Zimbabwe’s new leader delivers speech
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabweans must set aside “poisoned” politics and work together to rebuild the nation and re-engage the world, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Friday, delivering an inclusive message to an exultant crowd that packed a stadium for his inauguration.
Mnangagwa, blamed for a number of the crackdowns and damaging policies of his mentor and predecessor, the ousted Robert Mugabe, also promised that “democratic” elections will be held on schedule in 2018 and that foreign investment will be safe in Zimbabwe, a message aimed at laying the groundwork for economic revival.
“We dare not squander the moment,” Mnangagwa said in a speech whose sense of promise matched the joyful mood of a nation hungry for change after Mugabe’s 37-year rule. The former leader resigned Tuesday after pressure from the military, former allies in the ruling party and massive street protests.
Helicopters and planes flew in formation, an artillery unit fired a 21-gun salute, honor guards with fixed bayonets high-stepped and Zimbabwean pop star Jah Prayzah had people dancing on a day celebrating a new stage in the nation’s history. Such an occasion had seemed almost impossible to contemplate for many Zimbabweans as the years dragged on under the 93-year-old Mugabe, who took power after the end of white minority rule in 1980.
Mnangagwa, 75, was fired as vice president by Mugabe on Nov. 6 in a dispute over the growing presidential ambitions of Mugabe’s unpopular wife, Grace. The former justice and defense minister, however, had been one of Mugabe’s closest confidants, raising questions about just how much change and reconciliation there will be on his watch.
Texas woman accused of mailing bombs to Obama, Abbott
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A woman accused of mailing potentially deadly homemade bombs to then-President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2016 was arrested, in part, due to cat hair, a cigarette box and an almost-destroyed shipping label bearing her address.
Julia Poff, 46, mailed the devices in October 2016, along with a third package that she sent to the Social Security Administration, near Baltimore, according to an indictment. Of the three packages, only Abbott opened his. It did not detonate because “he did not open it as designed,” court documents said.
A grand jury indicted her this month on six counts, including mailing injurious articles and transporting explosives with the intent to kill and injure, according to documents filed this week in district court in Houston.
Federal investigators said the improvised explosive device sent to Abbott contained a cellphone, a cigarette packet and a salad dressing cap, according to a court document from a Nov. 17 detention hearing. It says a similar device was sent to Obama and that “the same” device was sent to the Social Security Administration.
The device sent to Abbott came in a package still bearing an “obliterated shipping label” addressed to Poff, the court document said. The cigarette box used in the device bore a Texas tobacco stamp that identifies the store where the cigarettes were bought. Poff’s bank card records showed a purchase of cigarettes at that store. The two incendiary powders in the box matched materials found in Poff’s home, federal court documents showed.
Tiger escapes from zoo, roams streets of Paris
PARIS (AP) — Police in Paris say a tiger escaped from a circus in the city and roamed the streets of the French capital for “some time” before being killed.
Police said that the big cat was “neutralized” by a staff member from the circus near a bridge over the River Seine, about 1.24 miles from the Eiffel Tower.
Police authorities tweeted “all danger is over” alongside a tiger emoticon.
A Paris police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the tiger had been loose for “some time” Friday but said there had been no reported injuries or casualties.
Residents in the 15th district where the tiger was shot circulated photos of the beast’s limp corpse on social media — many angry that it had been killed.