Zimbabweans donate cattle to AU after Robert Mugabe appeal

Zimbabwe has auctioned cattle worth $1m (£770,000) to raise money for the African Union (AU) Foundation to help end the "donor dependency syndrome", President Robert Mugabe has said.
He added that he had donated 300 cattle from his herd, and other Zimbabweans doubled the number as they wanted to contribute towards a "noble cause".
Mr Mugabe handed the $1m cheque to the AU at its leaders' summit in Ethiopia.
The donation comes amid a severe cash and food crisis in Zimbabwe.
Last year, more than four million people were in need of food aid in the southern African state after rains failed.
However, there has been a bumper harvest this year, with the country expected to be self-sufficient for the first time in years.
The opposition blames the government for food shortages, saying its controversial land reform programme has ruined the farming sector.
Zimbabwe has also been forced to introduce so-called bond notes after running out of the US dollar, the main currency people use.
Hyperinflation forced the government to abandon the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009.
Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the cattle had been donated mostly by farmers who had benefited from the land reform programme, the state-run Herald newspaper reported.
Their donation was an "expansion" of a 2015 pledge by Mr Mugabe to donate 300 cattle, he added.

Speaking at the summit, Mr Mugabe said it was a "modest contribution" and a "symbolic step" towards helping to end the "donor dependency syndrome" in Africa.
On its website, the AU Foundation says it focuses on development programmes for youth and women, and promoting gender equality.
Mr Mumbengegwi said the donation was significant as it showed that the AU could find innovative ways to raise money for its projects.
Mr Mugabe, during his term as AU chairman in 2015 and 2016, campaigned for the AU to be self-financed as about 60% of its budget came from foreign donors, the Herald reported.
Cows are a prized asset in many rural parts of Africa, where families measure their wealth by the size of their herd
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Portuguese president speaks out over stolen weapons arsenal


Days after weapons and explosives were taken from a military warehouse in Portugal, the scale of the theft is becoming clear.
A Spanish website has revealed an extensive list of grenades, ammunition and explosives seized from the Tancos site, north-east of Lisbon.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has called for a no-holds-barred investigation into the raid.
Links to arms thefts in other Nato states should be looked at, he added.
There was no mention of which other countries he had in mind.
The theft was discovered on 28 June and details were passed on to Portugal's Nato allies.
The burglary is thought to have taken place at night at a part of the security perimeter where closed-circuit cameras had been broken for over two years.
The Portuguese defence minister initially described the raid as "serious", but the size of the missing arsenal only emerged when El Español (in Spanish) published what it said was a list of the stolen armaments. Among the weapons taken were:
  • 1,450 9mm ammunition cartridges
  • 150 hand grenades
  • 44 anti-tank grenades
  • 18 tear gas grenades
  • 102 explosive charges
  • 264 pieces of plastic explosive
El Español said it had seen the list after it was handed to Spain's anti-terror forces.
President de Sousa said a far-reaching investigation should look into the "facts and responsibilities" and called for measures to be taken to prevent such a theft "of increasing seriousness" from happening again.
Five military commanders have been suspended while an internal investigation takes place, the BBC's Lisbon correspondent reports.
There was no indication they were directly involved in the raid, chief of staff Gen Frederico Rovisco Duarte said on Sunday. However, their units were thought to be in charge of securing and monitoring the storage area.
Shots were fired close to Tancos military base, which is home to an engineering regiment, late on Sunday night. No-one was hurt. The regiment's commander was one of the five individuals suspended.
A Nato spokesman made no comment on the theft, referring the BBC to the Portuguese authorities.
Senior military figures were reportedly investigating whether the thieves had acted on inside information. The armed forces' top brass were due to meet on Monday to discuss the case.
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Tencent: Gaming app rations child access to hour per day


Chinese internet giant Tencent has limited the hours that children can play several of its most popular games.
It said the measures, restricting gaming depending on the player's age, were "to dispel parents' worries".
According to state media, there has been rising concern over Chinese children's excessive gaming habits.
Parents reportedly worry in particular about both the time and money spent playing Tencent's popular King of Glory mobile game.
From Monday, players aged under 12 will be allowed to log in for only one hour a day, and not after 2100. Older children will be allowed to play for two hours.
Tencent claims the measures are the most strict in the country's booming online gaming industry.

Age verification

Chinese state media quoted a company spokesperson saying that "even though as of now, China has not yet passed clear regulations dealing with gaming addiction, we have decided to take the lead".


The firm said it was also working on better implementation of its identity verification, so that those who had not yet completed the verification would not be able to play.
King of Glory is thought to have about 50 million daily active users, and there are numerous reports of parents and teachers expressing concern and frustration about children's gaming habits.
Reports range from a 17-year old gamer in Guangzhou diagnosed with cerebral infarction after playing for 40 hours straight, to children using their parent's credit cards to spend thousands of dollars on the game.
Excessive online gaming has been recognised as a problem in several countries, with authorities introducing different measures to tackle the challenge.
South Korea in 2011 launched a law to ban access for children under 16 from playing online games between midnight and 0600. In Japan, players get alerted by pop-up windows when they spend more than a certain threshold amount in a month.
Enforcement and reliable age verification remain the main obstacles to successfully addressing the problem, however.
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Swedish music festival is cancelled in 2018 after rape and sexual assault claims


Sweden's biggest music festival is being cancelled in 2018 after one rape and multiple reports of sexual assault at this year's event.
Bravalla was headlined by System of a Down, Linkin Park, Alesso and The Killers at the weekend.
But police in the Swedish town of Norrkoping say they received 11 reports of sexual assault this year.
Officers say the rape victim was attacked while Swedish group Håkan Hellström performed on Friday night.
Organisers have released a statement announcing that next year's event won't be taking place.
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Plus-size model confronts man over 'fat-shaming' during flight


A plus-size US model has been widely praised for confronting a passenger accused of sending "mean and ugly" messages about her during a flight.
Natalie Hage, who was travelling to Los Angeles for a photo shoot, said that in one of the texts, he wrote to a friend that the flight would not take off because of her weight.
In another, he said: "I think she ate a Mexican."
The man later apologised, saying he had had a few drinks before boarding.
Ms Hage shared the incident, which happened on Thursday, on social media. A video of the exchange has been watched more than a million times.
Ms Hage, who described herself as being "extremely flight anxious", said she had paid $70 (£54) for additional space "because I know I need a little extra leg room" but that there were only middle seats available.
"As soon as I sat down, the gentleman on my left began LOUDLY huffing, sighing, and readjusting himself in his seat," she wrote on a post on Instagram.
Then, Ms Hage said, she noticed that he was sending text messages to a friend about her.
"[The recipient] says 'Hopefully she didn't have any Mexican food' and his response is 'I think she ate a Mexican'. Then he proceeds to say he's leaving a 'neck mark on the window' because he's so smashed against the wall."
She said she asked the man on her right to change seats, telling him what had happened, but that he laughed and refused.
"This is a fat person's daily reality and not just on a plane. This is on a bus, standing in line at the grocery store, at a concert, on the internet. You can be completely in your own space, not bothering anyone, and people will still f*** with you and try to hurt you.
"All you can do is know you haven't done anything wrong just by existing and to move on."

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Later, she confronted the passenger, and posted a video of it on Facebook, and the post has been liked by more than 7,000 people. In the video, he apologised. But later said she should not sit on the emergency row as she would be unfit to help people out.
When she cited one of the messages he allegedly sent, he laughed. "Don't ever treat somebody like that again," she told him.

On Facebook, Ms Hage has been widely praised for her "courage" and for being a "brave woman".
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Singapore PM Lee 'prefers not to sue siblings' over feud

Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong says he would prefer not to sue his siblings over claims he abused his power, despite calls to settle a family feud.
Mr Lee spoke in parliament following weeks of a fierce public dispute between him and his brother and sister.
The prime minister's siblings have accused him of misusing his influence in a dispute over their father's house.
Mr Lee has repeatedly denied the allegations, most recently in Monday's parliamentary sitting.
Mr Lee and his father, the late leader Lee Kuan Yew, were known for suing critics and opponents for defamation.
He acknowledged that many had asked why he had not taken legal action, and admitted that in "any other imaginable circumstance but this, I would surely sue".
"But suing my own brother and sister in court would further besmirch my parents' names," he said, adding that the lawsuit would cause "more distraction and distress" to the public.
"Therefore, fighting this out in court cannot be my preferred choice."
But de-facto opposition leader Low Thia Khiang said not taking the matter to court gave the impression the government "was afraid of what the Lee siblings will say or reveal".

Mesmerised, but now fatigued - Tessa Wong, BBC News, Singapore


The row is a rare public spectacle of acrimony within Singapore's tightly disciplined First Family.
For the last three weeks, Mr Lee's siblings Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling have lobbed accusations at him on Facebook.
At first Singaporeans were mesmerised but now the saga is tiring them out. Many are confused about the case, and wondering why Mr Lee and his siblings have not resolved the matter through legal action or otherwise.
Singapore is used to swift resolution of public conflicts, and if this does not end soon, questions may be raised about Mr Lee's handling of the feud.
The dispute centres on whether the late Lee Kuan Yew truly wanted his house, known as 38 Oxley Road, to be demolished.
The prime minister's siblings have accused him of wanting to preserve it for his own personal political gain.
In parliament, Mr Lee flatly denied this suggestion. "Regarding the house, and how its continued existence enhances my aura as PM, if I needed such magic properties to bolster my authority even after being your PM for 13 years, I must be in a pretty sad state," he said.
He also denied charges of nepotism involving one of his sons and his wife, and that he had interfered in government decisions on the house.

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IS suicide bomber dressed as woman kills 14 at Iraq camp

A suicide bomber disguised in women's clothing killed 14 people at a camp for displaced Iraqis on Sunday evening, security and medical sources say.
The bomber struck Kilo 60 camp, near the town of al-Wafa, which is housing civilians from areas of Anbar province held by so-called Islamic State.
Most of the victims were children and women, but two policemen also died.
An IS statement said it had carried out the attack, which it claimed had targeted an Iraqi army position.
Iraqi forces have driven the jihadist group out of much of Anbar, including the cities of Ramadi and Falluja. But it still controls territory near the border with Syria.
The attack on Kilo 60 took place at dusk on Sunday.
Provincial councillor Taha Abdul Ghani told the Associated Press on Monday morning that the bomber approached the site wearing a woman's robe that covered his head and body.
But the disguise raised the suspicions of a police colonel, who walked up the attacker and embraced him before the explosive vest was detonated, in an apparent attempt to shield others from the blast.
The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, condemned the attack.
"This is terrible," she said in a statement. "The people who were attacked had fled to Kilo 60 for their safety. Many have travelled huge distances seeking help."
In recent weeks, the number of civilians fleeing IS-controlled areas in western Anbar has increased significantly, according to the UN.
As many as 900 people arrived at the al-Nadhira checkpoint south of al-Qaim between 25 and 28 June, while Kilo 60 was almost at full capacity.
"We know that fighting is likely to intensify in these areas in the weeks ahead and we worry deeply that civilians will be at extreme risk," Ms Grande said.
The head of the local council in al-Wafa said Kilo 60 would now be closed.
"All the displaced people in the camp will be brought to the Kilo 18 camp, west of Ramadi," Adnan Fayhan told AFP news agency, explaining that it was "safer and receives more aid".
There are more than 3.3 million internally displaced people in Iraq, 30% of whom originate from Anbar, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
As of March, 355,000 displaced people were living at camps or with relatives in the province, while some 494,000 others had returned to their homes.
Also on Monday, an Iraqi soldier was reportedly killed when two women suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the Old City of Mosul.
The district is the only part of the former IS urban stronghold that has not been recaptured since pro-government forces launched a major offensive last October.
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Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...