Jasmin’s murder ‘plan’ revealed

Johannesburg - The lover of the man accused of killing four-year-old Jasmin Lee Pretorius said the attack was planned.

Darren Pretorius (not a relative of the family), speaking to the Beeld, said he believed the murder of the girl allegedly by his boyfriend, the child’s uncle, was premeditated.

According to Pretorius, his boyfriend kept asking whether he would be working a night shift on Saturday, when Jasmin Lee supposedly went missing.

Margaret Thatcher barely mentioned Nelson Mandela in South Africa talks

The prime minster briefly raised the importance of freeing the ANC leader with her South African counterpart, PW Botha, but had little success, documents show 

 Margaret Thatcher did little to press for the release of Nelson Mandela during her time in office, newly-released Government papers suggest.

New York declares state of emergency ahead of snowstorm

 Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency across New York as a major winter storm has already started to bring heavy snow, sub-zero temperatures, and high winds across the state, an official statement said.

A state of emergency mobilises resources to local governments that otherwise are restricted to state use only, and allows the governor to suspend laws and regulations that would impede rapid response, Xinhua reported on Thursday citing the statement.

Mandela memorial interpreter 'faced murder charge'

The man accused of faking sign language interpretation at Nelson Mandela's memorial has previously faced a charge of murder, according to reports 

 Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, was exposed as a fraud by experts after he signed "nonsense" during the four-hour ceremony as he stood next to a number of heads of state including US President Barack Obama.

Nelson Mandela memorial: empty seats embarrass South Africa

Empty seats at national stadium are blamed on rain, an unpopular president in Jacob Zuma and his failure to declare a national holiday 

 It was supposed to be standing room only, but the memorial service held to honour the life of Nelson Mandela was remarkable for the large number of South Africans who failed to turn up.