South Africa

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Driver Locks Up Drunk Police Officer

Apparently, it was the cop's birthday...

(Newser) - Quite a role reversal in South Africa on Sunday night, when a driver saw a police van crazily swerving before driving into oncoming traffic. When the van finally stopped, motorist Russell George got out of his car and confronted the driver. But the officer drove off and George pursued, while...

Zuma: Mandela Has Recovered
 Zuma: Mandela Has Recovered 

Zuma: Mandela Has Recovered

Says 94-year-old icon 'continues to improve'

(Newser) - South Africa's president says that Nelson Mandela has recovered from his recent lung infection and surgical procedure to remove gallstones. South African President Jacob Zuma issued a statement today announcing that doctors say that Mandela, 94, has made "steady progress and that clinically, he continues to improve."...

Mandela Leaves the Hospital
 Mandela Leaves 
 the Hospital 

Mandela Leaves the Hospital

Former South African president will receive care at home

(Newser) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released today from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon will continue to receive medical care at home. Mandela had been in the hospital since Dec. 8. In recent...

Mandela Surgery Goes Well
 Mandela Surgery Goes Well 

Mandela Surgery Goes Well

He has gallstones removed as he recovers from lung ailment

(Newser) - Nelson Mandela underwent a successful surgery to remove gallstones today, even as the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon recovers from a lung infection. Doctors treating the former South African president waited to perform the endoscopic surgery because they wanted to first attend to his lung ailment. Mandela has been hospitalized since Dec....

Mandela's 'Sparkle Fading,' Says Wife

Makes comments as former leader diagnosed with lung infection

(Newser) - The first specifics of Nelson Mandela's condition are trickling out following the former president's weekend hospitalization , and they're both encouraging and heart-tugging. The New York Times reports that his condition has been revealed as a recurring lung infection, and he is reportedly "responding to the treatment....

Nelson Mandela Hospitalized, 'Comfortable'

Jacob Zuma visits 94-year-old former president

(Newser) - South Africans prayed today for the health of former President Nelson Mandela and anxiously awaited further word about the anti-apartheid leader after he was admitted to a military hospital. President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela this morning at the hospital in Pretoria and found the frail 94-year-old to be "comfortable...

Smuggler Swallowed 220 Diamonds: Police

Man caught trying to leave South Africa

(Newser) - A diamond smuggler is accused of the impressive, painful-sounding feat of swallowing 220 of the gems in an attempt to get them out of South Africa. The Lebanese man was arrested at the Johannesburg airport as he was waiting to fly to Dubai, the BBC reports. Scans of his body...

South African Police Planted Knives on Dead Miners: Report

Video also shows dead workers in handcuffs

(Newser) - New photographic evidence in the ongoing court inquiry of the South African mine shooting last August suggests that police planted weapons near workers' dead bodies following the protest, a lawyer working on the case told an inquest. Police initially said they had acted in self-defense after the violent protest broke...

African Union Gets First Female Leader

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was South African minister

(Newser) - A female leader has taken up the top leadership position at the African Union for the first time. South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma today took charge of the African Union, where she will be in charge of peace, security, politics, and economic affairs of the continent. Dlamini-Zuma was most recently...

Mining Company Fires 12K Workers

Striking miner says one was killed with rubber bullets

(Newser) - Anglo American Platinum fired 12,000 striking miners today for staging an unlawful strike that is one of several that are slowly paralyzing South Africa's crucial mining sector. About 80,000 miners, representing 16% of the country's mine workforce, are currently striking in a wave of wildcat work...

Zulu King Demands $700K for Sixth Wife's Palace

$6.9M already budgeted for Zulu royal family this year

(Newser) - Wives aren't cheap, especially when you've got six of them. South Africa's Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini is demanding the government cough up $700,000 for a palace for his sixth and youngest wife, Queen Mafu, who first stepped out with the king at the age of 14...

Charges Dropped Vs. S. African Miners

Workers had been charged after police killed 34 in strike

(Newser) - South African prosecutors are dropping murder charges against 270 miners accused in the deaths of 34 of their co-workers killed by police during a strike , reports the BBC . "Final charges will only be made once all investigations have been completed," said the nation's top prosecutor today. "...

South African Miners Charged With Murder

... after police kill 34 of their striking co-workers

(Newser) - This might take a little time to wrap your head around: South African authorities have charged 270 miners with murder after police shot dead more than 30 of their co-workers during a protest earlier this month, reports the Guardian . To do so, prosecutors dusted off an obscure law often used...

South Africa Reels as Mine Shooting Toll Hits 35

President Zuma 'shocked and dismayed' by violence

(Newser) - The death toll has risen to more than 35 in yesterday's shooting of striking South African miners by police, which has become one of the deadliest confrontations since the end of apartheid, reports the Telegraph . The country's police minister says many others were injured and the toll is...

South Africa Cops Fire at Striking Miners

At least 7 reported killed

(Newser) - The death toll has risen to at least 17 in a week of clashes tied to a miners' strike in South Africa, the AP reports. At least seven people were killed after police fired at striking miners today. Officers, accompanied by armored vehicles, were setting up barbed wire near a...

South Africa Sees Rarity: Snow
 South Africa Sees Rarity: Snow 

South Africa Sees Rarity: Snow

Nation in midst of winter cold snap

(Newser) - People slowly came outside despite the cold wind today across South Africa, pointed their mobile phone cameras to the sky, and opened their mouths to taste a rare snowfall that fell on much of the country. The snow began this morning, part of an extreme cold snap now biting into...

&#39;Blade Runner&#39; Aims for History


 'Blade Runner' 
 Aims for History 
Olympics

'Blade Runner' Aims for History

Oscar Pistorius is the first amputee to compete

(Newser) - Oscar Pistorius made Olympic history simply by competing in a 400-meter heat today, and he earned a chance to make some more tomorrow. The 25-year-old South African became the first amputee to compete in an Olympic race, reports the Washington Post . Pistorius, who uses a pair of carbon fiber prosthetic...

Caster Semenya Will Carry Olympic Flag

South African runner had to undergo gender test three years ago

(Newser) - At the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, the flag of South Africa will be carried by Caster Semenya, that nation's 21-year-old champion runner. Semenya receives the honor three years after the track and field governing body subjected her to a gender test, igniting a major controversy . Semnya said...

'Bladerunner' Pistorius to Race in Olympics

As part of South Africa's 4x400 relay team, and in the 400m race

(Newser) - The London Olympics have yet to begin, but Oscar Pistorius has already entered the record books. The double amputee has been selected as a member of South Africa's 4x400 relay team, making him the first amputee track athlete ever to compete at the Games. And in a big surprise...

US Student Mauled by Chimps in Critical Condition

Andrew Oberle broke the rules by going through the first of 2 fences

(Newser) - New details are slowly emerging in the story of the US grad student mauled by chimps at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa, including one particularly heart-wrenching one: Conservationist Eugene Cussons said it was the first time he had asked Andrew Oberle to speak to visitors. Oberle,...

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