IGIHE

Author: IGIHE

  • Over 7,700 totally wiped out families during genocide remembered

    {The Association of Student Survivors of the Genocide (AERG) and former students who survived the Genocide (GAERG) have paid homage to more than 7700 families that comprised over 34,823 members completely wiped out from 17 districts countrywide during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi.}

    The families were commemorated on Saturday in Rubavu district where government officials joined GAERG to lay wreaths at Commune Rouge memorial accommodating 4500 genocide victims.

    GAERG president Olivier Mazimpaka highlighted the need to remember such wiped out families as there are no known relatives that survived to pay homage to fallen victims.

    “In Rwandan culture, the survivor organizes all funerals, remembrance and the mass. No one member of these families survived to remember them but they will never be forgotten as long we are alive. So, we have to take responsibility to commemorate them,” he said.

    Mazimpaka urged genocide perpetrators to reveal locations of remains of these victims that are scattered to be accorded decent burial.

    Remembering the totally wiped out families is held for the 9th time. The first was held on 6th June 2009 at Ntarama genocide memorial in Bugesera district.

    The vice president of Senate, Hon Jeanne d’Arc Gakuba requested GAERG to keep the plan of colleting statistics and evidence to preserve history.

    “We should keep census to get statistics from remaining 13 districts and document our history to be passed on to generations and serve as evidence to international community to squarely address genocide denial,” she said.

    Government officials joined GAERG in a walk to remember that preceded the night vigil in Rubavu district.
    The commemoration was preceded by a walk to remember

  • RwandAir acquires Boeing 737-800NG

    {Rwanda aviation carrier, RwandAir has acquired a 4th Boeing 737-800NG becoming the 12th airplane of the company fleet. }

    The airbus was yesterday flown in to Kigali from Seattle, United States and is part of a long-term agreement RwandAir signed with Aircraft Lease Corporation based in America in December 2015 to deliver two airbuses of mark Boeing 737-800 Next Generation.

    The first of its kind named Kalisimbi arrived in Rwanda in December 2016 preceding the latest one ‘Muhabura’ received yesterday.

    The acting CEO of RwandAir, Col Chance Ndagano said the new airbus is an addition to the existing ones noting that it highlights the carrier’s willingness to connect Rwanda with the world.

    Explaining the structure of the new airbus he said; “It is composed of two parts, one having 16 VIP seats with the other one having 138 economy seats. It is equipped with internet, helping passengers on board to communicate with various people, entertainment equipment, helps understanding and identifying the location of the airplane in the sky among others,” he said.

    Col Ndagano said RwandAir flies to 22 destinations including London.

    “This new airbus will help extend flights to West Africa including Bamako in Mali and Conakry in Guinea. We will continue to play a leading role in contributing to national economy, trade, tourism and citizens’ welfare through connecting our citizens with other countries,” said Col Ndagano.

    RwandAir plans to launch flights to Guangzhou in China by the end of 2017 and New York by next year.

  • Rwanda public transport firm yet to cover all rural routes

    {Transport operators on major upcountry routes face increased competition from the recently-launched private-public-owned transporter, which continues to win over travellers.}

    In March, Rwanda Interlink Transport Company (RITCO) Ltd deployed the first of its fleet upcountry comprising of more than 53 ultra-modern 56-seater buses together with 30 coasters and 22 former ONATRACOM-operated buses.

    RITCO replaced the now defunct government transport company, which used to ply routes in the country’s remotest parts but was bogged down by mismanagement.

    Majority of the new RITCO buses are deployed in upcountry paved routes connecting provincial urban centres to the capital, along with a few rural unpaved roads that get a lot of traffic. Though yet to expand to its targeted plan of operations, the company runs 166 buses in total.

    Rural public transport users expected RITCO’s entry to first prioritise rural unpaved roads, which were abandoned by private operators after the fall of its predecessor.

    However, in a field survey carried out last week by Rwanda Today, it was established that many far-flung rural routes are yet to be connected to its transport system as the fleet is mostly visible on paved national roads already served by a number of private operators.

    “Normally we deploy according to demand but, we plan to deploy buses across the country,” said Julius Rukundo, Ritco managing director.

    The country’s over 60 licensed public transport companies and co-operatives are largely concentrated in urban and paved national roads.

    So far, an estimated 60 per cent of the routes previously served by ONATRACOM across the country have received RITCO buses and about 20 per cent are in rural, unpaved routes.

    RITCO buses are now plying more rural routes.

    Source:The East African

  • Trump foreign tour: G7 leaders turn attention to Africa

    {Leaders of the G7 group of rich nations are meeting African heads of state for talks on the migrant crisis.}

    The leaders of Tunisia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Niger and Nigeria have joined the second day of the G7 summit in Taormina, Sicily.

    Italy chose to host the meeting there to draw attention to Africa and the millions of migrants who risk the crossing to Europe.

    But discussion has been dominated by terrorism and climate change.

    Saturday also marks the last day of US President Donald Trump’s foreign tour.

    Attending his first summit, he told his fellow G7 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Friday that he had not yet decided whether or not to endorse the Paris agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

    It is feared a US withdrawal could cause others to question the deal.

    But UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who is also in Sicily for the meeting, told the BBC the accord would survive regardless of Mr Trump’s position.

    Mr Guterres, who was previously the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also travelled to Sicily to call for greater action to deal with migration.

    So far this year, more than 1,500 migrants are thought to have drowned in the Mediterranean.

    Italy is keen to encourage the world’s wealthiest nations to support African countries in developing their economies, so fewer young people will feel forced to make the dangerous journey to Europe.

    However, a diplomat told news agency Reuters that other Italian proposals – which looked to highlight the benefits of migration and promote a major initiative on food security – were dismissed ahead of the summit.

    According to the source, Mr Trump’s administration was unwilling to highlight benefits of human mobility, Reuters reported.

    {{‘No major gaffes’}}

    Once his first foreign trip draws to a close on Saturday, President Trump will return to the US where his approval ratings are low and he is coming under increasing pressure over alleged Russian meddling in November’s election.

    His chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus, said Mr Trump had shown “his commitment to confronting evil, promoting peace and putting America First on [a] historic and highly successful first trip abroad” in a tweet on Friday.

    Meanwhile, US media have already been casting their judgements:

    The Washington Times said Mr Trump “neared the end of his first foreign trip Thursday by largely fulfilling a transformative agenda that was more ambitious than anything Mr Obama tried overseas during his first year in office”. It went on to note “the president has made no major gaffes on the trip”

    But James P. Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state for Bill Clinton, was far less forgiving. Writing in Politico, he described Mr Trump as doing little more than “muddling” through the engagements. Mr Rubin went on to say that “despite the highly staged events designed to pump up Trump’s image, the new administration has done nothing on this trip to restore respect and admiration for US international leadership”
    ABC News, meanwhile, chose to focus on the President’s “awkward body language moments” – including pushing the Montenegrin prime minister out the way.

    However, headlines in the US continue to be dominated by alleged links to Russia, and there are whisperings of discontent within his own party over policy decisions.
    John Boehner, a former Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, told energy magazine Rigzone that apart from some foreign policy moves, Mr Trump’s time in office has been a complete disaster, citing healthcare in particular.

    The leaders of the G7 are due to meet with leaders from five African countries

    Source:BBC

  • Libya turmoil: Rival armed groups clash in capital, Tripoli

    {Libyan militia groups opposed to the UN-backed government have launched a series of attacks on loyalist forces in the capital, Tripoli.}

    At least 28 people were killed and about 130 injured, officials said.

    Explosions were heard across the city and witnesses said residential areas in the south had been shelled.

    The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has struggled to establish itself in Tripoli since it arrived there in March 2016.

    It wields little control beyond parts of the capital and relies on a complex network of armed groups with shifting allegiances.

    Friday’s fighting began at dawn around a complex of luxury villas in the south of the city.

    Militias opposed to the GNA said they had attacked loyalist forces.

    The health ministry was not able to say if civilians were among the dead but reports suggested most casualties were fighters.

    Until recently, the area had been the headquarters of militias supporting former Prime Minister Khalifa Ghweil. He was ousted when the GNA was set up and refused to recognise the new administration.

    Forces loyal to the GNA seized the complex in March but dozens of armed groups still operate there.

    The internationally recognised authorities condemned the fighting, saying “there was no room left for anarchy and chaos”.

    Also in southern Tripoli on Friday, an armed group loyal to the GNA reportedly seized al-Hadhba prison where former officials of ousted dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi are held.
    Judicial sources quoted by AFP news agency said prison guards were forced to withdraw and two were killed.

    The fate of the inmates is not clear. The prison is run by an Islamist group which has not yet declared whether or not it supports the GNA.

    Libya has been in chaos since the overthrow of Gaddafi in October 2011. There are two rival parliaments and three governments.

    The years of turmoil have allowed the Islamic State group to gain a foothold in the country.

    Smoke was seen rising over residential areas where the fighting broke out

    Source:BBC

  • Egypt hits ‘jihadist camps’ after attack on Coptic Christians

    {Egyptian forces have struck “terrorist training camps” in retaliation for an attack on Coptic Christians, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has said.}

    State media say six strikes hit the town of Derna in neighbouring Libya.

    Gunmen earlier attacked a bus carrying worshippers in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding 25 others.

    President Sisi said he would “not hesitate to strike terrorist camps anywhere”.

    Announcing the strike in a TV speech late on Friday, he promised to “protect our people from the evil”.

    Countries supporting terrorism should be punished, he said, as he appealed to US President Donald Trump for help.

    Military sources told Reuters news agency that the militants targeted in Libya had been involved in the attack on Egyptian Christians earlier in the day.

    Although no group immediately said it was behind the attack, Islamic State (IS) militants have targeted Copts several times in recent months.

    Libya is effectively controlled by a large number of armed militias that have emerged in the chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

    But IS has also built a presence in Libya during the chaos.

    Egypt has launched air strikes against IS in Libya before. In 2015, the military bombed several sites, also near Derna, after militants released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

    The Copts killed on Friday had been travelling to the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, 135km (85 miles) south of Cairo, from Minya province when their bus came under fire.

    It was in a small convoy that was stopped on a desert road near a police station on the border with Beni Suef provinces.

    Gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked the convoy with automatic weapons before fleeing in 4X4 vehicles, eyewitnesses said.

    Minya Province Bishop Makarios said many of the victims were shot at point blank range, the New York Times reported.

    He said that children had been on the bus and were among the dead, adding that a pick-up truck in the convoy carrying workmen at the monastery was also targeted.

    Minutes after President Sisi’s speech, the White House released a statement of support from Mr Trump.

    “This merciless slaughter of Christians in Egypt tears at our hearts and grieves our souls,” he said.

    “America stands with President Sisi and all the Egyptian people today, and always, as we fight to defeat this common enemy,” he added.

    Copts make up about 10% of Egypt’s population of 92 million.

    Two suicide bombings at Palm Sunday services at churches in the northern cities of Alexandria and Tanta on 9 April left 46 people dead.

    Those attacks prompted President Sisi to declare a three-month nationwide state of emergency and promise to do whatever was necessary to confront jihadist militants, most of whom are based in northern Sinai.

    But many Copts complain that the Egyptian authorities are not doing enough to protect them, says the BBC’s Orla Guerin in Cairo.

    There is now a real sense of fear, and a feeling of being hunted, she adds.

    The funeral of some victims killed in the attack took place later in the day

    Source:BBC

  • Rubavu: Anti-crime clubs urged to strengthen community policing activities

    {Raising awareness and fighting trafficking and abuse of narcotic drugs should be made a priority to prevent other crimes it breeds, members of anti-crime clubs in Rubavu have been told during a meeting held Thursday in the framework of the ongoing ‘Police Week’ activities, which also include raising awareness against illicit drugs.}

    While speaking to students of Gacuba Teachers Training College and Umubano secondary school, Inspector of Police (IP) Solange Nyiraneza, District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO), urged them to shun and fight illicit drugs.

    She asked them to be at the forefront in curbing the spread of the vices among their peers and other community members.

    “The youth should take the lead in the fight against drugs. This can be done by way of alerting them about the adverse consequences associated with abusing drugs, and reporting dealers and users,” IP Nyiraneza noted.

    She said the drugs have ruined careers of their colleagues who drop out of school, and end up indulging in other crimes like theft.

    IP Nyiraneza, however, lauded them for their community policing activities through their anti crime forums.

    Gerard Bahizi, the director of Gacumba Teachers Training College thanked RNP for engaging and empowering the youngsters to grow up with responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of their country.

    Source:Police

  • Diesel pollution linked to heart damage

    {PM2.5 associated with harmful changes to heart structure and function; higher education protective against the damage}

    Diesel pollution is linked with heart damage, according to research presented today at EuroCMR 2017.1

    “There is strong evidence that particulate matter (PM) emitted mainly from diesel road vehicles is associated with increased risk of heart attack, heart failure, and death,” said lead author Dr Nay Aung, a cardiologist and Wellcome Trust research fellow, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, UK. “This appears to be driven by an inflammatory response — inhalation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) causes localised inflammation of the lungs followed by a more systemic inflammation affecting the whole body. ”

    The current study examined whether PM2.5 may damage the heart directly. The study included 4 255 participants from the UK Biobank, a large community-based cohort study. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was conducted to measure left ventricular volume (structure) and left ventricular ejection fraction (function). Annual average exposure to PM2.5 was calculated based on participants’ home address.

    The association between PM2.5 exposure and heart structure and function was estimated using multivariable linear regression, a form of statistical modelling which adjusts for potential factors that could influence the relationship such as age, gender, diabetes and blood pressure.

    Participants were 62 years old on average and 47% were men. The annual average PM2.5 level was 10 µg/m3. The investigators found linear relationships between ambient PM2.5 level and heart structure and function. Every 5 µg/m3 increase in exposure was associated with a 4-8% increase in left ventricular volume and a 2% decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction.

    Dr Aung said: “We found that as PM2.5 exposure rises, the larger the heart gets and the worse it performs. Both of these measures are associated with increased morbidity and mortality from heart disease.”

    The researchers also looked for potential factors that could modify the relationship. They found that people with degree-level education were less prone to having a larger heart and had a smaller reduction in ejection fraction when exposed to PM2.5 than people with a lower level of education.

    Dr Aung said: “People who were highly educated were less likely to have harmful effects on the heart from pollution. This could be due to a number of factors including better housing and workplace conditions, which reduce pollution exposure. Educated people may also be more aware of their health, have healthier lifestyles, and have better access to healthcare.”

    Regarding how pollution might have these negative effects on the heart, Dr Aung said PM2.5 causes systemic inflammation, vasoconstriction and raised blood pressure. The combination of these factors can increase the pressure in the heart, which enlarges to cope with the overload. The heart chamber enlargement reduces the contractile efficiency leading to reduction in ejection fraction.

    Dr Aung said: “We found that the average exposure to PM2.5 in the UK is about 10 µg/m3 in our study. This is way below the European target of less than 25 µg/m3 and yet we are still seeing these harmful effects. This suggests that the current target level is not safe and should be lowered.”

    He continued: “Our results suggest that PM2.5 is linked with negative changes in the heart structure and function that are associated with poor outcomes. Reducing PM2.5 emission should be an urgent public health priority and the worst offenders such as diesel vehicles should be addressed with policy measures.”

    In terms of what individuals can do to decrease their risk, Dr Aung said: “Avoid times and places where there is a high level of pollution. If you want to cycle into work and there is heavy traffic around that time then try to find a quieter route. Walk on the part of the pavement furthest from cars to reduce the amount of pollution you breathe in. Those with cardiorespiratory diseases should limit the time spent outdoors during highly polluted periods such as rush hours.”

    Source:Science Daily

  • Fathers’ brains respond differently to daughters than sons

    {Daily interactions with toddlers may be influenced by gender, research finds}

    Fathers with toddler daughters are more attentive and responsive to those daughters’ needs than fathers with toddler sons are to the needs of those sons, according to brain scans and recordings of the parents’ daily interactions with their kids.

    Fathers of toddlers also sang more often to their daughters and spoke more openly about emotions, including sadness, possibly because they are more accepting of girls’ feelings than boys’, according to the study, published in the American Psychological Association’s journal Behavioral Neuroscience. Fathers of sons engaged in more rough-and-tumble play and used more achievement-related language (e.g., words such as proud, win and top) when talking to their sons. Fathers of daughters used more analytical language (e.g., words such as all, below and much), which has been linked to future academic success.

    “If the child cries out or asks for Dad, fathers of daughters responded to that more than did fathers of sons,” said lead researcher Jennifer Mascaro, PhD, of Emory University. “We should be aware of how unconscious notions of gender can play into the way we treat even very young children.”

    The research examined whether the varying ways in which fathers treat sons or daughters may be influenced by different brain responses to male or female children. The study couldn’t determine if those different brain responses meant fathers are somehow hard wired through genetics or evolution to treat sons differently than they treat daughters or if the fathers were conforming to societal norms relating to gender.

    Studies about parenting often are biased in the lab because participants give answers that they think are expected of them or are not aware of their own behavior. The researchers, from Emory University and the University of Arizona, avoided that problem by taking their study out of the lab and into the real world. The study used data from 52 fathers of toddlers (30 girls, 22 boys) in the Atlanta area who agreed to clip a small handheld computer onto their belts and wear it for one weekday and one weekend day. The device randomly turned on for 50 seconds every nine minutes to record any sound during the 48-hour period. Some of the fathers in the study had more than one child, but the study focused only on their interactions with one son or daughter.

    “People act shockingly normal when they are wearing it,” Mascaro said. “They kind of forget they are wearing it or they say to themselves, what are the odds it’s on right now.”

    The fathers also were told to leave the device charging in their child’s room at night so any nighttime interactions with their children could be recorded, said Mascaro, an assistant professor in Family and Preventative Medicine at the Emory School of Medicine.

    Fathers also underwent functional MRI brain scans while viewing photos of an unknown adult, an unknown child, and their own child with happy, sad or neutral facial expressions. Fathers of daughters had greater responses to their daughters’ happy facial expressions in areas of the brain important for visual processing, reward, emotion regulation, and face processing than fathers of sons. In a finding that the researchers hadn’t predicted, the brains of the fathers of boys responded more robustly to their sons’ neutral facial expressions, possibly because fathers are responding to the more ambiguous emotional displays of their sons. There was no significant difference in the fathers’ brain responses to sad facial expressions from sons or daughters.

    In daily interactions, fathers of daughters used more language referencing the child’s body (e.g., words such as belly, foot and tummy) relative to fathers of sons. Previous research has shown that pre-adolescent girls are more likely than boys to report body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem relating to body image.

    The study focused on fathers because there is less research about fathers’ roles in rearing young children than mothers, Mascaro said. The study couldn’t make any definitive long-term connections between the varying treatment of sons or daughters as toddlers and future outcomes for those children, but the research explored some possible links that may offer some recommendations for fathers. Since the research was conducted in the United States, the study also couldn’t draw any conclusions about fathers in other cultures with different societal norms for fathers.

    If fathers are more present and attentive to daughters and open to expressing emotions, that may help girls develop more empathy than boys, so fathers of sons could take the same approach as fathers of daughters, Mascaro said. “The fact that fathers may actually be less attentive to the emotional needs of boys, perhaps despite their best intentions, is important to recognize,” she said.

    Other research has found that restricted emotions in adult men is linked to depression, decreased social intimacy, marital dissatisfaction and a lower likelihood of seeking mental health treatment.

    Previous research also has shown that rough-and-tumble play by parents can help young children better regulate their emotions. Fathers of daughters may want to engage in more rough-and-tumble play with girls, even though such play is more often associated with boys, Mascaro said.

    “Most dads are trying to do the best they can and do all the things they can to help their kids succeed, but it’s important to understand how their interactions with their children might be subtly biased based on gender,” Mascaro said.

    Source:Science Daily

  • Knowledge gap on the origin of sex

    {There are significant gaps in our knowledge on the evolution of sex, according to a research review on sex chromosomes from Lund University in Sweden. Even after more than a century of study, researchers do not know enough about the evolution of sex chromosomes to understand how males and females emerge.}

    Greater focus on ecological aspects would increase this knowledge, according to evolutionary biologists at Lund University, who have reviewed a lot of the research conducted in this field in the last 100 years.

    Female and male bodies work differently, even though they have the same genome. One example is reproduction.

    “There is a form of genetic conflict between the sexes — a conflict in the genome itself — which we know little about,” says professor Bengt Hansson at Lund University.

    Together with senior lecturer Jessica Abbott and doctoral student Anna Nordén, he has read more than 100 scientific articles and papers describing the evolution of sex chromosomes and the genome. Together, they have identified two tracks that have each dominated the research since the late 19th century: empirical studies and various theories.

    The review shows that the significance of ecology has not been sufficiently noted. Therefore, the biologists in Lund call for more research on how the living environment of a population affects the development and evolution of sex chromosomes. This could include factors such as access to food, age variations within a population or the consequences for sex chromosomes when populations that have lived separately meet and mix.

    “Additional approaches in research will probably lead to a much more detailed understanding of the development of sex chromosomes and, in turn, of how females and males evolve,” says Jessica Abbott.

    The research can lead to concrete benefits. One example is releasing sterile males in populations of malaria mosquitoes, as an attempt to limit the number of mosquitoes in certain areas.

    Drugs that target women or men specifically are another hot research field. According to the biologists at Lund University, this is also an area that requires more knowledge on the evolution of sex chromosomes.

    Source:Science Daily