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  • World Bank Gives US$50mn for Burkina Faso Power Sector

    {{The World Bank has approved a US$50mn International Development Association (IDA) credit to support Burkina Faso’s efforts to improve electricity supply in the West African country. }}

    The funds will also aim to increase electricity access and spread the use of renewable energy sources in rural areas.

    Burkina Faso World Bank country director Mercy Miyang Tembon said, “Burkina Faso has made steady strides in developing its electricity capacity and connecting people in cities and rural areas to power.

    “We are happy to continue supporting the government’s efforts to improve its energy security, so that poor people can have increased access to education and jobs and benefit more from economic growth.”

    A World Bank statement claimed that the credit will fund major power sector projects and support the government’s strategy for growth and sustainable development for 2011-2015.

    The project will include the construction of two turnkey power stations of at least 7.5MW each in the cities of Fada N’gourma and Ouahigouya.

    World Bank director of sustainable development for the Africa Region Jamal Saghir said, “With a 14% electrification rate and an electricity demand increasing at a rate close to 10% per year, it is necessary for Burkina Faso to complement regional programs by providing more power generation and securing energy supply in two cities with fast economic development.

    “The scale-up of energy connections and the construction of new power plants will enhance the security and reliability of electricity supply, improve the country’s overall economic growth and add to the everyday quality of life for thousands of people.”

    {africanreview}

  • AfDB & Rwanda Sign $41.5M Energy Agreement

    {{The Rwandan government and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have signed an agreement worth US$41.5mn to scale up energy access projects in the country
    According to Finance minister Claver Gatete, the funds, which comprise a loan of US$23.4mn and a US$17.9mn grant, will be used to upgrade northern energy projects of Gifurwe to 10MVA, as well as relocate the Rulindo substation.}}

    Gatete said, “Access to electricity in rural areas is crucial and in line with our mid-term development strategy. AfDB has been our partner in this through this programme and we appreciate its constant support.

    “The project will be implemented in a period of two years and will connect 25,438 households, 179 schools, 29 health centres and 25 sector administration offices to the grid along the distribution network areas.”

    AfDB country representative Negatu Makonnen added, “The energy project will catalyse economic activity in the countryside with both small and medium scale enterprises and large commercial and industrial clients benefiting from the reliable electricity supply.”

    The Rwandan Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) said that its target was to connect 70 per cent of Rwandan homes to electricity by 2017.

    EWSA director general Ntare Karitanyi said, “Our target will be achieved through several ongoing projects, such as the 25MW KivuWatt project of methane gas, which is expected to complete next year and small micro hydropower projects of six megawatts, being commissioned gradually since the last months.”

    Others include the 28MW Nyabarongo Power Project, to be ready by early 2014, and a new 15MW peat power project among others.

  • Spain Arrests Paedophile Freed by Morocco

    {{Police have arrested a Spanish paedophile who had his pardon revoked by Morocco’s King Mohamed VI after it sparked protests in the north African country, the interior ministry in Madrid said.}}

    Daniel Galvan, who was convicted of raping 11 children aged between four and 15 and sentenced in September 2011 to 30 years in prison in Morocco, was detained in Murcia in southeastern Spain, an interior ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by media.

    Galvan, who once worked at the University of Murcia, will be taken to Madrid “in the coming hours” where he will be brought before Spain’s top criminal court, the National Audience, which will decide his fate, the spokesman added.

    Earlier on Monday, King Mohamed sacked the country’s prison chief after an inquiry blamed his department for Galvan’s release.

    “The inquiry concluded that the said administration inadvertently provided erroneous information about the criminal record of the prisoner in question when requested by the royal court,” a palace statement said on Monday.

    {Aljazeera}

  • US Senators arrive in Egypt to Push for Peace

    {{US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham arrived in Cairo Monday as part of a fresh diplomatic push to find a peaceful solution to Egypt’s ongoing political crisis sparked by the military’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.}}

    The two senators were asked by US President Barack Obama to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and members of the opposition, with talks due to start on Tuesday.

    Before leaving, Senator Graham said in a television interview that Egypt’s military must move “more aggressively” to hold elections and that future US aid will hinge upon a return to civilian rule.

    “The military can’t keep running the country. We need democratic elections,” he told CNN’s State of the Union programme on Sunday.

    Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since the military ousted Morsi on July 3 and the US has been grappling with how to respond to the situation amid increasing political turmoil.

    The White House and US lawmakers are also struggling with how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid that Washington sends each year to Egypt, a key ally in the Middle East.

    US law bars sending aid to countries in which there has been a military coup, and Obama administration officials have been strenuous in their efforts to to talk about events in Egypt without using the word.

    “I want to keep the aid flowing to Egypt but it has to be with the understanding that Egypt is going to march toward democracy, not toward a military dictatorship. And that’s the message we’re going to send,” Graham said.

    france24

  • Mandela Mistakenly Issued Utilities Bill

    {{The City of Johannesburg has apologised to Nelson Mandela and his family for mistakenly posting a non-payment notice on the former South African president’s house warning him his electricity was about to be cut off.}}

    The city, which has faced a barrage of complaints from residents for bungled bills, said on Monday that the notice demanding payment of $660 was supposed to have been delivered to a different house.

    “The address and account number stated on the notice belong to another customer and property in a neighbouring suburb, not to the Mandela residence,” said city spokesman Kgamanyane Maphologela.

    “The city wants to convey an apology to the Mandela family for any inconvenience caused by this unfortunate incident,” it said in a statement.

    Mandela, 95, has spent two months in a Pretoria hospital battling a lung infection that has left him in a critical condition.

    The location of Mandela’s Johannesburg home is one of South Africa’s worst-kept secrets. It is frequently visited by media and well-wishers who leave messages for a speedy recovery on painted stones outside the residence.

    The notice threatened “discontinuation or restriction of services” and legal action if the 30-day arrears were not paid, local media Eyewitness News reported.

    Last month a bill for more than $355,000 was erroneously sent to the African National Congress party headquarters.

    Source: Agencies

  • Sudanese soldier killed in clash with South Sudan

    {{One Sudanese soldier was killed on Monday in a clash with troops from South Sudan after a patrol from the south crossed the border, a Sudanese military spokesman said.}}

    The spokesman, al-Sawarmi Khalid, said in a statement the clash took place after a South Sudanese patrol crossed the border and opened fire.

    The clash took place at Sudan’s main oilfield in the border area of Heglig, north of Sudan and which although is under the authority of Sudan is also disputed with South Sudan.

    Sudan, the sole conduit for South Sudan’s oil exports, had threatened to shut down its pipelines by the end of July unless the Juba government gave up its support for rebels operating across their border.

    South Sudan denies the accusations and the Khartoum government has postponed the shutdown to allow the African Union to investigate its complaints.

    A Sudanese official said on July 31 he was hopeful his country might not be forced to block South Sudan’s vital crude exports citing what said there were “good steps” made to end a row over alleged rebel support. Both states accuse one another of supporting rebels.

    Apart from oil, the two neighbors have yet to decide on the ownership of the rich oil state of Abyei and other disputed territories along their shared border.

    {wirestory}

  • Fonterra apologises for tainted milk scare

    {{Fonterra, the New Zealand based company at the centre of a contaminated milk scare, has apologised to its customers, saying it is doing everything it can to rectify the situation.}}

    The world’s biggest dairy exporter said on Monday that it had found bacteria in some products that could cause botulism.

    China, company’s largest customer, has banned imports of milk powder from New Zealand over fears of botulism.

    The company said contaminated whey protein concentrate had been exported to China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Saudi Arabia and used in products including infant milk powder and sports drinks.

    At a media briefing in Beijing Fonterra’s chief executive, Theo Spierings, said food safety was the company’s top priority.

    “We really regret the distress and anxiety which this issue could have caused,” he said.

    “We totally understand there is concern by parents and other consumers around the world. Parents have the right to know that infant nutrition and other dairy products are harmless and safe.”

    Aljazeera

  • 3 Hungarian men jailed over Roma killings

    {{Four Hungarian men have been sentenced to jail after they were found guilty of killing six Roma, including a five-year-old child, in a wave of racially-motivated attacks between 2008 and 2009.}}

    A Budapest court on Tuesday handed down life sentences to Arpad Kiss, Istvan Kiss and Zsolt Peto. Fourth defendant, Istvan Csontos, who served as a driver to his accomplices, was sentenced to 13-year prison.

    The four convicted men, aged between 28 and 42 at the time of the crimes, are expected to appeal the verdict.

    During a year-long spree of violence, six people were killed and five seriously injured, all of them ethnic Roma, a community that makes up between five to eight percent of Hungary’s 10 million population.

    In one of the most gruesome attacks, a Roma father and his five-year-old son were gunned down as they tried to flee their house, which the gang had set on fire.

    Prosecutors said the four defendants, all hard-core fans of the Debrecen football club in northeastern Hungary with neo-Nazi links, had had run-ins with Roma in the past.

    wirestory

  • Australia PM Rudd criticizes Rupert Murdoch role in election race

    {{Global media mogul Rupert Murdoch has waded into Australia’s election race, calling a key ruling party platform unaffordable and drawing accusations from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that he was trying to oust his struggling government.}}

    Murdoch, whose News Corp controls about 70 percent of Australia’s newspaper market, questioned in a Twitter message how an ambitious $34 billion super broadband being built by Rudd’s Labor was affordable in a slowing economy.

    “Oz politics! We all like ideal of NBN, especially perfect for Foxtel. But first how can it be financed in present situation?” tweeted the Australian-born Murdoch, whose global media empire is now based in the United States.

    NBN is the national broadband network, a plan to provide an internet connection to every home. But the opposition has promised to spend less on the network and scale back its capability, reflecting tighter financial conditions with economic growth forecast to slow to 2.5 percent this fiscal year.

    Murdoch, who owns 50 percent of pay-TV operator Foxtel, as strongly criticized on the opening day of the election campaign on Monday when his best-selling Daily Telegraph newspaper ran a front-page headline “Kick This Mob Out” over a picture of Rudd.

    Rudd, who has claimed underdog status ahead of a September 7 general election, told reporters on Tuesday there was no doubt the Australia-born Murdoch was determined to engineer election defeat for Labor after six years in power.

    “I think he’s made it fairly clear … that he doesn’t really like us, and would like to give us the old heave-ho,” said Rudd, whose minority government trails the conservative opposition 48 percent to 52 percent in the latest opinion polls.

    Rudd said Murdoch’s views on the election campaign largely mirrored those of conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has promised to downsize the planned broadband network.

    “Does he sense it represents a commercial challenge to Foxtel, to the major cash-cow for his company, or not?” asked Rudd, referring to the planned broadband network.

    “It’s a free country, he’s entitled to those views. I’m sure he sees it with crystal clear clarity all the way from the United States.”

    But Rudd denied his criticism hinted at plans to challenge Murdoch’s domination of Australia’s newspaper market should Labor be returned to power, by changing media laws.

    {agencies}

  • Indian Soldiers Killed at Pakistan Border

    {{Five Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush along the disputed border with Pakistan in Kashmir on Tuesday, India said, a clash that threatens to derail renewed efforts to resume peace talks between the nuclear-armed rivals.}}

    The attack, one of the worst since the South Asian neighbours signed a ceasefire in 2003, puts the Indian government under pressure to respond aggressively as it heads into a tough election next year.

    “The peace talks were in any case quite tentative, and they have now certainly suffered a serious blow,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research think tank in New Delhi.

    India summoned Pakistan’s deputy envoy to New Delhi and lodged a protest over the killings near the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the region, a government source said.

    A Pakistani security official denied there had been any exchange of fire on the border. “There has been no incident whatsoever,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

    Indian army sources said the attack took place in the early hours of Tuesday about 450 metres (500 yards) inside Indian territory, where six soldiers were on patrol. One soldier survived.

    “The ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms,” Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a statement to parliament.

    “I assure the house that our army is fully ready to take all necessary steps to uphold the sanctity of the LoC.”

    The raid took place near an outpost of 21 Bihar Regiment in the Poonch sector in the south of Jammu and Kashmir state, officials said.

    It came just as India was considering dates proposed by Pakistan to resume talks that were suspended in January after two Indian soldiers were killed, including one who decapitated, in a clash on the border.

    Islamabad has also been pushing for a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – who made better ties with India a theme in his election campaign in May – and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, Indian officials said.

    “It would be fruitless at this point to negotiate with the PMLN (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz),” said K.C. Singh, a former Indian ambassador. “We don’t know whether they are incapable or unwilling to handle the jihadi (militant groups) and the military, which have, in concert in the past decade, time and time again undermined the dialogue process with India.”

    New Delhi has sought to engage Pakistan’s civilian leadership and support its peace initiatives while demanding that Pakistan’s powerful military cut ties to militant groups that have carried out attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

    Both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan claim Kashmir, a Muslim-dominated region.

    In Pakistan, the military largely calls the shots on relations with neighbours and internal security, in addition to defence.

    The border incident comes after a botched suicide attack on an Indian consulate in Afghanistan at the weekend. Chellaney said the attacks underlined the threat to efforts to seek peace between the two neighbours, who are competing for influence in Afghanistan as Western troops prepare to withdraw in 2014.

    {reuters}