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  • Iran Remains firm on Uranium Enrichment Right

    Iran Remains firm on Uranium Enrichment Right

    {{Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stated that Western governments must recognise his country’s right to enrich uranium in any deal to allay their concerns about its nuclear programme. }}

    In a statement on Sunday, Rouhani said that the recognition should extend to “all rights of the Iranian nation, particularly nuclear rights and the right to enrich uranium on its territory within the framework of international rules”.

    He was referring to the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    His comments, at an annual military parade, came on the eve of his departure for the UN General Assembly in New York.

    “If they (Western governments) accept these rights, the Iranian people are a rational people, peaceful and friendly. We stand ready to cooperate and together we can settle all the region’s problems and even global ones,” Rouhani said.

    “The Iranian people want development and are not looking to make an atomic weapon.”

    wirestory

  • El Salvador Bans 14 Match-Fixing Footballers

    El Salvador Bans 14 Match-Fixing Footballers

    {{El Salvador has banned 14 international footballers for life over match-fixing in the third such scandal to hit the sport this week.}}

    One other player was given an 18-month ban, two were suspended for six months, one was acquitted while four more face further investigation, Carlos Mendez, the country’s football federation (FESFUT) president, told a news conference on Friday.

    “The work of the disciplinary commission has been exhaustive,” Mendez said.

    “We have used valuable information which has come from interviews, video accounts from people who have had the strength to declare and help us find those responsible.”

    The bans come one day after a group of mostly British footballers appeared in a Melbourne court after Australian police arrested them in an operation to smash a multi-million-dollar match-fixing ring.

    Police in Singapore said on Wednesday that they had arrested 14 people suspected of being members of an organised crime ring in a match-fixing bust there.

    The 14 El Salvador players given life bans were goalkeepers Dagoberto Portillo and Miguel Montes, defenders Ramon Flores, Miguel Granadino, Luis Anaya, Mardoqueo Henriquez, Alfredo Pacheco, Marvin Gonzalez and Reynaldo Hernandez and midfielders Osael Romero, Darwin Bonilla, Dennis Alas, Ramon Sanchez and Christian Castillo.

    {agencies}

  • Barcelona’s Pedro Scores Hat-trick in La Liga Victory

    Barcelona’s Pedro Scores Hat-trick in La Liga Victory

    Pedro Rodriguez scored a hat-trick as Barcelona 4-0 at Rayo Vallecano to maintain their 100% start to the La Liga season.

    The striker opened the scoring with an angled shot before Victor Valdes kept the visitors in front with a penalty save from Roberto Trashorras.

    The Spain forward tapped in a second two minutes after half-time when he converted Cesc Fabregas’s delivery.

    He added his third from short range before Fabregas slotted in a fourth.

    The win puts Gerardo Martino’s side on 15 points after five games, with Atletico Madrid in second with 12 points followed by Villarreal and Real Madrid on 10 points – though they have played four games.

    Lionel Messi and Neymar both had chances for the champions during the first half-hour of the match at the Campo de Vallecas before Pedro found the corner of the Rayo goal following a jinking run from Messi – playing in his 250th La Liga game.

    The home side should have been level a few moments later when Adriano fouled Trashorras in the area. The Rayo captain took the penalty, but his effort was saved by Valdes, who also denied Ajax from the spot in midweek.

    Pedro scored his and Barcelona’s second two minutes after the restart when he smashed his shot high into the net from Fabregas’s low ball.

    And with 20 minutes remaining, the Spain international completed his hat-trick with a tap-in after Brazilian Neymar had squared the ball to him.

    Former Arsenal midfielder Fabregas curled in a fourth for Barcelona in the 79th minute.
    In Saturday’s other matches, Real Sociedad were held to a 0-0 draw by Malaga while 10-man Almeria lost a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to Levante.

    Last year’s runners-up Real Madrid host Getafe in Sunday’s key fixture, with £85m signing Gareth Bale set to make his home debut.

    {agencies}

  • Guinea’s Parliamentary Elections Postponed

    Guinea’s Parliamentary Elections Postponed

    {{Guinea’s long-delayed nationwide elections, which were due to be held on Tuesday, have been postponed to September 28 after negotiations between the government and the opposition, a UN mediator has said.}}

    Said Djinnit, charged with ending a political deadlock in a country that is prone to violent street protests, said on Sunday that all parties had agreed to the delay to let the electoral commission fine-tune its plans.

    “We are convinced that with this agreement, nothing can hinder the holding of parliamentary elections under free, transparent, and inclusive conditions on Saturday, September 28, 2013 in Guinea and abroad,” Djinnit said.

    “On behalf of the international community, I am pleased to announce to all Guineans that all stakeholders in the electoral process have subscribed to this commitment.”

    Djinnit made the announcement at a press conference attended by leaders of the opposition Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Toure, as well as the presidential majority.

    Diallo, the west African nation’s main opposition leader, has accused the president’s camp and the electoral commission of conniving to rig the vote.

  • Merkel eyes 3rd term in Tight German Election

    Merkel eyes 3rd term in Tight German Election

    {{Germans voted on Sunday in an election expected to hand Chancellor Angela Merkel a third four-year term, but she may be forced into an awkward coalition with her leftist rivals following a surge in support for a new anti-euro party.}}

    Europe is closely watching Germany’s first national election since the eruption of the euro zone debt crisis in 2009. Some hope Merkel will take a softer stance on struggling euro states such as Greece if she is pushed into a so-called grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD).

    But major policy shifts seem unlikely because the center-left SPD, whose campaign stalled after a gaffe-prone start by its lead candidate Peer Steinbrueck, agrees with the thrust of Merkel’s approach even as it accuses her of weak leadership.

    The most recent opinion polls show support for Merkel’s conservative bloc – her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) – at around 39 percent, about 13 points ahead of the SPD, the second-biggest party.

    That virtually guarantees that Merkel, whose staunch defense of German interests during the crisis has sent her approval ratings soaring over 60 percent, will stay on as chancellor.

    “I voted for CDU because they’re a serious party and in the last eight years they’ve really moved the country forward,” said policeman Jochen Anders, 58, after casting his ballot in Berlin.

    “They have reduced our debts significantly, brought us through the euro zone and financial crises successfully and the economy has recovered,” he said.

    Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, has presided over a robust economy and booming labor market.

    The 59-year-old’s “step by step” leadership style is criticized abroad as too timid but applauded by many at home, where she was cheered as “Mutti”, or Mum, on the campaign trail.

    The SPD’s Steinbrueck, a 66-year-old former finance minister, voted in the former West German capital Bonn.

    “I feel very good … Now it is finally time for the voters to decide,” he told reporters.

    The first exit polls will be published at 6 p.m. (12 noon EDT). Of the 62 million Germans eligible to vote, out of a population of 80 million, about a third described themselves in the run-up to the election as undecided, adding to the uncertainty.

    reuters

  • Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for Nairobi mall attack

    Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for Nairobi mall attack

    Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab rebels on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack on a shopping mall in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, saying on Twitter it was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.

    “The Mujahideen entered Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the Kenyan Kuffar inside their own turf,” the group said on Twitter.

    “What Kenyans are witnessing at Westgate is retributive justice for crimes committed by their military,” the group said.

    Al-Shabaab claimed that its fighters had killed 100 people in the attack.

    The Kenyan Red Cross has said 39 people have been confirmed killed and over 60 wounded.

    Kenyan forces entered Somalia two years ago to fight al-Shabaab, and remain in the country as part of an African Union force that is supporting Somalia’s internationally-backed government.

  • GE & USADF launch Off-Grid Energy Challenge in Nigeria

    GE & USADF launch Off-Grid Energy Challenge in Nigeria

    {{The US African Development Foundation (USADF) has teamed up with GE Africa to launch the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge in Abuja, Nigeria}}

    The three-year, US$2mn initiative will award 20 or more grants of up to US$100,000 each to African companies and organisations providing off-grid solutions that deploy renewable resources and power economic activities.

    The challenge will be part of Power Africa, the White House-led initiative to drive growth by increasing access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable power by ensuring responsible, transparent and effective management of energy resources.

    Nigeria and Kenya will be the first countries to benefit from the initiative but other countries like Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia may also be included in the next three years.

    Speaking at a news briefing in Abuja to announce the call for proposals, GE Nigeria president and CEO Lazarus Angbazo said GE is proud to be associated with this initiative, which will benefit rural or urban populations in Nigeria and Kenya currently underserved by existing utility companies.

    He added that GE will be deeply involved in efforts to energise the power sector in these markets.

    africanreview

  • EA ministers Want to Take Part in Next Planning of MDGs

    EA ministers Want to Take Part in Next Planning of MDGs

    {{East African Local Government ministers have said they want to be involved in the next planning and phasing out of Millennium Development Goals for country suitability and implementation.}}

    The ministers from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania, joined by others from Comoros, Ethiopia and South Sudan, under the East African Local Government Forum (EALGF), September 19, said the MDGs currently coordinated by the UN agencies, have dragged on because individual countries were never consulted thus implementation had been met with mixed feelings.

    Speaking at the 2nd EALGF meeting in Kampala yesterday, the body’s chairperson, Ms Hawa Abdul Ghasia, said participation of individual East African states in the next round was in the best interest of development and an approach to see their success.

    “We… are more concerned because we are at the centre of implementation. It is the central government which received these policies on paper, but the biggest task of execution is on us, with little resources at hand,” Ms Ghasia said.

    EAGLF was established last year by the local government ministers to steer a bottom-up approach to integration and facilitate effective, efficient and sustainable projects in the region.

    Ms Ghasia, also Tanzania’ State Minister for Regional Administration and Local Government, said this year’s convention also aimed at funneling cordial relations with the East-notably China, whose developmental approach and intentions in Africa has no underlying strings.

    “China has been where we are now and when we run to them, they rarely raise conditionalities as the case for our predominant development partners,” she said.

    Uganda’s Vice President Edward Ssekandi, in his delegated speech at the opening the summit, hailed EALGF for championing for democracy, political participation and their stance in deepening the spirit of regional integration.

    He, however, urged them to embrace a development mind-like approach of emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil with emphasis on competitive markets.

    NMG

  • ANC Distances itself from Malema Statement

    ANC Distances itself from Malema Statement

    {{Comments about expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema made by an ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee (PEC) member do not reflect the party’s views, it said on Tuesday.}}

    “We want to put it on record that the views expressed by the PEC member comrade Panyaza Lesufi are his personal opinions,” ANC Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said in a statement.

    “At no stage of any ANC Gauteng meeting [did] such views or discussion emerge,” he said.

    On Monday, the Independent Online reported that Lesufi had called on the ANC to review its decision to expel Malema, who now leads the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

    He was quoted as saying: “The ANC still needs a Julius Malema, in so much as a Julius Malema cannot survive ‘outside of the ANC’, an organisation that made him what he is today.”

    Lesufi said he respected the party’s decision to expel Malema two years ago, but that the decision might have been “too harsh”.

    “Unlike [the Congress of the People], whose members left the ANC, these comrades were expelled, surely a decision that is within our powers to review.”

    Ntuli encouraged Lesufi to raise his concerns at ANC meetings.

    “The matter of the expulsion of Julius Malema has been fully exhausted in the internal processes of the ANC, his expulsion is now history.”

    Malema’s expulsion from the party was finalised in April 2012.

    He was found guilty of sowing division in the party and bringing it into disrepute.

  • ICC Frustrated by Reliance on Witnesses

    ICC Frustrated by Reliance on Witnesses

    {{After the collapse of half a dozen cases over atrocities, International Criminal Court prosecutors are seeking to hire forensic experts to reduce their reliance on witness testimony.}}

    Although not the only factor in the court’s failure to secure more than one conviction in a decade, the disappearance of witnesses, doubts over their accounts and withdrawals of their statements have undermined prosecutions over suspected crimes against humanity in Kenya, Sudan, Congo and elsewhere.

    That has stymied a court designed to dispense international justice and discourage war crimes. This week, the ICC began hearing testimony in a trial over Kenya’s 2008 bloodshed.

    Court officials said they had asked donors for a 10 percent increase in next year’s budget from the 115 million euros ($155 million) in 2013. Much of the additional money would pay for expert investigators.

    Some past cases relied too much on witness testimony and had gone to trial with too little evidence, said Phakiso Mochochoko, a senior official in the court’s Office of the Prosecutor.

    “We are looking at possibilities for cyber investigations and other forensic evidence we could collect,” said Mochochoko.

    The planned overhaul in investigations follows the replacement of high-profile chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo by Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda last year.

    When it comes to relying on witnesses, the Kenyan cases show how things can go wrong.

    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, face separate charges of orchestrating post-election clashes in 2008 which left about 1,200 people dead.

    agencies