IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Airtime vendors urged to be vigilant against fake currency notes

    {Following cases of elements attempting to defraud vendors of airtime vouchers and circulating counterfeit currencies, police in Kanyoza District met with the affected group operating in the district and urged them to be vigilant whenever they are making financial transactions with the buyers.}

    Vendors of airtime vouchers and telecom banking agents are said to be those targeted, although in most cases such attempts are foiled and suspects arrested.

    The Executive Secretary of Mukarange Sector, Jean Claude Murekezi in a meeting with the group on March 15, reminded them of the importance of their business for personal and family development, and urged them to watch out against individuals such as those counterfeiting and circulating currencies, whose criminal acts can affect their business.

    “Your role towards development is crucial, that’s why your business should be protected from any harm. This is why we encourage you to always verify the currencies before making any transaction,” said Murekezi.

    The District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) of Kayonza, Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) Leonille Mujawamariya told the vendors that: “Counterfeiting currency is a crime that poses a threat to the economy and is a source of financial loss to its citizens.”

    “You should always be vigilant and check the given currency notes thoroughly, and report people that are involved in these criminal acts that have ill-impact on the economy. The effects of counterfeit to a trader are grave as they could easily lead them out of business,” AIP Mujawamariya added.

    He explained to be them that fake currencies leads to reduction in the value of real money, increases inflation, unauthorised artificial increase in the money supply; a decrease in the acceptability of paper money; and losses, especially when traders are not reimbursed for counterfeit money detected.

    They were also caller upon to partner and collaborate with the police by sharing information on any suspected criminals.

    Source:Police

  • Ladies…13 signs you are just a side chick and nothing more

    {Just because a man bought you expensive gifts, kissed you, had an awesome sex with you doesn’t mean you mean the world to him. Some men are just players and tend to have some ladies as a side chick.}

    {{Here are 13 signs you are just his side chick and nothing more}}

    1. Public display of affection shouldn’t be an issue in any relationship. You are obviously his side chick if he pulls your hand away if you try to hold his hand in public or he avoids staying too close to you when in public.

    2. You are his side chick if he avoids taking you out on dates or always takes you to the same place anytime he takes you out on a date. He does this to avoid the risk running into anyone when he’s with you.

    3. You are his side chick if he keeps you away from his family and friends.

    4. You are his side chick if he avoids taking photographs with you or stops you from posting a photo of the two of you on Facebook, Instagram or any of your social media accounts.

    5. You are his side chick if he only hangs out with you at a particular time. That could be the time his girlfriend is always free.

    6. You are his side chick if he speaks to you in a very formal tone without even addressing you by name more often than not when the two of you talk on phone.

    7. You are his side chick if he frequently becomes unreachable at certain times. He’s probably with his girlfriend.

    8. You are his side chick if he avoids adding you on any of his social media accounts. His girlfriend may snoop around his social media account and find out about you and that’s the last thing he wants.

    9. You are his side chick if he won’t let you spend the night or wants you out of his apartment first thing in the morning. He definitely doesn’t want his girlfriend to come around and meet another woman in his apartment.

    10. You are his side chick if he avoids posting pictures of you online. His girlfriend will demand answers if he posts photos of you online.

    11. You are his side chick if he only calls you when he wants to get laid. He rarely calls you to just check on you.

    12. You are his side chick if he avoids making plans in advance and usually waits until the last second.

    13. You are his side chick if he won’t let you see his phone. He doesn’t want you going through his phone because he might have something to hide like pictures and messages from the other woman.

    Source:Elcrema

  • Indigenous South American group has healthiest arteries of all populations yet studied, providing clues to healthy lifestyle

    {Study estimates that an 80 year old from the Tsimane (pronounced chee-MAH-nay) group had the same vascular age as an American in their mid-fifties.}

    The Tsimane people — a forager-horticulturalist population of the Bolivian Amazon — have the lowest reported levels of vascular aging for any population, with coronary atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) being five times less common than in the US, according to a study published in The Lancet and being presented at the American College of Cardiology conference.

    The researchers propose that the loss of subsistence diets and lifestyles in contemporary society could be classed as a new risk factor for heart disease. The main risk factors are age, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes.

    “Our study shows that the Tsimane indigenous South Americans have the lowest prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis of any population yet studied,” said senior anthropology author, Professor Hillard Kaplan, University of New Mexico, USA. “Their lifestyle suggests that a diet low in saturated fats and high in non-processed fibre-rich carbohydrates, along with wild game and fish, not smoking and being active throughout the day could help prevent hardening in the arteries of the heart. The loss of subsistence diets and lifestyles could be classed as a new risk factor for vascular aging and we believe that components of this way of life could benefit contemporary sedentary populations.”

    Although the Tsimane lifestyle is very different from that of contemporary society, certain elements of it are transferable and could help to reduce risk of heart disease.

    While industrial populations are sedentary for more than half of their waking hours (54%), the Tsimane spend only 10% of their daytime being inactive. They live a subsistence lifestyle that involves hunting, gathering, fishing and farming, where men spend an average of 6-7 hours of their day being physically active and women spend 4-6 hours.

    Their diet is largely carbohydrate-based (72%) and includes non-processed carbohydrates which are high in fibre such as rice, plantain, manioc, corn, nuts and fruits. Protein constitutes 14% of their diet and comes from animal meat. The diet is very low in fat with fat compromising only 14% of the diet — equivalent to an estimated 38 grams of fat each day, including 11g saturated fat and no trans fats. In addition, smoking was rare in the population.

    In the observational study, the researchers visited 85 Tsimane villages between 2014 and 2015. They measured the participants’ risk of heart disease by taking CT scans of the hearts of 705 adults (aged 40-94 years old) to measure the extent of hardening of the coronary arteries, as well as measuring weight, age, heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and inflammation.

    Based on their CT scan, almost nine in 10 of the Tsimane people (596 of 705 people, 85%) had no risk of heart disease, 89 (13%) had low risk and only 20 people (3%) had moderate or high risk. These findings also continued into old age, where almost two-thirds (65%, 31 of 48) of those aged over 75 years old had almost no risk and 8% (4 of 48) had moderate or high risk. These results are the lowest reported levels of vascular aging of any population recorded to date.

    By comparison, a US study of 6814 people (aged 45 to 84) found that only 14% of Americans had a CT scan that suggested no risk of heart disease and half (50%) had a moderate or high risk — a five-fold higher prevalence than in the Tsimane population.

    In the Tsimane population, heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose were also low, potentially as a result of their lifestyle. The researchers also note that the low risk of coronary atherosclerosis was identified despite there being elevated levels of inflammation in half of the Tsimane population (51%, 360 of 705 people).

    “Conventional thinking is that inflammation increases the risk of heart disease,” said Professor Randall Thompson, cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, USA. “However, the inflammation common to the Tsimane was not associated with increased risk of heart disease, and may instead be the result of high rates of infections.”

    Because the study is observational it cannot confirm how the Tsimane population is protected from vascular aging, or which part of their lifestyle (diet, physical activity or smoking) is most protective. The researchers suggest it is more likely to be a result of their lifestyle than genetics, because of a gradual increase in cholesterol levels coinciding with a rapidly changing lifestyle.

    “Over the last five years, new roads and the introduction of motorised canoes have dramatically increased access to the nearby market town to buy sugar and cooking oil,” said Dr Ben Trumble, Arizona State University, USA. “This is ushering in major economic and nutritional changes for the Tsimane people.”

    The researchers did not study whether coronary artery hardening in the Tsimane population impacted on their health, but note that deaths from heart attacks are very uncommon in the population so it is likely that their low levels of atherosclerosis and heart disease are associated. The researchers are investigating this in further research.

    “This study suggests that coronary atherosclerosis could be avoided if people adopted some elements of the Tsimane lifestyle, such as keeping their LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar very low, not smoking and being physically active,” said senior cardiology author Dr Gregory S. Thomas, Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre, USA. “Most of the Tsimane are able to live their entire life without developing any coronary atherosclerosis. This has never been seen in any prior research. While difficult to achieve in the industrialized world, we can adopt some aspects of their lifestyle to potentially forestall a condition we thought would eventually effect almost all of us.”

    Village in the Amazon rain forest

    Source:Science Daily

  • 36 Officers graduate from Junior Command and Staff Course

    {A total of 34 RDF and 2 RNP officers graduated yesterday from the Junior Command and Staff Course 09 at Rwanda Defence Force Command and Staff College (RDF-CSC) in Musanze District.}

    The graduation ceremony was presided over by the Commandant of the RDF-CSC, Maj Gen J. Bosco Kazura, on behalf of the RDF Chief of Defence Staff.

    In his remarks, the Commandant congratulated the graduates for having demonstrated high standards of discipline and good conduct during the 4 months course. Maj Gen Kazura went on expressing his confidence that the course has enabled the officers to become better commanders and staff officers both at tactical and operational levels.

    “The College has given you ample skills that will help you to understand and implement your senior commanders’vision with precision and resolve and be able to efficiently lead your subordinates. This clearly means that you are ready to be deployed and assume some of the most key responsibilities whether in military operations or at any staff officer positions of your level”, General Kazura said.

    Maj Gen Kazura further urged the officers to uphold RDF values and expressed gratitude to spouses and families of the graduates for their relentless support in assisting the officers to successfully complete the course.

    Col Justus Majyambere the Chief Instructor of the RDF Command and Staff College, declared that the College is overjoyed to graduate military leaders who have reached a satisfactory level of capacity that will enable them to deal with security challenges and leading their subordinates towards achieving the goals set out by the senior leadership. He urged the officers to keep on displaying resilience, dedication, hard work, commitment and humility they demonstrated throughout their stay at the College.

    Maj Callixte MIGABO and Capt Alexis KAREMERA emerged as the overall best and second overall best students respectively. The best Commandant’s Paper was won by Capt Jacqueline UWAMAHORO. The Paper is the final research work that every student must produce in order to successfully complete the Junior Command and Staff Course.

    The ceremony was attended by RDF and RNP Senior Officers and other ranks, spouses and family relatives of graduates as well as Local Authorities of the Northern Province.

    Maj Gen Kazura and Chief Instructor Col Majyambere (2nd right) presenting a gift to one of the best students

    Source:Minadef

  • China, Rwanda agree to upgrade strategic cooperation

    {BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with visiting Rwanda President Paul Kagame on Friday, and the two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral strategic cooperation.}

    Xi hailed the growth of bilateral ties over the past 46 years, citing enhanced political trust, trade cooperation and cultural exchanges.

    He called on both sides to further deepen trust, boost personnel exchanges, share governance experience and keep close contact in global and regional affairs.

    Xi vowed to support Rwanda in building an economic zone, calling for stronger bilateral cooperation in the areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, capacity, infrastructure building, tourism and security. China will encourage more enterprises to invest in Rwanda’s major infrastructure projects.

    During his visit to Africa in 2013, Xi proposed developing relations with Africa with sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit.

    “The essence of this is to combine China’s growth with helping Africa’s development, in a bid to realize win-win cooperation and common development,” Xi told Kagame.

    China is not only a supporter of Africa’s sustainable development, but a pioneer leading global cooperation with Africa, said the Chinese president.

    “No matter how the international situation changes, China’s policy towards Africa remains unchanged, and China will not reduce its efforts to boost win-win cooperation with Africa,” Xi said.

    China hopes to work closely with African countries to implement the decisions of the summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in South Africa’s Johannesburg in 2015, he added.

    Kagame, in his turn, said Rwanda cherishes its friendly ties and cooperation with China, and appreciates China’s contribution to his country’s reconstruction and development.

    He welcomed more Chinese investment in Rwanda’s agriculture, mining, tourism and infrastructure.

    Rwanda appreciates China’s friendly policy towards Africa, and spoke highly of China’s adherence to equality and mutual respect while developing ties with Africa, Kagame said.

    Before their talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Kagame’s China visit.

    Source:Xinhua

  • Students raise voices as 180 laptops stored for two years, denied access

    {Students at Groupe Scolaire Nyakabwende in Nyakabuye sector of Rusizi district have expressed disappointment over their school managers that have kept 180 laptops given to the school under “One laptop per child” program in store for two years and students have never used any of them. }

    Students are demanding for school management to access them so they are not left behind in technology.

    “We do have electricity. We have the laptops but they are under lock in stores. They asked us to wait claiming the laptops were locked with codes. It has taken two years. I am unable to use a laptop because I don’t have any knowledge. I only see them in shops,” said one student.

    “Primary schools are using laptops but we don’t despite having them stored in the store for two years. We stay idle in class in the hour of studying computer,” said another student.

    Habimana Ezekiel responsible for ICT at Groupe Scolaire Nyakabwende said the laptops have been stored for two years but are waiting for Rwanda Education Board (REB) to repair them.

    “We received these laptops in 2015. They worked for a period below one school term and stopped because it required installing new software. On the other side we had a problem of server which REB gave us in 2016. However, we are waiting for training and memory cards on which to save courses,” he said.

    Rusizi vice mayor for social affairs,Uwamariya Marie Claire said they were not aware of the matter.

    “We have not been informed of the problem. Having a laptop locked with code is not a serious matter because it can be unlocked by humans. Such would be negligence of duties. We are going to make follow up to address the challenge,” she said.

  • Clashes on Pakistan-Afghanistan border kill eight

    {Pakistani Taliban faction says it carried out attack on border post as suicide attack is foiled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.}

    Eight people, including two soldiers, have been killed in a raid on a Pakistani military border post in the Khyber tribal area, according to the Pakistan military.

    The raid was launched from Afghan territory on Friday and resulted in the killing of six attackers and two Pakistani soldiers.

    “Last night, there was an aerial operation targeting terrorists locations in the Rajgal valley of Khyber tribal area,” the statement said.

    The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued via email to media, claiming it had attacked three border posts, capturing one.

    “One of the Pakistani forces’ posts was defeated by the mujahideen and set on fire,” said Asad Mansoor, spokesman for the group.

    Pakistan shares a largely unpatrolled 2,500km-long mountainous border with Afghanistan, which the latter disputes.

    Afghanistan rejects the colonial-era Durand Line border drawn up in 1893 and does not want a solid recognition of the boundary.

    In a separate incident on Friday, Pakistan’s military said it foiled an attempted suicide attack on a paramilitary training centre in Shabqadar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

    Two suicide bombers and a soldier were killed in the attempted attack, while another soldier was wounded, the military said.

    Since a wave of violence in February claimed more than 130 lives across Pakistan, authorities there have sealed the main border crossings with Afghanistan, blaming that country for giving sanctuary to Pakistani Taliban fighters.

    Afghanistan denies the charge, and has long accused Pakistan of providing sanctuary to Afghan armed groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.

    On Thursday Sartaj Aziz, foreign policy adviser to the Pakistani prime minister, and Haneef Atmar, the Afghan national security adviser, met for talks in London aimed at ending the latest impasse.

    “Discussions were substantive, constructive, forward-looking and resultful,” said Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, in a statement following the meeting.

    “The success of this important meeting certainly will be judged by the common people of our two respective countries as to how this, in practical terms, responds to their aspiration for good neighbourly relations, peace and their well being.”

    Amid deadly attacks in Pakistan, authorities sealed the main border crossings with Afghanistan

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • US confirms air raid but denies targeting mosque

    {After reports of civilian deaths in village, Centcom says air strike on ‘al-Qaeda meeting’ killed ‘several terrorists’.}

    The US military says it carried out a deadly air strike on an al-Qaeda meeting in northern Syria and will investigate reports that more than 40 civilians were killed when a mosque was struck in a raid in the same area.

    Jets struck the village of Al Jina, in Aleppo province, on Thursday at the time of evening prayer when the mosque was full of worshippers, with local activists saying up to 300 people were inside at the time of the attack.

    Al Jina is located in one of the main rebel-held parts of Syria, encompassing the western parts of Aleppo province and neighbouring Idlib.

    The area’s population has been swollen by refugees, according to UN agencies.

    Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border, said Centcom admitted it carried out an air strike in Idlib but that the precise location of the attack was still in question.

    “Right now, Syrian Civil Defence personnel are struggling to get people from under the rubble of a mosque in the village of Al Jinah in the western countryside of Aleppo province,” she said.

    “They say that dozens of people were killed in the strike there and that several people are believed to be still alive under the rubble. They are trying to get them out and, according to the Syrian Civil Defence, more bodies are to be recovered.

    “The US military is saying that they conducted an air strike in Idlib province and that this air strike was not targeting a mosque but a meeting of al-Qaeda members. They are saying that the confusion might be because the meeting was held about 15 metres away from a mosque but the US military is saying that the mosque is still standing.

    “A reporter asked Centcom if they inadvertently targeted a mosque in Aleppo province instead of Idlib and they responded that they would be looking into the reports of civilian casualties.”

    According to a Centcom statement, “US forces conducted an air strike on an al-Qaeda in Syria meeting location March 16 in Idlib, Syria, killing several terrorists”.

    Colonel John Thomas, spokesman for US Central Command (Centcom), said: “We did not target a mosque, but the building that we did target – which was where the meeting took place – is about 15 metres from a mosque that is still standing.”

    “We are going to look into any allegations of civilian casualties in relation to this strike,” Thomas said when asked about reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) that 42 people died.

    Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the SOHR, which monitors the war via a network of contacts across Syria, said that most of those killed were civilians.

    “Many people are still trapped under rubble and we believe the number of casualties will increase,” he told the DPA news agency.

    The Idlib Press Centre, which is run by activists, said at least 50 people were killed in the attack.

    Activists posted pictures of bodies scattered on the floor near the mosque.

    Teams with the White Helmets organisation (Syrian Civil Defence), a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel-held parts of Syria, also shared images of people being pushed into ambulances and panic-stricken residents searching among the rubble for survivors.

    The war, which on Wednesday entered its seventh year, started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in March 2011.

    It has since escalated into a full-scale conflict that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and more than half of the country’s prewar population displaced inside and outside of Syria.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Myanmar must ‘allow Rohingya to leave camps’

    {Panel led by ex-UN boss Kofi Annan says camps where tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are trapped should be closed.}

    Myanmar should close bleak camps where tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya Muslims have been trapped for nearly five years, according to a commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.

    More than 120,000 Rohingya have languished in camps for internally displaced people (IDP) since they were driven from their homes after a wave of inter-religious violence engulfed western Rakhine State in 2012.

    Most are not allowed to leave the camps, where they live in piecemeal shelters with little access to food, and are denied access to basic education and healthcare.

    “It’s really about time they close the camps and allow people, particularly those who have gone through the [citizenship] verification process, access to freedom of movement and all rights of citizenship,” Annan told the Reuters news agency by telephone.

    Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi last year appointed Annan to head a commission given the task of healing long-simmering divisions between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine.

    “The commission calls for a plan to close all IDP camps in Rakhine state,” Ghassan Salame, a member of the body, told reporters at the launch of the body’s interim report on Thursday.

    The report also called for the government to ensure “security and livelihood opportunities at the site of return/relocation” for those leaving the camps, including the building of new houses.

    Residents complain of a system of checkpoints in parts of Rakhine state and widespread extortion by officials at roadblocks.

    Myanmar has long faced international condemnation for its treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority, with the issue reaching boiling point in recent months after the army launched a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine following a number of deadly attacks on several police border posts in October.

    UN investigators who interviewed escapees in Bangladesh have accused Myanmar’s security forces of responding with a campaign of murder, gang rape and arson that may amount to genocide.

    According to the UN, 74,000 people have fled the conflict zone since October.

    In February, a UN report accused Myanmar’s security forces of carrying out mass rapes, burning families to death and other killings, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity.

    Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, on Monday called the on UN to launch its highest-level investigation into the violence, which she said may be part of a government campaign to drive the Rohingya from the country.

    But a draft resolution tabled by the UN Human Rights Council stopped short of calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the violence.

    Salame said the Annan commission backed calls for an independent investigation into the violence in northern Rakhine in its report, but said anything further would be beyond the body’s remit.

    It identified three initial camps to close – one housing more than 200 Rohingya, along with two others that are home to Buddhist Rakhines and Kaman Muslims who were also displaced in the 2012 violence.

    Suu Kyi’s office welcomed the report and said it would implement the “large majority of recommendations” without giving more details.

    According to the UN, 74,000 people have fled the conflict zone since October

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Grasse school shooting: Armed teen held, several hurt

    {Three suffer gunshot wounds and another five are hurt in stampede after shooting in south of France, officials say.}

    A teenage pupil has opened fire at a high school in a small southeastern French town, wounding at least three people, including the headmaster, according to officials.

    Five more people were treated for injuries sustained during a stampede after Thursday’s shooting at the cafeteria of the Tocqueville high school in Grasse, near Cannes.

    The three people with light gunshot injuries were taken to hospital.

    One 17-year-old pupil armed with a rifle, two handguns and two grenades was arrested after the shooting, police said.

    Visiting the scene of the attack, France’s Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the shooting was “a crazy act” by an “unstable young man fascinated by firearms”.

    ‘Heroic headmaster’

    Vallaud-Belkacem saluted the school’s headmaster as “heroic”.

    She said that, “when he saw the pupil taking out his gun, he rushed up to him to reason with him … and received a bullet injury in the arm.”

    The Grasse Town Hall said the incident was not “terrorist” related.

    “The first investigations suggest that he [arrested teen] had consulted American-style mass killing videos,” an interior ministry spokesman said

    Schools in Grasse, a town of 50,000 people, were locked down after the incident, and local educational authorities asked parents to stay away.

    “Students are safe. Thank you to parents for not coming yet so that security forces can operate,” the head of local educational services, Emmanuel Ethis, wrote on Twitter.

    Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Grasse, said a major police operation was under way across the town.

    “There is a sense of shock here,” he said. “You can see all the school children sitting by the side of the road, really shocked about what happened.

    “We don’t know any of the details about what could had been the possible motivation here, but it really has had a terrible effect on this city and the feelings of the students.”

    Witnesses interviewed by local TV stations described a scene of panic as the gunman entered the school’s cafeteria with pupils rushing to hide under tables or sprinting for the exit.

    “It was total panic,” Achraf, a student, said on BFM TV.

    “The gunshots were at four to five metres from where we were. We thought the gunman was coming towards us. We heard him shouting.

    “I just know the gunman by sight. He was gentle and low-key key, not a nasty guy.”

    Another pupil described how he and other students hid from the gunman.

    “We heard a gunshot and then an administrator came out and said ‘there’s an attack, hurry up and hide’,” the student told Al Jazeera.

    “We hid in a backroom and barricaded the door with shelving units, then we heard three shots fired. He came along and tried to open the door, but he thought nobody was inside and so he left.”

    Source:Al Jazeera