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  • SA Says ‘Has Confidence in Robert Mugabe’

    SA Says ‘Has Confidence in Robert Mugabe’

    {{South Africa has confidence that President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party will revive the Southern African country’s economy after winning the 31 July elections, a report says.}}

    According to a Herald report, SA’s deputy minister for trade and industry Elizabeth Thabethe said Mugabe was capable of reviving Zimbabwe’s economy and returning the country status as the bread basket of Southern Africa.

    Thabethe was speaking at an investment and trade initiative programme in Gweru.

    Thabethe said Zimbabweans should also benefit from their own resources and help develop the economy.

    Zimbabwe’s economy has been in shambles for more than a decade.

    Source: News24

  • Kofi Annan: ‘African justice is weak’

    Kofi Annan: ‘African justice is weak’

    {{Kofi Annan speaks with the unhurried, temperate tone of someone confident of being listened to. Last week the former UN secretary-general met his match, however, in the form of hundreds of Sowetan schoolchildren blowing vuvuzelas in a football stadium.}}

    “Silence please,” Annan was forced to plea as his speech was interrupted, something that can rarely have happened to him at the UN general assembly or even mediating in Syria. Organisers of the One Young World summit, an annual gathering of “the brightest young people from around the world” being staged in Africa for the first time, were visibly mortified.

    But once the summit proper got under way, in the more conventional surroundings of a Johannesburg conference hall, speakers including Bob Geldof, Arianna Huffington, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Muhammad Yunus were met with hushed reverence. For his part, Annan warned the audience drawn from 190 countries that the benefits of globalisation have not been shared fairly and the gap between rich and poor is unsustainable.

    It is a theme that sub-Saharan Africa’s first UN secretary-general develops later in an interview with the Guardian in a luxury villa at the five-star Saxon Hotel. There must be greater accountability and transparency, he says, to ensure Africa’s vast natural resources benefit all its people. But on nothing does Annan sound so untroubled by doubt as the principle of the international criminal court (ICC), set to be put in the dock itself on Saturday when Africa leaders meet to discuss a possible pullout.

    “I don’t share the view that the ICC is anti-African,” the 75-year-old Ghanian says firmly. “The ICC is not putting Africa on trial. The ICC is fighting impunity and individuals who are accused of crimes. We should also understand, and this point cannot be made strongly enough: of all the cases, four were referred to the ICC by African governments themselves. The two others, Libya and Darfur, were referred to the court by the security council.”

    He continues: “What is important is that African judicial systems are weak. The victims deserve justice and they want justice. When I travel around the continent, Africans want justice, preferably from their own governments if they can and, if not, from the international criminal court. The day when African courts become independent, strong and can handle these cases, I think we will see fewer referrals to the ICC.

    “The question I cannot ask often enough is: who speaks for the victims? How do they get justice? Who’s in their corner?”

    These are burning questions in Kenya in particular, where those who suffered post-election violence more than five years ago are still waiting. But ICC trials of president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto may become another victim of the last month’s al-Shabaab killing spree in Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall. It was Kenya’s worst terrorist attack for 15 years, but Annan says the response must come from far and wide.

    “I think the al-Shabaab issue and the terrorism issue should not be seen as only a problem for Kenya. It is an international problem and governments and security forces have to share information and intelligence and work together to deprive the terrorists of the opportunities and constantly ensure that they are on the wrong foot.

    “They should not give them havens, they should not allow them to use the financial systems to move monies around.”

    Al-Shabaab claimed it was bringing the war to Kenya in retaliation for the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. Annan admits: “The Kenyan-Somali situation is an awkward one. First of all, it’s next door. When I was in peacekeeping, we normally did not take troops from neighbouring countries into an operation. We tried to bring them further afield.

    “It’s also a bit more complicated in Kenya because you have Kenyan-Somalis and Somalis from beyond Kenya. The government has a double problem. Apart from fighting and containing the terrorists, it also has to hold its own society together. It’s a very complex issue which I’m sure the government is aware of and has to handle with care.”

    Since leaving the UN at the end of 2006, Annan has hardly slowed down with positions in several bodies; one of these is chair of the Africa Progress Panel. Does he share the euphoria du jour around “Africa rising”, despite evidence that, in many countries, wealthy elites are leaving poor majorities behind? “Some countries have done extremely well. Equatorial Guinea today has a GDP higher than Poland and yet two thirds of the people live in poverty, they have a very bad health system; how do you explain that? So we should not be euphoric because of the gross figures that GDPs are growing; it has to be translated locally into improved lives for the people in terms of health, education and jobs.

    He warns: “Unfortunately very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans. Some will tell you because the process is usually dominated by ministers of finance and they are more concerned about growth, exchange rates, inflation rates and all this, and very few actually ask the question, ‘What does this policy do for employment? What does it do to our youth?’ I think this is a question that each government has to put at the centre of its plans.”

    One of the most spectacular success stories in development and economic growth is Rwanda, less than 20 years after the genocide in which 800,000 people died. Annan is quick to praise and slow to criticise the leader he refers to as “Paul”, seen by opponents as a ruthless autocrat who has jailed opponents and journalists.

    “Each country has its own peculiarities,” he says carefully. “Rwanda has been to a place where most countries have not been. Paul has tried to rally his people and turn his country around. He’s taken some tough measures but he’ll probably tell you without those measures he couldn’t have achieved what he has achieved.

    “But as we go forward, if they build the institutions that ensure the rights of everyone and people can participate and have their say without getting into trouble, then we are moving in the right direction. He has done well in terms of growth rates, in terms of the systems he has put in place. Will that stand the test of time? That will be real test of success.”

    When the issue of Kagame’s alleged support for the M23 rebel militia in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo is raised, Annan interjects rapidly: “I don’t want to go there: that’s for my secretary-general.”

    He is no less delicate in considering Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who has been accused of ethnic cleansing, orchestrating political violence, stamping on civil society and media and rigging elections during his 33-year rule.

    “I think he has made a contribution: he was very active in the independence struggle, fought for the independence of his country and also worked with quite a few of the leaders in this region for their own independence – very active members of the liberation movements. So he has a place in history for that.

    “We’ve seen the economic and political debate and the difficulties in and around Zimbabwe. The last elections have been declared ‘free’ and ‘fair’; I don’t think they used the word ‘credible’. I think the results have been accepted and he has a good party organisation, they’ve been around for a long time, and probably could have won with or without games.”

    There is little in these remarks to console Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who insists the election was fraudulent and has plunged the country into crisis. Annan adds: “What is important is that Zimbabwe, which had such great prospects, probably has a second chance now. It was a breadbasket of the region. When I hear of World Food Programme sending food to Zimbabwe, it shows you what a setback has taken place. I think we should really work with them to pick up the pieces and move forward. Holding on to the past and who was right and who was wrong and all this doesn’t help.”

  • Pacific man in bid to Become First Climate Refugee

    Pacific man in bid to Become First Climate Refugee

    {{A Pacific islander has made a bid to become the world’s first climate change refugee, asking a New Zealand court on Wednesday to allow him to stay in the country due to the risks to his homeland posed by the effects of global warming.}}

    Ioane Teitiota, from Kiribati in the central Pacific, launched an appeal at New Zealand’s High Court in Auckland to overturn a decision by immigration authorities to refuse him refugee status, made on the grounds his claim fell short of the legal criteria, such as fear of persecution or threats to his life.

    Teitiota, 37, who came to New Zealand in 2007 and has three children born there, said he and his family would suffer serious harm if forced to return to Kiribati because rising sea levels caused by climate change meant there was no land to which he could safely return.

    His claim for refugee status spelled out how high tides breached seawalls and rising ocean levels were contaminating drinking water, killing crops and flooding homes.

    “There’s no future for us when we go back to Kiribati,” he told the appeal tribunal, adding that a return would pose a risk to his children’s health.

    {{‘Basic human right’}}

    Teitiota’s lawyer Michael Kidd acknowledged that his client’s New Zealand visa had expired but said he should not face deportation because of the difficulties he would encounter in Kiribati – a nation consisting of more than 30 coral atolls, most only a few metres (feet) above sea level.

    “Fresh water is a basic human right … the Kiribati government is unable, and perhaps unwilling, to guarantee these things because it’s completely beyond their control,” Kidd told Radio New Zealand.

    He said Teitiota’s case had the potential to set an international precedent, not only for Kiribati’s 100,000 residents but for all populations threatened by man-made climate change.

    If his appeal is successful Teitiota would become the world’s first climate refugee, Kidd said.

    Kiribati is among a number of island states – including Tuvalu, Tokelau and the Maldives – the UN Human Rights Commission is concerned could become “stateless” due to climate change.

    Kiribati government’s has raised the prospect of relocating the entire population or building man-made islands to re-house them if predictions the sea will rise by one metre (3.25 feet) by the end of the century prove accurate.

    It has also moved to buy 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land in Fiji to act as a farm for Kiribati if salt-water pollution means the islands in the former British colony can no longer produce crops.

    Last month, leading climate change scientists said in a report that they are now 95 percent certain that human activity is the main cause of climate change and warned that the world is set to experience more heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels that could swamp coasts and low-lying islands as greenhouse gases build up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

    france24

  • Dexter Payment Card Malware Strikes South Africa

    Dexter Payment Card Malware Strikes South Africa

    {{South Africa has been hit by one of the biggest cyber-fraud attacks in its history, according to the body that oversees local financial transactions.}}

    The payment card systems of thousands of shops, restaurants and hotels had been compromised, said the Payment Association of South Africa (Pasa).

    Losses were thought to be in the “tens of millions, but not hundreds of millions of rands”, it said.

    It added the attackers had used a new variant of the malware known as Dexter.

    Ten million rand is worth £626,000 or just over $1m.

    Dexter gets its name from a string of code found in one of its files, which may refer to the US television show that followed the exploits of a serial killer.

    The Dexter code was linked to a series of attacks on point-of-sale systems in the UK, US and dozens of other countries towards the end of last year.

    It skims and transmits the cards’ magnetic-strip information, allowing clones to be made that can then be used for fraudulent purchases,.

    Pasa said it believed the criminals responsible were based in Europe, but added it was not sure from which countries.

    Copied magstrips

    “It’s probably the worst [attack] of its kind in terms of the losses,” Walter Volker, Pasa’s chief executive, told media.

    “We started detecting higher levels of fraud at some of these retailers early in the year – from about late-January, February. We initially thought it was a normal seasonal thing, but as the volumes increased we decided to appoint a forensics investigation company.

    “Eventually it was able to find this particular malware in some of the locations. Very soon after we found the cause of the compromise, we were able to clean up those sites with anti-malware software.”

    Mr Volker added that while the attack had targeted back-end systems to steal data from the cards’ magstrips, it had not stolen Pin codes or CVV payment authentication numbers – meaning the thieves would not have been able to withdraw money from bank cash machines or have used the information to make purchases from internet shops.

    “Normal anti-virus software would probably have cleaned up Dexter but it was a particular custom-built variant, which was not detectable with the normal scanning software that everybody’s got,” Mr Volker added.

    “It seems like it was a European-based syndicate – we don’t exactly where – but Interpol and Europol are making good progress in trying to apprehend these particular perpetrators.”

    KFC fast-food restaurants’ card systems were among those to have been compromised, according to a statement given by the chain’s owner to theBloomberg news agency.

    “We take this extremely seriously,” Yum Brands said. “Our first priority is to make sure that the impact on our customers remains minimal.”

    Bloomberg added that a locally based burger and pizza chain operator, Famous Brands, had also confirmed some of its payment machines had been exposed.

    However, Pasa stressed that it would ultimately be the banks – rather than the public or other businesses – that would face losses as a consequence of the attack.

    “In terms of the banks, there’s probably not a single issuing bank in the country that has not been affected in some way,” said Mr Volker.

    “The South African card holders – or potentially tourists using their cards at the affected sites – will not be exposed to any losses. It’s just the inconvenience of detecting false transactions on their accounts.

    “If that has happened they should just contact their issuing bank.”

    wirestory

  • Fitch downgrades Ghana; From B+ to B

    Fitch downgrades Ghana; From B+ to B

    Fitch, the international credit rating agency, has downgraded Ghana from a B+ to a B, largely because of the country’s handling of its wage bill.

    Sources close to the rating agency have told the Daily Graphic that a formal announcement will be made today.

    Ghana was put on a B+ (negative) outlook in February this year and has since been under continuous assessment by Fitch.

    The sources said the country’s economy had been under close monitoring by the rating agency, which had expressed concern over several factors affecting the short-term health of Ghana’s economy.

    It is believed that Fitch is worried that government’s difficulty in managing the rising wage bill and the increased debt to GDP ratio pose short-term challenges to the economy.

    While experts recognise Ghana’s bright prospects in the medium term, it is believed that the government will struggle with controlling the fiscal situation over the next 18 months.

    “The outlook for post-2015 looks much better,” the sources said, citing Ghana’s removal of subsidies on petroleum products as helping the fiscal situation but continued subsidies on utilities, especially power, posed challenges for fiscal stability and growth going forward.

    Ghana’s debt to GDP is currently estimated to stand about 49.3 per cent, according to President John Mahama, speaking at the 4th Ghana Policy Fair.

    The government, he said, would only implement projects that had the potential of transforming the lives of the people.

    “Prioritisation is the name of the game. Our current debt to GDP ratio is estimated at 49.3 per cent. While there is a strong need to borrow to satisfy the high demand for infrastructure development, I wish to assure all that we will keep our debt profile within reasonable limits,” he said.

    President Mahama also restated his assurance to Ghanaians that the current economic challenges were temporary, promising that his government would not be reckless with the management of the economy, in apparent reference to the debt sustainability ratio.

    “We may be facing temporary challenges, but measures have been put in place to overcome these and the economy is responding positively,” Mr Mahama added.

    {myjoyonline}

  • US Congress Votes to End Government Shutdown

    US Congress Votes to End Government Shutdown

    {{US Congress passed an 11th-hour deal Wednesday night to bring an end to a two-week government shutdown and avert a debt default in a bipartisan deal that left Republicans little to show for the epic political drama that threatened to rattle the world economy.}}

    The Senate voted 81-18 to send the bill to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which passed it late Wednesday night 285-144. President Barack Obama signed the legislation shortly after midnight Thursday.

    Congress had faced a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Thursday to raise the government’s borrowing authority or risk a default on its obligations.

    The bill reopens the government until January 15 and permits the Treasury to borrow normally up to February 7. It includes nothing for Republicans demanding to eradicate or scale back Obama’s signature health care overhaul.

    “We fought the good fight. We just didn’t win,” conceded House Speaker John Boehner as lawmakers lined up to vote on the bill.

    Taking the podium in the White House briefing room after the Senate vote and just before the House took up the measure, Obama said that with final congressional passage, “We can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people”.

    “Hopefully next time it won’t be in the 11th hour,” Obama said. “We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis.”

    Less than an hour later, as debate began in the House, Republican Rep. Harold Rogers said: “After two long weeks, it is time to end this government shutdown. It’s time to take the threat of default off the table. It’s time to restore some sanity to this place.”

    agencies

  • France to try Norwegian neo-Nazi

    France to try Norwegian neo-Nazi

    {{A Norwegian neo-Nazi musician arrested by French authorities in July on suspicion of planning a terrorist act is due to go on trial in Paris.}}

    Kristian “Varg” Vikernes was detained after his wife, a licensed gun holder, bought shotguns and other weapons.

    Authorities later conceded there was no specific plot and they were released.

    Instead Mr Vikernes is now being tried for inciting racial hatred and glorifying war crimes in some of his writings on the internet.

    He is a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who was once in touch with his compatriot Anders Breivik, the Norwegian far-right militant who killed 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011.

    In May 1994 Mr Vikernes received a prison sentence for murdering the guitarist of a rival black metal band and setting fire to churches in Norway.

    After his release in 2009 he moved to France with his wife and children.

    French authorities placed him under surveillance. On 16 July they arrested the couple in the southern region of Correze after the wife began buying shotguns.

    Officials later said she had a valid firearms permit and released the pair.

    Mr Vikernes has vowed to sue the French authorities for arresting him with “no good reason” and “in the most brutal way possible”.

    He says officials have not returned his firearms or his ceremonial weaponry, including his swords, spears, and helmets.

    Since coming to France, Vikernes has continued releasing music and writing.

    He will be tried on incitement charges related to postings on his blog which prosecutors say were “anti-Semitic and xenophobic”.

    Through his writings he promotes what he calls “Odalism”, an ideology based on the idea that White Europeans should re-adopt “native European values”.

    {agencies}

  • Osborne Agrees to China investing in UK Nuclear Plants

    Osborne Agrees to China investing in UK Nuclear Plants

    {{The Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced that the UK will allow Chinese companies to take a stake in British nuclear power plants.}}

    The decision could lead to China taking a future majority stake in the development of the next generation of British nuclear power.

    Mr Osborne made the announcement on the last day of a trade visit to China.

    The first China deal could be as early as next week, with the go ahead for a new £14bn plant at the Hinkley C site.

    Also on Thursday, a report commissioned for the prime minister warned of a growing risk of power shortages over the next few years.

    The Royal Academy of Engineering said the closure of older power plants and the slow progress in building news ones was likely to stretch the system “close to its limits”.

    Supply is expected to come under strain in the winter of 2014-15.

    BBC

  • ‘Very important’ progress in Iran nuclear talks, EU says

    ‘Very important’ progress in Iran nuclear talks, EU says

    {{High-stakes nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers adjourned on an upbeat note Wednesday, with the European Union’s top diplomat calling them ‘’very important.” }}

    Iran’s foreign minister spoke of a possible ‘’new phase” that would ease a decade of tensions over fears that his country wanted a nuclear bomb.

    EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton did not go into details on the substance of the talks. But she read a statement endorsed by both Iran and the six countries, calling the talks ‘’substantive and forward looking.”

    Confirming Iranian media reports, the statement said the two sides will meet again in Geneva on Nov. 7-8.

    Ashton, who convened the talks, spoke of a ‘’very intensive and I think a very important meeting.”

    Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who headed the Iranian side, said he hoped the results achieved over two days of talks ending Wednesday “will hopefully be the beginning of a new phase” in relations between Iran and the six powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

    ‘’We have reached a serious stage in the talks,” he told reporters.

    The lack of immediate details on what was achieved, however, made it

    difficult to evaluate the amount of progress made in what has been a decade of deadlocked negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

    Iran says it’s not interested in having nuclear weapons. Its proposal Tuesday to the six powers focused on their demands that Iran’s uranium enrichment program and other activities that could be used to make nuclear arms be stopped or reduced.

    Iran wants painful international sanctions to be lifted in exchange for possible concessions it had been previously unwilling to consider.

    Those could be increased international monitoring of its nuclear program and the scaling back of its uranium enrichment plans – a potential pathway to nuclear arms and the centerpiece of its impasse with the West.

    Tehran insists it has no interest in weapons production. Still, it has resisted both enticements and sanctions from world powers designed to force it into ending uranium enrichment and other activities that could be used to make weapons.

    But negotiations now appear to be driven by the new wind generated since reformist President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June.

    {wirestory}

  • UN Calls for More Troops,Helicopters for Mali Mission

    UN Calls for More Troops,Helicopters for Mali Mission

    {{The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for more troops and helicopters needed so its peacekeeping mission in Mali can effectively stabilize the north of the country and protect civilians from attacks by Islamist extremist and armed groups.}}

    The U.N. force, known as MINUSMA, assumed authority on July 1 from a U.N.-backed African force in Mali. But while the U.N. Security Council mandated a 12,600-strong force, there are only some 5,200 troops on the ground.

    “We are faced with severe challenges,” U.N. Mali envoy Bert Koenders told the U.N. Security Council. “The mission lacks critical enablers – such as helicopters – to facilitate rapid deployment and access to remote areas to ensure the protection of civilians. Troop generation will have to accelerate.”

    A report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that to reach its authorized strength the force still needs two infantry battalions, an airfield engineer company for the rehabilitation of the airstrips in northern Tessalit and Kidal, an information operations unit and a special forces company.

    The mission was dealt a blow by the withdrawal in August of some 1,200 Nigerian troops, who returned home to fight their own homegrown Islamist insurgency. Then last month about 150 Chadian troops abandoned their posts in protest at the length of time they had served and demanded their rotation be speeded up.

    Tuareg separatists and Islamist rebels seized three northern regions, covering an area the size of France, last year as the government disintegrated following a March 2012 coup. A successful seven-month-old campaign by France to destroy the Islamist enclave has killed hundreds of fighters linked to al Qaeda.

    France still has 3,200 soldiers in Mali, aiding the U.N. peacekeepers against Islamist threats, but plans to reduce that number to about 1,000.

    “It’s a success story. When you look at where Mali was last year, it was a country collapsed, it was a country where the terrorists were moving towards the capital,” French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters after Koenders’ briefing.

    “But we have to be vigilant, we know we will face problems down the road, we know that the terrorists have not been eradicated,” Araud said.

    National elections were held in July and August. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former prime minister, was elected by a landslide with a pledge to reunify the country and restore its pride. Legislative elections are due to take place in November.

    reuters