EXPLAINER: The scandal engulfing South Africa's president
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa could face criminal charges and is already facing calls to step down over claims that he tried to cover up the theft of millions of dollars in U.S. currency that was hidden inside furniture at his game farm.
Hope that South Africa's COVID-19 corruption inspires action
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, file)CAPE TOWN – There's some hope in South Africa that this time the outrage against corruption inspires effective action. The new charges of the misuse of public money earmarked to fight the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to be a turning point, say those experts. AdIt would be shocking, corruption experts say, if graft hadn't already been deeply entrenched in South Africa. “I get the outrage but not the surprise," said David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch in South Africa. South Africa was in recession even before the devastating effects of the virus.
Mexico's last island penal colony may now host cruise ships
Visitors will be able to tour the remote island jail, but not stay overnight. Ad“Visitors will have their first contact with the former island prison which for 100 years sheltered numerous criminals,” Torruco said. When Panama closed its Isla Coiba penal colony in 2004, Isla Marias became the last one remaining in the Americas. But in the end, the Islas Marias wound up costing Mexico far more per prisoner than did mainland jails. Chile closed its Santa Maria prison island in the late 1980s, Costa Rica’s Isla San Lucas penal colony closed in 1991 and Brazil’s Isla Grande in 1994.
Malala takes her passions to the small screen with Apple
FILE - Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner, appears at the Cricket World Cup opening party along The Mall in London, on May 29, 2019. In her home country, Pakistan, she was outspoken in insisting that girls have a right to an education. You know, I’m still at the stage where I’m exploring ideas. We are often told that you have to grow older and get a PhD or something, and then once you are 50 or 40, then you can change things. Follow that path if you want, but you can change things now as well.
South Africa's president fights own party over corruption
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at a hospital in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, to receive a Johnson and Johnson vaccine. It's in defiance of Ramaphosa and ANC policy that officials facing corruption charges should step aside until their criminal cases are finalized. I’ll prove (it) in court," Magashule said outside the courthouse, where people wearing green and yellow ANC T-shirts gathered in support of him. Both Zuma and Magashule have challenged Ramaphosa since he replaced Zuma as ANC leader in 2017 and became South Africa's president in 2018. AdThat scandal further angered South Africans who have been inundated with allegations of high-level corruption during the state corruption commission, which is probing Zuma's time as president from 2009-18.
South Africans swap firecrackers for candles amid pandemic
Many South Africans will swap firecrackers for candles to mark New Year's Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call to light a candle to honor those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic and the health workers who are on the frontline of battling the disease. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)JOHANNESBURG – Many South Africans swapped firecrackers for candles to mark New Year’s Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew. Urging all South Africans to battle the virus, Ramaphosa called on the nation to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a different way. Instead, the mayor of South Africa's largest city will light a candle on the landmark Nelson Mandela Bridge. At midnight he will light a candle with his family and pray for everybody who has suffered from the pandemic.
NYC cathedral gunman's note says he planned to take hostages
New York police officers move in on the scene of a shooting at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020, in New York. A man was shot by police after shots rang out at the end of a Christmas choral concert on the steps of the Manhattan cathedral Sunday afternoon. The shooting happened just before 4 p.m. at the church which is the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and seat of its bishop. The note was first reported by NBC New York. In the note, the law enforcement official said, Vasquez wrote he did not expect to make it home.
South Africa closes beaches to fight resurgence of COVID-19
JOHANNESBURG – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the closure of many of the country's beaches throughout the festive season to fight a resurgence of new COVID-19 infections. All beaches will be closed from Dec. 16 until January in the Eastern Cape province and the Garden Route tourist area in the Western Cape province. In Kwazulu-Natal province, beaches will be closed on public holidays including Christmas and New Year’s Day. In neighboring Eswatini, Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who had tested positive for COVID-19, has died, the kingdom's government has announced. Eswatini, a small mountain kingdom northeast of South Africa, has recorded almost 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 127 deaths.
Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, says global leadership during the pandemic has been 'inadequate'
Graça Machel, an internationally-renowned advocate for equality and the widow of former South African President Nelson Mandela, told CNBC the response from global leaders to the Covid-19 crisis has been "inadequate." Machel, who is also the founder of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique, specifically criticized the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Trump has also previously cited what he called "the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." A senior administration official at the White House told CNBC that the president has been clear that the WHO needs to reform. We account for more than 40 percent of total global health funding," the official said in a statement.
cnbc.comThis Week In History: Nelson Mandela freed from jail, Dick Cheney shoots his friend, and Donald Trump's divorce drama
Nelson Mandela is freed from jail after 27 years, Princess Diana announces her second pregnancy, and "Taxi Driver" makes its theater debut. All this and more as CBSN's Vladimir Duthiers and Kristine Johnson take a look in the CBS News archives in "The Way It Was."
cbsnews.comMorgan Freeman on "Madam Secretary," directing and his voice
The Academy Award-winner is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, having played characters like a prisoner in "The Shawshank Redemption" to Nelson Mandela in "Invictus." He's even played god -- twice. Freeman joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss his experience directing and acting in Sunday night's premiere episode of “Madam Secretary.”
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