Desmond Tutu from the begging to the end of his life

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Birth date:  October 7, 1931

Birth place:  Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa

Birth name: Desmond Mpilo Tutu

Father: Zachariah Tutu, schoolteacher

Mother: Aletta Tutu, domestic servant

Marriage: Nomalizo Leah (Shenxane) Tutu (July 2, 1955-present)

Children: Trevor, Theresa, Naomi and Mpho

Education: Bantu Normal Teacher's College, Pretoria, 1953, South Africa; University of South Africa, Johannesburg, B.A, 1954; St. Peter's Theological College, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1960

Religion: Anglican

Sometimes referred to as "the Arch."

Chaired South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

1954-1957 - Teaches school, and resigns in protest of government restrictions on education for black children.

1961 - Is ordained an Anglican priest.

1975 - Becomes the first black appointed Anglican dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg.

1976 - Is consecrated Bishop of Lesotho.

1978 - Becomes the first black secretary general of the interdenominational South African Council of Churches.

1984 - Becomes the second South African, after Chief Albert Lutuli, to win the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to end apartheid.

1986 - Is elected Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the head of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho.

1995 - Is selected by South African President Nelson Mandela to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

1996 - Retires as the Archbishop of Cape Town and becomes Archbishop Emeritus.

1997 - Is diagnosed with prostate cancer and treated at hospitals in the United States.

1998 - Establishes the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust.

1998-2000 - Visiting professor of theology at Emory University in Atlanta.

2002 - Visiting professor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

March 2003 - Presents the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report to South African President Thabo Mbeki.

July 18, 2007 - Former President Mandela announces the formation of The Elders, a group of elder statesmen from around the world that will work to solve global problems. Among the members of the group are Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Mary Robinson and Ela Bhatt.

September 30, 2007 - Tutu leads The Elders on their first mission, to Darfur in Sudan.

July 30, 2009 - Is awarded the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama.

October 2011 - Tutu harshly criticizes the South African government for failing to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama. He accuses the government of pandering to China and in some ways being worse than the apartheid-era governments.

October 3, 2011 - "Tutu: The Authorised Portrait" is published to coincide with Tutu's 80th birthday. The book, written by his daughter Mpho and Allister Sparks, contains personal writings as well as anecdotes by people including Richard Branson, Bono, the Dalai Lama, Mandela and others.

September 2, 2012 - In an op-ed published by The Observer newspaper, Tutu says that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush should be "made to answer" at the International Criminal Court for their actions during the Iraq War.

October 4, 2012 - Tutu is awarded $1 million by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for "his lifelong commitment to speaking truth to power."

December 3, 2012 - A children's book called "Desmond and the Very Mean Word" is published.

2013 - The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation is established in Cape Town.

April 4, 2013 - Tutu is awarded the 2013 Templeton Prize for his "life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate people around the world." The prize is worth about $1.7 million dollars.

April 24-29, 2013 - Tutu is hospitalized to undergo tests for a persistent infection, according to his foundation.

July 14-21, 2015 - Tutu is admitted to a Cape Town, South Africa, hospital to be treated for a persistent infection.

August 18, 2015 - Tutu is hospitalized for an inflammation unrelated to his previous infection. He is released on September 4, 2015.

August 24, 2016 - Tutu admits himself to a Cape Town hospital to be treated for a recurring infection.

September 7, 2016 - Tutu undergoes surgery to address recurring infections affecting his health.

September 17-21, 2016 - Tutu is readmitted to a South African hospital after he shows signs of infection following his recent surgery.

October 6, 2016 - The day before his 85th birthday, he writes an op-ed in The Washington Post supporting the right to die with dignity. "Dying people should have the right to choose how and when they leave Mother Earth. I believe that, alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists, their choices should include a dignified assisted death."

December 4, 2019 - Archbishop Emeritus Tutu has been admitted to hospital for "treatment of a stubborn infection," according to a statement released by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. On December 9, the foundation says Tutu has been discharged from the hospital.

Inside the world's major diamond trading ground

As with many aspects of Dubai, the city's diamond trade has grown up fast.

"Back in the 1990s, there was no diamond industry in Dubai," says Martin Leake, special adviser for precious stones at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a free zone where the Dubai Diamond Exchange is incorporated.

In 2018, the value of diamond trading in the city exceeded $25 billion, according to the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.

From being barely a pinprick on the international map, Dubai's diamond industry is now gunning for Antwerp's crown as the world's leading center of the trade. The Belgian city's diamond business was worth $46 billion in 2018.

The Emirate's progress has been facilitated by its minimal tax demands and convenient location between producer countries in Africa and major sales markets such as India, says Leake.

Another factor is rapid development of the city's trade infrastructure. This includes the world's largest diamond trading floor at the Almas Tower, a skyscraper located near the Persian Gulf. The exchange features 41 viewing tables, private cabins, and white crystal windows that allow for accurate appraisal of the color of precious stones.

The Dubai Diamond Exchange has undergone multiple renovations in recent years and now accommodates more than 1,000 companies involved in the trade. The site contains facilities for processing diamonds, jewelery merchants, and an office of the Kimberley Process — the authority charged with ensuring diamonds are ethically sourced.

Painstaking preparation

Preparing rough diamonds is a painstaking process that can be highly lucrative.

"When the diamonds come out of the ground, they often have grease on them or parts of rock — so they need to be cleaned," explains Leake.

The rough stones are treated with a mix of acids and heated in specialized ovens to clear out impurities. Most are then freighted to India to be cut and polished — apart from exceptional stones that are treated on site with technologies that heightens their value.

"We make a 3D model," says Jan de Henau, operational manager at Almas Diamond Services. "Basically, we plot all the cracks that are inside and then we add an algorithm to calculate what the highest value is of the stones inside."

Dubai's diamond developers are also using new tools such as a waterjet laser, which keeps the diamond cool and stable while it is cut.

"The value of the machine is $1 million, which might sound a lot of money," says de Henau. "But the profit you make sometimes with one or two incisions in one stone [can be worth] tens of millions of dollars."

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre is determined to maintain a rapid rate of progress, to draw even more companies to trade at the diamond exchange, and increase the pressure on Antwerp as the global capital of the diamond trade.

Dubai is already established among the leading players. But as Leake puts it: "The only place you want to be is number one."

Camila Cabello story of her life

Before topping the charts with her 2018 debut solo album, Camila, vocalist Camila Cabello found fame as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony.

With her resonant voice, buoyant charisma, and Latin roots, Cabello was a standout member of the band, which formed while competing on the second season of Fox's The X Factor in 2012.

After the show ended, the singer and her bandmates enjoyed several years of break-out success, scoring two Top Five Billboard 200 albums with 2015's Reflection and 2016's 7/27, and spawning hits like "BO$$," "Worth It," and "Work from Home." While still with the group, she began branching out, collaborating on songs like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" with Shawn Mendes, and "Bad Things" with Machine Gun Kelly, the latter of which hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

However, it was after her heavily publicized departure from Fifth Harmony in 2017 that Cabello achieved her biggest success, debuting on top of the Billboard 200 with Camila, and nabbing her first solo number one Top 40 single with "Havana."

Born Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao in Cojimar, Cuba, Cabello moved to Miami at the age of six. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking environment (her mother is Cuban and her father is Mexican), she fostered her love of music by listening to Celia Cruz and Alejandro Fernández. At the age of 15, Cabello auditioned for The X Factor in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Even though she was eliminated (along with her four future groupmates), the judges brought her back. Simon Cowell combined the girls into a quintet and formed Fifth Harmony.

Despite finishing in third place, they went on to be the most successful contestants from that season.

The group's debut EP, Better Together, was released in October 2013, with acoustic reworkings, Spanish versions (Juntos and Juntos Acoustic), and a remix album following a month later. Their debut single, "Miss Movin' On," was the highest-charting U.S. X Factor single at the time, a feat beaten only by each successive Fifth Harmony single.

The group's debut LP, Reflection, was released in early 2015, featuring the hits "Sledgehammer" (written by Meghan Trainor) and "Worth It," featuring rapper Kid Ink. While backstage on Taylor Swift's 1989 world tour, Cabello wrote a duet with Canadian singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was released in November 2015 and immediately hit the Billboard Top 20. Fifth Harmony's sophomore set, 7/27, was issued in 2016, supported by a world tour and the hit single "Work from Home."

Outside of Fifth Harmony, Cabello joined rapper Machine Gun Kelly for the October 2016 single "Bad Things." Well-received, the track made a slow climb toward the top of the Billboard singles chart, and ultimately garnered the singer her first Top Ten song as a solo artist. That December, Cabello announced her departure from Fifth Harmony. Following her exit, she collaborated with Cashmere Cat on "Love Incredible" and with Pitbull and J Balvin on "Hey Ma" from the Fate of the Furious soundtrack.

In May 2017, Cabello released her debut (non-album) solo single, the Sia Furler co-written "Crying in the Club," which peaked in the Top 40 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. She also joined Bruno Mars as the opening act on his 24K Magic World Tour. In early 2018, she returned with her debut full-length solo album, Camila, featuring production by Frank Dukes, Jarami, and others. Buoyed by the singles "Havana" featuring Young Thug and "Never Be the Same," the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

A second version of "Never Be the Same," featuring country singer Kane Brown, arrived in 2018. By year's end she had also picked up several Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Solo Performance for a live version of "Havana" and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Following a tour, Cabello returned to the studio and in June 2019 and issued the single "Señorita" with singer Shawn Mendes. The single hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and paved the way for the duo's headline-grabbing performance of the song that November at the American Music Awards, where they also took home the award for Favorite Collaboration.

The song also earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In December 2019, Cabello released her sophomore full-length album, Romance, which featured songwriting and production contributions by Andrew Watt, Finneas O'Connell, Justin Tranter, and others. Along with "Señorita," Romance also featured the tracks "Liar," "Shameless," and "Living Proof."

Camila Cabello apologizes for her racist posts

Camila Cabello says she was "embarrassingly ignorant" before, admitting she feels "deeply ashamed" of her past behaviour.

Camila Cabello has apologised after a string of racist posts she is alleged to have posted as a teenager resurfaced online.

The American singer wrote a lengthy post on Twitter, saying she was "deeply ashamed" about her past use of "horrible and hurtful language".

Her comments appear to be in response to a Twitter thread which claimed to exposed posts it says Cabello posted on Tumblr between 2012 and 2013.

The post - titled "Exposing Camila Cabello's racist and downright disturbing tumblr reblogs" has since been deleted.

In her apology, Cabello wrote: "When I was younger, I used language that I'm deeply ashamed of and will regret forever.

"I was uneducated and ignorant and once I became aware of the history and the weight and the true meaning behind this horrible and hurtful language, I was deeply embarrassed I ever used it."

Cabello goes on: "I apologised then and I apologise again now.

"I would never intentionally hurt anyone and I regret it from the bottom of my heart.

"As much as I wish I could, I can't go back in time and change things I said in the past. But once you know better you do better, and that's all I can do."

The 22-year-old says she has since grown up and realised the error of her ways, saying she is "conscious and aware of the history and the pain it carries in a way I wasn't before".

She added: "Those mistakes don't represent the person I am or a person I've ever been.

"I only stand and have ever stood for love and inclusivity, and my heart has never, even then, had an ounce of hate or divisiveness.

"The truth is I was embarrassingly ignorant and unaware.

"I use my platform to speak out about injustice and inequality and I'll continue doing that.

"I can't say enough how deeply sorry and ashamed I feel, and I apologise again from the bottom of my heart."

Cabello shot to fame as a member of girl group Fifth Harmony, but left three years ago to go it alone as a solo artist.

She has since won two Latin Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards and a Billboard Music Award.

Zozibini Tunzi from unknown to known

It was nothing short of a historic moment for Zozibini Tunzi as the South African model was crowned Miss Universe 2019 in Atlanta on Sunday, December 8. For her, it is a momentous win because she is the third woman and the first black woman from South Africa to win the Miss Universe title.

Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe Sunday night after excelling through rounds of swimsuit and evening gown struts and questions on social issues.

Here's everything you need to know about the ground-breaking Miss Universe 2019, Zozibini Tunzi.

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Tunzi was born in Tsolo, Eastern Cape to parents Philiswa Nadapu and Lungisa Tunzi on September 18, 1993. She was raised in the nearby village of Sidwadweni. Her mother, Philiswa Tunzi Nadopu is a school principal in an Eastern Cape village called Bolotw while her father, Lungisa Tunzi works at the Department of Higher Education and Training in Pretoria. She is the second of four girls (Yanga, 30, Sibabalwe, 24, and Ayakha, 13).

Tunzi moved to Cape Town, settling in the Gardens suburb, to attend the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in public relations and image management in 2018 at the time she won Miss South Africa. She had previously graduated with an ND Public Relations Management at the same institution.

Prior to winning Miss South Africa, she worked as a graduate intern in the public relations department of Ogilvy Cape.

The new Miss Universe began her pageantry career in 2017 when she was accepted as one of the top 26 semifinalists of Miss South Africa 2017. Although she was not selected as one of the twelve finalists. but she returned to pageantry to compete in the Miss South Africa 2019 competition. Off the initial applications, Tunzi was selected to continue as one of the top 35 semifinalists after being confirmed as one on June 26, 2019. After further auditions, she was announced as one of the sixteen finalists on July 11.

After being selected as one of the finalists, Tunzi went on to compete in the Miss South Africa 2019 competition in Pretoria in August. She progressed through the stages of the final, advancing to the top five, and finally was crowned the winner. Following her win, Tunzi received prizes including R1 million, a new car, and a fully furnished apartment in the Sandton neighborhood of Johannesburg, which is valued at R5 million throughout her reign. The achievement allowed her to represent South Africa at the Miss Universe 2019 competition.

Before competing at Miss Universe 2019, she has featured in covers of Magazine, runway shows and promotional adverts for several national and international brands.

Tunzi competed in the preliminary competition on December 6 and competed in the finals on December 8 at Tyler Perry Studios. During the competition, the 26-year-old model advanced to the top twenty as the first semifinalist for the Africa/Asia-Pacific continental region. She then advanced to the top five, and ultimately the final three.

By the end of the event, she was crowned Miss Universe 2019 by outgoing titleholder Catriona Gray of the Philippines, followed by the first runner-up Madison Anderson of Puerto Rico and second runner-up, Sofía Aragón of Mexico. Tunzi's win is South Africa's third Miss Universe crown and the first black woman to win the Miss Universe title since Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe 2011. She's also the first to do so with an afro-textured hair.

Tunzi is using her platform to change the narrative around gender-based violence. She believes it’s time to lay the responsibility at the door of perpetrators and will use her year of reign working towards making them aware that they have to change their behavior.

She has devoted her social media campaign to changing the narrative around gender stereotypes. In November, the 26-year-old asked South African men to write love letters to women to help form part of her National costume section at the Miss Universe pageant. She launched her support to promote the UN’s #HeForShe campaign.

Who is Priscilla Shirer?

Priscilla Shirer is a wife and a mom first.  But put a Bible in her hand and a message in her heart and you’ll see why thousands flock to her conferences and dive into her Bible study series’ and books each year.

A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Priscilla holds a Master’s degree in Biblical Studies and considers it a privilege to serve believers from every denomination and culture by helping them to know the truths of Scripture intellectually and encouraging them to experience these truths practically by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to Priscilla’s participation in many church and para-church conferences across the globe each year, Going Beyond Ministries hosts AWAKEN – an outreach event in their hometown designed to encourage and mobilize women locally. This free gathering brings together thousands of women from different denominations and backgrounds several times a year in an effort to stir revival.

Going Beyond Ministries also equips believers through books and Bible study resources. Priscilla has authored over a dozen video driven studies for women and teens on a myriad of Biblical characters and topics including Jonah, Gideon, the Exodus, discerning God’s voice, The Armor of God.

Her books include Discerning the Voice of God, God is Able, and two New York Times Bestsellers – The Resolution for Women and Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer, which was named the 2016 Christian Book of the Year. Her latest offering is a 365-day devotional called Awaken: 90 Days with the God Who Speaks. In 2016, Priscilla ventured into the world of children’s publishing with The Prince Warriors, a fiction 4-book series and accompanying 365-day devotional (Unseen) designed to equip tween boys and girls for victory in spiritual warfare.

Priscilla has been married to Jerry for 20 years.  Between studying and writing, she spends most of her time cleaning up after (and trying to satisfy the appetites of) their three growing boys – Jackson, Jerry Jr. and Jude.

Soulmates and Nazi Prisoners who were separated by Auschwitz Miraculously Reunited 72 Years later

David Wisnia and Helen Tichaur offered comfort and solace to one another amidst the horrors of Auschwitz but were forced apart by the nazis. It took 72 years, but the two lovers were finally reunited.

In 1944, David Wisnia and Helen “Zippi” Spitzer were two Jewish prisoners and secret lovers who, against all odds, managed to survive the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. But toward the end of the war, they were separated after Wisnia was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp.

They lost each other and had no way to contact one another, except for a plan to meet again at a community center in Warsaw once the conflict had ended.

That meet-up never coalesced and their lives took them in completely different directions. But as fate would have it, the former couple would be reunited again — 72 years later in America.

As reported by the New York Times, the survivor couple’s long-overdue reunion finally took place in August 2016 at Spitzer’s apartment in New York City. It was the first time the two had seen each other since they were both imprisoned in Auschwitz decades ago.

“I was waiting for you,” Spitzer, who continues to go by her late husband’s surname Tichauer, confessed to her ex-boyfriend upon their reunion. She had waited for him in Warsaw as the couple had planned. But Wisnia, whose survival instincts took him on a path that led to his migration to America, never showed.

It was a bittersweet revelation. The two first met in Auschwitz in 1943, in a highly-irregular meeting; male and female prisoners were separated by gender, so only those who had special privileges were able to move somewhat freely around the camp as both Wisnia and Tichauer did.

Wisnia’s singing abilities had him promoted from removing bodies of suicide prisoners to become the Nazi guards’ entertainer, and was given an office job disinfecting the prisoners’ clothing using Zyklon-B pellets — the same ones used for the gas chambers.

After working on the camp as a laborer and suffering bouts of typhus, malaria, and diarrhea, Tichauer’s design skills coupled with her ability to speak German landed her privileged work as the camp’s graphic designer. Her duties included marking female prisoners’ uniforms and registering new female arrivals.

After the couple’s first meeting, Tichauer paid off inmates with food so they could continue meeting each other safely, in secret. They met in a tiny space among the prisoners’ clothing about once a month while others would be their lookout for 30 minutes to an hour each time they met.

“I had no knowledge of what, when, where,” Wisnia, now 93, told the Times. “She taught me everything.” But it was more than that. At their reunion, Wisnia finally discovered just how much Tichauer used her influence to keep him alive.

“I saved you five times from bad shipment,” she told him candidly from her sickbed. Tichauer also used her office job to help the resistance against the Nazis anyway she could, manipulating paperwork to reassign inmates to different jobs and barracks, and sneaking official camp reports out to various fighter groups.

The lovers’ time came to an end when news spread that the Russians were inching closer. Both miraculously managed to escape during the transfer of prisoners between camps and went on to marry other people. Wisnia settled down with his family in Levittown, Pennsylvania, while Tichauer wound up in New York City with her husband.

Finally, after a previous failed attempt to meet-up in their old age, they saw each other again in 2016. Wisnia, along with two of his grandchildren — who had heard their grandfather’s story of his surviving love from Auschwitz — visited Tichauer at her apartment.

Unlike Wisnia, she had no surviving children to her name and her old age had taken away much of her hearing and eyesight.

Nevertheless, nothing could prevent her from recognizing the young boy she once held dear, even after all these years. “My God,” she said. “I never thought that we would see each other again — and in New York.” The couple spent two hours together, laughing and catching up.

“She said to me in front of my grandchildren, she said, ‘Did you tell your wife what we did?'” Wisnia recalled of their little reunion. “I said, ‘Zippi!'” But it wasn’t all humor; some long-kept words were finally uttered as Tichauer told Wisnia she had loved him then. He said the same.

Before he left her apartment for the last time, Tichauer asked her once-lover to sing for her as he did in Auschwitz. He took her hand and sang a special song for the two of them: a Hungarian tune Tichauer had taught him 72 years ago at the camp.

Sadly, in 2018, Tichauer passed away at the age of 100. Though it was the last they saw of each other, the lovers’ bond that was built amid the direst of circumstances remains strong even now. More of Wisnia’s account is chronicled in his 2015 memoir One Voice, Two Lives: From Auschwitz Prisoner to 101st Airborne Trooper which also mentions his former love.

Ishmael Beah Life in Summary

Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. When he was 13, he was forced to become a child soldier during the civil war between the Sierra Leonean government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). For the next four years, Beah witnessed numerous atrocities and was forced to kill and torture people in the name of war.

He was rescued from the government army by The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and given a chance at a new life with his uncle. Beah was later chosen as one of two children to represent Sierra Leone at the United Nations First International Children's Parliament. His heartfelt account of the violence he faced and his testimony of the existence of thousands of children like him moved the UN. Laura Simms, a member of the UN, eventually adopted Beah as her son. In 1998, Beah moved to New York City with Simms. Beah is a graduate of the United Nations International School and Oberlin College.

Beah is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken to various governmental bodies about the plight of children affected by war. He is also the head of the Ishmael Beah Foundation, dedicated to helping former child soldiers find new lives by reintegrating into society. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.