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Hillary Clinton declared herself the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. president on Tuesday, saying she had made history as the first woman to lead a major party in a race for the White House.

The former first lady, senator and U.S. secretary of state beat rival Bernie Sanders in New Jersey's nominating contest, expanding her lead a day after she captured the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

“Together, we secured the Democratic nomination. For the first time ever, a woman will be a major party’s nominee to become President of the United States,” Clinton, 68, wrote in a fundraising email to supporters.

New Jersey was one of six states holding contests on Tuesday, including California, the big prize where Clinton was still at risk of an embarrassing loss to Sanders as she heads into a campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election.

Sanders, 74, was projected to win in North Dakota, and there were no immediate projections in Montana, New Mexico or South Dakota in the final series of big presidential nominating battles that began on Feb. 1 in Iowa. The District of Columbia, the last to vote, holds a Democratic primary next Tuesday.

Reuters

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07.Jun.2016

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Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Monday appointed a new cabinet of 50 ministers, giving his wife a top post. His wife, Janet Kataaha Museveni was appointed as Minister for Education and Sports. The President also named Betty Kamya, president of opposition Uganda Federal Alliance and his former challenger as Minister for Kampala.

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07.Jun.2016

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A car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

The car was detonated as police buses passed, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told reporters, in the fourth major bombing in Turkey's biggest city this year.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kurdish militants have staged similar attacks before, including one last month in Istanbul.

Security concerns were already hitting tourism and investor confidence. Wars in neighboring Syria and Iraq have fostered a home-grown Islamic State network blamed for a series of suicide bombings, while militants from the largely Kurdish southeast have increasingly struck in cities further afield.

President Tayyip Erdogan visited the wounded in a nearby hospital. Sources in his office said he had condemned the attack and had been briefed by Sahin and the interior minister.

"A car-bomb attack was made against vehicles carrying our rapid-response police and passing by on the road, resulting in seven police and four civilians losing their lives," Sahin said, adding three of the 36 wounded were in critical condition.

Reuters

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07.Jun.2016

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The family of Thomas Sankara, former revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso killed during the coup that brought former president Compaore to power in 1987, has requested for another expert DNA test on his suspected remains.

Burkina Faso’s military prosecutor on the case commissioned by the government, Alioune Zanre, said at a press conference on Monday that three families including that of Sankara were not satisfied with the DNA test conducted in France.

“Three families including that of Thomas Sankara had expressed reservations about the expert DNA testing and called for re-testing according to the law. The judges agreed and asked them to set a deadline,” Zanre said.

Investigation into the death of Sankara was opened late March 2015, after the ousting of former president Blaise Compaore in October 2014.

The suspected body of Sankara and 12 other people with him were exhumed in late May 2015 to unravel the mystery surrounding the circumstances of their death.

DNA tests were conducted in France to confirm the identity of the bodies and in December 2015, the military court gave the families the results which indicated that the DNA was not “detectable” and thus not possible to identify for sure who the victims were.

Autopsy results on the suspected remains of Sankara delivered in October 2015 indicated that the body was “riddled with bullets”.

Ousted president Blaise Compaore is suspected to be behind the killing of his predecessor Thomas Sankara.

Exiled in Ivory Coast after his overthrow, an international warrant was issued for Compaore’s arrest in December 2015 for the charges of “murder”, “assassination” and “corpse concealment” after an investigation by Burkina Faso authorities.

AFP

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07.Jun.2016

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Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats' presumptive nominee.

The victory arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling.''

Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nation's first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.

VOA

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Jackson Tantoh

07.Jun.2016

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A court in Malawi has banned witchdoctors in the country following a surge in the killing of albinos who are hunted down and murdered for their “magical” body parts.

Those affected with the ban also are alternative healers, charm producers, magic users and fortune tellers.

A senior judge in the northern city of Mzuzu granted the order after three customers took legal action against their healers over their failed spells, which had used albino ‘charms’.

In his order Judge Digiswayo Madise, also banned adverts for alternative healers, whose concoctions are sought for a wide variety of problems, from erectile dysfunction to finding a job.

One of the dissatisfied clients had been promised that an ex-lover would take her back. Another claimed he had been guaranteed that a robber would return her stolen goods, a court in Malawi was told.

Oswald Phiri, one of those who sued his healer said in a statement to the court that he believed, ‘all the killings of albinos are stemming from witchdoctors.’

The trade in albino body parts is driven by a belief that their bones are filled with gold and close relatives are often involved with the targeting of victims, driven by a mixture of embarrassment and greed.

Amnesty International believes that the actual number of people with albinism killed is likely to be much higher due to the fact that many secretive rituals in rural areas are never reported. There is also no systematic documentation of crimes against people with albinism in Malawi.

‘The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror for this vulnerable group and their families who are living in a state of constant fear for their lives,’ said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for Southern Africa.

Malawi has around 10,000 Albinos, most of whom live in fear and under self-imposed curfews.

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Rita Akana

07.Jun.2016

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