TRUMP REPORTEDLY PICKS HANDBAG DESIGNER AS AN AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH AFRICA.

Washington DC, UNITED STATES:

A luxury handbag designer in Palm Beach, Florida, has reportedly been chosen by Donald Trump as the next US ambassador to South Africa.

Lana Marks, whose products retail for $10,000 to $400,000, was born in South Africa but has not lived there for more than 40 years.

Lana Marks is a South African-born American fashion designer who founded the eponymous fashion brand, Lana Marks. On 29 September 2018 it was announced by the US President Donald Trump, that he was his nominate to be the US Ambassador to South Africa.

The appointment of Lana Marks, whose products sell between $10,000 and $400,000, would be likely to cause some surprise: Marks was born in South Africa but has not lived there for more than 40 years.

Relations between South Africa and the US have soured in recent weeks following a tweet by the president inaccurately describing “large-scale killing” of white farmers in the country. Trump’s statement prompted outrage and a firm rebuttal from the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.

But the post of US ambassador to South Africa has been vacant since the former ambassador, Patrick Gaspard, resigned in 2016.

Trump’s choice will still have to be approved by the Senate. News reports in South Africa appear to be based on an unusual leak from within the ministry of foreign relations. Before the nomination of an ambassador is announced it is common that the host country is informally consulted.

Marks was born in the South African coastal city of East London and educated locally. A biography on the designer’s website makes no mention of her South African origins, and describes her studying ballet with the Royal Ballet.

In an interview with South African newspaper Business Day, Marks said this had been with the Royal Ballet’s local affiliate in her home town.

After spending time in Bermuda, she settled in Palm Beach in 1987, where she founded her luxury handbag business.

Her company website says her name “has become synonymous with the most luxurious, fashion forward handbags in the world, crafted from such exotic leathers as alligator, crocodile, ostrich and lizard”.

Marks has repeatedly described her friendship with the late Diana, Princess of Wales in the media. She has also said she played tennis in “Wimbledon, the Frenchand South African Open”.

In 2006, a report in the South African Business Day cast doubt on this claim,saying their reporters had been unable to find any record of her playing in the French Open.

The Trump administration has been accused of ignoring Africa. Melania Trump, the first lady, is travelling to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt this week, on her first extended solo international mission.

In January Trump reportedly described African nations as “shithole” countries and questioned why so many of their citizens had ever been permitted to enter America.

His remarks caused significant anger.

SOURCE:Guardian.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA'S SON TO MARRY UGANDAN EX-PRIME MINISTER'S DAUGHTER.

Kampala, UGANDA: Former Uganda Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is set to become an in-law at the Mahlamba Ndlopfu, the home of the new President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, SC (simply known as Amama Mbabazi , born 16 January 1949) is a Ugandan politician who served as the ninth Prime Minister of Uganda from 24 May 2011 to 19 September 2014. Image: NP. Mbabazi’s niece, Ms. Bridget Birungi Rwakairu who he raised after her father was killed in the 1980s, will soon be exchanging vows with the South African First Son Mr. Andile Ramaphosa, Mbabazi’s family announced yesterday. The wedding will be preceded by a traditional function known as “Okushaba” which will be held this weekend at Mbabazi’s home on Saturday. 36 year old Bridget Birungi Rwakairu is daughter to Shadrack Rwakairu and Peace Ruhindi. Rwakairu was murdered in 1983 by the UNLA soldiers just five years into his marriage with Mrs Ruhindi. In a statement, Mbab...

JOSE MOURINHO ANNOUNCED NEW TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS COACH.

London, ENGLAND: Former Chelsea and Manchester United boss Mourinho has signed a contract until the end of the 2022-23 season. "The quality in both the squad and the academy excites me," said the 56-year-old Portuguese. "Working with these players is what has attracted me." Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said: "In Jose we have one of the most successful managers in football." Tottenham reached the Champions League final last season under Pochettino but lost to Liverpool in Madrid. The Argentine, who was appointed in May 2014, failed to win a trophy in his time in charge of the north London club with Spurs' last silverware being the League Cup in 2008. Levy added: "He (Mourinho) has a wealth of experience, can inspire teams and is a great tactician. "He has won honours at every club he has coached. We believe he will bring energy and belief to the dressing room." Mourinho still lives in London and won three Premier League...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

A 26-YEARS-OLD WOMAN ADOPTS 14 AFRICAN ORPHANS.

London, ENGLAND: A young British woman has become mum to a staggering 14 Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage on her gap year. Letty McMaster, 26, was just 18 years old when a month-long trip volunteering at an orphanage in Africa changed her life forever. She ended up staying for three years to support the children she had met, and when the orphanage shut down, Letty took in nine youngsters who would have been left homeless. Seven years on, she lives with the children after becoming legal guardian to them ALL - as well as five more kids she met on the streets or at a safe house she runs. Letty McMaster. Letty, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: "These children are my whole life, I raise them all on my own and they keep me going through the long hours of juggling everything. "I'd always had in mind that I wanted to help street children so my family and friends weren't surprised but I never expected to end up doing all this. " I am the pa...

SOUTH AFRICA'S RICHEST WOMAN OFFERS 1.4 MILLION RAND REWARD FOR ZUMA'S SON & GUPTA.

One of the South Africa's richest women Magda Wierzycka is offering R1.4 million of her own money to help authorities track down and arrest Ajay Gupta and Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane who are understood to be fugitives. The CEO of Sygnia Group and former head of institutional business at Coronation Fund Managers and former CEO of the African Harvest Group is adamant that this is a reward and not a bounty. “A bounty is a concept of hunting for people. The idea here is that people keep their eyes open and report Duduzane [Zuma] and the Guptas if spotted to the authorities so there is an arrest. This is not people hunting for criminals and people taking law into their own hands “I don’t believe that they are walking around in shopping malls. There are people hiding them, there are people shielding them. From my information I know that they are protected by bodyguards, they and their families and anybody else who might be sheltering these people can assist. It is an ap...

MICHAEL JACKSON SLEPT IN THIS GAS CHAMBER IN HOPES OF LIVING 'FOREVER'

Jackson swore by the machine, saying he took 'several long naps' inside the chamber with the hopes that he'd 'live to be at least 150'. He said the chamber made him feel like 'a new person' California, US: This is the oxygen chamber Michael Jackson famously used to combat the ravages of time - uncovered by DailyMailTV gathering dust in the back of a warehouse. The King of Pop posed for a now-legendary photo showing him lay inside the $100,000 glass chamber in 1986. He was quoted at the time as saying: 'I'll live to be at least 150.' Now, just days after the 10th anniversary of Jackson's death, DailyMailTV found the blue machine hidden away in a shipping container at a warehouse in southern California . The Sechrist 2500B hyperbaric oxygen chamber (HBO) has ended up at a company called Hyperbaric Modular Systems, which specializes in the alternative treatment. This is Michael Jackson's hyperbaric oxygen chamber...

NETFLIX KILLING DSTV IN SOUTH AFRICA COULD COST THOUSANDS OF JOBS.

South Africa is a leading video entertainment and internet company, MultiChoice has warned that if communications authority of the country proceeds with heavy-handed regulations for the pay TV market, it could cost thousands of jobs in South Africa. ICASA (The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) is a independent regulatory body of the South African Government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the public interest. ICASA will hold public hearings on an inquiry into subscription television broadcasting services from 7-11 May, and MultiChoice has briefed the media on the feedback it will put forward. The company will argue that ICASA must not go overboard with the regulations, and that whatever it implements should apply to the whole pay TV sector – including services like Netflix. “Right now, it looks as though ICASA is focused only on what pay TV used to be, but it is moving from ...

CAR STOLEN BY KENYAN EX-MINISTER FOUND ABANDONED.

Nairobi, KENYA: A classic Mercedes Benz stolen from a showroom in Nairobi by former minister Paul Ngei has been found in a deplorable state. Photos of the car which were shared on social media showed it mounted on stones and without wheels, its bonnet wide open and its paint cracking up. The Mercedes Benz 300SEL registration number KNM 190 was a premium car in its heyday. Paul Joseph Ngei (18 October 1923 – 15 August 2004) was a Kenyan politician who was imprisoned for his role in the anti-colonial movement, but who went on to hold several government ministerial positions after Kenya became independent. Paul Ngei walked into the famous car showroom in Nairobi (DT Dobie) in the 1970s and drove away with the vehicle never to return or pay for it. At the time of its release, it was the world's fastest four-door car and when Ngei was pushed to pay for the vehicle, he would always refer the agents to State House and ask them to send the bill there. The rogue minister drove the car for m...

LARGEST SINGLE MASS CHILD SACRIFICE IN HISTORY DISCOVERED.

Lima, PERU: Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed what is believed to be the largest single mass child sacrifice in history. The bodies of 227 victims, aged between five and 14, were found near the coastal town of Huanchaco, north of Peru's capital Lima. The children were believed to have been sacrificed over 500 years ago. The discovery comes barely a year after 200 child victims of human sacrifice were found at two other sites in the country. Archaeologists told AFP news agency that some of the bodies in this latest collection still had hair and skin when they were dug up. The children show signs of being killed during wet weather, and were buried facing the sea, meaning they were probably sacrificed to appease the Chimú's gods. It is unclear in which year the incident took place. The Chimú resided along Peru's northern coast and were one of the region's most powerful civilisations. They reached prominence between 1200 and 1400 before being conque...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog