A favourite of celebrities and fashionistas who wish to recycle and refresh their wardrobes, hardlyeverwornit.com, the London based platform for the international buying and selling of previously owned luxury fashion, is set to host an exclusive event with UNICEF as beneficiary. On Wednesday 30th October, from 6.30 - 10pm, in the Penthouse & Pavilion Suite of The Dorchester Hotel, hardlyeverwornit.com client, Donna Air, will be co-hosting the event with expected guests including:

• Annabelle Wallis
• Colin Salmon
• David Gardiner
• Denise Lewis
• Emily Lloyd
• Kamaliya Zahoor
• Kimberley Wyatt
• Kristina Rihanoff
• Laura Wright
• Mark Owen
• Middle Eastern Royalty
• Millie Mackintosh
• Nancy Dell'Olio
• Oliver Tobias
• Ruby Tandoh
• Thom Evans

Attendees of the event will be bringing hardly worn garments from their closets, which will then be auctioned online from Wednesday, November 13th, with all proceeds going to Unicef. Donations so far include those listed and pictured below, with more being added daily:

• Harold Tillman: 2002 Burton England football suit signed by all the team members including David Beckham
• Donna Air: Beige Burberry dress
• Chloe Green: Black Yves Saint Laurent dress
• Ronnie Wood: Signed shirt with his hand drawn music notes on the collar and cuffs

The evening of "frightful elegance" will include Laura Wright singing along with a silent auction, giving guests the opportunity to bid on lots including those listed above. Guests will enjoy champagne and cocktails plus a specially created Dorchester Halloween menu including 'Maggot Feast', 'Eyeballs' and 'Witches Fingers'.

With special thanks to sponsor, Santander:
"Santander is committed to supporting the nation's entrepreneurs, not only through financial support, which is up 20% year on year, but also through its Breakthrough programme that provides additional support, such as interns, master classes and trade missions, to SMEs. HardlyEverWornIt is an example of British entrepreneurial spirit at its best - we are delighted to be able to support this initiative", said Marcelino Castrillo Garcia, Managing Director, Santander Commercial Banking

UNICEF, the world's leading children's organisation, works in over 190 countries to help transform children's lives, providing medicines, water, education and protection to help them survive and realise their potential.

Food security is a huge challenge and a key priority for the African continent, says Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson.

The minister was addressing the 3rd BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development Meeting on Tuesday.

She said the meeting will consider and provide leadership on the important matter of the ‘Negative Effect of Climate Change on World Food Security”.

“I am energised by this theme because food security is a huge challenge and thus a key priority for the African continent.”

According to the minister, the challenge requires BRICS ministers responsible for agriculture to urgently and significantly accelerate agricultural and food production, so that people on the continent can enjoy sustainable access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.

“Our priority on the continent and in South Africa is to promote sustainable agricultural and food production, which will enable Africa to feed itself and the world,” she said.

As a result of the realties and impact of climate change, the minister said BRICS ministers must promote smart, responsible and sustainable Agriculture.

“We are required to ensure that the decisions we make today impact positively on the continent and the quality of the land we leave for the next generation and their children.

“As we consider ‘Negative Effect of Climate Change on World Food Security’, we must remain mindful that with a few exceptions, rural women fare worse than rural men and urban men and women against all the Millennium Development Goals indicators,” Joemat-Pettersson said.

Support for women

Research has shown that closing the gap in terms of access to resources and support for women in the agricultural sector makes good economic sense.

“It has been estimated that if women had the same access to productive resources (such as land ownership, technical inputs, water and energy) as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent. This would raise the agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by between 12 to 17 percent,” the minister said.

Attending the meeting -- which will culminate in the signing of a joint declaration -- are Han Changfu, the Minister of Agriculture from the People’s Republic of China; India’s Union Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar; Antonio Andrade Ferreira, the Minister of Agriculture in Brazil; and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture from Russia, Shestakov ILya Vasilyevich.

“It is my expectation that we will emerge from this meeting with a shared sense that it was instructive, successful and well worth of the investment and effort we have made to be here.” - SAnews.gov.za

Tehran - The Islamic Republic of Iran has condemned the spate of terrorist attacks, which left more than 60 people dead across Iraq.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Marzieh Afkham, extended Tehran’s condolences to the Iraqi government and people. She labelled the assaults against innocent civilians as shameful and inhuman.

At least 66 people were killed and many more injured in the latest wave of violence in Iraq on Sunday, which was the deadliest day in terms of attacks since October 5, when nearly 80 people were killed throughout Iraq.

In the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 42 people were killed by car bombs that detonated over a half-hour period, targeting commercial areas and parking lots.

At least 16 people were killed and many injured in separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul, 360km northwest of the capital.

Eight others were also killed in similar assaults in the town of Tarmiyah, 50km north of Baghdad and in Madain, just south of the capital.

According to the United Nations, almost 1 000 people were killed and more than 2 000 were wounded in violence in Iraq in September, making it one of the deadliest months in recent years.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has said that militants have launched an open war in Iraq and they want to push the Middle Eastern country into chaos. – SAnews.gov.za-IRNA

Washington - The National Security Agency spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders, US officials acknowledged, but most of the spying has stopped.

The halt to the phone tapping on about 35 world leaders came after the existence of such surveillance appeared in an internal Obama administration review that started over the summer, the officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The White House called off some monitoring programs after learning of them, including the one tracking Merkel and some other world leaders, a senior US official told the newspaper.

Other programs scheduled to end are still going on because they haven't been phased out completely, the officials said.

The account -- the administration's first public acknowledgment that it tapped world leaders' phones -- suggests President Barack Obama went nearly five years without knowing the spying was going on, the Journal said.

The NSA said in a statement, on Sunday, NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander "did not discuss with President Obama in 2010 an alleged foreign intelligence operation involving German Chancellor Merkel, nor has he ever discussed alleged operations involving Chancellor Merkel. News reports claiming otherwise are not true".

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported Obama was personally briefed by Alexander about the operation to target Merkel's phone. It said Obama allowed the spying to continue.

The NSA did not say in its statement whether anyone else had briefed Obama on the spying.

Officials told the Journal the NSA has so many eavesdropping operations it was impractical to brief Obama on all of them.

Obama knew about and approved broader intelligence-collection "priorities," but didn't decide about specific intelligence targets, the officials said.

"These decisions are made at NSA," the senior US official told the Journal. "The president doesn't sign off on this stuff."

That protocol is now under review, the official said.

The Journal said it couldn't determine on Sunday how many eavesdropping operations were stopped or which leaders were still under surveillance.

The British newspaper The Guardian reported last week that 35 world leaders were under surveillance. It cited a document leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in its report. – SAnews.gov.za-UPI

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South Africa is to sign a memorandum aimed at curbing rhino poaching with the government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, officials said on Friday.

The Department of Environmental Affairs said in a statement that the Memorandum of Understanding on Biodiversity will be accompanied by the endorsement of an implementation plan, putting into action steps to eradicate wildlife crimes.

Laos is situated in Southeast Asia, where rhino horn is believed to be used for traditional medical treatments, sparking widespread illegal trade in the horn.

“South Africa regards rhino poaching and illicit trafficking in wildlife and endangered species as part of the new and emerging forms of crime,” Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said in a statement.

Rhino poaching has become a huge concern globally, particularly in the conservation fraternity.

The number of rhino poached for their horns in South Africa since January 2013 has increased to 790, while 31 poachers have been arrested in the past two weeks. The total number of people facing rhino poaching-related charges has increased to 259.

The Kruger National Park has lost a total of 476 rhino so far this year. Of the total number of rhino poached, 87 rhino have been killed in Limpopo, 65 in North West, 73 in KwaZulu-Natal and 68 in Mpumalanga. Four rhino have been poached in Gauteng, while three have been poached in the Eastern Cape and three in the Marakele National Park.

Molewa said government has established collaborations with privately owned nature conservation estates to address the scourge and put specific measures in place to combat illegal hunting within SA’s borders and abroad.

The department had also signed agreements with several Asian countries as part of efforts to stop the illegal trade of rhino horn.

An Implementation Plan, putting into action the terms of the MoU with China in the field of Wetland and Desert Ecosystems and Wildlife Conservation, is also expected to be signed soon.

“Rhino poaching was declared a national security risk and a national priority in 2011 and is being dealt with through a plethora of interventions at the highest levels of government,” said Molewa.

National interventions included legislative amendments, the creation of a National Rhino Fund and greater cooperation with stakeholders, locally and internationally. - SAnews.gov.za

In the two Indian Grands Prix so far, Sebastian Vettel has led every one of the 120 racing laps and won both from pole.

This Sunday, barring a major upset, the Red Bull driver should cruise to a well-deserved fourth consecutive World title at the Buddh International circuit located just outside New Delhi. With 297 points compared to his closest challenger Fernando Alonso’s 207, a fifth place would seal the deal for Vettel, no matter where the Ferrari driver finishes. It would leave Vettel on 307 points with Alonso only able to score a maximum of 307 - even if he wins all four remaining races. Vettel would take the championship on race wins.

With the title basically a formality, the rest of the season will effectively focus on the battle for second in the Drivers’ championship with Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber all still in the hunt.

ICEMAN OUT-QUALIFIED AND OUT-RACED

Raikkonen, third in the standings on 177 points, has gone off the boil in qualifying recently but usually manages to deliver the goods come race day, and has finished on the podium in eight of the season’s 15 races. However, a recent upsurge from his Lotus team ate Romain Grosjean is affecting Raikkonen’s chances of overtaking Alonso for second.

The Iceman was out-qualified and out-raced by Grosjean in Suzuka, Japan two weeks ago (Grosjean was third and Raikkonen fifth), and the young Frenchman is clearly keen to stake his claim as the team’s No.1 with Kimi departing to Ferrari in 2014. Behind the laconic Finn is a mercurial Englishman in a Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton standing his ground in fourth on 166 points following his retirement in Suzuka, his second non-finish of the season.

WEBBER’S LEGACY

The underperformer in the group is Red Bull’s Webber, fifth with 148 points. Although the Australian has at times been plagued by bad luck, he has failed to win a single race this year in what is regarded as Formula One’s best car, and has scored only five podiums in 15 races. A few more champagne-spraying results could help uplift Webber’s legacy as he heads into F1 retirement.

It was announced this week that Russian teenager Daniil Kvyat will partner Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso in 2014 as the surprise replacement for departing Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who is moving to Red Bull to replace Webber. Kvyat, 19, has been competing in the Formula Three and GP3 support series. - Star Motoring

Nairobi - The African Union (AU) and Kenya have formally asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to defer the trials of Kenya’s president and deputy president at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for one year.

The reason for the adjournment was so that they can deal with the aftermath of last month's Nairobi mall attack, in which more than 70 people were killed.

In a letter to the council, African leaders said the legal proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto “will distract and prevent them from fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities, including oversight for national and regional security affairs”.

Kenyatta and Ruto face charges of crimes against humanity related to the violence which followed Kenya’s December 27, 2007 elections, in which 1 200 people died in late 2007 and early 2008. Both have denied the charges and have tried to have the cases adjourned or halted.

The AU requested that their trials be deferred “in order to provide them with the time required for the enhancement of the efforts aimed at combating terrorism and other forms of insecurity in the region”.

At least 67 people were killed by members of al-Shabaab, an l-Qaeda-linked extremist group, who attacked Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre on September 21.

In a separate letter, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Macharia Kamau, said that when considering the deferral request, the 15-member UNSC should take into account the “threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression likely to transpire in light of the prevailing and continuing terrorist threat existing in the Horn of and Eastern Africa”.

The Security Council envoys have said they would consider any AU request but noted that the council had turned down a deferral request in 2011 and rejected a request in May for the cases to be terminated because the council had no such power.

The Security Council can defer ICC proceedings for one year under Article 16 of the Rome Statute that established The Hague-based ICC but would need to adopt a resolution to take that step.

The AU and Kenyan letters to the council come 10 days after African leaders called for the prosecutions of Kenya’s and Sudan’s presidents by the ICC to be halted. – SAnews.gov.za-NNN

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