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  • Al-Shabaab Militia Kills 4 Kenyan Police Officers

    {{Four Kenyan administration police officers were Friday evening killed and another one injured in a daring militia attack in a tail-end border division in Garissa County bordering the war-ravaged Somalia.}}

    According to the residents and government officials, the militia suspected to be members of the dread Somali Islamist group; Al-Shabaab raided Galmagala Police Administration post in Fafi district 10 kilometres from Somalia border at 6.30pm and killed the officers manning the station.

    The attack also saw scores of residents missing.

    Confirming to The Standard, the Garissa County Commissioner Mr Rashid Khatour said the armed attackers totalling about 40 descended unexpectedly on the camp before starting indiscriminate attacks using mortars, rocket propelled grenades and gun fire.

    “Our officers engaged the bandits in fierce gun fight. However, the officers who were at the station at the time were outnumbered by the attackers,” said the commissioner.

    The injured officer was rushed to Garissa General Hospital where he is undergoing treatment and would be transferred to Nairobi for a better medication.

    Khatour noted that scores of people who had been scared by the deafening gun shots and bursts of the explosive thrown at the administration police camp fled into the bushes and were currently being searched for by security personnel and the local people.

    The administrator said the attackers who the security agency believes are members Al-Shabaab were targeting the security camp as they direct all their attacks on the camp selectively.

    He said: “These criminal were out to dismantle the camp and kill all our security officers, but their evil terrorist plans were thwarted by our gallant security men who fought hard despite being overwhelmed by their attackers”.

    The administrator confirmed that part of the iron made camp was destroyed by the raining mortars and rocket propelled grenades.

    Source: {standard}

  • The olinguito, Latest Mammal Discovery

    {{A lap-sized critter that looks like a mix between a cat and a teddy bear was unveiled Thursday as the first new carnivore identified in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years.}}

    Scientists say the olinguito has actually been around for ages, in zoos, museums and in the forests of Ecuador and Colombia, but was mistaken for its larger cousin, the olingo.

    A big clue that this tree-crawling animal was something unusual was that it never wanted to breed with the olingo, experts said.

    The new species, named Bassaricyon neblina, is now understood to be the smallest member of the same family as raccoons, kinkajous and olingos.

    With wide, round eyes and tiny claws that help it cling to branches, the olinguito can jump between trees. It feasts mainly on fruit but also eats insects and nectar.

    Its discovery, which took a decade of research, is described in the August 15 edition of the open-access journal ZooKeys.

    As part of the journey, scientists realized that museum specimens of the olinguito had been collected from a higher elevations — 5,000 to 9,000 feet (1,500-2,700 meters) above sea level — in the Andes Mountains than olingos were known to inhabit.

    DNA analysis was also done to differentiate the olinguitos from their cousins.

    The olinguito was smaller, with a differently shaped head and teeth. Its orange-brown coat was also longer and denser.

    And when researchers took to the South American forests to see if the creatures were still around in the wild, they were not disappointed.

    They found olinguitos in the cloud forests of the western Andes, and noted that the creatures are active at night.

    The two-pound (one-kilogram) animals also appear to prefer staying in the trees and have one baby at a time instead of several.

    “The cloud forests of the Andes are a world unto themselves, filled with many species found nowhere else, many of them threatened or endangered,” said Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

    “We hope that the olinguito can serve as an ambassador species for the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia, to bring the world’s attention to these critical habitats.”

    Helgen and his fellow researchers on the project estimate that 42 percent of historic olinguito habitat has already been converted to agriculture or urban areas.

    There are four sub-species of the olinguito, and is not being classified as endangered. Experts believe there must be many thousands of them, possibly even in Venezuela and Peru.

    At least one olinguito from Colombia was exhibited in several zoos in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, researchers said.

    Back in the 1920s, a zoologist in New York was said to have found the olinguito so unusual that he thought it might be a new species, but he did not publish any research to document the discovery.

    “Proving that a species exists and giving it a name is where everything starts,” said Helgen.

    “This is a beautiful animal, but we know so little about it. How many countries does it live in? What else can we learn about its behavior? What do we need to do to ensure its conservation?”

    {AFP}

  • Mugabe Blasts West on his Re-election

    {{Zimbabwe President says the West’s refusal to accept the results of the July harmonised elections had nothing to do with credibility of the polls, but personal dislike of the person of Robert Mugabe and his pro-people policies. Speaking to journalists on after arrival at Kamuzu International Airport in Malawi yesterday, President Mugabe said he was happy to be in Lilongwe as Zimbabwe was a friend of Malawi.}}

    “The West wants to think for us and take decisions for us and give us direction. What we decide as the correct course, they will not agree with us unless the decision serves their interests.

    “In this case it is Robert Mugabe they don’t like, who is a Zimbabwean, an Africa and also friend of Malawi,’’ he said.

    President Mugabe said he was in Malawi for the routine Sadc meeting to put heads together with other leaders to move the regional bloc forward.

    “We have come to Sadc, it’s our ordinary meeting held once a year. We come to review decisions made in previous meetings and where necessary, make new decisions.

    “In this meeting we are reviewing decisions made last year and charting the way forward and also to bestow the burden of holding the organisation together on Malawi. President Banda becomes our new person for the next year.’’

    Zimbabwe held widely-hailed harmonised elections on July 31 that saw President Mugabe romping to victory with 61,09% of the vote to MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s 33,94%.

    Zanu-PF clinched 160 seats out of the 210 National Assembly constituencies to give the revolutionary party a crushing 76% dominance in the Lower House.

    After factoring in 60 women’s quota seats elected by proportional representation of six for each of the 10 provinces, the final composition of the 270-member National Assembly comes to 197 seats for Zanu-PF, 70 for MDC-T, two for MDC, and one independent, giving Zanu-PF just under 73% of the total seats in the National Assembly, but well over the two thirds majority of 180 seats.

    {Herald}

  • Tsvangirai Withdraws Petition at Last Hour

    {{MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday withdrew his election petition from the Constitutional Court, hours before the court challenge was to be heard today.}}

    The last-minute withdrawal of the case, according to Mr Tsvangirai’s withdrawal affidavit, was done because he had not been furnished with the election material he requested at the Electoral Court.

    He also cited Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku’s presence at the National Heroes’ Acre where President Mugabe gave an address as a factor that may deprive him of the right to a fair hearing.

    To that end, the Chief Justice has cancelled today’s hearing on preliminary issues raised in the petition.
    However, despite the withdrawal, the court directed the parties to appear in court on Monday.

    The notice of withdrawal filed yesterday evening at the Constitutional Court by Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyers Artherstone and Cook reads:

    “Take notice that the applicant or petitioner hereby withdraws his presidential election petition in respect of the 2013 harmonised elections.
    “Further take notice that applicant or petitioner tenders costs of the respondents.

    “Further take notice that applicant or petitioner’s reasons for withdrawal are contained in an affidavit filed separately in this Honourable Court.”

    Chief registrar of the Constitutional Court Mr Walter Chikwanha directed the parties, on behalf of the Chief Justice, to appear in court on Monday despite the withdrawal of the case.

    “Following the withdrawal of the Presidential election petition in respect of the 2013 harmonised elections by the applicant, the Honourable Chief Justice has directed as follows:

    “The sitting of the Constitutional Court which was scheduled for Saturday 17 August 2013 at 10am be and is hereby cancelled.
    “Legal practitioners of all the parties are directed to appear before the Constitutional Court on Monday 19th of August 2013 at 10am.”

    In his affidavit, Mr Tsvangirai indicated that he had not received the requested election material for use in the petition hence he could not meaningfully argue that case.

    Source: {Herald}

  • Hezbollah chief Blames Radicals for Beirut Blast

    {{The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah on Friday blamed Sunni extremists for a string of attacks targeting the group’s strongholds over the past few months, including a car bombing that killed 22 people and wounded more than 300 a day earlier.}}

    Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said all preliminary investigations showed Takfiri groups – a term for Sunni radicals – were likely behind the bombing in a predominantly Shiite southern suburb of Beirut, as well as other recent attacks.

    He also pledged to double the number of Hezbollah fighters in neighboring Syria, who have travelled there to support the regime of President Bashar Assad.

    “If you think that by killing our women and children … and destroying our neighborhoods, villages and cities we will retreat or back away from our position, you are wrong,” he said in a speech to supporters marking the end of the 2006 monthlong war with Israel.

    “If the battle with these terrorist Takfiris requires for me personally and all of Hezbollah to go to Syria, we will go to Syria,” he said, drawing thunderous applause from thousands of supporters gathered in a village in south Lebanon bordering Israel. The crowd watched him speak on a large screen via satellite link.

    Thursday’s car bomb struck a crowded street in the Rweiss district in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an overwhelmingly Shiite area and stronghold of Hezbollah. The explosion sent a massive plume of black smoke billowing into the sky, set several cars and buildings ablaze and trapped dozens of residents in their homes for hours.

    The bombing was the second in just more than a month to hit one of the Shiite group’s bastions of support, and the deadliest since 1985 when a blast in the area killed 80 people. Many in Lebanon see the attacks as retaliation for Hezbollah’s armed support for Assad in Syria’s civil war.

    wirestory

  • French ‘Devil’s advocate’ Jacques Vergès dies

    Provocative French Barrister Jacques Vergès, nicknamed the “Devil’s Advocate” for defending some of the 20th century’s most notorious monsters, died Thursday in Paris aged 88.

    Vergès made a name for himself by taking on clients such as Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, Venezuelan revolutionary Carlos the Jackal, former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz and ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

    He caused a storm when he told German newspaper Der Spiegel in 2008 that he would have defended Hitler.

    Vergès died of a heart attack around 8:00pm Paris time in the house where 18th century enlightenment philosopher Voltaire once lived

    “It was the ideal place for the last theatrical act that was the death of this born actor who, like Voltaire, cultivated the art of permanent revolt and volte-face,” his publisher said in a statement.

    Algerian independence, Cambodian war crimes

    Born in Thailand in 1925 to a father from French territory Reunion and a Vietnamese mother, Vergès was a communist as a student and later supported the Algerian National Liberation Front in its fight for independence from France.

    After securing the release of Algerian anti-colonialist militant Djamila Bouhired, he married her.

    One of his last high-profile cases was the 2011 defence of his long-time friend, Cambodia’s former communist head of state Khieu Samphan, who faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.

    Then aged 86, the short, bespectacled Vergès delivered a pithy riposte to prosecutors who had spent two days detailing the horror the country suffered under the Khmer Rouge, during which up to two million people died through starvation, torture and execution.

    The ‘dark side’

    Vergès’s life story reads like a novel, but there is one chapter that he preferred to leave unopened: from 1970 until 1978, when he left his wife and children and disappeared.

    He has referred to this period as “the dark side” of his life, leading to much speculation about these missing years.

    Among the more persistent theories are suggestions that he fostered ties with Palestinian militants, that he passed through Congo – or that he lived in Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

    Vergès himself said he “passed through to the other side of the mirror.”

    “It’s highly amusing that no one, in our modern police state, can figure out where I was for almost 10 years,” he told German newsweekly Spiegel in a 2008 interview.

    FRANCE 24’s Bangkok correspondent Cyril Payen, who met Vergès on a number of occasions, said the lawyer was “a very complex person”.

    “There is a wide gulf between the public man, the provocative and often aggressive barrister, and the private man, who was actually quite humble,” Payen said.

    Maximum publicity

    On his return to his legal activities, Vergès became the champion of extremists from both left and right.

    He was an advocate of Palestinian violence against the “imperialism” of Israel but he also defended neo-Nazi bombers and leapt at the chance to expose what he saw as establishment hypocrisy in the Barbie trial.

    Most of his clients lost their cases but Vergès’ flair was in courtroom provocation, attacking the prosecution and maximising the publicity of his defendants’ cause.

    Once asked by France Soir in 2004 how he could defend Saddam Hussein, after he said he was prepared to represent the Iraqi dictator, Vergès replied: “Defending Saddam is not a lost cause. It’s defending (then US president George W.) Bush that is the lost cause.”

    Vergès, a lover of thick Robusto cigars and author of some 20 books, had his colourful life portrayed in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival documentary “Terror’s Advocate” and starred in his own play in France, called “Serial Defender.”

    Source:{France24 & wires}

  • Kidnapped children rescued from DR Congo militia

    {{More than 80 children, some as young as eight years old, have been rescued from an armed group in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and are being reunited with their families, the UN said Friday.}}

    The 82 youngsters, including 13 girls, had been recruited by force by the Mai Mai Bakata-Katanga militia who are active in the restive province of Katanga, the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) said in a statement.

    The youngsters, aged eight to 17, were separated from the militia on August 11 and 15 thanks to the joint effort of local child protection agencies in the province, MONUSCO added. The children had reportedly been recruited over the past six months.

    Forty of the rescued children “were immediately reunited with their families, while the remaining are receiving interim care pending reunification,” the statement read.

    MONUSCO head Martin Kobler said the UN was “extremely concerned” about ongoing reports of active recruitment by armed groups in eastern DR Congo.

    “Children face unacceptable risks when they are recruited for military purposes,” he said.

    “The recruitment of children, particularly those under 15 years of age, could constitute a war crime and those responsible must be held to account.”

    MONUSCO estimates that 163 children, including 22 girls, have been separated from Mai Mai Bakata-Katanga fighters since the beginning of the year.

    france24

  • EU Urges Members to Consider Response to Egypt Violence

    {{The European Union asked its members on Friday to consider “appropriate measures” it could take in reaction to violence in Egypt, while European leaders stressed the importance of a united response.}}

    Around 50 people were killed in Cairo alone on Friday, a “Day of Rage” called by Muslim Brotherhood followers of ousted President Mohamed Mursi to denounce a police crackdown on the Islamists in which hundreds have died this week.

    “I have been in constant touch with European Union foreign ministers, and I have asked member state representatives to debate and coordinate appropriate measures to be taken,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke with French President Francois Hollande by phone, said Germany would review its relations with Egypt and the EU should do the same.

    Both called for EU foreign ministers to gather next week to discuss the bloc’s ties with Cairo.

    Senior EU diplomats will meet in Brussels on Monday to assess the situation and any EU action. They will also prepare the ground for a possible extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers.

    Hollande also spoke with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta. The two men called for an end to violence in Egypt and a return to national dialogue and elections, a statement from Hollande’s office read.

    British Prime Minister David Cameron called European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to express his concern.

    “They agreed on the need for the EU to send a strong and united message that the violence must end and that there should be transition to a genuine democracy, which would require compromise from all sides,” Cameron’s office said.

    {reuters}

  • U.S. spy Agency Defends Surveillance Programs as Lawful

    {{Under increasing pressure to justify electronic surveillance programs that at times capture communications of American citizens, the U.S. National Security Agency went to unusual lengths on Friday to insist its activities are lawful and any mistakes largely unintentional.}}

    In a sign of how much heat it has taken since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden started disclosing details of highly classified U.S. surveillance programs, the ultra-secretive intelligence agency held a rare conference call with reporters to counter public perceptions that NSA transgressions were willful violations of rules against eavesdropping on Americans.

    The NSA’s presentation was an attempt to calm the latest firestorm over documents disclosed by Snowden. The Washington Post late Thursday reported that the NSA had broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since 2008, citing an internal agency audit and other top secret documents.

    “These are not willful violations, they are not malicious, these are not people trying to break the law,” John DeLong, NSA director of compliance, told reporters.

    NSA employees know their actions are recorded and the agency’s culture is to report any mistakes, he said, repeatedly stressing that “no one at NSA thinks a mistake is OK.”

    Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia this month, gave information about secret NSA programs that collect phone, email and other communications to several media organizations, which published stories about them starting in June.

    His disclosures provoked an intense debate over privacy rights versus national security needs in the United States and several other countries, including Great Britain, Germany and Brazil.

    The uproar led to a series of rare public comments by normally publicity-shy NSA officials, who have written opinion pieces in the media and repeatedly said transparency was a positive development.

    “We’re working on the release of more documents soon,” DeLong said, without elaborating.

  • Hope Junior Academy Promotes Inanga Traditional Instrument in US

    {Inanga traditional instrument unique to Rwanda}

    {{As the World Peace Orchestra is currently convening we are thankful to be able to be a part of this monumental project on such short notice.

    The reasons being that it aligns very congruently with the goals of the Rwandan-Turkish International Schools in Rwanda: Hope Kids and Junior Academy, respectively. The benefits of having Mr. Harorimana not only be able to represent our school, but Rwanda as a whole are tremendous.

    Our ‘glocal’ vision at our schools transcribes itself exactly into what is occurring with the WPO and its use of music: bringing together renowned musicians to develop their capacity for positive change through the use of and love for music in an exchange of cultures, experiences and knowledge.

    Thusly from this experience, those musicians are able to take what they’ve learned and gained back to their home countries and apply it further, paying it forward through good works, reconciliation and peace-building in their local communities.

    Music helps to personalize and simplify people’s differences and disagreements as it is a universal language. We expect that that universality can be applied here in Rwanda as they move forward in their aims of development.

    We at Hope Kids and Junior Academy wholeheartedly believe in the message and dream of the WPO. It is what we strive for in our own classrooms and in the children we help to educate.

    So it is with great pleasure that we are able to introduce to the world Mr. Harorimana and his abilities with the inanga, as well as be representatives of Rwanda for the World Peace Orchestra.

    We look forward to greater things to come in the near future and we appreciate those in support of Mr. Harorimana, and would like to thank all of those that made this possible opportunity a reality.

    Sincerely,
    HJA Administration}}

    {{Interview With Emmanuel Harorimana as participant to the WPO 2013
    Tell us about your trip to USA?}}

    Yes, I am in currently preparing myself to fly to the US in New York as a participant in the World Peace Orchestra. I will be demonstrating through my gift of being able to play the Inanga instrument Rwandan culture such as our appearance via clothes, dance, mannerisms and behavior of Rwanda.

    {{Where did you get this chance from?}}

    This trip was planned by the World Peace Orchestra aiming to gather young traditional musicians from all over the world to contribute and encourage people to seek peace and that through their talents they could show their culture and encourage people to live in peace more readily.

    These performances will take place at various places in different parts of New York State. I’ve been selected by Hope Junior Academy who represents the WPO here in Rwanda.

    {{You were lucky to be selected among others “like” an Ambassador to represent your country in such a large event and country, like USA. What do you think about this?}}

    Honestly, since I was chosen to be selected as a participant in this event, I became very excited that I would be representing not only the image of my country but also to be showing that Rwandans are able-bodied people.

    I think that the reason for others to be participating in this project is for a similar reason to my own, but I believe that I will be successful in how I present Rwanda on such a stage. Although I’m not sure wholly this, though, I think I was chosen not just because I met all of the necessary requirements but especially that the Lord was willing.

    {{Since you are saying that you will be showing us the culture of your country, where do both singing and playing instruments meet in your musical process? Which instruments do you play normally?}}

    As you know, the Rwandan culture is very deep but it is the inanga which I had originally wished to learn to play long ago as a child. It has been ten years since I first started working with the Rwanda culture through playing music.

    It was from my grandparents that I learned to like our culture a lot and this was through traditional dancing, singing. I felt lucky to be able to do something that is nowadays uncommon, so, there is a sense of pride in representing all of this that I have known about and wished for since a young age.

    {{What are your expectations and what do you plan to do when back?}}

    As a part of representing my country, this event and trip will help me to show my abilities about my culture, my musical compositions and live performances will inspire people as this gathering is international and I will get from them what they’ll get from me as well.

    As I’ve already been doing this in my work in Rwanda, I will continue increasingly with my aim of holding my identity and encouraging people to participate in peace-making through our culture once I am back in Rwanda.

    {{Any other comments ?}}

    I would just like to thank the Almighty God who put this opportunity in my path, I thank Hope Junior Academy, The Ministry of Culture & Sport and all of the other organizers of the event.