomiting but doctors refused to accept that he had meningitis because he did not have a rash.

After being kept in overnight he was sent home on March 1 with Calpol and another painkiller, ibuprofen, and a cardboard tray to be sick in.

His mother took him back to hospital but by then he was beyond help and he suffered the fatal fit. He had seen five doctors in three days who were unable to diagnose and treat him.

His mother, now in her early 50s, said she repeatedly told doctors that she suspected meningitis but each time was ignored.

Derek Zeitlin, for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, told the hearing there was no suggestion that Mr Kirby’s actions had caused William’s death. The hearing continues.


GIRL, 5, WHO DIED FROM MENINGITIS TOLD 'IT'S ONLY A BUG'

A girl of five died from meningitis less than 48 hours after she was twice diagnosed with a bug and sent home by doctors, an inquest heard yesterday.

Kelsey Smart, from Kingswood, south Gloucestershire, was initially taken to an out-of-hours emergency GP service after she started vomiting and developed a red rash across her stomach in February last year.

Her mother, Hannah Smart, told the inquest that locum GP Dr Jens Rohrbeck, who saw Kelsey at Frendoc’s clinic at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, said she had picked up a virus and that she did not need to be seen by hospital doctors.

Mrs Smart said that the next morning she took Kelsey to the Orchard Medical Centre in Kingswood, where the schoolgirl saw Dr Sarah Grant. Mrs Smart said Dr Grant told her Kelsey had a bug and sent her home without any drugs.

Later that day Kelsey had a fit. She was taken to Bristol Children’s Hospital and put on life support but doctors later pronounced her brain dead, Avon Coroner’s Court heard.

Recording a narrative verdict, Avon Coroner Maria Voisin said: ‘Earlier intervention is better but what cannot be said is whether earlier treatment would have resulted in a different outcome for Kelsey.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303869/Schoolboy-William-Cressey-sent-home-Darlington-Memorial-Hospital-migraine-deadly-meningitis.html#ixzz2PbG8EMyR

Cameron backs Osborne in benefits row, insisting case of arson dad Mick Philpott DOES raise questions about welfare becoming a 'lifestyle choice'


Prime Minister says Philpott was to blame for his crimes but welfare cannot be a 'lifestyle choice'
Chancellor spoke out after father-of-17 was jailed for life over fire which killed six of his children
Philpott tried to frame former lover in sick bid to win custody of other children and get bigger council house
Osborne says 'question for government and for society' about the benefits that fuelled his lifestyle
Labour MPs accuse him of making political capital out of tragedy

By Matt Chorley and Tim Shipman

PUBLISHED: 16:13 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 14:37 GMT, 5 April 2013

David Cameron today weighed into the bitter row over linking the Mick Philpott arson case to the need to overhaul Britain's troubled benefits system.

The Prime Minister backed Chancellor George Osborne for suggesting the tragic case raised questions about the way some people come to rely on state handouts.

Mr Cameron insisted Philpott, jailed this week for starting a fire which killed six of his children, was to blame for his crimes but argued that welfare must not be seen as a 'lifestyle choice'.

The political row over the Philpott case erupted after the Daily Mail pointed that the dad-of-17 was a product of the benefits system.

Yesterday Mr Osborne said there needed to be a debate 'for government and for society about the welfare state'.

It provoked a storm of outrage from the Left, accusing the Chancellor of demeaning his office.

But today he received the defiant backing of Mr Cameron, who said Mr Osborne was 'absolutely right'.

The Prime Minister added: 'He [Mr Osborne] said the Mr Philpott was the one to blame for his crimes, that he should be held responsible; but what the Chancellor went on to say was that we should ask some wider questions about our welfare system, how much it costs and the signals that it sends.

'And we do want to make clear that welfare is there to help people who work hard, it shouldn’t be there as a sort of lifestyle choice, and I think that’s entirely legitimate.'

Mr Osborne attracted howls of outrage last night simply for pointing out that the appalling case strengthened the need for welfare reform.

In an extraordinary reaction from Labour, the Chancellor was described as a ‘disgrace’ for making his comments on the day that father-of-17 Philpott, his wife Mairead and accomplice Paul Mosley were jailed for burning the couple’s six children to death.

The jury at Nottingham Crown Court had heard that one of the motivations for Philpott’s sickening crimes was his desire to get his hands on the benefits money which vanished when his live-in lover left with their five children.

The subsequent row over whether the welfare system lies at the heart of the appalling case has dominated radio phone-ins and internet message boards all week.

Mr Osborne made his comments during a visit to the Philpotts’ home city of Derby, where he was asked if the couple were a product of the benefits system.

He replied: ‘Philpott is responsible for these absolutely horrendous crimes, that have shocked the nation. 'The courts are responsible for sentencing.

[b]‘But I think there is a question for government and for society about the welfare state, and the taxpayers who pay for the welfare state, subsidising lifestyles like that.

'And I think that debate needs to be had.’

The Chancellor has led the Government’s defence of changes in the welfare system and this week accused opponents of talking ‘ill-informed rubbish’.

In the face of growing pressure from churches, charities and opposition parties, Mr Osborne said suggestions that the changes marked the end of the welfare state were ‘shrill, headline-seeking nonsense’.

Within hours of his remarks about Philpott, he faced a backlash from Left-wingers who accused him of ‘cynically’ exploiting the tragedy to push the Government’s case for cuts to handouts.

Senior Tories said the reaction of the Opposition is proof that it still fails to grasp the depth of public fury at the way some have abused the benefits system.

The prosecution presented evidence that Philpott hatched the plot to burn down his house when his mistress Lisa Willis decided to flee their home, taking with her £1,000 a month in benefit payments.
[/b]

That move was described as the ‘catalyst for everything that was to follow’.

Despite this, Mr Osborne’s intervention sparked an extraordinary reaction. Shadow health spokesman Jamie Reed tweeted: ‘Just seen Osborne’s comments. What a sickening figure he is. Utterly beneath contempt. Not fit to hold public office.’

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said Mr Osborne was ‘cynical’ and ‘desperate’ but offered no ideas about how Labour would combat the soaring welfare bill.

He said: ‘A Chancellor has to think very carefully before they comment on the issues of the day. How they do so says a lot about the character of their Chancellorship.

‘That is why I believe George Osborne’s calculated decision to use the shocking and vile crimes of Mick Philpott to advance a political argument is the cynical act of a desperate Chancellor.

‘We should have a proper debate about welfare reform. But for the Chancellor to link this wider debate to this shocking crime is nasty and divisive and demeans his office.’



The reaction from the opposition front bench was condemned by Labour activist and blogger Dan Hodges, who said Mr Balls had ‘plunged’ into a trap set by the Tories.

‘Labour’s strategy on Philpott and welfare is suicidal,’ he said. ‘The Tories want lots of stories tomorrow that have the phrases “Mick Philpott”, “Welfare”, and “Labour defends welfare”. They’re going to get them.

‘You don’t need to be a master strategist to make a monkey of the Labour Party on the issue of welfare. Labour should back a welfare freeze, in the same way it backs a freeze in public sector wages.’

Mr Hodges added that on Philpott Labour should say: ‘We’re not commenting. This is a terrible tragedy, our thoughts are with the victims.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304037/Mick-Philpott-benefits-culture-George-Osborne-attacked-Labour-saying-UK-needs-debate-welfare.html#ixzz2PbKfxsRa

[size=14pt]The little girl who mistook a prince for a frog! Toddler recoils from William's Glasgow kiss (but giggles away happily for the Duchess)[/size]

Scottish girl Shona Ritchie, 4, also refused to give William her flower...
...because she wanted to give it to Kate
Later a baby tried to eat some of Kate's flowers
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Scotland for two days

By Martha De Lacey

PUBLISHED: 16:03 GMT, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 11:33 GMT, 5 April 2013

The pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was a hit with the children of Glasgow when she visited the Scottish city today. Her husband Prince William, however, did not go down quite so well.

The second-in-line to the throne reached in to give a friendly kiss to a toddler, but the little girl recoiled in horror, burying herself in her mother's neck.

Shona Ritchie, a four-year-old Glaswegian local who was dressed as a princess, further rebuffed the royal advances when William admired the pretty flower she was holding. Concerned he might take a fancy to it or perhaps anticipating a Glasgow Kiss (local slang for a headbutt), Shona yanked it away from his grasp - because she wanted to give it to Kate.

'Ooh, is that for me?' William asked hopefully, looking at the red flower, to which Shona thrust the flower in Kate's direction. 'No, you want to give it to Kate. Quite right.'

The Prince hoped he might get a kiss by way of apology, at which point Shona hid from his advances. 'Oh, next time, Shona, next time,' he said, smiling.

Shona was standing outside the Emirates Arena with her family. Her mother, Karen Ritchie, 34, from Croftfoot, Glasgow, said Shona had waited all morning to ask William for a kiss but, as he leaned over, she became shy.

She said: 'She's been dressed up like that since 6am today and we've been here waiting since nine. But when she finally plucked up the courage to ask him, she got really shy and pulled away.
'Kate asked her if she had picked the flower from her garden, but Shona told her she got it from my vase and she thought that was very funny'


'As he leaned in to kiss her on the forehead she pulled away and got really shy. This is the quietest she's been all day.'

The Duchess was given Shona's red flower when she also stopped to speak to the family.

Mrs Ritchie said: 'She said Shona looked very pretty and asked her if she had picked the flower from her garden, but Shona told her she got it from my vase in the house and she thought that was very funny.'

Further along the welcome line, a baby girl showed she had a taste for the finer things in life when she tried to eat a bouquet of flowers that was presented to the Duchess of Cambridge.


The youngster, only a few months old, made a move towards the flowers during the royal visit to Glasgow.

Kate jokingly asked if the little girl wanted to keep the flowers, and told her: 'It's probably not so tasty.'

When the baby reached towards the blooms again, to laughter from the gathered crowds, the Duchess added: 'I don't think that's going to be very nice.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2304052/Girl-snubs-Prince-William-kiss-Duke-Cambridge-dissed-toddler-Glasgow.html#ixzz2PbRoKYq3

Interestingly, both girls are wearing green traditional attires complete with headgears!

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Sudan mulls conditional amnesty for rebels: media
English.news.cn 2013-03-18 16:51:11

KHARTOUM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese parliament has disclosed intensive government consultations over a general conditional amnesty for the rebels, Khartoum's Al-Intibaha daily reported Monday.

The paper quoted Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly ( parliament) Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir as saying that there have been intensive consultations with Sudanese president, defense minister, chief of intelligence and security service to issue a general conditional amnesty for the armed rebels.

Al-Tahir further indicated that any rebel who voluntarily put down arms would find good treatment and warm welcome.

The latest development came just a few days after Sudan and South Sudan reached a deal on the implementation of the signed agreements on outstanding issues between them.

The Sudanese government is fighting a number of armed groups in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states where these movements refuse to negotiate with the government.

The African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) has recently urged Darfur armed movements to negotiate with the Sudanese government, while the Arab League renewed its call for the movements to join the Doha negotiation forum.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2013-03/18/c_132243103.htm

Uganda: DRC Offers Terms of Amnesty to M23 Rebels
By Raymond Baguma, 12 March 2013

The DR Congo government will grant amnesty to members of the M23 rebel group, as well as offer them positions in the national army if they agree to lay down arms and sign a peace accord this week.

On Monday, Reuters news agency reported that a draft peace plan by the DRC government proposes that the M23 rebels should hand in their weapons ahead of the deployment of UN peacekeepers in eastern Congo border with Rwanda.

Also, rebels who are not facing prosecution would be integrated into the army while the government would, in turn, speed up the return of Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees from Rwanda.

The deal also offers M23 fighters a limited amnesty.

"It's a working document ... on March 15 negotiations will be finished in one way or another, with or without a signature," Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende said, without saying what would happen if the rebels did not sign.

Mende said the draft peace plan was a reworking of an agreement signed in 2009 to end a previous rebellion. The M23 rebels said they took up arms last year because of the failure to implement that deal.

In the past weeks, internal clashes within the military command have rocked the M23 rebel group.

This prompted Col. Sultani Makenga to sack the political leader Jean Marie Runiga for his links with Gen. Bosco Ntaganda who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Government spokesman Mende declined to discuss specifics, but the latest deal would appear to prevent Ntaganda's re-integration this time. "You won't get back in if you're a criminal," he said.

A high-ranking M23 military source close to Makenga told Reuters that M23 was prepared to sign the deal with the DRC government.

However, Bertrand Bisimwa, the newly appointed M23 political leader said he was not aware of any deal.

"We don't know of its existence or content. We're surprised it's circulating in the media," Bisimwa told Reuters on Monday.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201303121165.html

[size=14pt]Baroness Ashton will be paid £400,000 by the EU to do nothing[/size]

Baroness Ashton will be entitled to £400,000 at the taxpayer's expense over three years for doing nothing after finishing her five year term as the European Union's foreign minister at the end of 2014.

Baroness Ashton will be paid £400,000 by the EU to do nothing

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels

2:28PM BST 05 Apr 2013

[b]Research by The Daily Telegraph has established that the Labour peer, who finishes her job as High Representative of foreign affairs in October next year, will be paid £133,500 a year, 55 per cent of her basic salary, until the end of 2017.

The "transitional allowance" does not require her to do any work at all and she will be paid under reduced rates of EU "community" tax, rather than the standard British rates of taxation for high-income earners.

The allowance is defended as "the price for the total independence" of senior EU officials like Lady Ashton, who is also a vice-president of the European Commission, who must also "ask permission for any job they would like to do for 18 months after leaving".

"It's important that commissioners don't start looking for a new job during the last months of their mandate, and that they take their time over finding appropriate new employment," said a commission spokesman.

"That way, they can continue to give 100 per cent to the job taxpayers are paying them to do, and there is much less risk of a conflict of interest."[/b]


On leaving her job on an annual gross salary, including allowances, of £287,543, making her the second highest paid female politician in the world, Lady Ashton will be paid one month's salary, the sum of £23,962 as well beginning the transitional payments "on the day after leaving office".

The allowance will not be reduced unless she earns over £134,000 in additional income, allowing Lady Ashton to take up her seat in the House of Lords, where she will be entitled to £300 in untaxed daily allowance for sittings of the unelected chamber, without loss of EU payments.

In contrast to the EU allowance, ministers are entitled to severance pay equivalent to three months of their ministerial salary when they leave the Government.

In 2021 on reaching retirement age, Lady Ashton will become eligible for her EU pension which will be worth £61,000 a year, over three times the average in Britain and also covered by the reduced rates of "community tax" paid by European civil servants.

Lady Ashton has been criticised by the Government for failing to honour a promise that her EU diplomatic service would be "budget neutral" and for making "ludicrous" demands for extra cash at a time of deep cuts to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

A recent report by MEPs attacked the EU's diplomatic service, created by Lady Ashton, for being "top-heavy" with highly paid officials as well as plagued by incompetent staff and absenteeism in its 141 embassies or delegations across the world.

Douglas Carswell, the Conservative MP for Clacton, said that based on her performance Lady Ashton should be paying money back to taxpayers rather than the other way around.

"The system is run by, and for the benefit, of those troughing officials who work in Brussels," he said. "If Baroness Ashton got proper performance related pay, she would be writing a cheque out to HM Revenue and Customs."

Speaking to a Brussels audience recently, Lady Ashton admitted that her successor, rumoured to be Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, might be better suited for the job.

"I think it will have been a great privilege to have served in this role, but it's quite hard. There's a lot of travel and a lot of sitting on planes," she said on 16 March.

"It is exhausting at times. And I think, in any event, you lay the foundations but there are people who can do things with this that probably I couldn't do so it would be good to hand it over."

The next British commissioner is expected to be Andrew Mitchell, the former Chief Whip, who will be rehabilitated following the "Plebgate" scandal with the top EU job, thought to be the key economic portfolio of competition.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, said: "Ashton just goes to prove the Brussels pay formula: that Eurocrats are paid huge amounts of money inversely to the amount of work they do or the little good that they achieve."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9971786/Baroness-Ashton-will-be-paid-400000-by-the-EU-to-do-nothing.html

April 3, 2013 10:28 pm
Obama takes pay cut ‘to share in sacrifice’
By James Politi in Washington

Barack Obama is cutting his salary by 5 per cent in solidarity with US federal workers who are being put on temporary unpaid leave because of the sequestration budget cuts across the country.

The president’s annual pay of $400,000 was exempt under the budget law that governs the automatic spending cuts, but a White House aide said he had nevertheless decided to trim his wages in line with the cuts faced by other workers.


The president had decided that to “share in the sacrifice” being made by public servants across the federal government who were affected by the cuts, he would contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury, the White House aide said on Wednesday.

Because Mr Obama’s salary will remain technically exempt from the automatic budgets cuts, he will personally write a cheque to the Treasury every month and the pay cut will apply retroactively to March 1, when sequestration began.

Mr Obama’s move signals that the White House is nervous about the public backlash against the cuts, worth $85bn through the end of September and $1.2tn over a decade, that could be directed at the president as much as lawmakers in Congress.

Chuck Hagel, the defence secretary whose annual salary is $199,700, will also cut his salary in sympathy with civilian Pentagon employees whose wages will be affected by the budget cuts, the defence department said this week.

In the run-up to sequestration, the Obama administration highlighted the damage the cuts would inflict on the economy and the lives of many families, in the hope that Republicans would be blamed for the impasse because of their unwillingness to consider any new taxes in a budget deal.

But Republicans have tried to turn the tables on the White House, initially with regard to the closure of White House visitor tours by the Secret Service, and later as other federal operations were hit in their districts, such as local air traffic control towers.

The sequestration cuts have not yet had a huge impact on the political debate, or the US economy, since their effect has been gradual. But over the coming weeks this is expected to increase, as federal agencies come under further strain and the 30-day notice periods required for employee furloughs expire. Some US government departments, such as housing and urban development, are planning to close on certain days.

Sequestration set in on March 1 after Mr Obama and Republicans in Congress failed to reach a deal over more targeted deficit savings. The president and his Democratic allies demanded some tax increases to change the composition of the sequestration, but Republicans refused.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af0e2b1c-9c9d-11e2-9a4b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fglobal-economy%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz2PbdkZHk9

Going too far, too fast: Ed Balls confesses to being caught for speeding despite campaigning for more 20mph zones

Shadow chancellor admits driving at 56mph in a 50mph zone on M62
He blames roadworks but embarrassing revelation comes despite campaigning for more 20mph zones in his constituency
Comes hours after Labour criticised George Osborne for his car being parked in a disabled bay

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 13:36 GMT, 5 April 2013 | UPDATED: 13:43 GMT, 5 April 2013

Labour’s Ed Balls today revealed he had been caught speeding, just hours after Chancellor George Osborne was embarrassed by his own parking offence.

Mr Balls used his blog to confess to breaking the speed limit on the M62, despite campaigning for more 20mph zones in his own constituency.

The shadow chancellor joked that he had been going ‘too far, too fast’ – a charge he has leveled against Mr Osborne’s pace of spending cuts.

The revelation by Mr Balls is embarrassing for the Labour party which has sought to make political capital from photographs showing Mr Osborne’s official car parked in a disabled bay while he bought a Big Mac from McDonald’s.

Left-wing critics have accused the Chancellor of being out of touch, despite him insisting he was dropped off outside the M4 service station and did not notice where police providing his security picked him up.

However, Mr Balls today admitted he had being caught driving at 56mph in a 50mph zone on the motorway in his West Yorkshire constituency when he triggered a trap.

Let the train take the strain: The speeding revelation is embarrassing for Ed Miliband's Labour party, which has sought to exploit George Osborne's parking faux pas for political gain

Writing on his blog, Mr Balls appeared to blame long-running roadworks for his error.

He said: ‘Like many local people, I was caught out by the never-ending roadworks on the M62. Pulling on to the motorway at Morley I realised too late that the speed restrictions were still in place.

‘I was caught and bang to rights – doing 56 in a 50 mile restriction zone. Going too far, too fast, you might say.

‘I paid my fine and chose to attend a speed awareness course. I currently have no points on my licence and would like to keep it that way. Which is why, this week, I ended up in the Holiday Inn with 39 others.’

Her claimed the course – which allows drivers to escape penalty points by undergoing training the dangers od speeding was ‘very professional and actually really worthwhile’.

It also has echoes of the Chancellor’s decision to sit in a first class train carriage last year, despite him only holding a standard class ticket. He was forced to pay £160 for an upgrade.

Mr Balls went on: ‘What hit home were the statistics which link speed to car deaths. At 20 mph, less than 10 per cent of people will lose their lives if hit by a car. But the probability rises exponentially, going above 40 per cent at 40mph.

‘Our course instructors explained that casualty rates have fallen over the past decade, as drivers have become more aware and car design has improved. The worrying thing is that this trend has started to reverse in recent years.’

He went on to claim that his own misdemeanor reinforced his call for more 20mph routes in near schools and residential areas in Morley in his constituency.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304544/Ed-Balls-confesses-caught-speeding-despite-campaigning-20mph-zones.html#ixzz2PbjSRTDo

Oops! George Osborne's driver parks in a disabled bay while Chancellor grabs a Big Mac

Chancellor called in to a McDonald's at Mangor services on the M4
He insists he did not know the silver Land Rover was in a reserved bay

By Gerri Peev

PUBLISHED: 11:50 GMT, 5 April 2013 | UPDATED: 14:18 GMT, 5 April 2013

George Osborne has come under fire for getting into a car parked in a disabled space.

The Chancellor had nipped into a service station to get a McDonalds’ lunch on the way back from an official visit to Cardiff.

When he emerged from the Mangor services on the M4, his driver had parked the silver Land Rover in a disabled parking bay.

It is understood the vehicle was driven by police so can be legally parked anywhere – even without a blue badge.

But the move sparked accusations of arrogance from disability campaigners, who are furious at the government’s cuts to welfare.

It also has echoes of the Chancellor’s decision to sit in a first class train carriage last year, despite him only holding a standard class ticket. He was forced to pay £160 for an upgrade.

Mr Osborne has said he had ‘no idea’ that the car had been in a disabled bay.

Treasury sources said he had been dropped off at the door of the services, where he went in to buy fast food.

The police driver then parked the car in a disabled bay in his absence.

A source close to Mr Osborne said: ‘The Chancellor would not condone parking in a disabled parking bay. But he had no idea this had happened.’

The £50,000 Land Rover was not driven by Mr Osborne at any point when the incident took place on Wednesday.

But a witness told the Daily Mirror, who published the pictures: ‘I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw his driver pull into the disabled parking bay.

‘It's not as if they were in a rush to move. The car park wasn't exactly full and there were plenty of other, ordinary spaces.’
Mr Osborne has been caught up in the row over benefits, after saying the case of Mike Philpott jailed for starting a fire which killed his six children highlighted the need to reform welfare


Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope said that the incident showed how ‘wildly out of touch the Chancellor is with disabled people in the UK’.

The use of the bay was ‘rubbing salt in the wounds’ of people suffering under the welfare reforms, Mr Hawkes added. A survey in 2007 of drivers voted it as Britain’s worst service station.

The services were said to be well signed with sufficient parking spaces, but there was a lack of disabled access, high prices and poor hygiene.

It has since undergone a transformation with the inclusion of a WH Smith and McDonalds, which aides revealed Mr Osborne has a weakness for.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304493/George-Osbornes-driver-parks-Land-Rover-disabled-bay-Chancellor-grabs-Big-Mac.html#ixzz2PbkXYdPy

5 April 2013 Last updated at 10:41 GMT

[size=14pt]Bulgaria holds prayers to end suicides and despair[/size]


Bulgaria has begun three days of special prayers requested by the country's president because of national pessimism and a spate of suicides.

The move comes after seven people set themselves on fire, protesting against poverty and corruption. Five died and two were severely injured.

Religious leaders from various faiths agreed to hold special prayers.

Recent protests throughout the EU's poorest nation forced the previous government to resign in February.



The prayer appeal from President Rosen Plevneliev followed w[b]eeks of protests against high electricity bills, poverty and corruption.[/b]

'More faith'

He urged people to "pray for an end to the suicides and for passing through the crisis with patience and dignity."

Religious leaders from the Christian Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian and Protestant churches, together with Muslim and Jewish leaders, will host special prayers across the nation on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Addressing the nation, President Plevneliev said "Bulgarians, we need more faith and hope in our own well-being and success.

"To overcome difficulties we must all learn the lessons and believe more. Faith has preserved our nation over the centuries. And it will now help us to believe in our strength and our future."

Public hospitals began offering free psychological counselling to citizens earlier in the week.

Aside from the self-immolations, almost 200 people have committed suicide this year, National Health Centre doctor Vladimir Nakov told Trud newspaper.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22039182