margerasharma: June 2013

Sunday 30 June 2013

Proposition 8 backers petition Supreme Court to block gay marriages in California

A federal appeals court cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin in California. Opponents of gay marriage are crying foul, however. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

The legal team behind Proposition 8, California?s gay marriage ban, on Saturday filed an emergency motion asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a flurry of weddings that began weeks before many?thought possible because of a surprising federal appeals court ruling.

Lawyers with the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom claim in a petition that 9th Circuit Court of Appeals acted too early and and unfairly when it let same-sex marriage resume in California on Friday.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Austin Nimocks wrote that the Supreme Court's consideration of the case is not over because his clients still have 22 days to ask the justices to reconsider their decision, saying that Proposition 8's backers did not have legal authority to defend the ban.

The filing took place as hundreds of same-sex couples were lined up to get marriage licenses in San Francisco ? where it was Gay Pride Weekend -- and other cities around the state.

Click here to read the emergency motion filed Saturday?

?Today's petition asks the Supreme Court to find that the Ninth Circuit had no jurisdiction to order same-sex marriages on Friday since the case had not yet come back down from the nation's highest court,? the attorneys wrote in a statement.

?We see this as illegitimate and lawless,? John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, told NBC News. ?The 9th circuit had no jurisdiction to lift its stay.?

But ?John Davidson, the legal director at Lambda Legal, which supports same-sex marriage, disagreed.

?I think the decisions of this week give us huge momentum,? Davidson told NBC News. ?I?m very excited by how this is going to help in the legal battles but as well help in public opinion.?

On Friday afternoon, the two couples who challenged Proposition 8 were married after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court dissolved its stay blocking same-sex marriage in the state.

Friday, State Attorney General Kamala Harris declared Sandra Stier, 50, and Kris Perry, 48, "spouse and spouse" shortly before 5 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) at San Francisco City Hall. About 90 minutes later in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa married the other couple, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, on his last day in office.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted a stay two days after the Supreme Court declined to rule on Proposition 8, thereby upholding a lower court's decision overturning the ban. The appeals court had blocked enforcement of that ruling pending the Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court also struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law that barred recognition of same-sex marriages.
Supreme Court rulings generally don't take effect for 25 days.

But Harris had called on the 9th Circuit to lift its stay as soon as possible Wednesday after Brown told the state's 58 counties to prepare for same-sex marriages.

Brown issued an order Friday afternoon making that official, declaring that "marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples immediately."

NBC News' Pete Williams and Alex Johnson contributed to this report.

Related:?Prop 8 challengers wed in California after stay is lifted

This story was originally published on Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:18 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2dfb26d6/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C290C1920A81610Eproposition0E80Ebackers0Epetition0Esupreme0Ecourt0Eto0Eblock0Egay0Emarriages0Ein0Ecalifornia0Dlite/story01.htm

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Family: American killed in Egypt was a teacher

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The family of an American college student killed in Egypt during violent protests says their son cared passionately about the Middle East and was in the country to teach English to children and to improve his own Arabic.

Andrew Pochter, of Chevy Chase, Md., was killed Friday in Alexandria during clashes between government supporters and opponents. His family said in a statement Saturday that he was stabbed by a protester while observing the demonstrations.

"He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East. He had studied in the region, loved the culture, and planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding," the statement said.

The country has been roiled by ongoing demonstrations between protesters trying to oust President Mohammed Morsi and Islamists seeking to keep him in power. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans against all but essential travel, and households have been stocking up on goods in case the protests drag on.

The 21-year-old spent his spring semester studying in Amman, Jordan, as part of the AMIDEAST Education Abroad Program and was teaching in Egypt before returning in the fall to Kenyon College in Ohio. He majored in religious studies, was active in Hillel House ? the campus center for Jewish life ? and was a member of the rugby club and an organizer for the Middle Eastern Students Association, the college said.

Meryn Chimes, a New York University student who said she was a friend of Pochter, recalled how he traveled to Morocco between high school and college and sent her excited letters about how much he loved it there.

"When he came back, he just had this passion for the Middle East," she said.

During his travels, she said, he would marvel at everything from the food to the people he encountered at marketplaces to the Colonial architecture of Alexandria. She said he told her how much he loved teaching Egyptian children and how they worked so hard to master English.

"He said he hoped they liked him as a teacher, which I'm sure they did," she said.

She said they last spoke a few days ago.

"He really wanted to broaden people's perspective, especially in America. He wanted people to see places the way he saw them," said Chimes, noting how Pochter had spoken of potentially becoming a reporter.

"He saw the world in a way that I don't think anyone else did, and it was a really beautiful way," she added.

Lucas Pastorfield-Li, a friend from college, said he bonded with Pochter over a shared interest in education and international affairs. He said Pochter was soft-spoken and humble but also a talented musician who would weave international topics ? he did a college research project on the Muslim Brotherhood ? into freestyle raps.

"He had a way of just being way too wise beyond his years. I feel like most of the people in my generation are constantly trying to be heard," said Pastorfield-Li, 20, adding, "He had an amazing way of just conveying wisdom in such a humble and kind of subtle way."

He said Pochter would have been the "perfect poster boy" for any ad campaign for the college.

"It's not just me right now that this is really affecting," he said. "He was such an important person to so many people at the school, and Kenyon's such a small school, someone like Andrew is going to be a celebrity."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/family-american-killed-egypt-teacher-152819995.html

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'Out of control': Vigilante justice grips impoverished South African slum

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Ethiopians Ersido Ayele, left, and his uncle Areg Aroso were devastated when a mob rampaged through their shop in Diepsloot, South Africa, last month.

By F. Brinley Bruton, Staff Writer, NBC News

DIEPSLOOT, South Africa ? Ersido Ayele is still wearing the same pants, shirt and sweatshirt he had on when some 40 looters broke through the corrugated iron roof of his corner store almost three weeks ago.

?They burned all my clothes,? the 33-year-old Ethiopian said. ?They burned everything.?

?Everything? included plastic bags of rice, beans and flour; bars of deodorant and soap; bottles of detergent, shampoo and cooking oil; a refrigerator full of soda. Everything equaled around 180,000 rand ($17,000) worth of stock and savings that he and his uncle Areg Aroso had built up over two years trying to make it in South Africa.?

Nobody has been prosecuted in relation to the looting, which swept through other parts of this dusty patch of land crisscrossed by rivers of open sewage.? And it was not an isolated incident ? like many thousands of others, particularly foreigners, Ayele and Aroso fell victim to violence shaking Diepsloot with increasingly frequency. ?

Diepsloot has become synonymous with so-called "mob violence," or vigilante justice.? Crowds of residents are known to attack and sometimes kill those they believe are responsible for crimes, from burglaries to murder.? And of course there is no telling if the vigilante mob has actually captured a criminal, as the Ethiopian shopkeepers can attest to.

Such attacks perpetrated in the name of retribution go hand-in-hand with runaway crime in the settlement ? rape, assault, murder and arson is common here.?

AFP - Getty Images, file

Police stand guard outside a foreign-owned shop in Diepsloot, South Africa, on May 27 after a mob of looters targeted outlets amid simmering anger toward immigrants.

?This violence in South Africa is currently out of control,? said Stella Mkiliwane, the director of Refugee Ministries Centre, which was set up to help the influx of refugees flooding into South Africa. ?It is so violent, you wonder if this is been done by another human being to another.?

While Diepsloot lies within an hour of Johannesburg?s malls, tony restaurants and wide, gracious avenues, it feels like a different country.?Much of the settlement is a slum crowded with shacks lacking electricity and plumbing.

Government services are non-existent in some parts of Diepsloot. A lack of proper roads makes it difficult for police to access some areas and a lack of street lights means many of its roughly 380,000 residents refuse to visit the latrines after dark because they?re afraid of being assaulted or worse.

Reported incidents of arson in Diepsloot jumped from 260 percent in 2011/2012, according to police statistics.? Murder rose 41 percent and violent assaults increased by 380 percent.

The violence can be extreme.?

Golden Mtika, a journalist who works and lives in Diepsloot, has filmed and photographed dozens of examples of residents taking the law into their own hands. ?

One video shot in September shows a Zimbabwean man being beaten to death with sticks and rocks in broad daylight ?like a snake,? Mtika said, after he was accused of trying to rob a nearby shop.? In another, police struggle to hold back dozens of screaming bystanders as ambulance workers try to come to the aid of a man beaten senseless by the same crowd.?

Another photograph from May shows the body of a man cut in two by residents, according to Mtika.

?This is instigated by a number of people who are unemployed,? he said.? ?When someone is not working they will do anything.?

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Samuel Maira, local representative for the ruling ANC party, says growing joblessness and desperation are behind the violence in Diepsloot, South Africa.

Samuel Maira, local representative for the ruling ANC party, says growing joblessness and desperation are behind the violence.

?People are angry about food,? he said, pointing out that a small minority of residents are involved in violence.? ?When you?re hungry you can do anything, even kill someone.?

He said the government of President Jacob Zuma must concentrate on creating jobs: ?That would help people not commit crimes.?

With unemployment rates of around 30 percent, and youth unemployment at over 50 percent, the issues faced by authorities in Diepsloot mirror those throughout the country, said Prince Mashele, a political analyst and director of the Centre for Politics and Research in Pretoria.

?People are becoming more and more impatient with the government,? he said. ?We are dealing with a deeper problem of unemployment.?

The government?s so-called Youth Wage Subsidy and millions of dollars promised towards job creation have not worked, and the consequent anger all too often spills over into xenophobic attacks, he said.

F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News

Streams of sewage and garbage run through the streets of Diepstloot, South Africa.

?The nearest target is poor Somalians who are running a corner shop,? Mashele said.

Martin Manganye is a local South African businessman who says his corner shop in Diepsloot was driven out of business by immigrants who charged less than he did.?

The government should help South Africans, and not immigrants, he said.

?A lot of South African shops closed? as a result of immigrants opening theirs, he said. ??Every day they are building a shop. If we don?t reduce immigration there will be more attacks.?

Resident are indeed becoming fed up, said Lizzie Chauke, a community leader in Diepsloot.

?There has been no changes since 1996,? he said.

People are so poor and desperate that they don?t even have the money to bury their dead, which has resulted in a backlog of unburied bodies in the morgue, she said.

?People come to us and we take them to (ANC officials),? she added. ?I am angry because we report things and they do nothing.?

?They keep on promising but nothing,? Chauke said.

Meanwhile Ayele, the shop owner, has nobody to appeal to or go to for help. He fled hunger in Ethiopia and cannot go back there.? He has no rights or protection within South Africa.

?We had no food, no work so we came to South Africa,? he said.? ?But here there are lots of problems.?

?I do not have a solution,? Ayele added.

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CCS Oncology Welcomes New Doctor To Head the Cancer Risk Assessment Program

June 29, 2013 Updated Jun 29, 2013 at 12:35 PM EDT

Williamsville, NY (WKBW/Release) ? Dr. Laurie M. Connors joins CCS Oncology as the Program Coordinator of High Risk Cancer Screening for hereditary cancer risk assessment based on personal and family history and BRCA genetic testing.

Connors started her career in oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in 1997 as a family nurse practitioner after she earned a Master of Science in Nursing from the State University of New York at Buffalo. During a period of fifteen years, she gained extensive experience in the medical and surgical aspects of solid tumor oncology as well as clinical genetics. As part of her nursing career at RPCI, she achieved certification as an RN First Assistant while she worked in surgery and completed a 3 month intensive course in cancer risk assessment from the City of Hope when working in genetics.

In 2012, Connors completed a doctorate in nursing practice with research focusing on decision making of high-risk women who had completed BRCA genetic testing. Her research interests include hereditary cancer risk assessment, hereditary cancer syndromes and quality care of cancer survivors.

Connors has maintained certification by the American Nursing Credentialing Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner since 1998 and is currently licensed by New York State as a RN and FNP. She is a member of the International Society of Nurses in Genetics, the Oncology Nursing Society, the Nurse Practitioner Association of Western New York and New York State and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Connors is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at UB and teaches health promotion and epidemiology as well as in the family nurse practitioner program. These professional experiences will serve to benefit the current and future patients of CCS with a new program concentrating on hereditary cancer risk assessment, genetic testing, and screening plans based on individual risk levels.

For more information about Dr. Connors and CCS Oncology?s services visit ccsoncology.com.

Source: http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/CCS-Oncology-Welcomes-New-Doctor-To-Head-the-Cancer-Risk-Assessment-Program---213697051.html

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AP PHOTOS: Images of the western US heat wave

Four people who were on the ground the night of the Benghazi attacks last year are writing a book about their experience, and they're getting a $3 million advance from Twelve Books to do it. The authors are unnamed, according to New York Post's Keith J. Kelly, who describes them as "members of the elite security team from the annex of the US Embassy." That annex, we now know, was the CIA annex, which makes this book deal really fascinating. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-images-western-us-heat-wave-083000457.html

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Tuesday 25 June 2013

Spacewalking Cosmonauts Prime Space Station for New Laboratory

Two cosmonauts took a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Monday (June 24) to prepare the orbiting outpost for the arrival of a new Russian laboratory later this year.

Clad in bulky Orlan spacesuits, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin?spent more than six hours outside the space station?to test automated docking system cables and install equipment to aid the arrival of the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory, a science module slated to launch to the orbiting laboratory by the end of 2013. The spacewalk began at 9:32 a.m. EDT (1332 GMT).

Yurchikhin and Misurkin successfully tested the docking system cables that will be used to help the new Multipurpose Laboratory module dock itself at the station when it arrives. The spacewalkers also installed cable clamps to hold the cables that will route power and data from the U.S. segment of the space station to the new laboratory module. [See Photos of the Russian Spacewalk]

Still, it wasn't all work and no play for the hard-working cosmonauts.

"Can you make the sun not shine so bright?" one of the spacewalkers joked during the orbital work. "It's shining right in my eyes."

Yurchikhin and Misurkin are part of the space station's six-person?Expedition 36 crew. Their crewmates ? fellow cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, NASA's Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano ? remained inside the International Space Station during the spacewalk.

Misurkin and Yurchikhin were lighthearted during the six hour and 34 minute excursion. They joked with Russian Mission Control about being hungry, paused occasionally for a photo and commented on the beauty of the Earth from space.

"I guess we're flying over South America," one of the spacewalkers said at one point. "Gorgeous."

Aside from the new module preparation work, the cosmonauts also replaced a fluid control valve panel on the Zarya module, installed a new science experiment on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, and retrieved two older experiments.

They installed tethers between handholds to be used by cosmonauts and astronauts on future spacewalks, however they weren't able to mount all of them in time. The remaining tethers will be installed during a future spacewalk, NASA officials said.

Monday's spacewalk marked the sixth excursion for Yurchikhin, a veteran cosmonaut making his fourth spaceflight. It was the first for Misurkin. Before this spacewalk, Yurchikhin logged 31 hours and 52 minutes of spacewalking time.

Six more spacewalks are planned for this year, four Russian and two American. The U.S. spacewalks are scheduled to take place on July 2 and 9.

Monday's excursion marked the 169th spacewalk for maintenance and assembly performed on the $100 billion orbiting laboratory. The?International Space Station?was built by 15 countries represented by five space agencies, and construction began in 1998. It has been continuously staffed by rotating crews of astronauts since 2000.

Follow Miriam Kramer on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us on?Twitter,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spacewalking-cosmonauts-prime-space-station-laboratory-211106675.html

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There'll Be Nowhere to Hide When These Robot Apes Take to the Trees

If you thought the prospect of being chased down by one of DARPA's terminator-wannabes was horrifying, there's a whole new flavor of terror for you to consider: the iStruct robo-ape. It's just barely limping along for now, but it's easy to imagine it galloping out of your nightmares someday soon.

Respawn Entertainment talks Xbox Live Cloud, praises its multiplayer servers

Microsoft's been quick to point out how its beefing up the Xbox Live Cloud in preparation for its next wunderconsole, and now Respawn Entertainment is stepping in to detail just what Redmond's architecture means for multiplayer on Titanfall. The firm's Jon Shiring, who works with the game's cloud computing integration, says that the next-gen title boasts vastly improved online play since it leans on Ballmer and Company's cloud hardware instead of users to host sessions. By taking advantage of Microsoft's servers, the futuristic shooter benefits from more reliable bandwidth, snappier matchmaking times, extra CPU power and the elimination of latency-based host advantage and hacked-host cheating, to boot. Naturally, using dedicated servers can cost a ton, but Respawn says Microsoft managed to keep things comparatively inexpensive for developers, in part thanks to its Azure tech. For the dev's comprehensive write-up on just what this revamped Xbox Live architecture may mean for gaming, click the source link below.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Respawn Entertainment

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/respawn-entertainment-xbox-live-cloud/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Reminder: Let's Rock Out In The Balkans

Are you in Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, or Slovenia? Have I got a treat for you. In an effort to spread the good word about TC in the rest of Europe, I will be rolling through Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb, and Ljubljana at the beginning of July for a series of informal meet-ups. If you're in those cities, I want you to attend!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/N5uvbthraJU/

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Excited, but cold: Scientists unveil the secret of a reaction for prebiotic synthesis of organic matter

June 24, 2013 ? How is it that a complex organism evolves from a pile of dead matter? How can lifeless materials become organic molecules that are the bricks of animals and plants? Scientists have been trying to answer these questions for ages. Researchers at the Max Planck Institut f?r Kohlenforschung have now disclosed the secret of a reaction that has to do with the synthesis of complex organic matter before the origin of life.

Since the 1960's it has been well known that when concentrated hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is irradiated by UV light, it forms an imidazole intermediate that is a key substance for synthesis of nucleobases and nucleotides in abiotic environment. The way how UV radiation acts in this reaction to produce complex organic matter was, however, never clarified. Dr. Mario Barbatti and his colleagues in Germany, India and Czech Republic have now shown how this process occurs via computer simulations.

Using diverse computational-chemistry methods, the team has arrived at astonishing conclusions: For example that the reaction does not take place in the hot spot created by the solar radiation. "This has nothing to do with heat, but with electrons," says Mario Barbatti.

The reaction proceeds through a series of electronically excited intermediates. The molecules get into the "electronic excited state" because of the UV radiation, which means that their electrons are distributed in a much different way than the usual. That changes the molecule's attitudes. "But this takes some time," says Mario Barbatti. They showed that the radiation energy is dissipated too fast, and because of that each reactant molecule absorbs hundreds of UV photons before it finally gets converted into the imidazole intermediate.

"This is very inefficient -- and quite extraordinary," says Mario Barbatti. That is why it was quite challenging to comprehend the reaction, explains the physicist from Brazil. He and his colleagues have calculated a lot of possible intermediates, tried -- and discarded most of them. Finally they found out that there is only one single pathway that is consistent with the fast energy dissipation and previous experimental observations.

But why did they work on the computer? Isn't it the case that chemical reactions are worked on in laboratories? "Some intermediates are too elusive to analyze them in the laboratory -- they disappear before we may see them," Barbatti explains. Computational Chemistry allows the scientists to comprehend the reactions in a theoretical way.

"As I said before, this reaction has nothing to do with heat," says Barbatti. The transformation works in a cold environment, as in comets and in terrestrial ices, where spontaneous HCN polymerization is most expected to occur.

The team has published their results, which help to understand the role of solar radiation on the origin of life, in the recent issue of Angewandte Chemie.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/Q7w5RJO2C7M/130624104213.htm

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Monday 24 June 2013

S. Africa president urges prayers for Mandela

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's president on Monday said a critically ill Nelson Mandela was "asleep" when he visited the 94-year-old at the hospital, and he urged the country to pray for Mandela, describing him as the "father of democracy" who made extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of his people.

President Jacob Zuma told dozens of foreign and South African journalists that doctors are doing everything possible to help the former president feel comfortable on his 17th day in a Pretoria hospital, but refused to give details of Mandela's condition, saying: "I'm not a doctor." The briefing came a day after the government said Mandela's condition had deteriorated and was now critical.

Monday's press gathering highlighted the tension between the government's reluctance to share more information about Mandela on the basis of doctor-patient confidentiality, and media appeals for thorough updates on a figure of global interest. The government's belated acknowledgement that an ambulance carrying Mandela to the hospital on June 8 broke down has fueled the debate about transparency versus the right to privacy.

Zuma's briefing was also an indicator of the extent to which reports on Mandela's health sometimes overshadow the business of the state. Under questioning, Zuma said President Barack Obama would go ahead with a visit to South Africa, despite concerns about Mandela's health.

"President Obama is visiting South Africa," Zuma said. "I don't think you stop a visit because somebody's sick."

Obama, who arrives in Africa this week, is due to visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

White House spokesman Jay Carney wouldn't speculate about how Mandela's health would impact Obama's upcoming visit to South Africa, saying only that the U.S. president "continues to look forward to his trip."

"The president obviously has long seen Nelson Mandela as one of his personal heroes, and I think he's not alone in that in this country and around the world," Carney said.

Zuma, who in the past has given an overly sunny view of Mandela's health, briefly spoke of his visit Sunday night to Mandela in the hospital in the capital. That visit was mentioned in a presidential statement on the same night that said Mandela, previously described as being in serious but stable condition, had lapsed into critical condition within the previous 24 hours.

"It was late, he was already asleep," Zuma said. "And we then had a bit of a discussion with the doctors as well as his wife, Graca Machel, and we left."

The president said South Africans should accept that Mandela is old, and he urged people to pray for their former leader.

"Madiba is critical in the hospital, and this is the father of democracy. This is the man who fought and sacrificed his life to stay in prison, the longest-serving prisoner in South Africa," Zuma said, using Mandela's clan name.

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the end of apartheid in 1994, was hospitalized for what the government said was a recurring lung infection. This is his fourth hospitalization since December.

Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white racist rule and was released 23 years ago, in 1990. He then played a leading role in steering the divided country from the apartheid era to an all-race democracy. As a result of his sacrifice and peacemaking efforts, he is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.

"Nelson Mandela, for me, is like my father," Alex Siake, a South African, said in Pretoria. "Every day, I just pray that he can recover quickly and be among us again."

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa's main opposition party, said in a statement that the news that Mandela was in critical condition came "as a blow to all South Africans."

Zuma referred to the transfer of Mandela from an ambulance with engine trouble to another ambulance on the night he was taken to the hospital in Pretoria.

"Nobody can predict whether the car is going to break down or not," he said. But he said he was pleased because seven doctors, including specialists, in the convoy "made all the contingencies before leaving" and Mandela's health was therefore not affected.

Asked why none of Mandela's doctors had been made available for a news briefing, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said an arrangement had been made in consultation with Mandela's family whereby information would be provided through a "single source in an authoritative way."

"We've come to that arrangement on the basis that we need to respect the privacy of the family, we need to adhere to doctor-patient confidentiality," he said.

"You can be assured that what we are saying is based on agreement with the doctors," Maharaj said. Doctors approve the text of announcements on Mandela's health, and believe some media reporting has transgressed professional ethics, he said.

Monday also marked the 18th anniversary of Mandela's appearance at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg, a day still enshrined as a hugely significant moment for South Africa.

In a move crucial in unifying sections of a previously fractured society, Mandela wore a green and gold Springboks rugby jersey at the June 24 final in Johannesburg and brought all South Africans together in support of their national team ? once an all-white bastion of the apartheid regime and hated by blacks.

Mandela shook hands with and patted the shoulder of the Springboks' captain, Francois Pienaar, after South Africa won a tense final against New Zealand, underlining the new president's dedication to reconciliation.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-leader-mandela-asleep-during-visit-164903201.html

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South Africa leader: Mandela 'asleep' during visit

A portrait representing former president Nelson Mandela on the windows of a building in downtown Cape Town, South Africa, Monday June 24, 2013. Former South African president Nelson Mandela remains in critical condition in a Pretoria hospital, President Jacob Zuma told journalists at a packed press briefing Monday, calling on people to pray for his recovery and the media not to demand details of his treatment or condition. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

A print of Nelson Mandela and get-well messages hanged outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Monday, June 24, 2013. Mandela's health has deteriorated and he is now in critical condition, the South African government said. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South African president Jacob Zuma, addresses journalists in Johannesburg, Monday, June 24, 2013. Zuma said that Nelson Mandela?s condition in a Pretoria hospital remained critical for a second straight day and described the stricken anti-apartheid hero as being ?asleep? when he visited Mandela the previous evening. (AP Photo)

Grandson Ndaba Mandela, left, and an unidentified companion arrive at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Monday, June 24, 2013. President Jacob Zuma said that Nelson Mandela?s condition in a Pretoria hospital remained critical for a second straight day and described the stricken anti-apartheid hero as being ?asleep? when he visited Mandela the previous evening. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)