CZYTANIE 3 EN [#32]

There has been a 13% fall in the number of domestic violence attacks that are considered for prosecution since 2010, official figures show. The figures — obtained by Labour in a Freedom of Information request — show the number of domestic violence cases being referred to the Crown Prosecution Service has fallen from 101,242 in 2010-11 in England and Wales to 88,110 in 2012¬13. The shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, said the figures show that the system was now badly failing domestic violence victims. So far the Domestic Abuse Victims' Organization has refrained from commenting on the issue.

1. The existing system of fighting domestic violence is questioned by ...

A security review was launched at Buckingham Palace after a man was arrested in a state room after scaling a fence and breaking in. Police said the unarmed 37-year-old was found "in an area currently open to the public during the day" at 10:30 pm. He was arrested for burglary, trespass and criminal damage. A second man, 38, was arrested outside the palace for conspiracy to commit burglary.

2. The recent incident at Buckingham Palace resulted in ...

Kenyan MPs voted to become the first country to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sending a defiant message to the Hague before their president is due to stand trial. The majority leader of Kenya's parliament proposed a motion for Kenya to "suspend any links, co-operation and assistance" to the court. The measure passed comfortably. Opponents warned that withdrawal would isolate Kenya. The ICC has charged president Uhuru Kenyatta and deputy president William Ruto with crimes against humanity, which both deny.

3. Kenyan Members of Parliament ...

Prize-winning historian, novelist and broadcaster Peter Ackroyd takes us on a journey — historical, geographical and imaginative — through the city of London. Moving back and forth through time, Ackroyd is an effortless, exuberant guide to times of plague and pestilence, fire and floods, crime and punishment, and sex and theatre. He brings the ever-changing streets alive for the reader and shows us what lies beneath our feet and above our heads. His biography is as rich in detail and fizzing with vitality as the city itself.

4. This text is a review of ...

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) denied reports on Wednesday suggesting it was massing troops in central Africa. "The SANDF is not involved in any build-up of forces as reported," spokesperson Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga said. Thirteen SANDF soldiers died and 27 were wounded in fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR) on 23 and 24 March. Of the 27 South African soldiers wounded in the fighting, 10 remained in hospital, said Mabanga.

5. South Africa hsa ...

British people no longer fit into three social classes, with only one in seven in the "traditional working class", a new study has suggested. The UK also has an "elite" - just 6 percent of the population - who have savings of more than 140,00, extensive social contacts and education at top universities. Researchers found the established model of an upper class, middle class and working class has "fragmented" and there are now seven classes ranging from the "elite" to the "precariat".

6. The recent British survey ...

Mexico's senate has overwhelmingly approved reform of the dysfunctional public school system handing President Enrique Pena Nieto an important victory in his push to remake some of worst: run institutions. The senate voted 102 — 22 in favour of a standardised system of test-based hiring and promotion that would give the government tools to break teachers unions near-total control of school staffing. The control includes the corrupt sale and inheritance of teaching jobs, which have been blamed for much of the poor performance. Mexican schools have higher relative costs and worse results than others in the 34-nation OECD.

7. The decision of Mexico's senate will ...

Well, they do say attack is the best form of defence. Britain is to develop the capability to launch cyberattacks, not just defend against incoming threats, UK defence secretary Philip Hammond announced this week. The shift in tactics is part of the Ministry of Defence's £500 million plan to create a military unit — the Joint Cyber Reserve — that will be staffed by hundreds of reservists, including experts leaving the armed forces and people "with no previous military experience" who have stellar computing skills. In response to the growing cyber threat, we are developing a full- spectrum military cyber capability, including a strike capability," Hammond said in an MoD statement.

8. The most important condition for employment in the Joint Cyber Reserve is ...

Mariano Rajoy, Spain's prime minister, was buoyed up by a regional election in Galicia, where his ruling People's Party extended its majority as the Socialists' vote collapsed. Mr Rajoy claimed the result was evidence of broad support for his austerity programme. Yet, protests continued outside parliament.

9. The author says that the Spanish prime minister ...

Two people have appeared in court over events that preceded the discovery of a body in Matamata today. An I8-year-old woman was found dead outside Pohlen Hospital early this morning. Police believe she was hit by a car on the Kaimai Range before the driver of that vehicle was abducted. A 30-year-old man and 23-year-old woman appeared briefly in Manukau District Court this afternoon charged with abduction. The accused duo were remanded in custody and were granted interim name suppression until their next appearance in Tauranga on Friday.

10. The Police arrested a man and woman for ...

The number of people diagnosed with measles in an area at the centre of an epidemic has passed the 500 mark, Public Health Wales says. Latest figures show there are now 541 cases in and around Swansea. The figures have gone up by more than 100 in a week and doctors are Urging parents to ensure their children receive the MMR vaccine. The epidemic has also prompted some babies to be offered the jab seven months earlier than recommended.

11. We can deduce from the text that the recent measles outbreak was caused by ...

Canada's Information Commission is to investigate claims that the government is "muzzling" its scientists. The move is in response to a complaint filed by academics and a campaign group. Some scientists alleged that the muzzling could help suppress environmental concerns about government policies. "Vital stories pertaining to the environment are not coming out in Canada because, for several years now, the government has imposed rules which prevent its scientists from speaking freely about their publicly funded research," a campaigner said.

12. A campaign group has claimed that the Canadian government ...

Venezuelans were plunged into darkness last week as a blackout knocked out electricity in about 70% of the country. President Nicolas Maduro claimed that saboteurs caused the blackout, though many believe that government neglect and incompetence were to blame. Blackouts are frequent in many states, though rarely in Caracas. There were calls for the resignation of electrical energy minister Jesse Chacon who vowed after being named to the post in April to revamp the power grid. Chacon said the blackout stemmed from problems with transmission lines in the Baho Caroni region, where 60% of power is generated. Maduro claimed sabotage by the "extreme right wing" was the cause.

13. A lot of Venezuelans think the blackout was caused by ...

After Mandela

It produced one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century. It fought a violent race-based dictatorship and repleaced it with the most liberal constitution in the world. Since it came to power in 1994, about two thirds of South Africans vote for it. Yet at 100, it has a reputation for corruption and incompetence. So what happened to South Africa's African National Congress?

The ANC was formed by urban middle-class Africans and chiefs to protect and promote African interests after the Boer War, when peace between Boers and the British came at the price of African rights to own property and vote. At this stage ANC leaders were more concerned with protecting their own rights than representing the masses.

Quite soon the ANC had to face the dilemma: was it to fight for black representation within the existing political system or for a more just political and economic system for all? After forging an alliance with the South African Communist party in 1953, it chose the latter course, and became a protégé of Russia, its language borrowedfrom Moscow. The ANC began to talk about smashing the apartheid state and capitalism. This led to its ban in 1960. Its leadership was imprisoned or fled abroad, though it subsisted in the minds of black South Africans as symbol of hope and resistance.

The fall of the Berlin Wall came as a shock to the ANC. Many saw it as victory for apartheid's allies. In fact it was the opposite. Britain and the US, freed from the Communist threat, could end their protection of apartheid South Africa. Release Nelson Mandela and negotiate was the West's message to F.W. De Klerk, the new president, in 1989. The ANC hardliners in exile did not belive it. This was not in their script, which said that their military wing (in fact the least effective guerrilla movement in southern Africa), would bring down the apartheid state.

Meanwhile an internal leadership had grown up in real world of strikes and street battles: leaders more adept at negotition and politics, who understood how South Africa worked. It is No suprise that Cyril Ramaphosa, the former mineworkers leader, became the chief strategist in negotiations with the government. Although theinternal leaders had greater connection to the people, they were pushed out by returning exiles.

Thabo Mbeki, the ANC's foreign minister in exile, squeezed out Ramaphosa, and succeeded Mandela. Mbeki's idea was to give Africans an economic stake in the new South Africa by giving them equity in all South African comapanies and give jobs to black people. As it was implemented, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) did not result in more jobs or entrepreneurship for ordinary people but gave free shares in big busimess to ANC bosses. The ANC's mass support base was rewarded with welfare programmes. South Africa's corporate sector went along with BEE, giving some of their less vital assets to a small new elite. And so overnight a number of senior ANC ministers joined an archipelago of fortified islands of luxury in a sea of poverty.

The ANC itself has broken into cliques. All major decision are taken in secret. Perhaps it has returned to its roots, as a narrow class of haves protecting their own interest. It is unlikely to recover any time soon. Last November parliament was told by Willie Hofmeyr, head of the Special Investigative Unit, that £3 billion a year was lost to corruption, negligence and incompetence in the public service with very few consequences. 'South Africa's law and regulations are good but there are no consequences when they are broken/' he said. He was sacked shortly afterward. And fearful of further press exposure and comment the government drew up the Protection of State Information Bill bich treats media investigation of government activities as spying with a possible 25-year jail sentence.

Eighteen years after the ANC came to power South Africa has one of the highest levels of inequality in the world and the gap appears to be widening. Ten percent of the population are still without clean water and 20 percent without electricity. And who picked up the £8 million bill for the ANC's 100th birthday party? The South African Taxpayers.