Posted on

Naomi Campbell Diamond Trial Collapses

Johannesburg — Former Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund trustee Jeremy Ractliffe said on Wednesday he was never guilty of possession of uncut diamonds.

“As far as I was concerned I was innocent,” he told reporters after the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg cleared him of the charge.

His wife Gail said she was very relived it was all over.

“My husband is a very good man.”

Ractliffe’s lawyer Nicholas Taitz said the State could not prove that diamonds were involved in the matter.

“The court is [of the] opinion that the State has not proved its case.

Mr Ractliffe, you are not guilty of this charge,” Magistrate Renier Boshoff told him.

Taitz said the State could not get a retrial, but could appeal.

An affidavit by a woman who evaluated the diamonds, Abigail Polohaha, was submitted by the State as evidence. However, Boshoff said the document was only valid if the person involved worked for the state.

Polohaha worked for the SA Diamond Board and therefore would have had to come to court to testify.

“You can’t cross-examine a statement,” Boshoff said.

State witness Lieutenant Colonel Eric Dewy testified Ractliffe handed the stones to police on August 5, 2010 at his home in Johannesburg.

The case was initially delayed due to technical problems on Wednesday.

“Is there anything in this place that is working?” Boshoff said when the transcribing machine stopped working. Eventually a lead was run from another office to the court.

On Monday Boshoff apologised to Ractliffe for the postponement caused by a power outage at the court.

International model Naomi Campbell testified at The Hague war crimes tribunal last year that she thought it was former Liberian president Charles Taylor who had given her a bag of diamonds, which, it was argued were “blood diamonds”. Campbell said she was given the uncut diamonds after a charity fund-raiser in South Africa in 1997, also attended by Taylor.

She said she handed the stones to Ractliffe, who at the time was the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund’s chief executive.

He said at the time he took and kept three small uncut diamonds so Campbell would not get into trouble. Ractliffe handed the stones to the police on the same day that Campbell testified at the war crimes tribunal.

Posted on

Living with Death in View

LIVING WITH ‘DEATH’ IN VIEW

Death is often described as the greatest enemy of Man. The fundamental truth is that we are all liable to this ‘sting’ as it were. The sorrowful end to the joyous beginning of an individual is death. If only death can be bought with money, many in the world would have bought it over. This is a natural inclination as man was created with the innate desire for eternity. Death is beyond the reach of humans to control or eliminate. Not even medical science at its best today can proffer an antidote or surgery to overcome death. We are all indebted to it.

Until recent times, death had a more profound impact on me. The news of reported individuals dead, some of whom were very close associates leaves much in my mind to reflect upon.  This is the reason we all need to live our present lives with death in view. To better help us appreciate the basis for my theme above, let us examine the foregoing analogy.  Imagine a man who ventured into a business he hardly knows about. From information available to him, the business is no doubt very viable and rewarding. Unfortunately, the business failed due to inherent risk associated with the business not carefully examined by the investor. He took time thereafter to reflect on reasons why he failed with such a huge amount invested. “Could I have ignorantly not taken due caution before venturing into the business”? “Were the inherent risks associated with the business considered”? These were some of the questions he kept asking himself. He wished he could change the hands of time, that he could turn things around for the better by doing perfectly what he should have done for a successful business deal. However, all his wishes were best imagined as the business in question failed and he lost all his resources.

Individually, we are in the same ‘shoe’ as the the man illustrated above. We are all born into this world with little or virtually no experience of the world. Though from infancy into our late teens, our folks are responsible for our upbringing academically , socially, morally and so on, while we attain the age of independence, we sojourn through life with little or no parental guidance. Decisions on academic advancement, friends to keep, secular obligation, family life, pleasure and leisure amongst others rest on the shoulders of an individual. Decisions taken on issues as above could turn out good or otherwise for the individual. These are like the risks associated with the business ventured above. Whatever decision we make in life, we should always be conscious not onlyof the end of it, but also how such decision will affect others. Our decisions should be a reflection of our living with death in view!!

Regardless of our skin color, academic achievements, social status, gender, language and other parameters by which we are defined as individual or groups, it is imperative we henceforth as a necessity live our LIVES now with DEATH in view. If this ideology is globally reckoned with, life will be much better for us to live as individuals and as humans. Those at the helm of affairs especially in the sphere of politics will want to leave a legacy after their demise that will be remembered and appreciated by the electorates. Those in other positions of authority with death in view will be motivated to impact positively on their subordinates. Those in service to others or are governed living with death in view, will strive to be the best in there duties.
The man in the illustration above, after failing in the business, there were a lot of things he wished he had done differently.  Similarly, many who are dead if given a second opportunity would wish they could make few changes positively before their demise. Hence, we need to individually ask ourselves; WHAT NAME AM I MAKING FOR MYSELF WHILE ALIVE NOW? WHAT WILL I BE REMEMBERED FOR AFTER MY DEMISE? These are salient questions that needs to be considered carefully now  In my view, living with death in view should spark in ALL a life of selfless service to Humanity, not the acquisition of wealth and fame. If the history book of life should be opened and names such as, HENRY FORD, MARTIN LUTHER KING, WRIGHT BROTHERS, NELSON MANDELA, KOFFI ANNAN, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO some dead, some alive are read; what will they be remembered for? A common phrase that would describe them would be SERVICE TO HUMANITY.

Personalities above both living and dead were/are conscious of the need to live there lives with death in view, so that when eventually they pass on, their good legacies immortalize them. Such should be the mental attitude we all need to adopt. There will always be a story to tell after our demise. We have a great deal of choice to build a good reputation while alive. That is worth more than riches and fame. LIFE has a beginning and will surely come to an end. May we live our lives always with death in view for a better society.

Posted on

Ex-France Coach Raymond Domenech Keen on Algeria Post

Domenech says he wants to coach Algeria's national team

Ex-France coach Raymond Domenech says he is keen on coaching Algeria after being approached for the vacant post.

Former Ivory Coast boss Vahid Halilhozdic says he is also a candidate for the Desert Foxes post.

Local coach Abdelhak Benchikha quit the post earlier this month after their defeat to Morocco in Casablanca.

Domenech’s advisors, the Laminak Conseil agency, said in a statement that the coach has been approached Algeria’s football authorities.

“Domenech has indeed been approached over the possibility of his been taken on by the Algerian federation,” the statement read.

“He has not bid for the job. However, Raymond Domenech confirms his affection for Algeria.”

Meanwhile, Halilhozdic says he will meet with the president of the Algeria Football Federation Mohamed Raouraoua on Friday to discuss the vacant post.

“Yes I confirm my meeting with President Raouraoua next Friday in Paris,” Halilhozdic.

Domenech, who replaced Jacques Santini in 2004, stood down as France coach after a dismal World Cup, in which his side failed to make it out of their group.

He guided France to the 2006 World Cup final, where they lost to Italy on penalties after Zinedine Zidane was sent off in the second half of extra time.

However, the coach did not always enjoy the full support of fans, particularly during a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign where France picked up only one point and finished bottom of their group.

Former Manchester United defender Laurent Blanc replaced Domenech in July and led the side to the top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group four games.

Benchikha resigned following the team’s crushing 4-0 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Morocco in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

The defeat leaves Algeria bottom of Group D with Morocco leading the Central African Republic and Tanzania.

Posted on

Ex Tunisia President Ben Ali to Be Tried

Mr Ben Ali, seen with his wife in this photo from 2009, ruled Tunisia for 23 year

Tunisia’s ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January, is to go on trial in absentia on 20 June.

Announcing the date, interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi said Saudi Arabia had not replied to requests to hand him over.

Charges range from conspiring against the state to drug trafficking.

A lawyer for the Mr Ben Ali, whose 23-year rule ended in mass protests, has dismissed the trial as a “masquerade”.

Both the former leader and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, face charges.

His overthrow inspired protesters across the Arab world, from Egypt to Yemen.

‘Sacrificial lamb’

“I am announcing it for the first time, the trial will start on the 20th,” Mr Essebsi told al-Jazeera TV.

“He will be tried in a military and in a civilian court.”

The Tunisian authorities say the first charges will relate to the discovery of cash, weapons and drugs in presidential palaces, AFP news agency reports.

Almost 2kg (4.4lb) of drugs, believed to be cannabis, and $27m (£16.4m; 18.7m euros) in cash were allegedly found.

The authorities are also investigating cases of murder, abuse of power, trafficking of archaeological artefacts and money laundering.

Speaking recently to AFP, Mr Ben Ali’s lawyer in France, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, poured scorn on the charges.

The former leader was “tired of being made a sacrificial lamb by lies and injustice”, he said.

“The searches conducted in his official and personal offices are just stage-dressing designed to discredit him,” he added.

“The case that Tunisia is building against him is nothing but a masquerade which serves no purpose other than to mark a symbolic break with the past.”

Several members of Mr Ben Ali’s family and some of his closest allies were arrested shortly after he was forced out.

A number of European countries have also frozen assets belonging to the ex-leader.

Posted on

Clinton Chastises China on Internet, African ‘New Colonialism’

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sharpening her criticism of China, said the world’s second-biggest economy was doing everything to “stifle the Internet” and displaying traits of “new colonialism” in Africa.

Asked today during the recording of a television program in Lusaka, Zambia about whether China was a role model for governance, Clinton answered: “In the long-run, medium-run, even short-run, no I don’t.”

Acknowledging that China, the world’s biggest energy user, has extended its influence across Africa, the top U.S. diplomat said she recognized that while its size accounted for its presence in the continent, she had reservations about its reach.

“We saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave,” Clinton said. “And when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there. We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa.”

Referring to China, Clinton said “I believe we are beginning to see a lot of problems that you are going to pay more attention to in the next 10 years.” The audience present during the recording clapped when she concluded by saying “young people will not accept to be told what to do.”

Departing Zambia, Clinton landed later in the day in Tanzania for the second leg of a five-day tour in Africa that ends in Ethiopia.

In a sign of the growing importance of sub-Saharan Africa to the U.S., Clinton is the first secretary of state to have visited Zambia, a former British colony, in more than three decades.

First Since Kissinger

The last was Henry Kissinger in 1976, when he called the colonial era in southern Africa a “thing of the past.”

The U.S. is “concerned that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance,” Clinton said yesterday at a news conference in Lusaka after meeting Zambian President Rupiah Banda.

“Our country has been with a close relationship with China as early as before our independence” in 1964, Banda told reporters. “We work closely with the Chinese, as with any other country that supported our desire to be independent.”

On her Zambian visit, Clinton addressed the failings of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which gives 37 African countries trade preferences with the U.S. for an array of goods such as textiles. It is primarily used for oil trading, though, doing little to diminish Africa’s reliance on crude as a fuel.

The U.S. Congress will vote on whether to renew the law, which was signed in May 2000 and is set to expire in 2015.

U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for about 3 percent of total U.S. imports and 1 percent of U.S. exports, a sign that the agreement hasn’t been as successful in fostering more business as the U.S. had hoped. Oil makes up more than 90 percent of the $44 billion generated by U.S. imports from the AGOA countries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in Lusaka, Zambia at fjackson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

Posted on

Hillary Clinton Warns Africa Of New Colonialism

LUSAKA, Zambia — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday warned Africa of a creeping “new colonialism” from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting the continent’s natural resources to enrich themselves and not the African people.

Clinton said that African leaders must ensure that foreign projects are sustainable and benefit all their citizens, not only elites. A day earlier, she cautioned that China’s massive investments and business interests in Africa need to be closely watched so that the African people are not taken advantage of.

“It is easy, and we saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave,” Clinton said. “And when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there. We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa.”

Clinton said the United States didn’t want foreign governments and investors to fail in Africa, but they should also give back to the local communities.

“We want them to do well, but also we want them to do good,” she said.

“We don’t want them to undermine good governance, we don’t want them to basically deal with just the top elites, and frankly too often pay for their concessions or their opportunities to invest.”

Clinton said that American development aid and infrastructure projects come with good governance conditions and that the Obama administration is interested in Africa and the African people. Their success, she said, is in the long-term interest of both the African people and the U.S.

She spoke in a pan-African television interview in the Zambian capital. Her interview followed the handover of a U.S. built pediatric hospital in Lusaka to the Zambian government.

Earlier, at the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Zambia Chamber of Commerce, Clinton laid out the U.S. strategy for helping Africa.

“We want a relationship of partnership not patronage, of sustainability, not quick fixes,” she said. “We want to establish a strong foundation to attract new investment, open new businesses … create more paychecks, and do so within the context of a positive ethic of corporate responsibility.”

“We think it’s essential that we have an idea going in that doing well is not in any way a contradiction of doing good,” she said.

Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit Zambia since Henry Kissinger came in 1976 to lay out the Ford administration’s policy for southern Africa as revolts against white minority rule in South Africa and what was then Rhodesia were intensifying.

Clinton, on the first leg of a three-nation tour of Africa, arrived in Zambia from the United Arab Emirates, where she attended an international conference on Libya. After Zambia, she heads to Tanzania and Ethiopia before returning to Washington next week.

Posted on

I Will not Sacrifice Gyan for Crouch, Sunderland’s Bruce

SUNDERLAND’S ambitious bid to sign Peter Crouch has hit a major stumbling block, with Harry Redknapp wanting Asamoah Gyan in return.

The Tottenham manager has been tracking 25-year-old Gyan for months and with a new striker his priority, the Ghana international is on his hit-list.

Black Cats boss Steve Bruce would love to take Crouch to the Stadium of Light, having failed to persuade him to move north two years ago.

However, he does not want to sacrifice Gyan to get him.

The charismatic African scored 10 goals in 31 games for Sunderland last term following an eye-catching World Cup and his club record £13m move from Rennes.

When Fraizer Campbell and Danny Welbeck were both sidelined, Gyan was the Black Cats’ only fit striker following Darren Bent’s January departure – until injury cut short his own campaign.

Bruce announced last month he is in the market for three forwards and even if he signs Liverpool’s David Ngog, he would still be short up front.

It would be a huge gamble to sell Gyan, even if it meant landing Crouch. And publicly at least, Redknapp insists he doesn’t want to lose the beanpole striker.

The White Hart Lane boss said: “Crouchy is a good player. I like him. He is a great lad and I love him as a fella. He is not one I’m looking to shift.

“We are looking to bring a striker in but he is not one of those that we are looking to sell, if we can help it.”

Sunderland are still negotiating a fee with Liverpool for Ngog, whose move is not linked to Jordan Henderson’s switch in the opposite direction.

Liverpool initially slapped a £7m price tag on the 22-year-old Frenchman, but it is thought he will eventually leave for less than half that.

The Black Cats are also waiting to hear back from Manchester United after tabling a £12m bid for John O’Shea, Wes Brown and Darron Gibson.

While Gibson is keen to move, O’Shea and Brown are waiting to see if there is interest from any other clubs.

Sunderland have also completed a permanent deal for Ahmed Elmohamady.

The winger spent last season on loan at the Stadium of Light from Egyptian club ENPPI, making 38 appearances.

Sunderland activated a clause in the deal to buy him outright. Bruce said: “Ahmed has done well in his first season with the club and has shown plenty of potential. I think there is much more to come from him.”

Posted on

Man City Doctor Denies Asking Kolo Toure to Take Tablets

Manchester City doctor Jamie Butler has been cleared of blame over Kolo Toure’s six-month ban for failing a drugs test.

Manchester City and Ivory Coast Kolo Toure

The 30-year-old defender was banned in May for using his wife’s diet tablets.

Toure had claimed City’s club doctor authorised him to take the pills – but a Football Association report disagreed.

It stated: “[Butler] never told him it was safe to use water tablets [and] he would unequivocally have said they were prohibited and should not be used.”

He has become obsessed with his weight and more particularly the appearance of his belly

FA report

The Ivory Coast international said he had been given the tablets by his wife and that he had shown Dr Butler the substance before taking it.

However Butler refuted this claim and the FA report added: “It was not suggested that Dr Butler was shown the medicine bottle with ‘water tablets x21’ at any stage.”

The documents added that Toure had regular issues with his weight, which led him to take slimming tablets.

“The context is that for some years KT [Kolo Toure] has had a problem controlling his weight.

“He has become obsessed with his weight and more particularly the appearance of his belly.”

Toure’s ban is backdated to 2 March, when his provisional suspension began.

He will be free to play for City from 2 September but is subject to a two-year period of target-testing that began on 26 May.