Friday News: Where do you hide $5 billion?

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officially announced on Friday that MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai received 47.9% of the vote in the presidential election to Bobby Mugabe’s 43.2%—necessitating a runoff between the two. The MDC continues to argue that this tally is inaccurate, that Tsvangirai received a clear majority and a runoff is thus unnecessary. Despite previous remarks to the contrary, the Zimbabwe Independent reports that Tsvangirai will participate in the run-off—but the BBC is still reporting that he will not, so who knows? The ZEC has not yet set a date for the vote.

South African ANC President Jacob Zuma told a May Day rally that his party will not let “old liberation ties” deter them from criticizing Mugabe’s and ZANU-PF’s human rights abuses. It remains to be seen if the ANC will not let “old liberation ties” deter them from actually doing something to stop the abuses.

Actions speak louder than words, comrades.

The chief prosecutor in Charles Taylor’s trial at the International Criminal Court says that former Liberian president/warlord kept as much as $5 billion in U.S. banks during his presidency.

Former ‘Lost Boy’—a title given to child refugees separated from their families during Sudan’s civil war, many of whom were resettled in the U.S.—Valentino Achak Deng has returned to his country to help with reconstruction efforts. Check out a Q&A about his experience as a refugee and his current projects.

The last-known survivor of a group of German army officers who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a briefcase bomb in 1944 died today at the age of 90. Philipp von Boeselager escaped execution—the fate of most of his associates. Kudos to you, Mr. von Boeselager, for a valiant effort to resist.