Nelson Mandela turns 90 today
Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader who spent 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid, turns 90 years old today. In previous weeks, there have been a series of public celebrations honoring Mandela, including a start-studded concert in London, featuring Leona Lewis, U2 and others. But he will be spending his birthday at his home village of Qunu, which is in southeastern South Africa, reports the BBC. Village celebrations originally were going to be low key, but now a soccer festival, a concert and a dinner for 500 guests is planned for Saturday in the village. Go to BET.com to celebrate Mandela’s life through pics, a quiz and more!
http://www.bet.com/News/Features/NewsPackageFeatureNelsonMandela.htm?Referrer={0471DDF0-D0D8-48A8-9E30-ADD40CBE0269}

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Nelson Mandela’s Birthday

People of Color Making News Worldwide
World Lens: Miss. Universe 2008 makes her debut in front of the press, Sudanese angrily protest their president’s possible arrest and Britain’s Prince Harry plays with orphan children in Lesotho. See these pics and more here!

Kidnappers free Nigerian soccer star’s brother.
The family of Nigerian soccer star Joseph Yobo is breathing a sigh of relief after Yobo’s older brother was released by kidnappers, reports the BBC. Nornu Yobo was kidnapped 12 days ago while at a Port Harcourt hotel, a place known for numerous ransom kidnappings. He recently flew to Lagos to be reunited with family. “I feel so relieved and better now. It was a horrible experience that really affected me mentally and physically,” Everton soccer star Joseph Yobo said of his brother’s return. “I can now take a rest after this sad event.” Nornu was released Wednesday evening, but it is unknown if someone paid a ransom or not. His kidnappers are still at large. A police spokeswoman told the BBC that kidnappers demanded 200 million naira ($1.7 million) for Yobo’s safe return.

The 90-year-old ex-president of South Africa has been unwelcome for many years

Following a national outcry which even included comments of outrage from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the United States government will finally remove former South African President Nelson Mandela’s from a U.S. terrorism watch list. The international icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner’s treatment by the U.S. government urged lawmakers to introduce a bill to take him off the list. President Bush signed the bill Tuesday. “He had no place on our government’s terror watch list, and I’m pleased to see this bill finally become law,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Mandela, the former head of the African National Congress, was the jailed for 24 years during the heyday of apartheid, the South African regime’s longtime system of racial separation that was brutally enforced by the White minority government for 46 years. South African dubbed the apartheid-fighting ANC a terrorist group. Thus ANC members were denied U.S. visas, without special permission. Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and, four years later, apartheid officially crumbled, but the leader’s name remained on the U.S. terrorist watch list. Under the new bill, both the State Department and Homeland Security Department have the power to dissolve the restrictions against Mandela and fellow ANC members. “What it will do is make sure that there aren’t any extra hoops for either a distinguished individual, like former President Mandela, or other members of the African National Congress to get a U.S. visa,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Musicians rev up for Nelson Mandela concert
Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, and South African musicians are set to perform. Se the photos and more at BET.com/News.

Zimbabweans head to the polls today to vote in run-off election
Voters in Zimbabwe head to the polls today to vote in the country’s presidential run-off election. Following what he claimed were violent attacks against his supporters in the weeks leading up to the election, opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of the election Sunday. But the government says it’s too late to take his name off the ballot. Tsvangirai spoke out against today’s election, which he had previously said could not be free and fair. “Today is not an election. Today is a shameful humiliation, another tragic day in our nation’s history. Today’s results will be meaningless because they do not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe,” he said, reports CNN. International leaders and the United Nations also have spoken out against the run-off election, which has been deemed unfair by many from the start. Some nations have called for the government to delay the poll. According to Tsvangirai’s party, Movement for Democratic Change, 86 of his supporters have been killed, 10,000 wounded and 200,000 made homeless in the weeks leading up to the run-off. But Mugabe’s party, Zanu-PF, accuses the MDC of exaggerating the violence. An aide to longtime leader and presidential candidate Robert Mugabe believes Mugabe will win re-election, and also hinted at a willingness to share power with Tsvangirai and his party. “When the process is done (Friday), as a country, we (will) have a win that I think should include all the other players,” a spokesman for Zanu-PF told CNN. “This is the reason why my president says, ‘Look, Zimbabwe is too big a cake to eat for Zanu-PF; bring everyone in.’ As a country… we can mend bridges.” In related news, MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti, who was arrested earlier this month on charges of treason (which could result in him being executed if he is convicted), was released on bail Thursday.

South African police exchange bullets
In South Africa, national police officers and local police officers exchanged bullets as the national officers attempted to break up a strike held by local forces. Metro officers were striking because of issues with pay and nepotism, but since they were blocking and disrupting traffic, national officers had to get involved. That’s when things turned even uglier. According to the South African Police Service Superintendent Eugene Opperman, the national officers fired rubber bullets to disperse the protest, but “they fired back with live bullets…we only used rubber bullets all through,” he said. But officials on the other side deny the allegation. “If our members had fired live bullets at the SAPs, there would have been a bloodbath,” Vincent Vena, a member of the South African Municipal Workers Union, said in response. The incident left seven metro officers injured, they said.

Mozambicans could revolt, says Mandela’s wife
An increase of attacks against foreigners living in South Africa sent thousands of them (including those from Mozambique) fleeing back to their homelands. As a result, Nelson Mandela’s wife (former Mozambican first lady), Graca Machel, believes that those that returned to Mozambique from South Africa might revolt against their government because of its inability to provide for them, reports the BBC. “For the first few weeks, they will cry on the shoulders of their families for having lost everything. Then they will go and cry to the government, and at the end they will revolt against the government and all who are around them,” she said at a conference on ethnic cleansing attended by delegates from Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. After the spike in deadly anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa, in which 27 Mozambicans were killed, 39,000 of them returned to the country. When they got back to Mozambique, most had to depend on others to survive. In South Africa, Machel said, the influx of foreigners put a lot of pressure on the country’s infrastructure, reports the news service. “Extreme poverty dehumanizes people and leads them to madness. That’s what happened in Rwanda over 10 years ago,” she said. Many South African attackers blamed foreigners for taking jobs and increasing to the nation’s crime rate.

Uganda’s president is “very happy” about the worldwide food crisis
People all over the world are suffering from high food prices, yet the president of an African nation says he’s happy about it. “Why? Because we produce a lot of food…we are stuck with food,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told head government officials, reports the BBC. According to Museveni, milk production in the country was so high people had to pour it away, until Uganda set up a deal with an Indian plant where they now ship their extra milk to. “Our problem has been marketing…we produce 10 million metric tons of bananas and 40 percent of it rots because we have nowhere to sell it,” he also told officials. Museveni is hoping that trade barriers will be removed, resulting in Uganda and like nations gaining from their food production. But, not all Ugandans share their leader’s positive outlook on the food crisis, according to the BBC. In fact, many poor Ugandans (who only grow food for themselves to eat, not to export) are suffering while only large commercials farmers are benefiting, says the news service. However, Uganda’s food production is expected to increase 8.9 percent this year.