by Donna Gordon Blankenship SEATTLE (AP)—The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, best known for its work combating malaria, AIDS and other diseases, announced an effort this week to bring banking, including savings accounts, to the poor. PROVIDING ASSISTANCE—This July 2006 photo shows Tatomkhulu-Xhosa, left, explaining to Bill and Melinda Gates, right, how he has lived with and been treated for TB in recent years at the Khayelitsha Site B Clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. It may be hard to understand how savings is even an issue for the people who live on less than $2 a day, said Bob Christen, who directs the Gates Foundation’s financial services initiative. However, access to a safe place to store money is a top priority of poor people around the world, he said.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)—A magistrate in Kenya has sentenced an American who founded a popular chain of coffee shops to 15 years in prison for the statutory rape of three teenage Kenyan girls. Principal Magistrate Teresia Ngugi says Jon Cardon Wagner paid two women $500 to bring the 13-year-old and two 14-year-olds to his house. A Nairobi court convicted and sentenced him Sept. 11.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)—South Africa’s top communist is in danger of losing his working-class hero status after treating himself to the latest BMW 750i and using $120,000 in taxpayers’ money to buy it. BLADE NZIMANDE Blade Nzimande, general secretary of the South African Communist Party and a cabinet member, is often seen wearing a Mao cap and is known for breaking into his favorite tune: “My mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy. That’s why I am a communist.”
SEBOKENG, South Africa (AP)—The prosecution finished presenting witnesses Sept. 2 in the case of a woman accused of abusing six teenagers at Oprah Winfrey’s school for poor South African girls, presenting a picture of a short-tempered, jealous young woman. The testimony from the last prosecution witnesses wrapped up the first stage of the trial, which began more than a year ago. ON TRIAL—South African Tiny Virginia Makopo stands in a dock at the start of a trial at the Sebokeng Magistrate Court, south of Johannesburg, South Africa, July 29, 2008. The defendant, Tiny Virginia Makopo, allegedly tried to kiss and fondle the victims and is also accused of assaulting one of the girls as well as a fellow supervisor. The 28-year-old pleaded innocent to 14 charges of indecent assault, assault and criminal injury.
(GIN)—Foreign music was on the air this week as radio stations in Lagos honored a call by Nigerian artists for a “No-Music Day” to protest piracy and the non-payment of royalties. Rampant reproduction of CDs selling at heavily discounted prices has left many African musicians broke and frustrated. Last week, a group of Lagos musicians organized a hunger strike to protest piracy.
(GIN)—A South African who claimed he was persecuted because he is White has been granted refugee status by Canada’s immigration board. William Davis, chair of the Canadian immigration board, said that evidence presented by the White exile Brandon Huntley showed “a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness” of the South African government to protect “White South Africans from persecution by African South Africans.”
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)—The Malaysian government has agreed to let Muslims attend a concert by U.S. hip-hop stars Black Eyed Peas, reversing an earlier ban imposed because the show is sponsored by an alcoholic beverage company, officials said. Ticket sales opened to Muslims last Wednesday for the Sept. 25 show, backed by Irish beer giant Guinness, said Bonor Seen, marketing manager for organizer Artiste World Entertainment.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)—Former President Nelson Mandela has congratulated South African runner Caster Semenya, whose dramatic improvement, deep voice and muscular build have sparked questions about her gender. The International Association of Athletics Federations initiated tests on the 18-year-old athlete after she won gold in the 800-meters at the world championships in Germany. PRESIDENTIAL GREETING—South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, right, congratulates athlete Caster Semenya, left, during their meeting at The Presidential Guest House in Pretoria, South Africa, Aug. 25.
(NNPA)—By a slim margin of just 38 votes, a Black woman has become mayor of a small town in northern Italy. Sandy Cane, 48, won the election earlier this summer and will govern the town of Valceresio, population 5,300, which borders Varesotto and the Swiss confederation of Ticino. She will serve a five-year term. SANDY CANE
by Donna BrysonAssociated Press WriterGA-MASEHLONG, South Africa (AP) — Caster Semenya's grandmother remembers begging for money from friends and relatives to send the young runner to local track meets. On Friday she marveled at how far her granddaughter had come. CHAMPION CELEBRATED--South African athlete Caster Semenya, left, laughs with her grandmother Maphuthi Sekgala, right, during a celebration at the Ga-Masehlong village in Moletjie, 65km from Polokwane, South Africa, Friday Aug. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) Semenya — the world's new 800-meter champion — returned home to the village of Ga-Masehlong, where houses are of mud or concrete, and roofed with thatch or tin. Here, residents refused to let questions about her gender dampen their celebrations of her Aug. 19 victory in Germany. Villagers broke into song as Semenya arrived, and children swarmed around her with cheers.
