{{Saudi Arabia says more than 100 patients infected with the Mers coronavirus have now died since the outbreak began in 2012.}}
The health ministry said another eight deaths occurred on Sunday, taking the toll to 102.
The acting health minister says three hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam have been designated specialist centres for treating Mers.
Mers causes symptoms including fever, pneumonia and kidney failure.
The rate of infections is increasing and the World Health Organization (WHO) has offered to help Saudi Arabia investigate infection patterns.
The Saudi health ministry reported the latest deaths in a statement late on Sunday.
Among the victims were a child in the capital, Riyadh, and three people in the western city of Jeddah.
The ministry said it had detected a total of 16 new cases of Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) over the past 24 hours.
Acting health minister Adel Fakieh said the three hospitals designated as specialist centres for Mers treatment can accommodate 146 patients in intensive care.
On Saturday, Egypt recorded its first case – a 27-year-old man who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia.
Correspondents say many Saudis have voiced concerns on social media about government handling of the outbreak.
Last Monday, Saudi health minister Abdullah al-Rabiah was sacked without explanation as the Mers death toll climbed.
North Korea says it’s ready for a ‘full scale nuclear war’ and called South Korea’s president a ‘crafty prostitute’ with president Obama as her ‘powerful pimp.’
The North Korean insults come after President Obama visited South Korea and its president Park Geun-hye for two days in which both leaders asked that North Korea not proceed with its nuclear program.
The Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea CPRK) said, ‘Park Geun-hye’s recent behavior with Obama was like a mean immature girl begging gangsters to beat up someone she does not like. Or a crafty prostitute eagerly trying to frame someone by giving her body to a powerful pimp.’
The Korean Newws Agency (KCNA) said the official English translation of North Korea’s description of Park was as a ‘capricious whore.’
North Korea called Obama ‘master’ and Park Guen-hye his ‘puppet’ and said that Park would pay a ‘dear price,’ reports The Guardian.
Satellite imagery has shown an increase in activity at North Korea’s nuclear test site and Park warned that Pyongang was ready to execute another atomic test.
Both Obama and Park threatened North Korea with harsher rules and economic sanctions on the already poor country.
They encouraged China to speak against it’s ally’s nuclear threats.
The CPRK called the both Park and Obama’s statements ‘intolerable insults’ against their leadership.
US President Barack Obama (L) and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (R) attend a joint press conference at the presidential Bule House oin which they discussed North Korea’s nuclear threats
‘In particular, Park Geun-Hye continued to viciously take issue with our dignity, system and nuclear programmes,’ it said.
They said her remarks were as though she were ‘froth(ing) at the mouth.’
‘She thus laid bare her despicable true colours as a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation,’ said the KCNA translation.
The CPRK claimed that Obama should have ‘postponed or shelved his trip’ following the ferry full of schoolchildren that sank in South Korea.
The CPRK said that Obama was ‘utterly indifferent to the sorrow’ felt by South Korea after the ferry incident.
‘The latest visit by Obama only reaffirmed our long-held belief that might, not words, are the only option to deal with the old enemy US and strengthened our resolve and determination to stick with our policy to fight a full-scale nuclear war,’ they said.
‘Park Geun-hye will pay a dear price for abandoning the opportunity we earlier gave and choosing a path of anti-unification and anti-peace and a path to confrontation and war,’ they continued.
They also likened Park to a ‘comfort woman,’ a term used to describe women who were sexually enslaved by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
The comments will be a controversial topic in South Korea as it’s still a touchy subject regarding their relationship with Tokyo.
North Korea has been known to criticize South Korean leaders including Park’s predecessor Lee Myung-Bak.
The attacks on Park have been even more offensive and sexual in nature since she is the first female president in Seoul.
Park has expressed her wish to build a trusting relationship with Pyongang but she says she will also remain strong if she faces provocation.
Pyongang rejected her proposal to prepare for unification and to attempt to absorb North Korea into South Korea.
‘She thus laid bare her despicable true colours as a wicked sycophant and traitor, a dirty comfort woman for the US and despicable prostitute selling off the nation,’ the KCNA translation said of Parks allied relations with the United States.
{{A tornado system ripped through the central US and left at least 12 dead in a violent start to this year’s storm season, officials said.}}
Matt DeCample, a spokesperson for Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, said 11 in his state were killed Sunday when a tornado carved through several Little Rock suburbs.
A separate tornado from the same storm system killed one person in Oklahoma.
The large tornado outside Little Rock, Arkansas, stayed on the ground as it moved north-eastward for at least 48km.
Emergency workers and volunteers went door-to-door to look for victims. Law enforcement officers checked the damaged and toppled 18-wheelers, cars and trucks on a stretch of Interstate 40, a major thoroughfare in and out of the state’s capital.
“It turned pitch black,” said Mark Ausbrooks, who was at his parents’ home when the storm arrived. “I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and … all hell broke loose.”
“My parents’ home, it’s gone completely,” he said.
Tornadoes also touched down in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, where dozens of homes in Baxter Springs were destroyed.
Twenty-five people were injured and one person died, but it wasn’t clear if the death was related to the storm, said Kari West, a spokeswoman for the Southeast Kansas Incident Management Team.
Forecasters had warned for days that violent weather would strike over the weekend.
In Arkansas, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Carl Minden said three people were killed when a tornado destroyed a home west of Little Rock. Minden said several others were injured at the scene.
“I’m standing on the foundation of the house now. It’s totally gone,” Minden told media.
{{Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in London on Sunday. }}
The Uruguayan, 27, travelled down to the ceremony after the Reds’ 2-0 defeat at home to Chelsea earlier in the day.
“The Premier League is full of really great players and so it is a great honour when these players recognise your work on the pitch,” Suarez said.
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard was voted Young Player of the Year.
Suarez’s strike partner Daniel Sturridge, 24, and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard joined him in the Premier League Team of the Year, along with three Chelsea players – goalkeeper Petr Cech, defender Gary Cahill and midfielder Hazard.
The line-up was completed by Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure, Southampton left-back Luke Shaw and midfielder Adam Lallana, plus Everton right-back Seamus Coleman.
Liverpool defender Lucy Bronze was named the Women’s Players’ Player of the Year while her team-mate Martha Harris was voted the Young Player of the Year.
{{The mayor of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine has been shot and critically wounded amid ongoing unrest in the region.}}
Hennadiy Kernes was reportedly shot in the back by unknown gunmen while out jogging, and is said to be undergoing emergency surgery in hospital.
Monday also saw pro-Russian separatists seize a local government building in Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine.
The US and EU are preparing to impose fresh sanctions against Russian individuals and companies.
Western nations accuse Moscow of supporting separatist gunmen who are occupying official buildings in cities across eastern Ukraine.
Mr Kernes used to be a supporter of the former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych. He then dropped his support for the ousted president in favour of a united Ukraine.
He has been described as a “mini-oligarch” – a successful businessman wealthy enough to launch a career in politics.
Gunmen wearing uniforms with no insignias moved into the local administrative building in Kostyantynivka on Monday morning and raised the flag of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk Republic”.
They were also reported to be in control of the police station in the town, which is located between the town of Sloviansk and the city of Donetsk, both also controlled by separatists.
The separatists continue to hold seven Western military observers who were seized last week in the region.
{Director Biyi Bandele (l) and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recently attended the premiere in Lagos}
{{Nigeria’s film board has delayed the release of Half of a Yellow Sun, a film about the Biafran war.}}
The film, by Nigerian-born British director Biyi Bandele, was set to open in Nigerian cinemas on Friday.
A film board spokesman told media there were “regulatory issues” with the film but that it wasn’t “officially banned”.
The film is based on a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the 1967-70 civil war, in which more than a million people died.
Reporters say that more than 40 years after the end of the war, the subject remains extremely sensitive in Nigeria.
Some fear the film, which is seen as sympathetic to the Biafran separatist cause, could stoke up ethnic tensions, he says.
The book was released in Nigeria but with the country’s high rates of illiteracy, a film is likely to get more attention.
Mr Bandele told media that he wasn’t sure why the censorship board had delayed certification.
The Nigeria film board saw the film seven months ago, Mr Bandele said.
“What’s frustrating is we have not received a formal letter from the board telling us we’ve been banned, or that we’ve not been banned,” he added.
He denied the film was biased and stressed that he did not see how it could incite violence.
The director also said the film raised issues which Nigeria badly needed to discuss.
“One of the reasons Nigeria is more divided today – 40 years after the end of the war – than it was before the war started, is because we have refused to talk about the elephant in the room.”
The film features Twelve Years a Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and Crash star Thandie Newton.
{relatives collapsed in grief and had to be carried away after hearing the verdict. A large crowd chanted: “Where is the justice?”}
{{A judge at a mass trial in Egypt has recommended the death penalty for 683 people – including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.
The defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed.}}
However, the judge reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March, commuting most to life in prison.
The cases and speed of the hearings have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and the UN.
The trials took just hours each and the court prevented defence lawyers from presenting their case, according to Human Right Watch.
The sentences have been referred to the Grand Mufti – Egypt’s top Islamic authority – for approval or rejection, a step which correspondents say is usually considered a formality. A final decision will be issued in June.
Journalists outside the court say relatives collapsed in grief and had to be carried away after hearing the verdict. A large crowd chanted: “Where is the justice?”
Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed by the military in July.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested.
The verdict was the first against Mr Badie in the several trials he faces on various charges along with Mr Morsi himself and other Brotherhood leaders.
{{South African Police used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa’s strike-hit platinum belt on Sunday after a government minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election.}}
Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners’ union.
Ngubane confirmed sports minister Fikile Mbalula had to be whisked away under police protection after he and the ANC activists he was campaigning with were confronted by a crowd in the shanty town of Freedom Park northwest of Johannesburg.
It was after this that the protest erupted into a full-scale riot, Ngubane said.
Sydwell Dokolwana, the regional secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), a key ANC ally and AMCU’s arch rival, told Reuters he was with the minister at the time and that several people were hurt in the scuffle.
“There was a group of about 100 guys with AMCU shirts. We had to run for our lives,” he told Reporter.
“They said they would only allow us to campaign if the ANC assisted them in getting 12,500 rand ($1,200),” he said.
AMCU’s battle cry has become “12,500 rand”, which is the minimum monthly wage it is seeking from the world’s top platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin.
{{At least 22 people, including 15 local chiefs and three members of staff of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, were killed in an attack on a town in the Central African Republic, officials said on Sunday.}}
The attack on Saturday was in Nanga Boguila, about 450 km (280 miles) north of the capital Bangui. Some 2,000 French and over 5,000 African peacekeepers are struggling to halt waves of violence that have gripped the country over the last 18 months.
Gilles Xavier Nguembassa, a former member of parliament for the area, said four people were killed as the assailants approached the town but most died when Seleka rebels went to an MSF-run health clinic in search of money.
The attack took place while local chiefs were holding a meeting there and the gunmen opened fire when some of the chiefs tried to run away, he said.
“Fifteen of the local chiefs were killed on the spot,” he told Reporters, citing witnesses he had spoken to. A local representative of the Bangui government confirmed the incident.
A spokesman for MSF confirmed the deaths of its staff but gave no further details. Seleka officials were not immediately available for comment.
The mainly Muslim Seleka forces seized Bangui in March 2013 but their time in power was scarred by killings and other rights abuses, prompting the creation of the mainly Christian “anti-balaka” self-defense militia.
Seleka leaders stepped down in January under intense international pressure but the peacekeepers and a weak interim government have failed to stamp their authority on the country, which has seen little but political instability and conflict since independence from France in 1960.
Underscoring the depth of the crisis, peacekeepers escorted around 1,300 Muslims out of Bangui on Sunday, triggering looting and removing one of the last pockets of Muslims from the capital, deepening Muslim-Christian divisions.
Around a million people have fled their homes during the crisis and human rights officials say parts of the country have seen “religious cleansing”.
{{Thank you very much pastor Rick Warren and Kay Warren
Saddleback Church Members,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,}}
No words are adequate to express the gratitude that we Rwandans feel to see so many of you gathered here to mark the 20th commemoration of the genocide.
But Let me quickly say am grateful to Rick Warren for inviting me to come and be with you even if it was at short notice. I definitely could not miss to coming to join you and express this gratitude.
Rick and Kay warren and members of Saddleback church have made me and Rwandans feel at home whenever we are visiting and we have done that before visiting saddleback church centres.
We want to appreciate that. I personally want to appreciate that and we always feel whenever we are visited by Rick and Kay Warren that they should also feel at home whenever they come to Rwanda.
This moment is important for me personally and for Rwandans.
It brings us to remember the million lives we lost in the genocide and to honour the strength of survivors as well as the resilience of Rwandans that has kept our nation alive.
The Genocide in Rwanda destroyed the social fabric and this had been damaged for many years before the genocide from colonial times and unfortunately this coupled with some negative efforts by some in the church as well, most especially the catholic church and the post colonial administration of the extremists made everything worse and that’s how we came to have a genocide in Rwanda because of the divisive ideology that had been preached by post colonial officials.
But after the Genocide we have been rebuilding and through efforts of reconciliation and of justice mainly through restorative justice programs like Ndi Umunyarwanda (I’m Rwandan) are carried out and have entrenched a new thinking about who we are as Rwandans.
Today we are able to celebrate our common identity as Rwandans as we harness our diversity in pursuit of a national vision of unity development and prosperity.
Dear friends,
During the genocide almost every church betrayed its divine mission. Many sought refugee in houses of worship only to be delivered to their killers by religious leaders they trusted.
Rwandans were not only traumatised by loss and grief, many also felt spiritually betrayed.
Today, things are different and again thank you Saddleback members for providing this meaningful new partnership.
Today, faith in God is again a source of comfort for millions of Rwandans.
Saddleback’s decision to accompany Rwandans on their journey has played an important role.
More than 2000 members of this church as already mentioned have served in Rwanda as part of the peace plan. We thank you.
You served in every part of the country; you lived and worship with Rwandans from all walks of life. You have seen the new Rwanda both our achievements and our struggles. You know what we have gone through and you are still with us.
Saddleback partnership with Rwanda is a real testament, the kind of people to people relationships that have contributed to the renewal of our country.
Thank you for being with us, for working with us in our endeavour to recover and rebuild.
As we Commemorate what happened in Rwanda 20 years ago we will continue to work together with our friends to ensure that the future for all our children and grandchildren no longer holds fear but opportunity.
I thank you once again Pastor Rick and Kay warren, I want to appreciate your invitation for me to be here on this particular occasion.
