All right, first up, we`retalking about a tense situation surrounding a mining operation in the countryof South Africa, specifically. This all started about a week ago. The minersargued that because their jobs were very dangerous, they wanted to be paid morefor their work, about three times more. The company that owns the mine, whichis called Lonmin, said no, so the miners went on strike. This all happened atthe Marikana mine. It`s about two hours away from Johannesburg, which is thelargest city in South Africa. The strike turned deadly last week when policeofficers opened fire on the striking miners. 34 workers were killed, 78 otherswere wounded. A police commissioner1 says officers were forced to defendthemselves after the miners fired on them. Journalists at the mine couldnot say for sure which side fired the first. People came out to protest theshooting over the weekend. They were carrying traditional machetes, the largeknife you see right here.
Lonmin, the company, says the strike is illegal. It set a deadline forthe miners to report back to work. That deadline is today.
Next up, we`re moving to north Syria. Around 300 military observers fromthe United Nations are leaving the Middle Easterncountry. They`vebeen in Syria for four months. They were supposed to monitor a cease-firethat the government and rebels agreed to back in April. Well, that cease- firenever happened. In fact, the violence just got worse. That`s not thereason why U.N. observers are leaving, though. Their
mandate2, theirauthorization to be in Syria ended yesterday. The United Nations says it willstill have a presence in Syria and will keep working to find thesolution to the country`s civil war.
Our next topline brings us back across the Atlantic Ocean, but it doesn`t takeus out of the water. You see Cuba and the Florida Keys coming aroundright here. Diana Nyad is attempting to swim from one to the other. This is apractice video from a few years ago. Nyad started her swim on Saturday. The103-mile trip is expected to take her 60 hours if she`s able to complete it.Nyad`s team says she`s been making good progress, though she`s been stung byjellyfish on her face, hands and neck. She`s tried this a few timesbefore. She told CNN there`s some extra pressure this time around.
“On the one hand, I`m feeling some pressure. As you mentioned, it`s not thefirst time. We can dig back, way back to 1978, when I was very young, in my20s, coming up to the last couple of years. And a number of failures at this.So I`m feeling a tremendous, you know, inner pressure that this has got to beit, this has got to be the last time. And on the other hand, I`ve got to tellyou, I am sky-high excited. My adrenaline is just pumping out of my skin. I`mready for this.”
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