Desmond Tutu

Born in 1931 in South Africa, Desmond Tutu established a career in education before turning to theology, ultimately becoming one of the world’s most prominent spiritual leaders. Tutu is widely regarded as “South Africa’s moral conscience.”

In 1978, Tutu, an Anglican bishop, was appointed general secretary of his country’s Council of Churches and became a leading spokesperson for the rights of black South Africans. During the 1980s he played an almost unrivaled role in drawing national and international attention to the iniquities of apartheid, and in 1984 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

He later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has continued to draw attention to a number of social justice issues over the years. In 2009, President Obama honored Tutu with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Tutu retired from public life in 2010 but has kept speaking out on issues ranging from Mideast peace to corruption among South Africa’s political elite.

Photo credits: Gallo Images/Getty Images, Gallo Images/Sunday Times/Getty Images, Gallo Images/Avusa/Rene Oosthuisen, Helmuth Lohmann/AP, Gill Allen/AP, Desmond Boylan/Reuters, Nick Wass/AP, J. Scott Applewhite/AP,

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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip was born in Corfu on June 10, 1921, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece. His mother was Princess Alice of Battenberg, and he therefore held the title Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.

When he was 18 months old, Prince Philip and his family had to leave Greece. The country had become politically unstable, and his uncle, the king of Greece, Constantine I, was forced to abdicate.

Fearing for the family’s safety, Prince Philip’s uncle, Britain’s King George V, ordered a Royal Navy ship to collect them, and the young prince was carried to safety in a cot made from an orange box.

During World War I, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Prince Philip’s grandfather, changed the family’s name to Mountbatten. Prince Phillip adopted this name when he became a naturalized British subject and renounced his royal title in order to marry Princess Elizabeth.

Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1939, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Prince Louis, who was admiral of the fleet and First Sea Lord.

After completing his initial training and being recognized as the best cadet of his entry, Prince Philip spent six months in the Indian Ocean as midshipman aboard the battleship HMS Ramillies in 1940.

Prince Philip was subsequently promoted to sublieutenant and appointed to the destroyer HMS Wallace. In 1942, he became the ship’s first lieutenant at the unusually early age of 21.

In July 1947, the engagement of Lt. Philip Mountbatten to Princess Elizabeth was announced. Four months later, on Nov. 20, they were married in Westminster Abbey.

In 1952, he was promoted to commander, but his naval career came to an end upon the death of his father-in-law, King George VI.

The queen and Prince Philip have four children. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, was born in 1948, and Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was born two years later. After Elizabeth II ascended the throne, the couple had two more children: Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who was born in 1960, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who was born in 1964.

Prince Philip is particularly interested in science, industry and engineering. He has visited research stations and laboratories, coal mines and factories, engineering works and industrial plants — all with the aim of understanding, and contributing to the improvement of, British industrial life. (Royal.uk)

Photo credits: AP, Eddie Worth/AP, Arturo Mari/AP, Ed Reinke/AP, Alastair Grant/AP, Matt Dunham/AP (2)

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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk, but he is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on July 6, 1935, to a farming family in the village of Taktser, in northeastern Tibet. At the age of 2, as a child named Lhamo Dhondup, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until Nov. 17, 1950, during the Battle of Chamdo with the People’s Republic of China. In 1951, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government were pressured into accepting the so-called Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, which incorporated Tibet into the People’s Republic of China. Fearing for his life in the wake of a revolt in Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, from where he led a government in exile.

In 2001 the 14th Dalai Lama ceded his partial power over the government to an elected parliament of selected Tibetan exiles. His original goal was full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s he was seeking high-level autonomy instead. He continued to seek greater autonomy from China, but Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile, stated: “If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or self-determination as per the U.N. charter.“

In 2014 and 2016, he stated that Tibet is willing to be part of China, but China should let Tibet preserve its culture and script.

Photo credits: Popperfoto/Getty Images, Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Vatican/Reuters, Reuters, Kevin Lamarque/Reuters, Kevin Frayer/AP, Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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Bob Dole: A life of service

Bob Dole, the long-time senator, former Republican presidential nominee and World War II hero, died XXX at age.

Growing up in a blue-collar family in Depression-era Kansas, Dole rose to become a fixture in Washington, D.C. Badly wounded in action in Italy, he lost the use of his right arm, but reached the peak of Republican politics, serving as the party’s presidential nominee, vice presidential nominee and Senate leader in a career that spanned nearly four decades

See FULL STORY by Christopher Wilson/Yahoo News

Photos from top: AP (2), CWH/AP, Bettmann/Getty Images, John T. Bledsoe/U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection/Library of Congress/Reuters, J. Scott Applewhite/AP, Eric Draper/AP (2), Mark J. Terrill/AP

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PHOTOS: Revisiting the assassination of JFK

Nov. 22, 1963, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, when a young president who had captured the imagination of the world was gunned down sitting with his wife in a motorcade driving through the heart of Dallas, Texas.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy shook the confidence of a country that had emerged less than a generation earlier, triumphant from World War II, and set the stage for the social upheavals of the rest of the decade. The official explanation for the assassination was that a nonentity named Lee Harvey Oswald had carried off the murder entirely on his own — for reasons that have never been fully explained.

This left many Americans unsatisfied and gave rise to the modern industry of conspiracy-mongering that still defines much of American political discourse. (AP/Yahoo News)

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PHOTOS: Iraqi protests continue amid rising death toll in Baghdad

Three anti-government protesters have been killed and 25 others injured amid ongoing clashes with Iraqi security forces near a strategic bridge in Baghdad.

The latest clashes came just hours after some of the most intense street violence seen in recent days, with 10 protesters killed and another 100 injured. Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition to repel demonstrators in clashes that lasted well into the night on Thursday.

On Friday, two protesters were killed by tear gas and another was hit by live rounds fired by security forces on Rasheed Street. The street is close to Ahrar Bridge, a flashpoint in recent days.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shia religious authority in Iraq, re-emphasize calls to political parties to pass electoral reform laws and respond to the protesters’ demands.

Iraq’s massive anti-government protest movement erupted on October 1 and quickly escalated into calls to sweep aside Iraq’s sectarian system.

Protesters continue to occupy several Baghdad squares and parts of three bridges in a stand-off with security forces. (AP)

Photos: Hadi Mizban/AP

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PHOTOS: 10 bronze statues of inspirational women in NYC by Statues for Equality"

Statues for Equality is a global mission to balance gender representation in public statues and honor women’s contribution to society. Gender inequality is among the most critical issues facing the world today, and having a public display of inspirational women for the world to see is a tangible step humanity can make toward a more equal society. Sadly the representation of female statues in most western countries is less than 4 percent.

On Woman’s Equality Day in New York City, Statues for Equality was launched and history was made with some of the world’s most influential woman. Ten inspirational and larger-than-life bronze female statues were unveiled on the iconic Avenue of the Americas to increase female representation in public art statues, from 3 percent to 9 percent overnight. Among these women are Oprah Winfrey, Jane Goodall, Cate Blanchett, P!nk and Nicole Kidman.

It was a long and complicated process to make sure each of the statues was a depiction of the woman precisely how she wanted to be seen. The artists began with a portrait study. To better understand the individual faces, artists Gillie and Marc began by first sketching, then painting the faces of each woman.

This process, starting in 2D, is important for developing the expressions and to allow the individual personalities to shine through when crafting the clay mold and transforming them into bronze masterpieces. Painted on fabric from around the world, they represent the diversity of womankind. Each painting has its own texture, shape and feel. From there, the artists collaborated with the women further. Each woman decided her own pose, outfit and flower on which to stand for her statue in bronze.

Gillie and Marc now want to expand their project around the world, with the goal of reaching complete gender equality of public sculptures — 50 percent —across the globe by 2025. (Statues for Equality)

Photography by Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News

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PHOTOS: Deadly shooting at California football party

Four people were killed and six more wounded when “unknown suspects” sneaked into a backyard filled with people at a party in central California and fired into the crowd, police said.

The shooting took place about 6 p.m. on the Fresno’s southeast side, where people were gathered to watch a football game, Fresno Police Lt. Bill Dooley said.

Deputy Chief Michael Reid told the Fresno Bee and the KSEE/KGPE TV stations that a total of 10 people were shot, with three found dead in the backyard. A fourth person died at the hospital. Six others are expected to survive and are recovering at the hospital.

All the victims were Asian men ranging from ages 25 to 35, Reid said.

“What we do know is that this was a gathering, a family and friend gathering in the backyard,” Dooley said. “Everyone was watching football this evening when unknown suspects approached the residence, snuck into the backyard and opened fire.”

The victims were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in critical condition, and some are now stable, the TV stations reported.

About 35 people were at the party when the shooting began, Reid said.

“Thank God that no kids were hurt,” he said.

No one is in custody in connection with the shooting. Police said there was no immediate indication that the victims knew the shooter or shooters.

Police were going door-to-door in search of surveillance video that might help them track down the suspects. The shooting took place about a half-mile from the city’s airport. (AP)

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The Berlin Wall: Then and now — 30 years later

Nov. 9, 2019, will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which quickly led to the collapse of the communist East German government. Revolutions across other communist countries of the East bloc soon followed. The Berlin Wall, built by the communist authorities of East Germany, stood from 1961 until 1989 and prevented East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin. At least 136 people, many of them shot dead by East German border guards, were killed trying to escape. (Getty Images/Yahoo News)

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