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  • Global Food Prices Fall in Latest Period

    Global food prices fell by 2% in the latest four-month period, marking the third straight period of declines, as declining imports in the Middle East and North Africa, and lower demand pushed prices down 12% from their August 2012 peak, the World Bank said on Thursday.

    The World Bank’s Food Price Index showed international prices of wheat fell by 2%, sugar by 6%, soybean oil by 11%, and maize, or corn, by 1% during the four-month period between February and June.

    The index, which weighs export prices of food, fats and oils, grains, and other foods in nominal U.S. dollars, fell by 2%.

    Improved weather conditions after last year’s droughts helped bolster the production of wheat.

    The bank said it expects good harvests from the major producers to continue as long as unfavorable weather in northern and central Europe, Russia and China does not drag on production.

    Global maize production is expected to reach a record high this year, according to the report, partly driven by a revival in demand from U.S. ethanol producers.

    While prices have stabilized recently, the volatility of food prices in recent years has prompted developing countries with high poverty and weak safety nets to respond by ratcheting up consumer food subsidies, the poverty-fighting institution said.

    The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have made a big push in the past year to urge countries to scrap subsidies on consumer food to ease pressures on government budgets and free up more funds for health and education spending.

    Both institutions have also questioned whether such subsidies truly improve poverty – as they can often go to large-scale farmers or well-connected people instead of the poorest.

    “Poorly designed food subsidy programs that lack transparency and accountability in implementation do not benefit poor people,” said Jaime Saavedra, active vice president for poverty reduction and economic management at the World Bank.

    “These programs can be very costly and prone to corruption, and waste scarce fiscal resources.”

    According to the report, more direct forms of transfers, such as food stamps and public works, are more effective in helping the poor.

    reuters

  • Japan Seeks Ability to Hit Enemy Targets

    {{Japan should strengthen the ability of its military to deter and counter missile attacks, including the possible acquisition of the ability to hit enemy bases, the Defence Ministry said, but officials denied this would be used for pre-emptive strikes.}}

    The proposal – Japan’s latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution – is part of a review of defense policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which released an interim report on the issue on Friday. Final review conclusions are due by the end of the year.

    The hawkish Abe took office in December for a rare second term, pledging to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment, including an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

    The report by a defense ministry panel echoed concerns aired in Japan’s latest defense white paper about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and China’s military build-up and increased activity by its ships and aircraft near disputed islands in the East China Sea – where Japanese and Chinese vessels and planes have been playing cat-and-mouse.

    Given Japan’s strained ties with China over the tiny islands and Tokyo’s wartime history, Beijing could react strongly to the proposals, which come after Abe cemented his grip on power with a big win in a weekend election for parliament’s upper house.

    The Defence Ministry panel said it was necessary to comprehensively strengthen “the ability to deter and respond to ballistic missiles”. Officials denied, however, that this implied Japan would make pre-emptive strikes.

    The line between the ability to hit enemy targets and make pre-emptive strikes is primarily political and philosophical, and Japanese officials typically avoid the latter term.

    “There is no change at all to our basic policy of exclusively defensive security policy,” Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.

    “The issue of capability to strike enemy targets surfaces as we discuss what kind of defense measures we can take when multiple attacks have been mounted against our country.”

    In the Japan-U.S. security alliance, Japan acted as a shield while the United States shouldered the capability to strike enemy bases, he added, but changing security risks needed study.

    “Broad-based debate, including one between Japan and the United States, is needed on the issue amid the changing security environment,” Onodera said. “Of course, we are not assuming pre-emptive strikes.”

    agencies

  • U.S. Arrests Hackers in biggest Cyber Fraud Case in History

    {{News from US, indicates that Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged five men responsible for a hacking and credit card fraud spree that cost companies more $300 million and two of the suspects are in custody, in the biggest cyber crime case filed in U.S. history.}}

    They also disclosed a new security breach against Nasdaq, though they provided few details about the attack.

    Other companies targeted by the hackers include a Visa Inc licensee, J.C. Penney Co, JetBlue Airways Corp and French retailer Carrefour SA, according to an indictment unveiled in New Jersey.

    Authorities have been pursuing the hackers for years. Many of the breaches were previously reported, though it appeared the one involving Nasdaq OMX Group Inc was being disclosed for the first time.

    Prosecutors said they conservatively estimate that the group of five men from Russia and Ukraine helped steal at least 160 million payment card numbers, resulting in losses in excess of $300 million.

    Authorities in New Jersey charged that each of the defendants had specialized tasks: Russians Vladimir Drinkman, 32, and Alexandr Kalinin, 26, hacked into networks, while Roman Kotov, 32, mined them for data. They allegedly hid their activities using anonymous web-hosting services provided by Mikhail Rytikov, 26, of Ukraine.

    Russian Dmitriy Smilianets, 29, is accused of selling the stolen data and distributing the profits. Prosecutors said he charged $10 for U.S. cards, $15 for ones from Canada and $50 for European cards, which are more expensive because they have computer chips that make them more secure.

    The five hid their efforts by disabling anti-virus software of their victims and storing data on multiple hacking platforms, prosecutors said. They sold payment card numbers to resellers, who then sold them on online forums or to “cashers” who encode the numbers onto blank plastic cards.

    “This type of crime is the cutting edge,” said New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. “Those who have the expertise and the inclination to break into our computer networks threaten our economic wellbeing, our privacy and our national security.”

    The indictment cited Albert Gonzalez as a co-conspirator. He is already serving 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to helping mastermind one of the biggest hacking fraud schemes in U.S. history, helping steal millions of credit and debit cards.

    Prosecutors say the defendants worked with Gonzalez before his arrest in Miami, then continued on a crime spree after his capture.

    Drinkman and Smilianets were arrested in June 2012, while traveling in the Netherlands, at the request of U.S. authorities. Smilianets was extradited last September and is expected to appear in New Jersey Federal court next week. Drinkman is awaiting an extradition hearing in the Netherlands.

    Prosecutors declined comment on the whereabouts of the other three defendants.

    Tom Kellermann, a vice president with security software maker Trend Micro, said he thinks the prospects are dim that they will be caught because authorities in some countries turn a blind eye to cyber criminals.

    “There is an enormous shadow economy that exists in Eastern Europe. In some countries, sophisticated hackers are seen as national assets,” he said.

    Kalinin and Drinkman were previously charged in New Jersey as “Hacker 1” and “Hacker 2” in a 2009 indictment charging Gonzalez in connection with five breaches.

    wirestory

  • Mushikiwabo tells UN during debate on Eastern DRC: Enough words — it’s time for action

    {{It’s time for the practical action that will bring peace to the Eastern DRC, Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told the UN Security Council Thursday. }}

    Addressing a UN Security Council debate chaired US Secretary of State John Kerry, Minister Mushikiwabo reiterated Rwanda’s backing for the UN peace process designed to end decades of conflict and instability.

    “The Framework of Hope, along with regional peace efforts, offer a realistic path to lasting peace and security. There has been more than enough grandstanding by unaccountable actors who seek profit and publicity from the region’s misery,” Minister Mushikiwabo said.

    While endorsing Secretary Kerry’s Presidential Statement on the Great Lakes Regional Framework, Mushikiwabo said Rwanda would have liked to see more support of regional initiatives such as the peace talks at Kampala sponsored by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

    Rwanda’s future prospects are inextricably tied to the outcomes of the peace process, Mushikiwabo told international diplomats and senior government officials who converged on the UN’s New York headquarters for Secretary Kerry’s inaugural appearance as Security Council President.

    “Let me put it in the clearest possible terms: in order to secure long-term peace and prosperity for Rwanda into the future, we need a peaceful and prosperous DRC. As long as conditions persist that allow more than thirty rebel groups to roam with Eastern DRC with impunity — or as long as men and boys see nothing in their futures beyond crime, violence and conflict — such a transformation will remain beyond reach.”

    Minister Mushikiwabo outlined ways Rwanda has begun implementing recommendations contained in the Peace and Security Framework conceived by UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and overseen by Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson, including:

    Disarmament of M23 fighters who have crossed into Rwanda as a result of infighting in March this year, as well as reporting sanctioned high ranking officers;

    Cooperation with UN agencies to accommodate roughly 70,000 Congolese nationals who have sought refuge in Rwanda as a result of instability in the Kivus;

    Support to the deployment of the Intervention Brigade to allow MONUSCO to carry out its Protection of Civilians responsibility;

    Efforts to boost regional cooperation through enhanced economic integration and tackling the exploitation of natural resources, including the seizure of 8.4 tons of smuggled minerals which are being to DRC authorities

    Minister Mushikiwabo urged all parties to adhere to the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework, saying that after nearly two decades of armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, there is now an historic opportunity for peace and prosperity.

  • New Trade Rule Blocks Kenyan Exports to EAC

    {{Manufacturers in Kenya are fighting to save a multi billion (Kenya Sh114 billion) regional export business as Uganda and Tanzania increasingly charge full duty on imports from Kenya.}}

    Businessdaily reports that arbitrary protectionist measures are undermining the East African Common Market forcing the Kenya Association of Manufacturers to seek an urgent meeting with the Treasury and the Trade ministry.

    Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) officials said 95% of the companies under its wings had been affected. The lobby brings together 750 manufacturers classified under 14 sectors.

    In some cases, Kenyan companies exporting under the duty remission scheme— where companies are allowed to import inputs without paying full tax — are facing demands of backdated taxes of up to five years.

    Under new regulations ratified by the EAC that KAM wants suspended, manufacturers using imported input can only export outside EAC or pay full duty as opposed to the rules of origin scheme (demanding at least 35% value addition) where tax is paid on imported raw materials.

    KAM says the countries have extended this treatment to even minimal imported input:
    “In some cases, producers use minimal imported content on remission and are still subjected to full payment of duty on the final product.

    We believe that the content imported under remission should be put into consideration when determining when duty is payable on the finished product.”

    But the government says the EAC decision to restrict duty remission goods to exports outside EAC borders — with only 20% allowed into the block —was informed by logistical issues.

    Director of economic affairs Richard Sindiga says even the minimal input has major implications.

    “A firm which wants to sell in East Africa has to pay full duty because it is administratively expensive for countries to audit factories for compliance on input,” said Mr Sindiga.

    He adds that firms exporting under the rules of origin scheme have not been affected, which some manufacturers contest.

    The official said EAC is carrying out a study on duty remission that he urges KAM to participate in.

    agencies

  • 80 Police Officers Complete anti-GBV Training

    {{Eighty two Police officers attached to Kicukiro and Gasabo districts completed training in fighting gender related crimes and how to sensitize the public in the campaign against HIV.}}

    The one-day training held at Kicukiro College of Technology was organized by Rwanda National Police as part of its ongoing activities to fight gender crimes and sexual transmitted diseases.

    The Central Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bosco Rangira, said for the force to effectively execute its tasks, training is “inevitable.”

    “Rwanda National Police’s core role is to protect life and property. HIV like gender-based violence can also be a threat to security, if not contained,” ACP Rangira said.

    He urged the officers to be agents of positive change by putting to use the acquired skills.

    He commended the good working relations between Kicukiro and Rwanda National Police particularly in crime prevention.

    Florence Uwayisaba, Kicukiro vice mayor in charge of social affair said the course will benefit all Rwandans.

    “Wasting the skills and knowledge you acquired means putting at risk the lives of some Rwandans, who need to be sensitized on how to prevent gender crimes and HIV,” she stated.

    RNP

  • EA Revenue Bodies Sign Deal for Single Tax System

    {{Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya revenue authorities have endorsed a report set to fast-track the start of the single tax clearance centre for the East African member states that heavily depend on the Mombasa port for its economic survival.}}

    In June in a Tripartite Summit , the Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda Heads of State issued a joint communiqué directing that the collection of customs duties by Uganda and Rwanda be done at the Mombasa port using the general bond security.

    “In the spirit of the East African integration, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) have begun preparations for implementation of the Single Customs Territory (SCT),” reads the joint statement issued after the three revenue prefects received the report.

    In principle, the community leadership has already agreed to adopt a Single Customs Territory where taxes are collected at the first point of entry. But what is left, which is also going to be queued by the technical report that the commissioner generals have endorsed is the operationalization of the system.

    “This development stands to positively impact the three partner states’ trade activities, as it will ensure that assessment and collection of taxes is done at country of destination before such cargo moves out of the port,” the policy analyst for Private Sector Foundation, Moses Ogwal, said in an earlier interview.

    Meanwhile, the three partner states have agreed on mutual recognition of customs bonds executed by their respective insurance companies, as cargo destined to bonded warehouses will be verified at the port of origin or entry, by liaison customs officials representing the destination countries.

  • Africa’s Fertile Land Idle, World Bank Report Says

    {{Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world’s uncultivated land but the continent has not utilised the resource to secure food security.}}

    The land is estimated at more than 202 million hectares. This can be used to dramatically reduce poverty and boost growth, jobs and shared prosperity.

    According to a new World Bank report, “Securing Africa’s Land for Shared Prosperity,” released yesterday, African countries and their communities could effectively end ‘land grabs,’ grow significantly more food across the region and transform development prospects if they can modernise the complex governance procedures that govern land ownership and management over the next decade.

    Africa has the highest poverty rate in the world with 47.5 per cent of the population living below $1.25 (Sh108) a day.

    “Despite abundant land and mineral wealth, Africa remains poor,” said Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice-President for Africa.

    He added, “Improving land governance is vital for achieving rapid economic growth and translating it into significantly less poverty and more opportunity for Africans, including women who make up 70 per cent of Africa’s farmers yet are locked out of land ownership due to customary laws,” he said, adding, “The status quo is unacceptable and must change so that all Africans can benefit from their land.”

    The report notes that more than 90 per cent of Africa’s rural land is undocumented, making it highly vulnerable to land grabbing and expropriation with poor compensation.

    However, based on encouraging evidence from country pilots such as Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, the report suggests an action plan that could help revolutionise agricultural production, end land grabbing and eradicate extreme poverty in Africa.

    The report suggests that Africa could finally realise the vast development promise of its land over the course of the next decade by championing reforms and investments to document all communal lands and prime lands that are individually owned.

    The report says it would cost African countries and their development partners, including the private sector, $4.5 billion over 10 years to scale up policy reforms and investments.

  • South Africa Air Force in Crisis

    {{The DA will ask Parliament’s defence joint standing committee to schedule a meeting to discuss the “crisis” in the SA Air Force (SAAF), spokesperson David Maynier said on Wednesday.}}

    He was responding to a news report that 18 Agusta A109 helicopters had been grounded because there was no money to operate them.

    “The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula must explain why things have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that the SAAF Agusta A109 light utility helicopters have effectively been grounded,” the DA MP said.

    The aircraft were purchased at a cost of close to R2bn as part of the controversial arms deal.

    “The budget for the SAAF’s ‘helicopter capability’ has been slashed from R915m in 2012/13 to R769m in 2013/14,” Maynier said.

    “Because of this only 71 flying hours have reportedly been allocated to the operational fleet of approximately 20 Agusta A109 helicopters.”

    This meant the helicopter pilots could lose their qualifications as a result of not being able to fly the minimum number of hours needed.

    “Ironically, there seems to be no shortage of funds to transport VIPs -including President Jacob Zuma and the minister – on helicopters operated by the SAAF,” said Maynier.

    The cost of flying VIP’s since 2009 stood at at least R50m.

    “The SAAF are in danger of being reduced to an airborne taxi service for VIPs.”

    News24

  • Less Activity Outside Mandela hospital

    {{Activity has diminished outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital, in Pretoria, where former president Nelson Mandela spent his 48th day on Thursday.}}

    Tshwane metro police still had Celliers Street cordoned off, but there was not a lot of traffic for them to direct.

    Local and international media remained stationed outside both entrances to the hospital.

    Street sweepers cleaned the pavements, and passers-by occasionally stopped to look at the wall of messages, flowers, banners, and flags left since the ailing icon was admitted on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

    The most recent update from the presidency was that Mandela’s condition was improving.

    SAPA