Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will on 16 July 2010, depart South Africa leading a high level government delegation that will represent South Africa at the International AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria convened under the theme: “Rights here, Right Now” from 18 - 23 July 2010.
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President Jacob G. Zuma, on behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of South Africa, has learnt with shock and dismay of the deplorable explosions targeting crowds watching the World Cup final at a rugby club and at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday night, killing at least 64 people. The government is deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these attacks.
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Let me start by congratulating Spain on their magnificent victory last night! It marked the end of a very exciting and vibrant tournament.
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Good afternoon and a warm welcome to you all at this important 2010 Soccer World Cup Education Summit. We are happy to welcome you all, on this historic day of the final match in the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup tournament. We convened this Summit because of our strongly held view that the first Soccer World Cup tournament on African soil should have a lasting legacy.
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We are coming to the end of a historic, vibrant and very African FIFA Soccer World Cup. When we won the rights to host the World Cup, we knew that working together we would be able to succeed. However, what has happened so far, has exceeded our expectations.
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SA MEN - FEATURED MODEL Enlarged
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If you haven't lived under a rock for the past few decades, then you surely know that Rolex stands for luxurious precision timekeeping, and you know that Timex is the premier name in inexpensive, reliable timekeeping. The vast area between the two, however, offers the widest selection of watches-in terms of function, fashion and price.
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Everyone loves a long cool drink, but often we forget to think about how many calories and nutrients are in what we drink. The warm weather can leave us dehydrated, and it is important that we are all drinking lots of water, especially before we go to a class.
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Most consumers have heard of hybrid vehicles, but many of them could not explain the definition. The actual definition of the word “hybrid” is stated as something of mixed origin or composition. This definition fits today’s hybrid vehicles perfectly.
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Everyone has been in the outdoors at some point and wondered which direction they where travelling or possibly even been lost. So if you don't have a compass, how does the average person figure out direction of travel?
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The Communication Ministry on Wednesday denied claims that its head Siphiwe Nyanda wants to suspend his director general because she would not sign off on tenders linked to him or people close to him.

Business Day is reporting that Nyanda’s relationship with his DG Mamodupi Mohlala is strained claiming he stripped her of the power to administer tenders.

It is also alleged that Nyanda wants all tenders for the department to be cancelled until they have been discussed and approved by him.

Nyanda’s spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso has denied all the claims.

“The minister of Communications understands the roles that are assigned to the executive authority, meaning the minister and the director general. He will in no way ever seek to undermine the boundaries that exit on the roles of the two individuals. The minister is not involved in tender processes,” said Rikhotso.

This is not the first time Nyanda has been at the centre of a tender controversy.

Earlier this year, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi got into trouble when he questioned why President Jacob Zuma was not investigating allegations of corruption against Nyanda.

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Praise continues to pour in for police following their success during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Thursday said security was of the highest quality and the majority of crimes were petty.

He was addressing officials in Pretoria in a final wrap up of security issues concerning the tournament.

He said officers should be proud.

“We stand here today proud to say our police officers and citizens heeded our call and made us proud, they made Africa proud,” said Mthethwa.

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NGOs have warned government of a looming crisis in the public health sector as international donors prepare to cut their funding.

 

Doctors Without Borders said it is looks likely that donors like PEPFAR, UNAIDS and the Global Forum will slash funding by 2012.

Officials at the US Embassy said they are confident the cuts will not take place but if they do, up to four million HIV positive South Africans will be left without adequate access to treatment.

The Treatment Action Campaign’s Mark Heywood called on Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to campaign for sustained funding from global donors at the International Aids Convention next week.

”We will be hoping that our government provides leadership,” said Heywood.

Cosatu President S’dumo Dlamini said the trade federation will use its political clout to make sure local hospitals are ready if the funding cuts lead to the closure of local NGOs.

”The task now is transformation of health,” said Dlamini.

African Health Placements’ Saul Kornick said it is time to urgently address staff and resource shortages at local hospitals.

If PEPFAR cuts its funding, about four million people will be left without access to ARVs.

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Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba on Thursday joined other Cabinet ministers in condemning xenophobia as a crime against humanity.

He vowed to improve the laws to help valid asylum seekers.

Gigaba said plans are in place to amend the Immigration Act to screen visitors entering the country.

He said the department will continue to use the latest technology and skilled employees at ports of entry.

“We are also going to improve our refugee affairs and asylum seeker management processes so that genuine asylum seekers can continue to receive good quality service and be provided with the protection they deserve in the country,” said Gigaba.

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The Elders have joined in the chorus of voices encouraging the public to get involved in Mandela Day.

 

The day, which takes place on the former president’s birthday, is set aside in honour of Madiba. People are encouraged to dedicate 67 minutes of their time in service of others.

 

The group of influential leaders has created a new video to spread the message. It features former US President Jimmy Carter.

 

“Nelson Mandela has given all of us a wonderful opportunity and also a duty to do something positive and active on Mandela Day,” said Carter.

 

Former Irish president Mary Robinson said Mandela "gave 67 years of his life and now he is saying to us it is in our hands.”

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The European Union has told Iran in a letter that it welcomes a proposal to resume dialogue as early as September but says talks must focus on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The letter, seen by Reuters, was sent by EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton in response to a letter on July 6 from Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, calling for a resumption of talks.

His proposal was the first clear indication that Tehran is willing to engage with world powers on its atomic programme since the United Nations imposed more sanctions on Iran last month, a move designed to stall Iranian uranium enrichment.

"I am glad to hear that you would be prepared to restart dialogue," Ashton wrote to Jalili. "It follows that issues relating to the Iranian nuclear programme must be the focus of our talks, though other subjects ... could also be raised."

She proposed EU and Iranian officials should discuss a time and venue for a meeting.

A spokesperson for Ashton confirmed the EU had replied to Jalili in a letter that was delivered on Tuesday.

The West believes Iran wants to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, including domestic energy production.

Tehran has held no substantive talks with the West since October, when it backed away from a deal to send some of its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for the higher-enriched material it needs to fuel a medical research reactor.

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Germany’s consumer minister, who vowed to delete her Facebook account in protest at the networking site’s privacy policies, called on Monday for an Internet "honour code" to protect personal data.

"We need an honour code... 10 golden rules -- short, sharp and clear," Ilse Aigner told Die Welt daily in an interview.

"Such rules can only come from the Internet community. It would be good if users themselves made suggestions. We could base them on social networks that already have a ’netiquette’.

"The Internet could become the pillory of the 21st century. The trend is worrying," added the minister.

Last month, Aigner, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, said she would remove her page from Facebook after failing to receive assurances from the US firm that her private data were secure.

"Anyone who visits a social networking site should know that it’s a business model. The service is not free. We users pay for it with our private data," Aigner said.

She launched another broadside at Facebook saying she had become a member of other social sites with better privacy controls.

With these sites, "I can decide to open doors and windows and I can better control what personal information I share with others," she said.

"On Facebook, the reverse is true: I have to go through the cumbersome process of changing my security setting to close these doors and windows and protect my privacy.

"Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has indicated that in principle, he does not want to change anything. In contrast, his firm wants to use members’ private profiles for commercial purposes," the minister added.

Partly for historical reasons, Germany is particularly sensitive about privacy issues, with campaigners bristling at plans by US Internet giant Google to launch its "Street View" service in Germany later this year.

"Street View" allows Internet users to view panoramic still photographs at street level from spots around the world, with images taken from specially equipped vehicles.

Officials and campaigners in Germany called the service an invasion of privacy and a potential security risk.

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush the Somali terrorists who killed 76 people watching the World Cup final on Sunday.

He has told journalists al Shabaab made a bad mistake bringing its war to Kampala.

Opposition parties are calling for the withdrawal of Ugandan peacekeepers from Somalia but the president is having none of it.

He wants the African Union to beef up its military presence in Mogadishu so that it can go on the offensive against al Shabaab. The militants say they are at war with Uganda and Burundi for supplying peacekeepers.

The AU is currently guarding the presidential palace and the port in Mogadishu.

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Taking a breather after a heavy training session, Elizabeth Maseswa recalls how she was kicked out of her Harare home for revealing her HIV status before finding a new family on the football field.

"Five years ago, my own mother disowned me and ordered me out of the house. I had no one to turn to before I joined the team," said 26-year-old Maseswa, the skipper of the table-topping ARV Swallows.

"Playing football helps me a lot, it relieves stress and we share our problems as a team."

The ARV (Anti-retroviral drugs) Swallows are one of 16 teams all made up HIV-positive women formed by veteran football administrator Chris Sambo.

Other teams include Stigma Eradicated and Virus Ambassadors, whose players have forged a family-like bond which should be the envy of some of the teams who have exited the World Cup in neighbouring South Africa.

In a country which is not only in the eye of the AIDS pandemic’s storm but also suffered severe food shortages during a prolonged economic crisis, such solidarity and companionship is vital.

"Sometimes I have lacked even basics like salt, but once I tell my teammates they help me out and also get me things I haven’t even mentioned," said Maseswa. "We share each other’s burdens."

Apart from the camaraderie, players say the football had made them fitter.

"I now feel like (former Zimbabwe footballer) Peter Ndlovu," said Maseswa’s 29-year-old teammate Deliwe Murwira.

"My sister-in-law used to sing about my HIV status saying all sorts of insults, but all that has changed when I started playing football.

"Some people did not want to share a bottle of water with me, I could not walk here without fingers being pointed at me, but this has changed because I am footballer."

Sambo, a former fixtures secretary secretary for Zimbabwe’s Professional Soccer League, said he came up with the idea of forming a league for HIV-positive women to cash in on football’s appeal.

"Realising that football is a sport which attracts a very large following and for the purposes of demystifying HIV/AIDS, I decided to form a league of HIV/AIDS positive ladies," he told AFP.

"During matches, literature on HIV/AIDS is distributed and we have a mobile testing centre. We have also identified other 46 teams and we plan to have this project nationwide."

Sambo has sponsored the league to the tune of 10 000 dollars but said the money was not enough to cover running costs and travel expenses.

The teams play in a makeshift stadium in the Harare suburb of Epworth which has two rocks sticking out in the middle of the pitch.

At the training session, play was stopped at one stage when a piece of wire punctured the only ball, forcing coach Jonas Kapakasi to cycle to a nearby shopping mall for repairs.

"This is what we go through sometimes," he said. "But the ladies are so united. Even if one the players is not feeling well, she turns up of training because other team members give her emotional support."

The players get ARVs from Medecins San Frontiers, while a local bank and petrol company have also chipped in with kits.

While football acts as therapy to relieve stress, team members still have to fend for themselves and their families, with some poaching firewood from a neighbouring farm to sell.

The oldest member of the team is Mary Chinyama, 48, whose husband died in 2002.

"I now get along very well with other members of my family because of football," she said while cradling another teammate’s child.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Welfare says the HIV prevalence rate in the 15 to 49 age group declined to 13.7 percent in 2009 from 33 percent 10 years earlier.

The government is struggling to provide ARVs to those who cannot afford with less than half of those in need currently accessing the drugs.

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A nuclear scientist who says he was abducted by U.S. agents thanked Iranian authorities for returning him home on Thursday, the culmination of a murky saga that has underscored deep U.S.-Iranian mistrust.

Washington denied kidnapping Shahram Amiri and insisted he had lived freely in the United States. A U.S. official said, however, that the United States, eager for details of Tehran’s nuclear programme, had obtained "useful" information from him.

Wearing a beige suit, a smiling Amiri made victory signs as he hugged his tearful son and wife, who greeted him at Tehran’s International Imam Khomeini Airport, along with other family members and a senior foreign ministry official, Hassan Qashqavi.

"Americans wanted me to say that I defected to America of my own will to use me for revealing some false information about Iran’s nuclear work," Amiri told a short news briefing at the airport.

Qashqavi thanked Amiri for his "resistance to pressure."

Iran accuses the CIA of kidnapping Amiri, who worked for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, a year ago while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. He surfaced at the Iranian interests section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington on Monday.

NUCLEAR DISPUTE

Iran is locked in a dispute with the United States and its allies over Tehran’s nuclear programme, which the West says is designed to produce nuclear weapons and Iranian officials say aims to generate power.

The mystery surrounding Amiri fuelled speculation that he may have passed information about Iran’s nuclear programme to U.S. intelligence. ABC News reported in March that Amiri had defected and was helping the CIA.

The State Department said the United States did not kidnap Amiri, but it has not addressed whether another country might have abducted him and turned him over.

Amiri had painted a dramatic picture of a cloak-and-dagger operation to abduct him.

"While I was on the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, a car offered me a lift...a gun was pointed at me as soon as I got in the car," Amiri had told state television. "Then I was drugged ... I was transferred to America by a military plane."

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley appeared to anticipate further accusations from Tehran on Amiri’s return.

"Once he gets back to Iran I suspect that he’ll have a variety of things to say and my advice would be to take what he says with a grain of salt," he said.

A man identifying himself as Amiri has variously said in recent videos that he was kidnapped and tortured, that he was studying in the United States and that he had fled U.S. agents and wanted human rights groups to help him return to Iran.

Intelligence about the Iranian nuclear programme is at a premium for the United States, which fears that a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten its close ally, Israel, as well as oil supplies from the Gulf, and friendly nations in Europe.

Asked why Amiri was going back, a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Iranian authorities could have put pressure on his family back home.

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