Zimbabwe says Mugabe is 'well and fine'

The Zimbabwe government on Thursday denied reports that veteran President Robert Mugabe, 91, had collapsed and died in Singapore after rumours spread rapidly about his alleged ill health.


Under the headline "President well, fine", the state-run Herald newspaper said stories about Mugabe's health emerged each year when he took his annual leave outside the country.


"You cannot doubt that there will be a story on the President's alleged death every January," presidential spokesman George Charamba told the paper.


Charamba blamed the ZimEye news website for starting the rumours.


"This is the way the website seeks to improve its hits in order to get dirty money... There is a financial incentive to the grim lie," he added.The Herald said that Mugabe was in the "Far East" but did not specify which country.The president, who is the world's oldest national leader, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.Despite his age, he continues to give long speeches in public, but speculation over his health mounted last year when he tripped and fell down some steps at a televised ceremony.


He also read a speech to parliament in September apparently unaware that he had delivered the same address a month earlier.WikiLeaks in 2011 released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying that Mugabe was reported to have prostate cancer and had less than five years to live.His regime is accused of systematic human rights abuses and overseeing Zimbabwe's dire economic decline.The ruling ZANU-PF party has been riven by factionalism for years with Mugabe avoiding naming a successor.Senior Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is seen as one front-runner to be the next president. -AFP

AFP. "Zimbabwe Says Mugabe Is 'well and Fine'" Times Live. Times Media Group, 14 Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2016/01/14/Zimbabwe-says-Mugabe-is-well-and-fine

Zimbabwe is beautiful. I have driven through it many a time and it is a beautiful country with so much potential. Although there is no named author to this article he does seem have a bias against Mugabe and hints at his dislike for the president. Since all I've heard and grown up in also presents him in a bad light I also have a bias against him compared to other western individuals who might read this article. Where they may pity the president for having a press that fakes his death to earn money, I have little sympathy for the man after all the damage I've seen and heard done, initiating with his rule. It was very interesting to note how long this obvious dislike for the president has been going on and yet how long his rule continues. This is definitely evidence that his rule is a rule of iron rod and terror. The South African newspaper that publishes this article clearly provides outside perspective to the situation and presents evidence that South Africa keeps an eye on their neighbor considering the dislike for the man presented in the article. I find it extremely tragic when I consider the pain Zimbabwe goes through because of one man. One man that could make them extremely successful, one man that was to stubborn to listen, one man that's too proud to step down. It's a truly tragic situation when the country's press feeds on any news that the president is suffering and dying, and yet considering the decades of no compassion for his own people, it is to be expected. 

Fraud trial starts for Spain's Princess Cristina

Fraud trial starts for Spain's Princess Cristina 



PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain - A landmark fraud trial opened Monday for Spain's Princess Cristina, accused of helping 

bankroll a lavish lifestyle with funds her husband received from an alleged scheme to embezzle about 6 million euros 

(S6.5 million) in public contracts for conferences and sporting events. 

Cristina and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, said nothing to dozens of reporters as they entered a makeshift courthouse 

amid tight police security aimed at keeping anti-monarchy protesters away from the scene. 

The two then sat si ently among a group of 16 other defendants as a judge read out the charges for the historic trial, 

which marks the first time that a member of Spain's royal family has faced criminal charges since the monarchy was 

restored in 1975. 

The 50-year-old Cristina faces two counts of tax fraud carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years for a legedly 

failing to declare taxes on personal expenses paid by a real estate company she owned with Urdangarin, an Olympic 

handball medalist turned businessman. 

He faces more serious charges Of using his former Duke Of Palma title to embezzle about 6 million euros (S6.5 million) 

in public contracts through the nonprofit Noos Institute he ran with an associate. 

Security was tight around the building after thousands of anti-monarchy protesters in 2014 staged noisy 

demonstrations while Cristina answered questions about the case posed by an investigative judge. 

Authorities Monday morning detained one protester with an anti-monarchy flag a short time before Cristina showed up 

at the court inside a sedan with dark tinted windows. 

Cristina has a chance of avoiding the trial if the judges agree with arguments her awyers made in court Monday that a 

Spanish legal precedent should be applied to her case that allows tax fraud cases to be dropped When they are not 

initiated by prosecutors. 

But the same tactic can't be used by her husband, meaning it's all but inevitable that details come out during the 

proceedings about the coup e's everyday life behind the high walls of the mansion they were forced to sell during the 

investigation. 

There are so many defendants and lawyers plus reporters covering the case that judicial officials were forced to move 

the trial from a courthouse to a sprawling building complex on the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca normally used to hold 

mass training courses for public servants. 

The case is being heard in the regional capital of Spain's Balearic Islands because many of Crdangarin's business deals 

under investigation were for the islands. 

The princess and her husband are not expected to utter a word during the first few days of the trial. 

Cristina denied knowledge of her husband's activities during the 2014 closed door court appearance and a prosecutor 

recommended she should be fined. But a judge decided Cristina could be charged with tax fraud in 2007 and 2008 

because Spanish law a lows groups to fi e charges when state prosecutors don't. 

Her case was driven forward by the anti-corruption group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands). 

Details about the couple's lavish lifestyle emerged from the pre-trial investigation, outraging Spaniards as the country 

teetered on the edge of an economic crisis. The case added to the stream of bad headlines for Cristina's father, former 

King Juan Carlos — already smarting from a backlash after he broke his hip during a 2012 elephant hunting trip seen as 

an example of royal excess. 

luan Carlos abdicated in 2014, not mentioning the scandals affecting his reign but saying Spain needed fresh royal 

b ood. On taking the throne, King Felipe VI - Cristina's brother — pledged to restore public trust in Spain's monarchy. 

He later stripped Cristina and her Older sister princess Elena Of their roles as official members Of the royal family 

though they have not given up their slots of succession in line for the throne. 

The trial is expected to last six months. 

 

 Royalty should not be exempt. This article proves the absolute freedom monarchies have had over past years in distributing their resources exactly as they pleased. Thankfully in the twenty first century these authorial figures can now be put on trial as well. The author reflects the anger and impatience of the Spanish population with the monarchy. Reading the article it is in fact amazing that they’ve put up with such scandals for so long, especially considering the economic crisis. The author has an outside perspective but definitely points out and considers the side of the people over the side of the monarch. Considering the US is the publisher and he their reporter his bias towards a monarchy may be understandable because the US has never experienced one. Overall this shocking article is a reminder that all humans must be kept accountable, no matter who you are and that equality and justice in particularly these cases is extremely key.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/11/fraud-trial-princess-cristina/78618268/

Clendenning, Alan. "The Latest US and World News." USA Today. Gannett, 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

Chinese Bus Attack

17 dead in China bus arson attack 
There have been several attacks on buses in China in recent years 
Seventeen people were burned to death and 32 injured after a public bus went up in 
flames in a suspected arson attack in China, state media said. 
Police have captured a man suspected of starting the fire 
Authorities cornered the man at a construction site after flames engulfed the vehicle in 
Yinchuan, according to a post on a verified social media account Of state broadcaster 
CCTv. 
Images posted online showed the bus engulfed in flames and a short video of police in 
yellow rain jackets gathering around the smoking and charred remains. 
The city's mayor told a press conference the local public security bureau was collecting 
DNA samples to identify the dead, according to an official social media account for the 
city. 
CCTV posted a list Of the names Of 32 injured, ranging in age from 20 to 65, adding that 
eight had suffered serious injuries. 
Authorities did not give any indication Of a motive. 
Unverified pictures on social media showed what appeared to be the Yinchuan suspect 
perched on top of a half-finished building, as though preparing to jump. 
Police negotiated with him for four hours before arresting him, CCTV said in a post that 
included a picture of a man in handcuffs being led away. 
The broadcaster had previously posted pictures of the 33-year-old along with personal 
information, including the fact that he was a graduate of a technical college. 
It said police were "investigating and pursuing" him for his role in "a serious crime". 
There have been several cases of attacks on Chinese public transport, especially buses, in 
recent years. 
In 2013 a suicidal man started a fire on a vehicle in Xiamen in the eastern province of 
Fujian that killed 47 people including himself. 


In our modern world with all its precautions and safety requirements, its sometimes hard to believe instances such as these still break out, hard to believe people still die even in such a public and obvious place. The Chinese news report goes out not only to the Chinese people but also to the rest of the world, a warning that between all the war, conflict and huge protests, even little acts of terror continue to consume lives, lives many quickly forget about. The Chinese News agency that published this article has a huge and influential role in Chinese society which might mean more to the family that have lost these lives. The publisher in this case does however have a role due to the fact that the government essentially controls the Xinhuanet Agency, only what they want published ends up published. 

RET News. "17 Dead in China Bus Arson Attack." RET News. N.p., 5 Jan. 2016. Web. 6 Jan. 2016.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0105/757809-china-bus-attack/