Obama's slave past, Evita's cashed face +other news
OBAMA THE DESCENDANT OF THE FIRST DOCUMENTED SLAVE?
The Huffington Post reported that ancestry.com revealed US President Barack Obama is a descendant of the first African documented slave. Obama's ancestor, John Punch, came to Virginia before 1640 as a slave. That year he was captured in Maryland while trying to escape and was returned to Virginia where he was forced into permanent slavery. Apparently, Punch was Obama's great-grandfather several generations before the president's birth.
DEMOCRATIC FUNDRAISER PENS NOVEL ABOUT SEX, MONEY AND POLITICS
The antagonist in Bridget Siegel's debut novel, Domestic Affairs, is a charismatic Southern politician who has an affair with a staffer while running in the Democratic primary for president. But despite obvious parallels to the political soap opera that surrounded a real-life presidential aspirant, former US Senator John Edwards, Siegel—a Democratic fundraiser turned novelist—insists the book is pure fiction.
IRAN SPEAKS ABOUT ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
The picture above shows US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad during their meeting in Jerusalem on 29th July. Romney would support an Israeli decision to use military force to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, a senior aide said. Iran expects to hold more talks with world powers on its nuclear programme following an inconclusive round of negotiations in Istanbul earlier this month, its foreign minister said in a newspaper interview published. The failure of the talks to secure a breakthrough over Tehran's uranium enrichment, which the West fears is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, has raised international concerns that Israel may carry out a military strike.
ARGENTINE ICON EVITA GRACES 100-PESO BANK NOTES
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez unveiled a commemorative bank note on Wednesday bearing the image of Evita Peron to mark the 60th anniversary of the iconic First Lady's death. The bill is based on the design of a five-peso note that the mint had planned to issue after Evita died of cancer at the height of her popularity, but which went missing during the coup that toppled her husband, late former President General Juan Peron.
ARMED MEN KIDNAP ITALIAN DIPLOMAT IN YEMEN
Armed men kidnapped an Italian diplomat from outside the Italian embassy in Sanaa, a security source said. "The diplomat was near the embassy building when men came by in a car and took him by force. He is responsible for security in the embassy,” the source said, adding that it was not known where the men had taken the diplomat.
Source: Reuters/Huffington Post
Published: 31st July 2012
