South may face a deep freeze

As dangerous temperatures hit much of the nation, another deep freeze is moving in, making January the coldest month so far this century. NBC’s Dylan Dreyer reports.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

The Deep South is the next target for the deep freeze in a winter that won’t quit.

Forecasters warned that ice could soon coat the front porches of Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where winter storm alerts were posted Monday for the first time in almost four years.

At the same time, the Great Lakes shivered yet again under wind chills that approached 50 degrees below zero. The University of Minnesota and schools around Minneapolis closed for the day. Chicago closed school through Tuesday, and the city’s airports scrapped more than 500 flights.

Jeff Wheeler / The Star Tribune via AP

A woman walking around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis on Sunday pauses to shoot some video of the blowing snow.

“The North is suffering winter burnout,” said Tom Niziol, a winter weather expert for The Weather Channel. “The South is going to see some weather that many parts have not seen in years.”

For the South, forecasters said the worst of it would come Tuesday — a band of dangerous ice, threatening trees and power lines, from the coast of Texas to the coast of North Carolina.

Just to the north was the likelihood of snow. Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., could see 3 inches or more, Columbia, S.C., 5 inches or more, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina as much as a foot.

Snow accumulation was possible in Houston, New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. 

Up north, Minnesota took the brunt of the latest punishing blast of arctic air. Air temperatures dived lower than 20 below toward the Canadian border. Minneapolis woke up to 16 below, with a wind chill of minus 36.

Xcel Energy began telling about 100,000 customers in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin that they could crank their thermostats back up. They had been asked to keep their homes at 60 degrees after a natural-gas shortage caused by a pipeline explosion in Canada over the weekend.

Still, the Anoka-Hennepin school district said it was closing based on a warning from the National Weather Service that wind chills would be severe enough to freeze exposed skin in five to 10 minutes.

For some school districts, it was the fourth cold-related closing this year.

Jennifer Shephard / The Elkhart Truth via AP

A man waves to thank a passing car for giving them room on the road as he and a friend walk in Elkhart, Ind., during heavy snow on Saturday.

“We’ve had a few people calling and emailing, saying, ‘You know, it’s Minnesota, get used to it,’” Mary Olson, a spokeswoman for the Anoka-Hennepin schools, told NBC affiliate KARE. “But for the most part, people have been happy that we’ve closed.”

The Northeast got a break, relatively speaking, at least for a day. New York peeked above freezing on Monday morning, just enough to melt snow that has lingered on sidewalks since the middle of last week.

But the big cities of the Eastern Seaboard won’t be spared for long. The forecast low for Monday night was 9 degrees in New York, 9 degrees in Philadelphia, 10 in Boston and 13 in Washington.

This story was originally published on Mon Jan 27, 2014 7:59 AM EST

South may face a deep freeze

South Korea to contribute $867 million for U.S. military forces in 2014

A U.S. soldier participates in a decontamination training against possible chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats at Steel Zenith Field Training Exercise in Yeoncheon, about 65 km (40 miles) north of Seoul, May 16, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won

Reuters: Top News

South Korea to contribute $867 million for U.S. military forces in 2014

With a hole in its heart, South Africa buries Mandela

By Ed Cropley

QUNU, South Africa Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:59pm EST

1 of 14. African National Congress (ANC) supporters dance while holding a cloth with the image of former South African President Nelson Mandela at the Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha December 14, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Adrees Latif

QUNU, South Africa (Reuters) – The body of Nelson Mandela arrived on Saturday at his ancestral home in the rolling hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape and was greeted by singing, dancing locals ahead of the anti-apartheid leader’s state funeral set for the following day.

As the hearse bearing South Africa’s first black president appeared on the horizon, crowds by the road broke into “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (God Bless Africa), the evocative national anthem adopted after the end of apartheid in 1994.

“I’m so excited and at the same time I’m so hurt because I’m seeing him for the last time,” said grandmother Victoria Ntsingo, as military helicopters escorting the cortege clattered overhead.

“After his long life and illness he can now rest. Madiba is home. His work is done,” she said, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

Mandela, who died on December 5 aged 95, will be buried on Sunday in his family homestead at Qunu, a hamlet of a few hundred houses 700 km (450 miles) south of Johannesburg.

The state funeral will combine military pomp and the traditional rites of his Xhosa abaThembu clan.

It will be the final act in 10 days of mourning for the “Father of the Nation”, who suffered 27 years in prison before emerging to preach forgiveness and reconciliation in the quest to build a multi-racial democracy from the ashes of apartheid.

Hours before the funeral, Mandela’s friend and fellow anti-apartheid legend retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 82, had initially announced he would not attend, in a row over an invitation that threatened to mar the event.

Tutu, like Mandela a Nobel Peace Prize laureate but also a vocal critic of the current South African government and of the ruling ANC party, had said he did not receive a formal invite or any indication that he was on the guest list.

But after the government clarified that he was on a guest list and was welcome to come, Tutu’s spokesman said the archbishop would travel early on Sunday to attend the funeral, averting a potential blot on the event.

“GO WELL, TATA”

Earlier on Saturday, the ANC, the 101-year-old former liberation movement to which Mandela dedicated his life, bid its own farewell in a ceremony at a Pretoria military air base.

With revolutionary songs, clenched fists and cries of “Amandla” (Power) in honor of “Comrade Mandela”, it was the most overtly political of all the ceremonies since Mandela’s death.

“Go well Tata, you have played your part,” President Jacob Zuma said in a eulogy that recalled Mandela’s life as a fighter in the armed struggle for freedom as well his later, more widely recognized role as unifier and nation-builder.

“We will always remember you,” he said, before leading the packed hall in spirited renditions of anti-apartheid anthems.

After the ANC send-off, Mandela’s body was flown by military transport plane, escorted by two fighter jets, to Mthatha, the nearest airport to Qunu. Thousands lined the streets as the hearse proceeded through the town.

Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, and his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, followed the cortege, looking drained and emotional after nine days of memorials in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The rites included three days of lying in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, at which more than 100,000 people queued for hours to say a last goodbye.

One of Mandela’s grandchildren, Mandla, thanked those who had come.

“I have witnessed his army. I have witnessed his people. I have witnessed ordinary South Africans who walked this long walk to freedom with him and I can assure the African National Congress today that the future of this country looks bright.”

FLAGS AND FLY-PAST

Sunday’s funeral will be attended by 4,500 people, from family members and national leaders to foreign guests including Britain’s Prince Charles and American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The Air Force is expected to stage a fly-past, followed by three military helicopters with giant South African flags in tow, an echo of the historic scenes nearly two decades ago when Mandela was sworn in as president.

At a mass memorial in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Zuma was subjected to a barrage of boos and jeers from the crowd, a worrying sign for the ruling party six months before elections.

Although it is widely expected to win, the ANC is losing support even among South Africa’s black majority because of its perceived inability to tackle chronic poverty and joblessness.

Africa’s biggest economy has enjoyed strong growth since the end of apartheid, but unemployment has remained above 25 percent and it remains one of the world’s most unequal societies, with the average white household earning six times more than the average black one.

Besides the booing of Zuma, there has also been a storm of outrage over a sign-language interpreter accused of miming nonsense at the Johannesburg memorial. The signer has defended himself, saying he suffered a schizophrenic attack.

In Qunu too, there were also a few dissenting voices, mainly from those disappointed at being excluded from the funeral of man who to them was a local leader first, and a world leader second.

“Tata Mandela is a man of the people. When he was alive we used to go to his compound. Whatever was going on, we used to go in the compound and it was never a problem for the people of Qunu,” said resident Malibonwe Gamakhulu.

“And today he is dead and we are being pushed out.”

(Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Pascal Fletcher, Ed Stoddard and Siyabonga Sishi; Writing by Ed Cropley and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Alison Williams)

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With a hole in its heart, South Africa buries Mandela

South Africa begins life without Nelson Mandela

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — What next for South Africa?

This racially charged country that, on Nelson Mandela’s watch, inspired the world by embracing reconciliation in all-race elections in 1994 is again in the global spotlight after the loss of such a towering historical figure. It is a time not just for grief and gratitude, but also a clear-eyed assessment of national strengths and shortcomings in a future without a man who was a guide and comfort to so many.

“It’s a new beginning,” said Kyle Redford, one of many outside the home of the anti-apartheid leader who became the nation’s first black president. “The loss of a legend is going to force us to come together once again.”

He acknowledged that there is a “sense of what next: Where do we go? What do we do? And how do we do it?”

Mandela’s resolve rubbed off on many of his compatriots, though such conviction is tempered by the reality that his vision of a “rainbow nation” failed, almost inevitably, to meet the heady expectations propelling the country two decades ago. Peaceful elections and relatively harmonious race relations define today’s South Africa; so do crime, corruption and economic inequality.

Mandela remained a powerful symbol in the hopeful, uncharted period after apartheid, even when he left the presidency, retired from public life and shuttled in and out of hospitals as a protracted illness eroded his once-robust frame. He became a moral anchor, so entwined with the national identity that some jittery South Africans wondered whether the country would slide into chaos after his death.

“Does it spell doomsday and disaster for us?” retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked rhetorically Friday before declaring that no, the country will not disintegrate.

“The sun will rise tomorrow and the next day and the next,” said Tutu, who like Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting apartheid and promoting reconciliation. “It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on.”

A series of violent events since last year intensified worries over the state of the nation. The August 2012 shooting deaths of 34 striking miners by police at the Marikana platinum mine recalled, for some South Africans, state killings under apartheid. In February, a Mozambican taxi driver was dragged from a South African police vehicle and later died in a jail cell.

At the same time, tourism surged. Despite labor strife and credit-rating downgrades, resource-rich South Africa hosted Brazil, Russia, India and China at the “BRICS” summit in March. It has the biggest economy in Africa and aspires to continental leadership.

Mandela’s death will not destabilize race relations in the country, contrary to some fears, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations.

“For many years now, South Africans have got along with one another largely peacefully without Mr. Mandela having been active in the political sphere,” Lerato Moloi, the institute’s head of research, said. “In fact, Mr. Mandela’s passing may be cause for many to reflect on the remarkably peaceful and swift racial integration of many parts of society, including schools, suburbs, universities, and workplaces.”

Moloi said in a statement: “Although some of this had started to occur before 1994, as a symbol of racial reconciliation and forgiveness Mr. Mandela will be viewed by many as having played a pivotal role in creating such a society.”

Mandela’s life epitomized the fight for freedom and equality, said Human Rights Watch. It pointed out that South Africa’s education and health sectors are inadequate and the country remains divided by racial separation and deep economic inequality.

“Almost two decades into its democracy, South Africa is not the country that Mandela had said he hoped it would become,” the group said.

President Jacob Zuma evoked the idea of the 95-year-old Mandela as a beacon for the ages when he announced his death on Thursday night.

South Africans, Zuma said, must be determined “to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realized his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world.”

Mandela, also known by his clan name Madiba, admitted to weakness and failings, yet rose to greatness in a way that no contemporary or successor could match.

Zuma, for example, has credentials as an anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned with Mandela. But he and the ruling African National Congress, once led by Mandela, have been dogged by corruption allegations that have eroded support for the government. In the days before Mandela’s death, South African media were filled with reports on the alleged lavish use of state funds for construction at Zuma’s family compound.

The scene outside Mandela’s house embodied the mixed picture in South Africa, where political sparring between the ruling party and the opposition has sharpened ahead of national elections next year, the 20th anniversary of the pivotal vote in which Mandela became president.

Mourners outside the home mingled in an inclusive, celebratory atmosphere that prompted the Rev. Inigo Alvarez, a Catholic priest, to declare: “Now we experience what is South Africa, all kinds of people, all kinds of regions.”

Yet ANC activists in yellow jumpsuits pasted posters on the perimeter walls of the Mandela compound and handed out leaflets presenting the party as the heir to his tradition. In death, Mandela was still drawn into politics.

Associated Press

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South Africa begins life without Nelson Mandela

Joan Jett switches from Macy"s South Dakota float after protest

A trade group for ranchers in South Dakota complained about Joan Jett’s placement on the state’s float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

• NEW: Jett says she wants to be on another float because of “people’s political agendas”


• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are kicked off the float after cattlemen protest to Macy’s


• “We were rightly concerned about her representing South Dakota,” ranchers’ rep says


• Jett supports PETA, which says “the meat trade can’t stand any scrutiny of its cruelty”

(CNN) — Rock star Joan Jett was removed from a parade float representing South Dakota in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after ranchers protested her appearance, saying she’s a vegetarian and a critic of their livestock production.

Jett is a supporter of People for the Ethic Treatment of Animals, the world’s largest animal rights group that promotes a vegetarian diet and condemns factory farms and ranches.

“I’ve decided to switch from South Dakota to another float because people’s political agendas were getting in the way of what should be a purely entertainment driven event,” Jett said in a statement Saturday. “I will remain focused on entertaining the millions of people watching, who will be celebrating a great American tradition.”

The trade group for ranchers in South Dakota complained about Jett’s placement on the state’s float, CNN affiliate KEVN reported.

“So, of course, when we learned that about Miss Jett, we were rightly concerned about her representing South Dakota and a state that is so heavily reliant on agriculture and livestock production to drive our economy,” Jodie Anderson of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association said, according to the station.

A Macy’s spokesman said Jett and her Blackhearts band will be moved to another float, and another undetermined performer will take Jett’s place on the South Dakota float, the affiliate said.

A PETA leader said the controversy reflected what the group deems as problems in the cattle industry.

“Thanks to South Dakota’s reactionary ranchers, people across the country have learned why Joan Jett supports PETA. The meat trade can’t stand any scrutiny of its cruelty,” PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews said in a statement.

CNN.com Recently Published/Updated

Joan Jett switches from Macy"s South Dakota float after protest

Storm Brings Blizzard To Wyoming And South Dakota

Aid worker dies after armed attack in South Sudan

• A staff member of Doctors Without Borders died this week, the group says


• The car he and another worker were traveling in came under attack


• The other staff member remains seriously wounded


• Doctors Without Borders calls for an investigation into the “brutal attack”

(CNN) — A staff member of the aid organization Doctors Without Borders has died after an attack on a vehicle near the capital of South Sudan, the group said Friday.

The aid worker, Joseph Philip Sebit, died two days after the attack, which took place Monday on a main road outside the capital, Juba, according to Doctors Without Borders.

A second employee for the organization remains seriously wounded, the group said.

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said that the “exact circumstances” of the attack aren’t yet clear, but the car in which its two staff members were traveling was “clearly marked as belonging to Medecins Sans Frontieres.”

The organization has requested that South Sudanese authorities “investigate the brutal attack that resulted in the killing of our colleague,” said Marcel Langenbach, director of operations for the group.

“We want to emphasize the need to respect international humanitarian law and on the obligation to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers, their property and health facilities,” he said.

Doctors Without Borders said it had been working in the region for more than 30 years.

South Sudan officially gained its statehood in July 2011 after separating from Sudan.

CNN.com Recently Published/Updated

Aid worker dies after armed attack in South Sudan

Signaling Thaw, North Korea Opens Plant Run by South

HONG KONG — North Korea said Wednesday that it would reopen the shuttered Kaesong industrial complex, a rare symbol of cooperation with South Korea whose operations were shut down by the North four months ago amid mounting tensions between the sworn enemies.

The North Korean government also proposed new talks with the South, to start next week, on the future of the complex, whose 53,000 North Korean workers were employed by South Korean firms. Pyongyang also pledged to guarantee the safety of South Korean managers who run the complex.

The announcement, released in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency in North Korea, signaled a thaw in relations between the two countries, which hit a low point over the winter when North Korea’s detonation of a nuclear device prompted tough new sanctions by the United Nations against Pyongyang.

Since that nuclear test, North Korea’s main ally and benefactor, China, has put increasing pressure on Pyongyang to modify its behavior and return to talks about the future of its nuclear program. In addition to the costly U.N. sanctions, the North has also lost badly needed hard currency earned by the tens of thousands of North Korean workers at the Kaesong complex.

The complex, where companies manufactured consumer goods using capital and technology provided by the South and a work force mainly from the North, has been closed since April 8. The two countries held talks last month in an effort to reopen the plant. A major issue in the talks had been the South’s demand that the North take responsibility for the damage caused by the abrupt shutdown of the complex’s factories. The North blamed the shutdown on the South, saying that the South’s confrontational attitude has kept the complex from reopening.

The North also withdrew its 53,000 workers from the complex April 8, blaming tensions it said were caused by joint American-South Korean military exercises. The South later withdrew its own citizens, most of them factory managers.

The Reuters news agency said the North’s decision to reopen the plant came an hour and a half after South Korea announced steps to compensate its firms for losses sustained during Kaesong’s shutdown.

The Kaesong complex was the last of a group of cross-border projects set up during an earlier period of rapprochement, which were then closed one by one as relations soured. It opened in 2004 and produced $ 470 million worth of goods last year.

NYT > Global Home

Signaling Thaw, North Korea Opens Plant Run by South

North Korea says it will reopen joint industrial zone with South

(CNN) — North Korea said Wednesday it will allow South Korean companies to return to the Kaesong industrial zone, where it had suspended activity during a period of high tension earlier this year.

The North said it would lift measures it imposed in April that halted operations at the shared manufacturing complex, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Pyongyang will guarantee the safety of South Korean personnel in the zone, the statement from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said.

CNN.com Recently Published/Updated

North Korea says it will reopen joint industrial zone with South

As Nelson Mandela Turns 95, South Africa Celebrates

Enlarge image i

Supporters of Nelson Mandela rally outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, where he has been treated for more than a month. The anti-apartheid icon turned 95 on Thursday.

Jonathan Blakley/NPR

Supporters of Nelson Mandela rally outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, where he has been treated for more than a month. The anti-apartheid icon turned 95 on Thursday.

Jonathan Blakley/NPR

While South Africa celebrates the 95th birthday of Nelson Mandela on Thursday, the former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate remains at a Pretoria hospital, where he’s been hospitalized since June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

President Jacob Zuma’s office has said that Mandela is in “critical but stable” condition, though Mandela’s daughter Zindzi said Wednesday that her father was making “remarkable progress” and could be released soon.

Enlarge image i

A wall dedicated to Mandela in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. It’s near the place where Mandela rented a room when he first moved to Johannesburg in 1941.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

A wall dedicated to Mandela in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. It’s near the place where Mandela rented a room when he first moved to Johannesburg in 1941.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

The Nelson Mandela Center of Memory asked South Africans and people around the world to spend 67 minutes Thursday volunteering in their communities in tribute to the ailing former president. The 67 minutes represents the 67 years Mandela gave in public service fighting against the apartheid system of segregation and later as a statesman.

Ever since he was hospitalized more than a month ago, small shrines to Mandela have popped up all across the country. His picture hangs in shop windows. The newspapers and TV stations give daily updates on Madiba, his clan name that many use when referring to him.

Brenda Motseari, a teacher in the township of Soweto, says Mandela remains a huge figure in South African life. “Nelson Mandela is a father, a mentor, a motivator, a director. He’s everything to South Africans,” she says.

Motseari had just come out of a Mass at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in the Rockville section of Soweto. A stained glass window depicts Mandela in a jacket and tie with his hands raised as he addresses a crowd.

An Enduring Image

The scene resembles the one on Feb. 11, 1990, when Mandela was released from prison. Standing on the balcony of Cape Town City Hall, he greeted a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people.

Enlarge image i

Well-wishers leave flowers, stuffed animals, posters, cards and balloons outside the entrance to the Mediclinic Heart Hospital.

Jonathan Blakley/NPR

Well-wishers leave flowers, stuffed animals, posters, cards and balloons outside the entrance to the Mediclinic Heart Hospital.

Jonathan Blakley/NPR

Motseari says she remembers that day clearly. She’d just had a baby, and she was glued to the television. She says that day is still the most powerful image she remembers of Mandela.

“That’s my memory [of him], the first day when he picked up the fist after coming out of prison,” she says. “I was watching attentively and then he clenched the fist to say, ‘Amandla’ [power].”

In that speech, Mandela declared, “Today the majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future.”

Before those remarks, most South Africans didn’t even know what Mandela looked like. Pictures of him had been banned by the apartheid government.

Stepping out from prison, Mandela called for a negotiated end to apartheid and an end to white minority rule. That eventually happened and in 1994 Mandela was elected president in South Africa’s first nonracial, democratic elections.

Drawing Inspiration

The pastor at the Regina Mundi church, Sebastian Rossouw, says Mandela’s life continues to be an inspiration to South Africans.

Parallels

The Day Nelson Mandela Walked Out Of Prison

“Growing up in apartheid years as a young boy one was not free,” the priest says.

Rossouw and his family couldn’t travel freely. His father wasn’t allowed to set foot in certain parts of town. Blacks weren’t allowed to vote. There were separate buses, schools and toilets for whites. Interracial marriages were forbidden. Blacks and coloreds ended up in the worst jobs. Educational options for Rossouw were restricted by law.

Parallels

Nelson Mandela’s Prison Adventures

But the priest says Mandela made it clear that any obstacle, any injustice can be overcome.

The Two-Way

Mandela Has Made ‘Remarkable Progress,’ Daughter Says

“The legacy that Mandela brings is that despite what the past has dealt you, do not allow it to determine your future,” Rossouw says. “For many of us, myself included, that’s a message that we’ve taken to heart. Yes, we have a bad past but this will not affect the future we are looking towards.”

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As Nelson Mandela Turns 95, South Africa Celebrates

LOOKING BACK: RFK"s "Ripple Of Hope" Speech In South Africa

Enlarge image i

A Meeting Of Great Minds: During his 1966 visit to South Africa, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy met with anti-apartheid activist Chief Luthuli and later spoke publicly about their meeting. Because of a government ban on media coverage of Luthuli, it was the first news many had of their leader in more than five years.

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A Meeting Of Great Minds: During his 1966 visit to South Africa, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy met with anti-apartheid activist Chief Luthuli and later spoke publicly about their meeting. Because of a government ban on media coverage of Luthuli, it was the first news many had of their leader in more than five years.

Shoreline Productions

At South Africa’s University of Cape Town on Sunday, President Obama noted that he was speaking at the same place where, in 1966, then-Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., delivered what some historians believe was the best speech of his life.

Obama was discussing about how, as a young man, he had come to believe that “I could be part of something bigger than myself; that my own salvation was bound up with those of others.”

Then the president brought up the late senator:

“That’s what Bobby Kennedy expressed, far better than I ever could, when he spoke here at the University of Cape Town in 1966. He said, ‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’ “

Enlarge image i

Many historians consider Kennedy’s “Ripple of Hope” speech, which he delivered at the University of Cape Town on June 6, 1966, to be his greatest speech.

Shoreline Productions

Many historians consider Kennedy’s “Ripple of Hope” speech, which he delivered at the University of Cape Town on June 6, 1966, to be his greatest speech.

Shoreline Productions

The Two-Way

‘Deeply Humbled’ Obama Visits Mandela’s Former Jail Cell

The president’s comments about RFK and what came to be known as the senator’s “Ripple of Hope” speech, reminded us that in 2011, All Things Considered reported on a documentary — RFK In the Land of Apartheid — which explores “the unknown story of Robert Kennedy’s 1966 visit to South Africa during the worst years of Apartheid.”

The documentary’s website has a variety of materials about the senator’s speech, including the text of what’s formally known as Kennedy’s “Day of Affirmation” address (you can also read it at the bottom of this post). Along with the excerpt the president cited, we were also struck by:

— Kennedy’s Opening. “I came here because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which once imported slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.”

— His Call To Do “The Right Thing.” “We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.”

— The World Vision He Laid Out. “I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress-not material welfare as an end in itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would be proud to have built.”

It’s also worth noting that Obama spent a considerable part of his speech Sunday talking to the young people of South Africa and how “the world will be watching what you do.” Kennedy, in 1966, spoke at length about the “young people around the world … the closeness of their goals, their desires and their concerns and their hope for the future.”

” It is a revolutionary world we live in, and thus, as I have said in Latin America and Asia, in Europe and in the United States, it is young people who must take the lead,” Kennedy said. “You, and your young compatriots everywhere, have had thrust upon you a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.”

We’re adding several things to this post for those who want to look back at RFK’s speech, including a video from PBS about the documentary.

RFK’s ‘Ripple of Hope’ Speech

Watch Track RFK’s 1966 Visit to South Africa on PBS. See more from RFK in the Land of Apartheid.

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LOOKING BACK: RFK"s "Ripple Of Hope" Speech In South Africa

Iran reach 2014 World Cup; South Korea, Australia also qualify

Iran’s players celebrate after beating South Korea 1-0 to reach the 2014 World Cup.

• Iran reach the 2014 World Cup with 1-0 win over South Korea


• South Korea also qualify for Brazil as runners-up in Group A but coach Choi steps down


• Australia qualifies for a third consecutive World Cup


• Jordan will play Uzbekistan in a playoff

(CNN) — Iran, South Korea and Australia all booked a place in next year’s FIFA World Cup following a dramatic final round of matches in the Asian qualifying competition.

A second-half goal from Reza Ghoochannejhad was enough for Iran to beat South Korea 1-0 in Ulsan, meaning Carlos Queiroz’s team finished top of Group A.

Victory saw Iran reach football’s premier competition for the fourth time in its history, having previously played in the first round of the 1978, 1998 and 2006 tournaments.

Read: Tahiti’s historic defeat to Nigeria

CNN correspondent Shirzad Bozorgmehr said Iranians took to the streets across their country to celebrate.

Why so few South Asian footballers?

World Sport Presents: Racism in Football

Will Brazil be ready for the World Cup?

Why Brazilians are staging protests

He said that cars in the capital Tehran were draped in the Iranian flag and blowing their horns as their passengers shouted “Iran, Iran.”

“This is the second national celebration in Iran in the last five days,” said Bozorgmehr.

“Following the landslide victory of Dr. Hassan Rohani last Friday in the presidential elections, huge crowds poured into the streets of Tehran and other cities to publicly celebrate Dr Rohani’s election victory.”

In his first press conference on Monday, Rohani told reporters he planned to overhaul sports in a country where soccer is the most popular game.

Despite defeat, South Korea still clinched the second automatic qualification spot as Uzbekistan fell agonizingly short against Qatar, winning 5-1 but finishing third in Group A on goal difference alone.

After the match, South Korea coach Choi Kang-Hee revealed that he would be stepping down from his post – a surprise move at first glance, although Choi did say he would only take charge for the qualifiers when appointed in December 2011.

Choi had been involved in an acrimonious war of words with Iran coach Carlos Quieroz ahead of the game and home fans hurled plastic water bottles and other items onto the pitch after taking offense at a gesture directed towards Choi by the Portuguese after the match.

South Korea’s loss meant Uzbekistan would qualify for the finals for the first time if it beat Qatar by six goals.

But Uzbekistan fell behind in Tashkent when Abdulqadir Ilyas gave the 2022 World Cup hosts a shock first-half lead.

World Sport Presents: Racism in Football

The home side bounced back in the second half, firing in five goals without reply, but the 5-1 final score was not enough to see Uzbekistan leapfrog South Korea.

Uzbekistan will now play the third-place team in Group B – Jordan – over two legs.

In Wednesday’s final Asian qualifier, Jordan took the third place in Group B when beating Oman 1-0 in Amman – with Ahmad Ibrahim scoring a vital goal just before the hour.

The result enabled the hosts to leapfrog their opponents in the group, with Jordan – seeking a maiden World Cup qualification – having trailed the Omanis by two points ahead of kickoff.

The winner of the Uzbekistan-Jordan playoff will advance to a tie with the fifth-place team from the South American competition, with the winner qualifying for next year’s finals in Brazil.

A late header from substitute Joshua Kennedy gave Australia a 1-0 win over Iraq and sent the Socceroos to Brazil.

Australia knew a win would be enough to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, but anything less than three points would give Oman the chance to clinch an automatic qualification spot.

With the score 0-0 at a rain-soaked ANZ Stadium, coach Holger Osiek drew the ire of the crowd by replacing star player Tim Cahill with Kennedy after 78 minutes.

But Kennedy justified Osiek’s bold decision by rising to meet Marc Bresciano’s right-wing cross, beating Iraq goalkeeper Noor Sabri with a well-placed finish.

Australia finished the Asian qualifying campaign second in Group B behind Japan.

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Iran reach 2014 World Cup; South Korea, Australia also qualify

Amplats workers end underground protest at South African mine

Published June 15, 2013

Reuters

JOHANNESBURG –  Anglo American Platinum said on Saturday operations at its Thembelani mine in South Africa were back to normal after a “group of employees” on Friday prevented 2,400 workers from going above ground.

“The situation at the mine is normal, people came above ground yesterday evening,” Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said.

The industrial action followed the dismissal of four union shop stewards for “inappropriate behavior”.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Amplats workers end underground protest at South African mine

South Asian Entrepreneurs With Bold Visions For Healthcare - Audacious Start-ups Part VI

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South Asian Entrepreneurs With Bold Visions For Healthcare - Audacious Start-ups Part VI

State news: Sudan to shut oil pipeline from South Sudan

(CNN) — The president of Sudan has ordered the shutdown of an oil pipeline running from South Sudan, his country’s state-run Sudan News Agency reported late Saturday.

The closure ordered by President Omar al-Bashir goes into effect Sunday, SUNA reports.

Following a popular referendum, South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011. But the two countries have remained at odds over a number of issues, including defining their borders and oil exports.

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State news: Sudan to shut oil pipeline from South Sudan