IGIHE

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  • The Dutch Feel the Economic Pain

    {{The Netherlands, outspoken advocate of fiscal pain as a cure for euro zone ills, found itself in unwelcome company this week as the bloc’s economic recovery left it among a handful of laggards still in recession.}}

    Policymakers in southern states such as Greece and Spain may have had a moment of Schadenfreude when official data showed the northern Dutch among those still contracting while a Franco-German motor pulled the bloc as a whole back to growth.

    For the austerity-touting core euro zone state critical of budget laxity elsewhere, things are not likely to change soon. Growth is forecast to be worse than expected next year and the Dutch budget deficit is swelling.

    The deficit to GDP projection was just increased to 3.9 percent from 3.7 percent for next year, compared with the euro zone target of 3 percent.

    And while moderate growth in Germany and France lifted the region as a whole out of recession last quarter, Dutch gross domestic product shrank both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, by 0.2 and 1.8 percent respectively.

    In July, 25 companies were declared bankrupt every day, the highest reading since 1981. Unemployment hit another record high in the month, reaching 8.7 percent of the workforce.

    The latter is minimal compared with places like Spain, but the Netherlands is nonetheless being hit by deeply pessimistic consumers, the highest unemployment rate in decades and plummeting home values.

    “You can no longer speak of a European problem, but failing Dutch policy,” said Arnold Merkies, opposition member of parliament for the Socialist Party. “While unemployment falls in the countries around us, it continues to rise in our country.”

    Leading banks ING and Rabobank said additional austerity planned by the government of pro-business Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte will wipe out any growth in 2014 because of the need to make additional spending cuts.

    Rutte’ government is sticking to its austerity plans, although it has said it will take longer to bring finances back into order.

    But it got a downbeat statistical outlook on Wednesday from official economic forecaster, the Central Planning Bureau.

    It cut a quarter of a percentage point off growth forecasts for 2014 to 0.75 percent. Dutch GDP will shrink 1.25 percent this year, the CPB said, compared with a previously forecast contraction of 1.0 percent.

    wirestory

  • South Africa’s ANC Shun ‘Massacre’ Commemoration

    {{South Africa’s government and ruling African National Congress (ANC) party said they were staying away from one-year anniversary commemorations on Friday to mark the killings of 34 striking platinum miners shot dead by police.}}

    The decision revealed political splits and tensions still surrounding the so-called “Marikana Massacre”, which was the bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994.

    Explaining the decision, an ANC spokesman accused a grouping that includes the anti-ANC AMCU miners’ union of “hijacking” the memorial event planned at the Lonmin Marikana mine site, which is expected to draw several thousand.

    The Marikana support group organizers of the event also include a well-known churchman and lawyer representing the families of the Marikana victims.

    “People are taking advantage of a tragedy for their own political benefit,” ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said.

    reuters

  • U.S. Envoy Recognizes 2012 PEPFAR Poster Contest Awards Winners

    {{The Ambassador of the United States of America to Rwanda Donald W. Koran recognized Rwanda’s entrants and award winners of the 2013 U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Poster Contest.}}

    The contestants designed posters based on the theme “Working together for an AIDS-Free Generation.”

    The awards ceremony took place August 14, at the U.S. Embassy’s American Corner at Rwanda Library Services where Ambassador Koran presented each contestant and winner with a certificate and prize for their participation.

    Children and youth throughout Rwanda and in over 20 countries worldwide participated in the contest and shared their visions of an AIDS-Free Generation in each of their communities.

    The two winners from Rwanda are David Niwewe, who was awarded second place worldwide, and Anoushka Goyal, who won first place within the seven to nine year old age group.

    Niwewe and Goyal were joined and honored at the ceremony by the other Rwandan contest entrants: Kshitij Goyal, Alice Twahirwa, Claudette Uwase, and Assoumpta Umurerwa Isimbi.

    Ambassador Koran acknowledged the importance of each participant’s artwork and the role that youth play in the fight against HIV/AIDS: “Your posters illustrate hope for something better – for a world where no one must live with or die from HIV/AIDS, for an ‘AIDS-free generation.’”

    The contest was organized by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) to commemorate PEPFAR’s 10th anniversary. PEPFAR is the largest commitment by any nation to fight against a single global disease.

    Through PEPFAR, the U.S. government has provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding globally and over $500 million in Rwanda since 2009 to finance HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs that are supporting the achievement of an AIDS-Free Generation in Rwanda.

    The U.S. Embassy is proud of the successful partnership between the United States and Rwanda in the fight against the disease and this ceremony highlighted the participants as part of Rwanda’s activities in HIV prevention among youth through interactive engagement and raising awareness.

  • African Union Soldiers Accused of Gang Rape

    The African Union force fighting in Somalia is investigating the alleged gang rape of a woman by its soldiers, a case that has sparked outrage in Mogadishu, the AU said Thursday.

    A Somali woman has alleged she was abducted, drugged and then repeatedly raped earlier this month by soldiers from both the Somali national army and from AMISOM, the 17,700-strong African Union force that supports the internationally-backed government.

    “AMISOM is aware of the allegations levelled against its troops,” the force said in a statement.

    A joint AMISOM and Somali army team has been set up “to investigate the matter and appropriate action will be taken once the facts of the case have been established,” the statement added.

    The AU mission “strongly condemns any incidents of alleged sexual abuse or exploitation”, it said.

    AU troops, include soldiers from five nations — Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

  • Media Managers Decry low EAC Awareness

    {{Heads of media businesses in the East African Community (EAC) have raised concern over the low awareness of the regional integration among citizens.}}

    They said majority of EAC citizens, including the media, are not aware of the implications of the integration because they have been excluded from deliberations regarding the process.

    The media heads were meeting in Kampala yesterday to collect ideas to engage heads of state in the EAC member states during their summit in November.

    “All the time these meetings are going on, we are just standing at the balcony waiting for press releases or communiqué’s to write stories. When are we going to be part of the meetings?” asked Mr Robert Kabushenga, the interim chairman of the East African Media Summit, adding that they need meaningful engagements with the heads of state.

    Mr Alex Asiimwe, the Monitor Publications Chief Executive Officer, said the media is the bridge between integration and the population and its exclusion from the processes has created an awareness gap at the grassroots.

    “We should be raising awareness as far as legislation is concerned, free movement of labour and goods. We should look at the role the media played in other blocs like European Union,” Mr Asiimwe said.

    East African Media Summit is an initiative by the East African Community secretariat to engage in an annual forum with media moguls, chief executive officers and media executives to discuss integration issues.

    The one-day meeting was expected to generate content to be presented at the heads of state summit.

  • Radio Comments Land Congolese MP in Jail

    {{A legislator from eastern Congo has been sentenced to three years in prison and stripped of his post after making critical comments about governmental authorities during a radio broadcast.}}

    Muhindo Nzangi was accused of breaching state security after making the comments on private station Radio KivuOne.

    In the verdict handed down late Tuesday, he was acquitted of more serious charges against him that carried a possible 20-year sentence.

    Defense attorney Ruffin Lukoo said Nzangi’s sentence is alarming and undermines democracy in this Central African country.

    Nzangi hails from Goma in eastern Congo, where the Congolese army and United Nations forces are stepping up their efforts against rebel groups.

    Goma briefly fell into the hands of M23 rebels last November and those fighters have said they’re not ruling out another attack.

    Source: Fermont Tribune

  • RwandAir & Air Uganda Sign Code Sharing Deal

    {{RwandAir and Air Uganda have signed a code sharing agreement to enable the airlines to synchronise costs and equipment, while maximising profits.}}

    The new deal was signed Wednesday in Kigali. It will allow passengers booked on both airlines travel at their convenience.

    According to John Mirenge, the RwandAir chief executive officer, the arrangement seeks to extend a range of aviation services to passengers on the Kigali–Entebbe–Kigali route more competitive between the two airlines.

    The Code share enables Airlines in partnership to synchronise flights, tickets and equipment to ease passenger movement.

    Mirenge noted, “Our code share partnership with Air Uganda will ensure commercial success as we look forward to a record surge in arrivals. It will also enhance our growth.”

    The two airlines transport 337 passengers daily between Kigali–Entebbe-Kigali route, with RwandAir alone carrying 225 passengers.

  • East African Teachers want Curricula Harmonised

    {{The Federation of East African Teachers’ Unions (FETU) have called for harmonisation of education policies and curricula in the region.}}

    Gratian Mukoba, the chairman of FETU says the move would enhance production of graduates able to serve anywhere in the region, especially Doctors, Accountants and Teachers.

    The call was made Tuesday, during a three-day regional workshop on international labour standards and the EAC common market protocol in Kigali.

  • Rwanda, Ethiopia Vow to Strengthen Trade Ties

    {{The Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, yesterday signed a cooperation agreement in trade with his Ethiopian counterpart, Kebede Chane. }}

    The agreement, that was signed on the sideline of the AGOA meeting that ended in Addis Ababa yesterday, is aimed at further cementing ties and to enhance trade between business communities of the two countries.

    AGOA is the African Growth Opportunity Act, a platform that aims to enhance trade between African states and the United States.

    “This agreement is only formalizing a framework for investment opportunities and trade between our two sister countries. I am confident that this will see significant increase in trade and business between Rwanda and Ethiopia,” Kanimba is quoted as saying in a statement from the Rwandan mission in Addis Ababa.

    The trade agreement is a foundation document and framework that guides and encourages trade and investments between Rwanda and Ethiopia, according to the statement.

  • New Zealand quake city opens cardboard cathedral

    {{Christchurch’s cardboard cathedral officially opens on Thursday, replacing the neo Gothic structure destroyed in a 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people in New Zealand’s second largest city.}}

    Completion of the innovative structure, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, marks a major milestone in the city’s recovery from the devastating 6.3-magnitude quake that levelled much of the downtown area, acting dean Lynda Patterson said.

    “The old cathedral symbolised the city in many ways and we think this cathedral is a symbol that Christchurch is regrouping and rebuilding,” she told media.

    “The community has a cathedral again. It’s a place where people can come for quiet contemplation in the city centre and somewhere we can hold concerts and art exhibitions.”

    Built from 600 millimetre (24 inch) diameter cardboard tubes coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants, the cathedral is a simple A frame structure that can hold 700 people.

    Despite the unusual building material, it has a design life of 50 years, with the Anglican Church planning to use it as a cathedral for at least a decade while it builds a permanent replacement for the late 19th century building lost in the quake.

    It has a concrete base, with the cardboard tubes forming two sides of the A frame and containers helping brace the walls.

    One end of the cathedral will be filled with stained glass and a polycarbon roof will help protect it from the elements.

    It is the most ambitious piece of “emergency architecture” attempted by Ban, who has forged a reputation for using low cost, easily available materials to build structures in disaster zones from Rwanda to his native Japan.

    In an interview with AFP last year, Ban said cardboard was a surprisingly strong building material and described projects such as the cathedral as part of the “social responsibility” of being an architect.

    The project has not been without setbacks. It was originally slated for completion in November last year and the budget has reportedly increased from NZ$4.5 million ($3.6 million) to around NZ$7.0 million.

    Last month, some sections of cardboard tubing became sodden and wrinkly when a torrential downpour hit before the roof was completed, although they were swiftly cut out and replaced.

    Patterson said it was a relief to finally stage the building’s dedication service on Thursday evening.

    “I still keep having dreams that the ground has shifted and I’ll go there and it’s a building site again,” she said.

    She added that reaction to the cathedral from parishioners and the public had been “overwhelmingly positive”.

    “From time to time we wondered if we’d ever get there,” she said.

    “None of us can believe how good it’s turned out.”

    Plans for a permanent replacement of the original cathedral have not been completed, with many in Christchurch pushing for any new structure to include a recreation of the imposing spire that dominated the city’s skyline before it toppled in the quake.

    {agencies}