On Thursday, October 3, 2013, IGIHE (English Version) published an article titled {{Obasanjo’s son Dies in Nigeria Plane Crash.}}
However, It has since been established that former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo’s son was not involved in the plane crash as reported in several media outlets around the world.
We regret any inconveniences the article might have caused.
{{It’s being touted as China’s answer to Orlando, a $5 billion resort and theme park complete with a mega rollercoaster and a whale shark tank situated on a sleepy southern island next to the world’s biggest gambling hub Macau.}}
Chimelong, which is set to partially open next month, is the linchpin of China’s ambitious plans to expand Hengqin into a leisure hub similar to the coastal U.S. city globally renowned for its natural attractions and theme-park resorts by Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) and Universal Studios.
And while some extravagant infrastructure projects in China have turned into white elephants, the odds are on Hengqin’s side largely due to the support of the Beijing government and the island’s proximity to the millions of tourists who throng to Macau every year.
“I don’t have many doubts that it will be successful,” said Philip Tulk, director of equities research at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, referring to the island which the government designated as a special economic zone five years ago.
“The mainland people are looking for entertainment and travel options that are reasonably easy. They strongly desire new and interesting places to go and if Chimelong can deliver on that it will be massively successful,” he added.
The construction boom on Hengqin, just a 10-minute drive from Macau, comes at a time when mega-resorts are being developed in Asia in places like Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam to tap the region’s growing ranks of wealthy tourists.
Most of these visitors are Chinese and many choose to stay close to home, heading to Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal and where gaming revenues grew by more than a fifth last month to just over $3.5 billion.
Macau welcomed almost 30 million visitors last year, but the government’s plans to increase that number are being stymied by a lack of land and strained infrastructure and services.
Enter Hengqin, which is three times the size of Macau and which boasts long, sandy beaches and thick, mountainous forests.
“Macau is small and there are too many people. It needs to be expanded. Chimelong is a good complement. It is positioned as leisure tourism,” said Niu Jing, director of the administrative committee, or local government, of the Hengqin New Area.
reuters
{{Iran has arrested four people for trying to sabotage a nuclear site, a senior official says.}}
The activities of the four had been monitored for some time, said the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by local media, said
They had been caught red-handed, Ali Akbar Salehi said.
Mr Salehi did not give names or nationalities, or identify which site was the intended target.
The announcement comes amid new hopes of resolving Iran’s standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.
Just over a week ago, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani spoke to US President Barack Obama by phone in a bid to ease tension over Iran’s nuclear programme.
They were the first talks between Iranian and US leaders in more than three decades.
Substantive nuclear negotiations between Iran and international powers are due to take place next week and Mr Rouhani has pledged to bring a plan to the meeting.
Iran wants the lifting of UN sanctions, which were imposed over concerns that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons clandestinely – an allegation Tehran denies.
BBC
{{U.S. forces launched raids in Libya and Somalia on Saturday, two weeks after the deadly Islamist attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, capturing a top al Qaeda figure wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. officials said.}}
The Pentagon said senior al Qaeda figure Anas al Liby was seized in the raid in Libya, but a U.S. official said the raid on the Somali town of Barawe failed to capture or kill the intended target from the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement.
Liby, believed to be 49, has been under U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the East Africa embassy bombings that killed 224 people.
The U.S. government has also been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program.
“As the result of a U.S. counterterrorism operation, Abu Anas al Liby is currently lawfully detained by the U.S. military in a secure location outside of Libya,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said without elaborating.
Liby, also known as Nazih al-Ragye, was arrested at dawn in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as he was heading home after morning prayers, a neighbor and militia sources said.
“As I was opening my house door, I saw a group of cars coming quickly from the direction of the house where al-Ragye lives. I was shocked by this movement in the early morning,” said one of his neighbors, who did not give his name, “They kidnapped him. We do not know who are they.”
Two Islamist militia sources confirmed the incident.
CNN reported in September last year that Liby had been seen Tripoli. It quoted Western intelligence sources as saying there was concern that he may have been tasked with establishing an al Qaeda network in Libya.
That CNN report quoted counterterrorism analysts as saying that Liby may not have been apprehended then because of the delicate security situation in much of the country, where former jihadists hold sway. It quoted one intelligence source as saying that Liby appeared to have arrived in Libya in the spring of 2011, during the country’s civil war.
The Pentagon confirmed U.S. military personnel had been involved in an operation against what it called “a known al Shabaab terrorist,” in Somalia, but gave no more details.
One U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the al Shabaab leader targeted in the operation was neither captured nor killed.
U.S. officials did not identify the target. They said U.S. forces, trying to avoid civilian casualties, disengaged after inflicting some al Shabaab casualties. They said no U.S. personnel were wounded or killed in the operation, which one U.S. source said was carried out by a Navy SEAL team.
{{Somalia Firefight }}
A Somali intelligence official said the target of the raid at Barawe, about 110 miles south of Mogadishu, was a Chechen commander, who had been wounded and his guard killed. Police said a total of seven people were killed.
The New York Times quoted a spokesman for al Shabaab as saying that one of its fighters had been killed in an exchange of gunfire but that the group had beaten back the assault.
It quoted an unnamed U.S. security official as saying that the Barawe raid was planned a week and a half ago in response to the al Shabaab assault on a Nairobi shopping mall last month in which at least 67 people died.
“It was prompted by the Westgate attack,” the official said.
Residents said fighting erupted at about 3 a.m. (8 p.m. EDT on Saturday). “We were awoken by heavy gunfire last night, we thought an al Shabaab base at the beach was captured,” Sumira Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters from Barawe on Saturday.
“We also heard sounds of shells, but we do not know where they landed.”
The New York Times quoted witnesses as saying that the firefight lasted more than an hour, with helicopters called in for air support.
The paper quoted a senior Somali government official as saying that the government “was pre-informed about the attack.”
Earlier, al Shabaab militants said British and Turkish special forces had raided Barawe, killing a rebel fighter, but that a British officer had also been killed and others wounded.
Britain’s Defence Ministry said it was not aware of any such British involvement. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official also denied any Turkish part in such an action.
In 2009, helicopter-borne U.S. special forces killed senior al Qaeda militant Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a raid in southern Somalia. Nabhan was suspected of building the bomb that killed 15 people at an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast in 2002.
The United States has used drones to kill fighters in Somalia in the past. In January 2012, members of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two aid workers after killing their nine kidnappers.
Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, has described the Nairobi mall attack as retaliation for Kenya’s incursion in October 2011 into southern Somalia to crush the insurgents. It has raised concern in the West over the operations of Shabaab in the region.
{{Police on Friday arrested nine men in Rwamagana District, who are said to have been distilling and distributing an illegal gin commonly known as kanyanga and other illicit liquors.}}
The suspects were arrested in Rubona sector, Mabare cell in Bwiza Village following a tip-off from area residents.
They were found with 280 litres of kanyanga and 720 litres of other various illicit brew. They are currently detained at Nzige police station.
The District Police Commander, Superintendent Richard Rubagumya thanked those who provided police with the information regarding the illegal acts, and warned those that could still be involved in such crimes, to refrain before they are arrested.
He said the suspects will be charged under articles 594 and 598 of the penal code.
Article 598 stipulates that, any person who manufactures, sells, prescribes a drug, harmful products, cosmetics or body hygiene and other herbal substances prohibited in healing practice, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of Rwf1 million to Rwf5 million or one of these penalties.
Under article 594, any person who unlawfully makes, transforms, imports, or sells narcotic drugs within the country, is liable to a term of imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of Rwf500, 000 to Rwf5 million.
{{Rwanda has received Euros €40million that will be used to finance the rehabilitation and maintenance of feeder roads across the country. }}
The funds follow an agreement signed Friday between government of Rwanda and the European Union (EU).
Finance Minister, Claver Gatete, signed on behalf of government while Michel Arrion, the Head of EU Delegation to Rwanda, signed on behalf of the European Union.
A network of 0ver 700km of feeder roads in the rural areas will be rehabilitated.
Minister Gatete noted, “Seven districts will benefit from the financing that starts this fiscal year. By improving the road network of rural secondary roads linking to major roads, it will make food more affordable for consumers and enhance food security in general.”
Ambassador Arrion said, “It is essential for farmers to be able to take their products to the market. An improved network of feeder roads will reduce transportation costs and have an immediate effect on food security in Rwanda.”
{Ambassador Arrion and Finance Minister, Claver Gatete after signing}
{{The Director of Ethiopian Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Mulugeta Gebrehiwot accompanied by Education and Training leader, Simon Akindes are here in Rwanda to explore areas of collaboration with Rwanda Peace Academy.}}
Today they paid courtesy call on the Minister of Defence, Gen James Kabarebe and discussed on the matter.
Mr Mulugeta said that” We are looking into signing an MOU between the two institutes “and added that they are focusing on partnership in training.’’
We can exchange staffs, students, make joint research and joint projects” Mr Mulugeta said.
At Minister’s office they were accompanied by the Director of Rwanda Peace Academy, Col Jil Rutaremara.
{President Paul Kagame officiates at the swearing-in ceremony of 80 parliamentarians}
{{On Friday, President Paul Kagame officiated the swearing-in ceremony of 80 parliamentarians as well as members of the judiciary including the Prosecutor General. }}
Addressing members of Parliament, President Kagame reminded those present of the challenges Rwanda has surmounted:
“Under very heavy rain, the Rwandan spirit never dissolved. Under the scorching sun, the Rwandan spirit did not melt. The spirit of Rwanda has remained intact and it will take us through another day, another month and many more years.
You must remember that we were killed. Our country almost disappeared but this cannot and will not happen a second time.”
Thanking all those who participated in the peaceful, free and fair elections, President Kagame pointed to Rwanda’s brand of democracy as one that caters to the need of the Rwandan people:
“The principles of democracy are the same everywhere but they need to be applied to our specific context and history. Democracy we believe in is not about copy pasting from contexts that are not our own, we believe in adapting it to our needs.
The Rwandan people expect hard work from each of you and the determination to deliver results that benefit every Rwandan.”
President Kagame urged the newly elected parliamentarians not to be naïve regarding Rwanda’s critics:
“Those who judge us don’t talk about how many women in parliament, children in school. They rather accuse us of having child soldiers in DRC.We are treated with injustice but our business is to make sure we work hard to be responsible for ourselves.
The eighty newly elected members of Parliament sworn in today chose Hon. Donatille Mukabalisa as the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and Hon. Mukama Abbas and Hon. Jeanne d’Arc Uwimanimpaye as the two Deputy Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies.
The new parliament remains first in the world with the highest number of women represented at 64%.
{{Dr. Stephen Smith, co-founder of the Aegis Trust, was on Thursday, October3 appointed the inaugural holder of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair on Genocide Education.}}
An international genocide prevention organization, the Aegis Trust is responsible, under contract to CNLG, for the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi which it established at the request of Kigali City Council in 2004.
Dr. Smith is today the Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education in California, and an adjunct professor of religion.
Aegis Trust and USC Shoah Foundation are working together in Rwanda to educate young people to help build peace in the country.
“I am a firm believer that education is the bedrock of our efforts to prevent genocide,” Dr. Smith said. “Through this partnership, USC Shoah Foundation and UNESCO are joining forces to develop the research networks and education programs essential to understand and limit genocide in future generations.”
Aegis Trust Chief Executive Dr. James Smith, who created the charity with his brother Dr. Stephen Smith, noted, “Everyone at the Aegis Trust is delighted and very proud that the organisation’s co-founder has become the inaugural UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education, and joins me in sending warm congratulations to Stephen.”
He added, “The USC Shoah Foundation’s collaboration with Aegis on peace-building education in Rwanda is of immense value, and we look forward to seeing that partnership grow even stronger in coming years.”
The UNESCO award was in 2011 presented to Aegis’ Goodwill Ambassador, the actor Clive Owen.
{Dr. Stephen Smith, co-founder of the Aegis Trust}
{{Monthly wages in Moscow average at around $1,800, although most workers earn substantially less than that amount, a city official said.}}
“It’s not that we all live affluently here, it’s related to the fact that in Moscow there’s a big rift between the low-paid and the high-paid,” Deputy Mayor for Social Development Leonid Pechatnikov said, m24.ru reported.
The differences between the salaries of Russian managers and their subordinates is among the highest in the world, and it’s growing, according to a study by the international consulting company Hay Group, Vedomosti reported.
Russian managers in 2013 earn on average 12.5 times more than the workers beneath them, up from 11.1 times more in 2011.
For comparison, in the U.S. and Western Europe managers’ salaries are about 3.5 times higher than those of their subordinates.
The average may also be skewed by the fact that Moscow contains more billionaires than any other city in the world — 84, with a combined fortune of over $366 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s 2013 list of the top 10 billionaires cities.
In 2012 the average Russian salary was 23,600 rubles, RIA Novosti reported.
{The Moscow Times }