PRETORIA: Nelson Mandela was reclaimed by ordinary South Africans Thursday, who queued patiently in their thousands to file past his open casket on a day of viewing reserved for the public.
On Wednesday, the cameras of the world had been trained on world leaders, VIPs and celebrities paying tribute to a man known for his common touch — relating to princes and paupers with equal ease.
Ordinary mourners from all walks of life had also queued for hours on end to view the body, but many were turned away by evening without having made it to the front of the long, winding line of people united in grief and gratitude for the father of their democratic nation.
Many returned on Thursday for another chance, with the entire day given over to general public access.
“My heart is so broken,” said Anita Bodiba, 35, who arrived at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, at 4:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) to join the long queue that had already formed.
“I can’t even sleep, I’m thinking of Madiba. He is the one who united us here in South Africa — white people, black people, Indian people,” she said — using the clan name by which the democracy icon is fondly known.
On Wednesday, Mandela’s distraught widow Graca Machel and other family members were followed by presidents, royalty and other international figures in paying their last respects in the amphitheater of the Union Buildings where the Nobel laureate is laying in state.
It was here that he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994, after emerging from 27 years’ imprisonment.
A third day of lying in state will be held Friday, after which Mandela’s body will be transported to his boyhood home of Qunu, ahead of its eventual burial on Sunday.
Thursday’s program began, as the day before, with Mandela’s casket brought in a solemn cortege from the 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings.
Thousands lined the route as a black hearse, flanked by motorcycle outriders, carried the flag-draped coffin on its journey through the streets of Pretoria.
In the Union Buildings amphitheater, soon to be renamed after him, Mandela’s body lies underneath a perspex screen, dressed in the type of printed shirt that became his trademark.
Two navy officers stood by the coffin, their eyes downcast, and Mandela’s grandson Mandla sat in a chair on the platform supporting the coffin. Some visitors collapsed as they passed the coffin, felled by the weight of their grief, and were helped away by medical personnel and fellow mourners.
The line of people queueing to catch a glimpse of their hero was already several city blocks long by 7:00 am, and continued snaking around streets surrounding the Union Buildings by lunchtime.
Some mourners were dressed in the vibrant yellow, green and black of the ruling African National Congress that Mandela once led, and many wore black armbands.
People carried posters bearing Mandela’s likeness and many clutched miniature South African flags, dancing and singing revolutionary songs from the liberation struggle era as helicopters hovered overhead.
White South African siblings Sean and Louise Bos, 21 and 19 respectively, flew from Cape Town on Wednesday morning to be part of the historic occasion.
They queued until closing time without making it to the front, then returned at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, queueing about five hours to see him.
“We never met him so we thought we’d come to say goodbye,” said Sean, as the pair rushed to catch a plane home afterwards.
With VIPs gone, mourning S. Africans reclaim Madiba
With VIPs gone, mourning S. Africans reclaim Madiba
Indian news agency sues Netflix for using its content in hijack drama
- The story is a fictionalized version of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight from Katmandu
- It has been embroiled in controversy since its release last month, with Netflix adding disclaimers
NEW DELHI: Indian news agency ANI has sued Netflix Inc. and producers of an Indian series about a plane hijack, asking for four episodes to be taken down as they used ANI content without permission, ANI’s lawyer told Reuters on Monday.
The series, called “IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack” — a fictionalized version of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 from Katmandu — has been embroiled in controversy since its release last month.
Social media users and members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party have criticized the show for what they said was an incorrect portrayal of the hijackers as Hindus with Hindu names when they were Muslims.
Netflix added new disclaimers to the six-episode show last week after its officials were summoned by India’s information and broadcasting ministry. It also said the code names used in the series reflected those used during the actual event.
“They have used copyright archival footage of ANI without license, they have also used the (ANI) trademark,” Sidhant Kumar, counsel for ANI, said.
“Since the series has come into such criticism, our trademark and brandname is being tarnished,” Kumar said, adding that ANI wants Netflix to take down four episodes where its content has been used.
The Delhi High Court had agreed to hear the case and sought the response of Netflix, he said.
There was no immediate response from Netflix for a request for comment from Reuters, which has a minority stake in ANI.
India blames Pakistan and Pakistan-based militant groups for the December 1999 hijack, which was resolved after New Delhi freed three Islamist militants, including Masood Azhar, the head of one such group.
Several passengers injured as plane skids off Indonesia runway
JAYAPURA: A plane with 48 people aboard skidded off the runway in Indonesia’s remote eastern region of Papua on Monday, police said, injuring several passengers.
The Southeast Asian archipelago has a poor aviation safety record, and Papua is covered in mountainous terrain where flying is hampered by frequent poor weather.
The ATR-42 aircraft belonging to Trigana Air was taking off from an airport in the remote Yapen Islands regency to Papuan capital Jayapura on Monday morning when it skidded off the runway.
The flight was carrying 42 passengers, including a baby, and six crew.
“Praise God everybody survived and has been taken to a hospital for a health checkup,” local police chief Ardyan Ukie Hercahyo said in a statement.
“We are investigating the incident and coordinating with related parties to ensure this will never happen again.”
The local search and rescue agency said in a statement that some passengers were injured and traumatized by the incident.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but Papua is a particularly difficult area to reach.
In 2015, a Trigana Air plane crashed there, killing all 54 people on board.
Bangladesh to seek extradition of ousted leader from India
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from neighboring India, its chief prosecutor has said, accusing her of carrying out “massacres.”
Weeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh escalated into mass protests last month, with Hasina quitting as prime minister and fleeing by helicopter to old ally India on August 5, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.
“As the main perpetrator has fled the country, we will start the legal procedure to bring her back,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters on Sunday.
The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2010 to probe atrocities during the 1971 independence war from Pakistan.
Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.
“Bangladesh has a criminal extradition treaty with India which was signed in 2013, while Sheikh Hasina’s government was in power,” Islam added.
“As she has been made the main accused of the massacres in Bangladesh, we will try to legally bring her back to Bangladesh to face trial.”
Hasina, 76, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh, and her last official whereabouts is a military air base near India’s capital New Delhi. Her presence in India has infuriated Bangladesh.
Dhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition treaty which would permit her return to face criminal trial.
A clause in the treaty, however, says extradition might be refused if the offense is of a “political character.”
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over after the uprising, last week said Hasina should “keep quiet” while exiled in India until she is brought home for trial.
“If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” Yunus, 84, told the Press Trust of India news agency.
His government has been under public pressure to demand her extradition and trial over the hundreds of demonstrators killed during the weeks of unrest that ultimately toppled her.
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina’s ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report, suggesting the toll was “likely an underestimate.”
Bangladesh last month opened an investigation led by a retired high court judge into hundreds of enforced disappearances by security forces during Hasina’s rule.
Stop-gap US budget bill planned by Republicans will hurt thousands of military programs, defense chief warns
- Congress will have to pass some type of temporary measure by Sept. 30 in order to avoid a shutdown of the federal government
- Austin said a temporary bill would stall research and development projects, and slow progress key nuclear, ship-building, high-tech drone and other weapons programs
WASHINGTON: Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday.
Austin said that passing a continuing resolution that caps spending at 2024 levels, rather than taking action on the proposed 2025 budget will hurt thousands of defense programs, and damage military recruiting just as it is beginning to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Asking the department to compete with (China), let alone manage conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy CR, ties our hands behind our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress,” said Austin in the letter to leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has teed up a vote this week on a bill that would keep the federal government funded for six more months. The measure aims to garner support from his more conservative GOP members by also requiring states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering a person to vote.
Congress needs to approve a stop-gap spending bill before the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown just a few weeks before voters go to the polls and elect the next president.
Austin said the stop-gap measure would cut defense spending by more than $6 billion compared to the 2025 spending proposal. And it would take money from key new priorities while overfunding programs that no longer need it.
Under a continuing resolution, new projects or programs can’t be started. Austin said that passing the temporary bill would stall more than $4.3 billion in research and development projects and delay 135 new military housing and construction projects totaling nearly $10 billion.
It also would slow progress on a number of key nuclear, ship-building, high-tech drone and other weapons programs. Many of those projects are in an array of congressional districts, and could also have an impact on local residents and jobs.
Since the bill would not fund legally required pay raises for troops and civilians, the department would have to find other cuts to offset them. Those cuts could halt enlistment bonuses, delay training for National Guard and Reserve forces, limit flying hours and other training for active-duty troops and impede the replacement of weapons and other equipment that has been pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine.
Going forward with the continuing resolution, said Austin, will “subject service members and their families to unnecessary stress, empower our adversaries, misalign billions of dollars, damage our readiness, and impede our ability to react to emergent events.”
Noting that there have been 48 continuing resolutions during 14 of the last 15 fiscal years — for a total of nearly 1,800 days — Austin said Congress must break the pattern of inaction because the US military can’t compete with China “with our hands tied behind our back every fiscal year.”
Johnson’s bill is not expected to get support in the Democratic-controlled Senate, if it even makes it that far. But Congress will have to pass some type of temporary measure by Sept. 30 in order to avoid a shutdown.
Putin loyalists set to win local elections in war-affected Russian regions
- Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin
Supporters of President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine were set to win gubernatorial races across Russia, according to early vote counts on Sunday, including in Kursk where Ukrainian forces have seized control of some towns and territory.
Russia’s three-day local and regional elections came to an end on Sunday evening, with voters expected to elect Kremlin-backed candidates in all 21 gubernatorial races, as well as legislative assembly members in 13 regions and city council officials across the country.
Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin and his operation in Ukraine, now in its third year — just as was the election in March that extended his presidential term and voting a year ago.
“Let’s be honest: there is a war going on. Our task is to defeat our enemy,” Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and now the chairman of the ruling United Russia party said on Sunday, as cited by the TASS state news agency.
“It is extremely important not to lose the trust of the citizens of Russia, our comrades, during this period.”
In the border Kursk region, which together with the Kremlin was caught by surprise in August by an ongoing incursion by Ukrainian forces, the acting governor leads the race with more than half of the vote counted.
Alexei Smirnov, who has led the region since May, has received nearly 66 percent of the vote so far, according to data from the Russian Central Election Commission.
In the Lipetsk region in Russia’s southwest — a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks — the current governor and United Russia candidate, Igor Artamonov, has received 80 percent of votes with nearly all votes counted.
Former Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, also of United Russia, is leading in the by-election to the lower-house State Duma, in the border Bryansk region, another area frequently affected by Ukrainian air attacks.
