Tutu’s coffin was carried into his old parish cathedral by six priests

Mourners are filing past the coffin of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as his body lies in state at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end apartheid in South Africa, died on Sunday aged 90.

His official state funeral will be held on 1 January after the lying-in-state period, allowing mourners to file past his body and say their final goodbyes.

Large crowds are expected to visit the cathedral over the next two days.

The lying in state period had to be extended to two days, “for fear there might be a stampede”, a local priest told AFP news agency.

Priests burnt incense as Tutu’s simple wooden coffin was carried into the cathedral.

Tutu’s eldest daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe, accompanied by other family elders, walked slowly behind as the coffin entered his former parish.

His frail wife Leah had been wheeled into the church earlier.

A small service was held for the family before they viewed his body.

“It’s a painful moment for Mama Leah. She is in bereavement. We need to pray for her. We need to love her and continue supporting her even though her beloved husband is gone,” Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said.

Members of the public have been paying their respects to the much-revered churchman, a driving force in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system enforced by the white-minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.

Human resources manager Amanda Mbikwana told Reuters news agency that she arrived as early as 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT) with her mother and nephews to bid farewell to Tutu, referred to by many South Africans as “Tata”, or father.

“We have known Tata’s work, he has stood up for us and we are here today in a free country to give him the honour, to celebrate his life and to support Mama Leah and the family,” she said.

Memorial services will be held across South Africa while an intimate night of remembrance with his close friends will take place later.

After Saturday’s funeral, Tutu’s remains will be cremated and his ashes then placed in the cathedral, where he preached for many years.

The cathedral’s bells have been ringing for 10 minutes every day at noon since his death.

It will be a simple funeral in line with his wishes.

“He wanted no ostentatiousness or lavish spending,” his foundation said, adding that he even “asked that the coffin be the cheapest available”.

Source: BBC

A Guinean army colonel seized control of state television Sunday and declared that President Alpha Conde’s government had been dissolved and the West African nation’s borders closed, an announcement that came after hours of heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace.

The dramatic developments Sunday bore all the hallmarks of a West African coup d’etat. After seizing the airwaves, the mutinous soldiers vowed to restore democracy and gave themselves a name: The National Committee of Gathering and Development.

Col. Mamadi Doumbouya sat draped in a Guinean flag with a half dozen other soldiers in uniform alongside him as he read the statement, vowing: “The duty of a soldier is to save the country.”

He made no mention of Conde’s whereabouts and it was not immediately known where the 83-year-old leader was after Sunday’s attack. Conde’s popularity has plummeted since he sought a third term last year, saying that term limits did not apply to him.

“The personalization of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people,” Doumbouya said, adding that the constitution would also be dissolved and borders closed for one week.

Doumbouya, who has headed a special forces unit in the military, said he was acting in the best interests of the nation of over 12.7 million people. Not enough economic progress has been made since independence from France in 1958, the colonel said.

“If you see the state of our roads, if you see the state of our hospitals, you realize that after 72 years, it’s time to wake up,” he said. “We have to wake up.”

Heavy gunfire had erupted early Sunday near the presidential palace in the capital of Conakry and went on for hours, sparking fears of a coup attempt. The Defense Ministry claimed that the attack had been repelled but uncertainty grew when there was no sign of Conde on state television or radio.

His reelection in October had prompted violent street demonstrations in which the opposition said dozens were killed. Sunday’s developments underscored how he had also become vulnerable to dissenting elements within his military.

Conde came to power in 2010 in the country’s first democratic election since independence from France. Many saw his presidency as a fresh start for the country, which has been mired by decades of corrupt, authoritarian rule.

Opponents, though, say he has failed to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country’s vast mineral riches including bauxite and gold.

In 2011, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt after gunmen surrounded his home overnight and pounded his bedroom with rockets. Rocket-propelled grenades also landed inside the compound and one of his bodyguards was killed

Omar Radi was convicted of sexual assault and spies – charges that he denied

A Moroccan court has sentenced a prominent journalist and critic of the government to six years in prison.

Omar Radi was convicted of sexual assault and spies – charges that he denied.

Rights activists have accused the authorities of using the justice system to target and silence dissident voices.

Mr Radi’s work has involved investigations into corruption, and he’s condemned Morocco’s human rights record.

Shortly before charges were brought against him, Amnesty International found that the authorities had used Israeli-made spyware – called Pegasus – to tap into his phone. Morocco denies this.

Source: Asaaseradio.com

The death toll across Germany and Belgium topped 180 on Sunday after rescue workers dug deeper into debris left by receding waters.

Some 155 people have been confirmed dead in Germany while 27 have died in Belgium.

Germany’s finance minister Olaf Scholz has said that officials must begin setting up a rebuilding programme which is likely to cost billions.

He said he would propose a package of immediate aid, totalling at least 300 million euros (£257 million), at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-4549410436183225&output=html&h=250&slotname=4705176708&adk=1921530005&adf=2366005940&pi=t.ma~as.4705176708&w=300&lmt=1626680143&psa=1&format=300×250&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.classfmonline.com%2Fworld%2FFloods-kill-180-in-Germany-Belgium-billions-needed-for-rebuilding-25903&flash=0&wgl=1&dt=1626680143135&bpp=4&bdt=678&idt=673&shv=r20210712&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Df477aef34bd93499-222d153670c900ca%3AT%3D1626680051%3ART%3D1626680051%3AS%3DALNI_MbLcf9ODef4yMmNsCbaf0Ot2KRGpg&prev_fmts=0x0%2C300x250&nras=1&correlator=2006014472670&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1838932945.1626680051&ga_sid=1626680144&ga_hid=1843875354&ga_fc=0&u_tz=0&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=892&u_w=412&u_ah=892&u_aw=412&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=56&ady=1233&biw=412&bih=797&scr_x=0&scr_y=67&eid=31060974%2C31061746%2C31060474&oid=3&pvsid=3895873798249515&pem=416&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F&eae=0&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C412%2C0%2C412%2C797%2C412%2C797&vis=1&rsz=%7Co%7CEebr%7C&abl=NS&pfx=0&fu=0&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=jx7fG8zwwQ&p=https%3A//mobile.classfmonline.com&dtd=692

Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to visit the devastated Schuld, a village near Ahrweiler in the worst-hit Rhineland-Palatinate region, on Sunday. Some 110 people are known to have died in the region.

Some 65 people were evacuated from their homes in Germany‘s Berchtesgaden area after the Ache River swelled. At least one person was killed.

The floods have begun to spill over into Austria, where a flash flood swept through the town of Hallein late Saturday, although no casualties have been reported.

The military has been deployed to help aid the search and rescue mission and was seen using armoured vehicles to clear away cars and trucks overwhelmed by the floodwaters in Erftstadt, a town southwest of Cologne where the ground in a neighbourhood gave way

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has handed himself into police to begin serving a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

He was admitted to Estcourt Correctional Centre in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.

Police had warned that they were prepared to arrest him if he did not hand himself in by midnight.

Zuma, 79, was handed the jail term last week after he failed to attend a corruption inquiry.

The sentencing sparked an unprecedented legal drama in South Africa, which has never seen a former president jailed before.

Zuma had initially refused to hand himself in, but in a short statement on Wednesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said he had “decided to comply”.His daughter, Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, later wrote on Twitter that her father was “en route [to the jail] and he is still in high spirits”.

Zuma was sentenced on 29 June for defying an instruction to give evidence at an inquiry into corruption during his nine years in power. He has testified only once at the inquiry into what has become known as “state capture” – meaning the siphoning off of state assets.

Businessmen have been accused of conspiring with politicians to influence the decision-making process while he was in office. But Zuma has repeatedly said that he is the victim of a political conspiracy.

Though he was forced out of office by his own party in 2018, the African National Congress (ANC), he retains a loyal body of supporters, especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Source: BBC

President of Haiti was killed in his own home with the wife injured in an attack today.

Jovonel Moïse was killed at about 1am this morning by a group of assailants, Haitian prime minister Claude Joseph has said. The official statement said the perpetrators were Spanish-speaking but has not released any further details. The prime minister said the first lady, Martine Moïse, was also injured in the attack.

The prime minister’s statement said: “A group of individuals who have not been identified, some of whom were speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the President of the Republic and fatally injured the Head of State.”

The President was 53 years old.

Earlier this year bitter unrest erupted in the Cabribbean nation, with protestors demanding the resignation of Mr Moise.

The thousands of demonstrators questioned the president’s legitimacy, as they say his five-year term should have ended on February, 7, 2021 – five years to the day since his predecessor Michel Martelly stepped down.

But Mr Moïse, however, insists he has one more year to serve as he did not take office until 7 February 2017.

The year-long delay was caused by allegations of electoral fraud which eventually saw the result of the 2015 election being annulled and fresh polls being held, which were won by Mr Moïse.

MORE TO FOLLOW…

With just two days to go before the deadline for South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma to hand himself over to police, he has asked the country’s highest court to review its decision to sentence him to 15 months in jail.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court found him guilty of contempt after he ignored the court’s ruling that he should attend an inquiry looking into corruption while he was president.

In court papers filed on Friday, Mr Zuma has asked for the order to be “reconsidered and rescinded”, the AFP news agency reports.

He had been advised that “it will not be futile to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it has acted within the constitution or, erroneously, beyond the powers vested in the court by the constitution”.

He has also appealed to the high court to get the Constitutional Court’s decision to be delayed while it considers his request for a review.

BBC correspondent Andrew Harding called Tuesday’s ruling a scathing and hugely significant judgement against the former president.

The Constitutional Court did not simply find him in contempt, but spelled out the many ways in which Mr Zuma had lied, sought to mislead the public, and ultimately tried to “destroy the rule of law”.

Mr Zuma’s advisors have said that he will always abide by the law

Former US President, Donald Trump has reacted to Joe Biden’s summit with Russian president Vladmir Putin in Geneva. 

Trump joined Fox News “Hannity” on Thursday, June 17, for an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, hours after President Biden held a closed-door summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trump told host Sean Hannity he is upset that Biden didn’t score any wins during the summit, while in claiming Putin and Russia came out tops.

Trump highlighted the fact Biden stood by his decision to assent to the NordStream II pipeline’s completion while canceling a Canadian-American pipeline project. 

He said Russia will receive an undue windfall from oil sales to Germany while Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to underpay her country’s own dues to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which balance will instead continue to be subsidized by the United States.

“We gave a very big stage to Russia, and we got nothing. We gave up something that was unbelievably valuable. I stopped the pipeline, NordStream II, and the pipeline was stopped, and it was given back [to Germany and Russia] and nothing was gotten for it,” Trump said.


“I think it was a good day for Russia. I don’t think we got anything out of it.”

Hannity went on to point out Biden’s near-simultaneous canceling of the North American pipeline and approval of the North Sea connection killed as many as 10,000 U.S. jobs “with the stroke of a pen” 
 

With reports also circulating about Biden’s 51-year-old son Hunter’s purportedly lucrative business deals in Russia and Ukraine, Hannity asked Trump what would happen if his own son Donald Jr. was being scrutinized for business dealings in Russia/Ukraine while he as the president made policy decisions that benefitted Moscow.

“Well, you just have to read the news,” replied Trump. 


“For five years, from the day I came down the escalator, we have been under investigation, and it turned out to be all full stuff. It was a terrible thing with the Russia, Russia, Russia, which actually made it difficult to deal with Russia,” he said.

“It was a phony deal created by [California Rep. Adam] Schiff and [Hillary] Clinton and all of these people. It was a disgrace, an absolute disgrace that it should happen, and it really was dangerous and very bad for our country.”

Trump added that Hunter Biden was reportedly paid $183,000 per month for being a member of the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

“But he admits that he knows nothing about energy. The whole thing is just terrible. The money from Russia, $3.5 million from the wife of the former mayor of Moscow,” he said.
 

When asked about whether Biden is showing signs of frailty as of late, with host Sean Hannity pointing to public statements where the 78-year-old Delaware Democrat appears to lose his train of thought, Trump said the current President’s age should not be a problem.


“[H]is age is not the problem,” said Trump, who himself turned 75 this week. 

Trump said his good friend and Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus is 92 and still at “100 percent.”

“Look, I hope [Biden] has no problems. I want him to do well. I want him to go out and do well. I think the election was unbelievably unfair, but I want this guy to go out and do well for our country