Top stories from the DAWNS Digest mobile app and email news service.
Military Arrests Mali Prime Minister, Forces Resignation
The military is apparently still the real power-broker in Mali. As the international community plans intervention, they do not have a stable partner on the ground. “Soldiers arrested Mali’s prime minister and ordered him to resign because he “doesn’t get along” with the army captain who led a coup in March in the African nation, a spokesman for the military junta said Tuesday. Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, dressed in a dark suit and his forehead glistening with sweat, went on TV at 4 a.m. to announce his resignation.” (Chronical http://bit.ly/QTGTFq)
Nelson Mandela’s Extended Hospitalization Has World on Edge
The 94 year old icon is in the hospital. South Africa, and the rest of the world, are worried. “South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection and is responding to medical treatments, the nation’s presidency said Tuesday. The ailing Mandela, 94, has been hospitalized since Saturday for medical tests at 1 Military Hospital near South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.The announcement ended speculation about what was troubling the ailing anti-apartheid icon. Government officials had declined repeatedly to say what caused the nation’s military, responsible for Mandela’s care, to hospitalize the leader over the last few days.” (CBS http://cbsn.ws/QTHpmY)
UN Launches Typhoon Bopha Emergency Appeal for Philippines
One week after the worst storm to hit the Philippines in decades, OCHA is spearheading an emergency appeal. “The United Nations and its humanitarian partners today appealed to the international community for $65 million to provide immediate lifesaving aid and support in recovery to the millions affected by Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines…In the longer term, OCHA added, the Action Plan for Recovery focuses particularly on the need to rehabilitate the agriculture sector. The humanitarian agency said that that farmers in Mindanao, one of the poorest areas of the Philippines, have seen their crops devastated, meaning that – in an area highly dependent on subsistence agriculture – thousands are now completely unable to provide for their families.” (UN News Centre http://bit.ly/VNylCX )