IGIHE

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  • British Colonel David Parkinson Killed in Kenya

    {{Police in Kenya are investigating the murder of a former British army colonel who was killed by an armed gang at his home near Nanyuki, Laikipia.}}

    David Parkinson and his wife were attacked after the gang of suspected robbers, armed with machetes and a gun, smashed their way into the house in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

    Mrs Parkinson escaped after hiding in a strong room.

    Mr Parkinson, an ex-commander of a base in the area, managed a cattle ranch.

    Senior investigating officer Marius Tum, of Laikipia East police, said about five gang members had gained entry to the house by smashing a glass door just before 01:00 local time on Sunday and found the couple sleeping.

    During the ensuing confrontation, Mr Parkinson’s hand was cut severely and he was fatally wounded, Mr Tum added.

    He said the attackers had tied Mrs Parkinson up with rope.

    “But she managed to hide in one of the strong rooms to which they could not gain access,” Mr Tum said.

    “David remained lying on the floor. When she was sure they had left, she came out of the strong room to discover that David had died.”

    Police said the gang had escaped with a small haul including Mrs Parkinson’s telephone, a small amount of cash from her purse, a laptop computer and a silver statuette.

    Detectives investigating the murder have arrested a suspect from a nearby village, according to local media.

    A former lieutenant colonel in the Parachute Regiment, Mr Parkinson was awarded an OBE in 1998.

    He left the British army a decade ago to focus on conservation and community work in Kenya.

    Nation

  • India oil giant to buy Mozambique stake

    {{India’s biggest oil explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has agreed a deal to buy a 10% stake in an offshore gas field in Mozambique.}}

    It will pay Anadarko Petroleum, a US firm, $2.6bn (£1.7bn) for the stake.

    The state-controlled firm has been keen to secure supplies in an attempt to meet growing domestic demand for fuel.

    It said the field in Mozambique was “strategically located” to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India at a “competitive price”.

    Sudhir Vasudeva, chairman of ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the firm’s unit which has agreed the deal, said the gas field had the “potential to become one of the world’s largest LNG projects”.

    He added that the deal was a significant step “towards the energy security of our country”.

    Securing supplies
    India, Asia’s third-largest economy, relies heavily on imports to meet the domestic fuel demand.

    The country has the world’s second-largest population. As its economy continues to grow, demand for fuel is expected to rise further in the coming years.

    As a result, firms such as ONGC have been looking to acquire overseas assets in an attempt to secure long-term supplies.

    This is the second such deal signed by the firm in recent months.

    In June, along with Oil India, it agreed to buy 10% stake in the the Rovuma Area 1 field in Mozambique from the Videocon Group for $2.48bn.

    Last year, ONGC inked a deal to buy ConocoPhillips’s 8.4% stake in Kazakhstan’s Kashagan project for $5bn – its biggest overseas acquisition.

    wirestory

  • Cocaine ‘Rapidly Changes the Brain’

    {{Taking cocaine can change the structure of the brain within hours in what could be the first steps of drug addiction, according to US researchers.}}

    Animal tests, reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience, showed new structures linked to learning and memory began to grow soon after the drug was taken.

    Mice with the most brain changes showed a greater preference for cocaine.

    Experts described it as the brain “learning addiction”.

    The team at University of California, Berkeley and UC San Francisco looked for tiny protrusions from brain cells called dendritic spines. They are heavily implicated in memory formation.

    {{Cocaine hunting}}

    The place or environment that drugs are taken plays an important role in addiction.

    In the experiments, the mice were allowed to explore freely two very different chambers – each with a different smell and surface texture.

    Once they had picked a favourite they were injected with cocaine in the other chamber.

    A type of laser microscopy was used to look inside the brains of living mice to hunt for the dendritic spines.

    More new spines were produced when the mice were injected with cocaine than with water, suggesting new memories being formed around drug use.

    The difference could be detected two hours after the first dose.

    Researcher Linda Wilbrecht, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley, said: “Our images provide clear evidence that cocaine induces rapid gains in new spines, and the more spines the mice gain, the more they show they learned about the drug.

    “This gives us a possible mechanism for how drug use fuels further drug-seeking behaviour.

    “These drug-induced changes in the brain may explain how drug-related cues come to dominate decision making in a human drug user.”

  • UN to examine Syria ‘chemical attack’ site

    United Nations inspectors have been granted access to the site of an alleged chemical-weapons attack near Damascus, Syrian state TV has said, with the UN announcing that the Syrian government has also agreed to observe a ceasefire during the visit.

    It followed an agreement between the Syrian foreign minister and the head of the UN delegation of chemical experts to the country on Sunday.

    The agreement “is effective immediately and it will allow UN delegation to investigate allegations of using chemical weapons on August 22 in Damascus suburbs”, the state TV reported.

    The alleged chemical-weapons attack in Ghouta on Wednesday killed 355 people, according to the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres.

    A team of UN inspectors arrived in the Syrian capital last week to investigate claims of chemical weapons use by opposition fighters and the Syrian government, which UN officials originally said would last two weeks and cover three sites.

    A UN statement said on Sunday that the inspectors were preparing to conduct “on-site fact-finding activities starting tomorrow, Monday, 26 August”.

    It also said that Damascus had agreed to a ceasefire while the UN experts are at the site for inspections, a statement confirmed by the Syrian government.

    The international organisation added that the rebels and government were responsible for the safety of the UN inspectors on the ground since a local ceasefire had been agreed.

    aljazeera

  • Migrants Die in Mexico Train Crash

    {{At least six people were killed and dozens injured after a cargo train carrying US-bound migrants derailed in southern Mexico, officials said.}}

    According to local media reports, ambulances were unable to reach the scene of the accident in the southern state of Tabasco because of the difficult terrain.

    Luis Felipe Puente, national emergency service coordinator, told local television four people had been confirmed dead in Sunday’s accident and another 35 people were injured, with 16 of those in a serious condition.

    The train, known as “La Bestia” or “The Beast”, carries Mexican and Central American migrants with many sitting on top of the freight cars after paying smugglers upwards of $100.

    The train derailed on a stretch of tracks alongside a river and the site of the accident is only accessible by boat, a public security official from the municipality of Huimanguillo told journalists.

    The official said between 250 and 300 migrants were aboard.

    The Tabasco state civil protection agency said the train derailed at about 3am local time (8am GMT) and that rescuers were using hydraulic tools to cut through the metal to find survivors. The site is far away from any roads in the area, it added.

    A photograph broadcast by Milenio television showed freight cars lying on their side with the wheels detached from the bottom. The tracks are seen in a wooded area and covered with plants.

    AFP

  • Report: US Spied on UN Headquarters

    {{The US National Security Agency bugged the United Nations’ New York headquarters, German weekly magazine Der Spiegel has reported.}}

    Citing secret US documents obtained by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel said on Sunday the US systematically spied on other states and institutions.

    In the summer of 2012, NSA experts cracked the UN video conferencing system’s codes, according to one of the documents cited by Der Spiegel. “Within three weeks the number of decoded communications rose to 458 from 12”, the magazine said.

    Der Spiegel said UN’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, was among those targeted by the US.

    Internal files also show the NSA spied on the EU legation in New York after it moved to new rooms during the autumn of 2012.

    Among the documents copied by Snowden from NSA computers were plans of the EU mission, its IT infrastructure and servers.

    According to the documents, the NSA runs a bugging programme in more than 80 embassies and consulates worldwide called “Special Collection Service”.

    “The surveillance is intensive and well organised and has little or nothing to do with warding off terrorists,” wrote Der Spiegel.

    Snowden’s leaks have embarrassed the United States by exposing the global extent of its spying. Washington has said its spies operate within the law and that the leaks have damaged national security.

    Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama announced plans to limit government surveillance programmes, saying the US could and should be more transparent.

    Source: Agencies

  • Gasoline fuels comeback for China’s electric car maker BYD

    {{BYD Co Ltd (1211.HK) (002594.SZ), the Warren Buffett-backed company best known for electric cars, is in the midst of a revival thanks to traditional gasoline-fueled vehicles.}}

    Its car sales jumped 25 percent to more than 250,000 units in the first six months of this year, outpacing China’s overall auto market growth rate of 11 percent. The vast majority of those were gasoline-powered, not electric.

    The recovery in gasoline car sales, which account for half of BYD’s revenues, has raised investors’ hopes that the company is once again starting to live up to the promise that attracted big-name backers such as Buffett.

    Profits from those gasoline cars, as well as from selling batteries for mobile phones and other handheld devices, can be funneled into expensive research and development of electric cars, solar panels and other futuristic green technologies.

    Shenzhen-based BYD said on Sunday its first-half net profit rose to 426.9 million yuan ($69.74 million), well ahead of the 16.3 million yuan it earned in the same period a year earlier, helped by strong auto sales and an improvement in its solar cell business.

    To be sure, it is too early to tell if the latest results mark the start of a sustained recovery.

    But BYD shares have more than doubled in the past year on investor enthusiasm over the company’s improving profitability and hopes that BYD could one day become China’s answer to Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O), the popular California electric vehicle marker whose shares have quadrupled this year.

    BYD’s fortunes took a turn for the worse in 2010, when its car sales began tanking amid a series of quality issues and a slowing economy. Last year, a much-publicized deadly fire involving one of its electric taxis hurt its share price, although an investigation found BYD’s battery was not at fault.

    Wang responded to the sales slump by slowing expansion and restructuring the company, including streamlining its distribution system and slashing the number of dealers by a third to 800.

    “In the past, BYD made almost everything by itself, include windshield wipers and paint. That was the root of many quality issues,” said Yang Zao, analyst at KGI Securities.

    “Now, BYD has started to outsource and buy auto parts from suppliers, while focusing instead on making key components such as engines.”

    {wirestory}

  • Japan may dip into budget reserves to fight Fukushima toxic water

    {{Japan may use emergency reserve funds from this year’s budget to help Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, deal with escalating radioactive water problems at the site.}}

    Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, acknowledged last week that hundreds of tonnes (1.1023 ton) of highly radioactive water had leaked from a tank, one of around 350 assembled quickly after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered nuclear meltdowns at the site.

    The tanks are used to store water pumped through the reactors to keep fuel in the melted cores from overheating.

    The latest revelation is the most serious problem in a series of recent mishaps, including power outages, contaminated workers and other leaks.

    Tepco also said last month – after repeated denials – that the Fukushima plant was leaking contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean from trenches between the reactor buildings and the shoreline.

    “It’s deplorable,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Monday. “It is necessary for the country to step forward and offer support to solve the problem as well as prevent a recurrence.”

    Suga said trade and industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi had been instructed to come up with measures, including the possible use of reserve funds from the state budget for the year ending March 2014.

    Japan put aside a total of 350 billion yen ($3.55 billion) in reserves for natural disasters and other emergencies in the budget.

    Motegi and Tepco President Naomi Hirose will visit the Fukushima site later on Monday.

    Japan is under increasing pressure to contain the toxic water problem at the plant. The new crisis comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pitching the country’s nuclear technology abroad to countries like Turkey, promising that its nuclear reactor makers have learned vital safety lessons from the disaster.

    Tepco shares fell as much as 10 percent on Monday to their lowest in 12 weeks.

    {reuters}

  • Robbers Kill Guard at Ngoma SACCO, Frw10M Stolen

    {{A Local Defence Unit (LDU) guard at a SACCO bank in Huye district has been killed by armed robbers that stole Frw10million. The bank is located at Ngoma sector. }}

    The deceased guard killed on Saturday night has been identified as Kabandana Jean Bosco. The robbers tied his legs, hands and also sealed his mouth using a sole tape.

    Other staffs at SACCO learnt of the incidence on Sunday morning when they noticed Kabandana’s lifeless body tied and mouth sealed.

    IGIHE reporter also arrived at the scene and confirmed the incidence and also saw the body of the deceased LDU guard at SACCO premises.

    A SACCO official in charge of credits, Varoise Uwineza told IGIHE that the Cash-Safe had been broken and money worth Frw10,689,983 stolen. The robbers also broke the window in the Cash-Safe room.

    Kayiranga Muzuka Eugene the Huye District Mayor says, with collaboration from the public, investigatons have began to locate the robbers.

  • Gisagara District: Elderly Woman Found Dead in House

    {{An elderly woman identified as Nyirabaziga Dathiva 60, was found dead in her house in Rutare Cell in Muganza Sector, Gisagara District.}}

    Neighbours alerted Police on Saturday after finding Nyirabaziga lifeless body that had started decomposing. Its said she had died three days ago.

    Police said the deceased’s body had deep cuts on the neck.

    According to the Southern Province Police Spokesperson Chief Superintendant Hubert Gashagaza investigations have been launched to determine the culprits.

    Nyirabaziga lost her parents during the genocide against ethnic Tutsi’s that claimed a million lives.