Mandela turns 90, calls for action on poverty

If you are poor, you are not likely to live long, says South Africa's favourite son in his home village of Qunu Johannesburg: From his ancestral home in South Africa's impoverished Eastern Cape province, former president Nelson Mandela used the occasion of his 90th birthday Friday to call for renewed action on poverty. "Poverty has gripped our people. If you are poor, you are not likely to live long," South Africa's favourite son said in his home village of Qunu, where he was celebrating his birthday weekend with family and friends. Surrounded by some of his grandchildren, a smiling Mandela, wearing one of his trademark African patterned shirts, posed for photographs in the lounge of the sprawling bungalow he built on his release from prison among the rolling hills of his homeland. "There are many people in South Africa who... [read full story]