Oct. 1 Photo Brief: Marikana massacre inquiry opens, Lady Gaga meets Donatella Versace and U.S. Supreme Court back in session
Marikana massacre inquiry opens, Lady Gaga meets Donatella Versace in Milan, the U.S. Supreme Court is back in session after summer recess and more in today’s daily brief.
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- A picture is seen among burnt remains after Muslims attacked and set fire to a temple in Cox’s Bazar October 1, 2012. Bangladesh accused Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on Monday of involvement in attacks on Buddhist temples and homes in the southeast and said the violence was triggered by a photo posted on Facebook that insulted Islam. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters)
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- Judge Ian Farlam, chairperson of the Marikana commission of inquiry, flanked by members of the commission, visits the Marikana site outside Lonmin mine on October 1, 2012 in Rustenburg during the opening of an inquiry into the police killing of 34 miners and related violence in August 16. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Demonstrators wave placards during a site inspection by the judicial commission of inquiry into the shootings at Lonmin’s Marikana mine October 1, 2012. (Mike Hutchings/Reuters)
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- Plaintiff Esther Kiobel (L) joins a protest against Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington October 1, 2012. The U.S. Supreme Court, back in session today after its summer recess, is expected to take up a closely watched case that could decide whether American judges are empowered to hear lawsuits over human rights atrocities abroad. (Gary Cameron/Reuters)
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- People take part in the funeral of French priest Pierre Dubois in Santiago, on October 1, 2012. Dubois, who lived in the church of “Nuestra Senora de la Victoria” in southern Santiago’s La Victoria slum, which was emblematic of the struggle against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), died on September 28 at the age of 80. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Soldiers of the Kenyan Contingent serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) display the Somali national flag in Saa’moja October 1, 2012. Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels retreated from the southern port of Kismayu overnight, abandoning the last major bastion of their five-year revolt to an offensive by African Union and Somali government troops. (African Union-United Nations Handout photo via Reuters)
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- Judges congregate in Westminster Abbey before their Annual Service of Thanksgiving on October 1, 2012 in London, England. The start of the legal year is marked with a traditional religious service; judges arrive from the Royal Courts of Justice and afterwards process to The Houses of Parliament where the Lord Chancellor hosts a reception. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
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- Activists take part a rally to show support for jailed members of the female punk band Pussy Riot in Kiev, October 1, 2012. A Russian court on Monday adjourned an appeal hearing for members of the punk band against their conviction for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church after one of the trio sacked her lawyers. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)
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- Wheelchair-bound Palestinian freelance photographer Moamen Qreiqea exercises in a gym in Gaza City October 1, 2012. Qreiqea, 25, lost both his legs in an Israeli air strike in 2008 while taking pictures east of Gaza. The father of two is determined to continue his career despite his disability. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
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- Residents hold up giant paper masks of wrestlers during festivities for Saint Michael the Archangel in the town of Zacualpan de Amilpas, on the outskirts of Cuernavaca, September 30, 2012. According to local media, the community held a carnival in honor of their patron, Saint Michael the Archangel, to thank him for the autumn harvest. (Margarito Perez Retana/Reuters)
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- Montpellier’s player Nikola Karabatic (C) and and his brother Luka Karabatic (R) are pictured before the French D1 handball match PSG vs Montpellier, on September 30, 2012 at Pierre de Coubertin Arena in Paris. (Franck Fifer/AFP/Getty Images)
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- U.S. singer Lady Gaga (L) meets Italian designer Donatella Versace in front of the Gianni Versace atelier in downtown Milan October 1, 2012. (Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)
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- Models present creations by British-born designer Clare Waight Keller as part of her Spring/Summer 2013 women’s ready-to-wear fashion show for French fashion house Chloe during Paris fashion week October 1, 2012. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)
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- The iconic Giza Pyramids seen in the background as a security officer patrols on his camel in Cairo, October 1, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbor to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in Hong Kong on October 1, 2012. The anniversary is also known as National Day. (Antony Dickson/AFP/Getty Images)
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- An arrested Indian fisherman sits at a police station in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on October 1, 2012. Pakistan maritime security agency have arrested 33 Indian fishermen and seized five boats for allegedly fishing illegally in Pakistan’s territorial waters. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images)
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- An elderly woman casts her ballot as she votes at home in the village of Sartichala in Georgia’s Kakhety region, on October 1, 2012. Georgia voted in “historic” parliamentary polls today as President Mikheil Saakashvili’s party clashed with a billionaire tycoon in the strongest challenge to its rule since coming to power in 2003. (Andrey Smirnova/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Supporters hold pictures of Myanmar president Thein Sein as they welcome him at Yangon International Airport upon his return from a landmark tour of the U.S. on October 1, 2012. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Turkish woman holds her cat in front of a banner on September 30, 2012 during a march for animal rights on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul. Demonstrators gathered against a proposed amendment to Law No. 5199 on the protection of animals. The new draft, which is slated to be discussed in Parliament by late October, authorizes the removal of stray animals, limiting the number of pets in houses and the termination of what is termed dangerous breeds. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Head stalker Peter Fraser, prepares to load a freshly shot Stag onto a pony at Milstone Cairn in Glen Callater on the Invercauld Estate September 28, 2012 Braemar,Scotland. After forty five years as a professional stalker, Peter Fraser is working his last red dear stag season before his retirement in November. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
South Africa’s “Marikana massacre” inquiry opens
Mike Hutchings | Reuters
10:01 a.m. EDT, October 1, 2012
MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – A retired judge toured the spot where police killed 34 striking platinum miners in August as he opened a judicial inquiry on Monday into South Africa’s bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid.
Ian Farlam has four months to uncover the events surrounding the August 16 “Marikana massacre”, which sparked intense criticism not only of the police but also of mining bosses, unions, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and President Jacob Zuma.
“Our country weeps because of the tragic loss, and this commission will work expeditiously to ensure the truth is revealed,” Farlam told a hearing in the platinum belt city of Rustenburg, 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, the town closest to the Lonmin-owned Marikana mine.
The names of the 34 dead, most of them from the poor Eastern Cape province, were read out at the start of the inquiry before lawyers for the police, victims’ families and 270 miners arrested after the shootings locked horns over procedure.
The commission and its findings could be politically damaging to Zuma and the ANC, especially if security forces are found to have been as trigger-happy and ruthless as their apartheid predecessors.
However, the inquiry’s four-month timetable means its final findings will come after an internal ANC leadership election in mid-December.
Zuma is expected to be re-elected head of the ANC in the vote – teeing him up to win a second five-year term as South African president in 2014 – although he may face a serious challenge from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
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