Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

Ladies only:Information you shouldn’t disclose to your man

{It’s widely believed that once you start dating someone, you should come clean about your past and tell them everything about you, no matter how dark it may be. I have always believed in honesty in relationships and marriage, but experience has proven that it’s not everything you have to share with your partner. While some information is very important to share because they help establish trust and strengthen the bond in a relationship, some are totally irrelevant, and could destroy everything if revealed. Here are examples of such information…
}

{{The number of people you have dated/slept with }}

On the face of it, this information may seem like something you should put out there to show how honest you are and how much you love the person in your life, but it’s deeper than that. It can have negative consequences. Imagine you’re dating a very sensitive person who’s jealous and judgmental, telling them something like this could trigger an emotion that can lead to the end of that relationship. There are people who somehow believe that the number of people you sleep with or date is a direct reflection of who you are. Some people do not believe that you can be different, and will think that because you’ve dated or slept with 10 people before them, something is wrong with you, or you’re too ‘used’ for them. So I’d advise that information like these be kept personal. Even if they ask, do not share.

{{Your love for materialism and money }}

The truth about this information is you don’t even need to disclose it verbally, your actions and body language always lets it out, but trust me, it’s something you don’t want to make so obvious. Even if you love shopping and spending big, it’s probably in your best interest to keep information like this on the low. You don’t want your partner thinking you’re dating them because of the money, and not love. In fact, being so open about your big spending habits could discourage people from getting close.

{{How much you love sex }}

We all love sex really, but some of us like to pretend we’re better at controlling the urge than others, which Isn’t really true, but I’ll leave the argument for another time. The reason why I think this information is unnecessary is because it can be used against you. You can break up with that person tomorrow, and they’ll go around town telling everyone how you’re a sex freak and all. Some people, especially men would even sleep with you, and run when they’re done because they don’t think it’s safe to marry a nymphomaniac.

So there, ladies. Love, but it never hurts to apply some caution while at it.

Source:Elcrema

May 16, 2017
Technology edits voices like text

{Anyone who ever used a typewriter will recall the difficulty of fixing a misspelled or poorly chosen word — remember whiteout and correction tape?}

Now, technology developed by Princeton University computer scientists may do for audio recordings of the human voice what word processing software did for the written word.

The software, named VoCo, provides an easy means to add or replace a word in an audio recording of a human voice by editing a transcript of the recording. New words are automatically synthesized in the speaker’s voice even if they don’t appear anywhere else in the recording.

The system, which uses a sophisticated algorithm to learn and recreate the sound of a particular voice, could one day make editing podcasts and narration in videos much easier. More broadly, the technology could provide a launching point for creating personalized robotic voices that sound natural.

“VoCo provides a peek at a very practical technology for editing audio tracks, but it is also a harbinger for future technologies that will allow the human voice to be synthesized and automated in remarkable ways,” said Adam Finkelstein, a professor of computer science at Princeton.

Zeyu Jin, a Princeton graduate student advised by Finkelstein, will present the work at the Association for Computing Machinery SIGGRAPH conference in July. The work at Princeton was funded by the Project X Fund, which provides seed funding to engineers for pursuing speculative projects. The Princeton researchers collaborated with scientists Gautham Mysore, Stephen DiVerdi, and Jingwan Lu at Adobe Research.

The team described the development of VoCo in a paper to be published in the July issue of the journal Transactions on Graphics. The research team has posted preprint of the paper as well as a video demonstrating the project and examples of synthesized voices at their web pages.

On a computer screen, VoCo’s user interface looks similar to other audio editing software such as the popular podcast editing program Audacity or Apple’s music editing program GarageBand. It offers visualization of the waveform of the audio track and a set of cut, copy and paste tools for editing. Unlike other programs, however, VoCo also augments the waveform with a text transcript of the track and allows the user to replace or insert new words that don’t already exist in the track simply by typing in the transcript. When the user types the new word, VoCo updates the audio track, automatically synthesizing the new word by stitching together snippets of audio from elsewhere in the narration.

“Currently, audio editors can cut out pieces of a track of narration and move a clip from one place to another. However, if you want to add a word that doesn’t exist in the recording, it’s possible only through a painstaking trial and error process of searching for small audio snippets that might fit together well enough to plausibly form the word,” said Finkelstein. “VoCo automates the search and stitching process, and produces results that typically sound even better than those created manually by audio experts.”

At the heart of VoCo is an optimization algorithm that searches the voice recording and chooses the best possible combinations of partial word sounds, called “phonemes,” to build new words in the user’s voice. To do this, it not only needs to find the individual phonemes, but also find sequences of them that stitch together without abrupt transitions, as well as fit them into the existing sentence so that the new word blends in seamlessly. Words are pronounced with different emphasis and intonation depending on where they fall in a sentence, so context is important.

For clues about this context, VoCo looks to an audio track of the sentence that is automatically synthesized in artificial voice from the text transcript — one that sounds robotic to human ears. This recording is used as a point of reference in building the new word. VoCo then matches the pieces of sound from the real human voice recording to match the word in the synthesized track — a technique known as “voice conversion,” which inspired the project name VoCo.

In case the synthesized word isn’t quite right, VoCo offers users several versions of the word to choose from. The system also provides an advanced editor to modify pitch and duration, allowing expert users to further polish the track.

To test how effective their system was a producing authentic sounding edits, the researchers asked people to listen to a set of audio tracks, some of which had been edited with VoCo and other that were completely natural. The fully automated versions were mistaken for real recordings more than 60 percent of the time.

Jin, whose research interests straddle audio and machine learning, said voice conversion technologies hold promise for a range of applications beyond editing audio tracks. For instance, people who have lost their voices due to injury or disease might be able to recreate their voices through a robotic system.

“We were approached by a man who has a neurodegenerative disease and can only speak through a text to speech system controlled by his eyelids,” said Jin. “The voice sounds robotic, like the system used by Steven Hawking, but he wants his young daughter to hear his real voice. It might one day be possible to analyze past recordings of him speaking and created an assistive device that speaks in his own voice.”

On the lighter side, Jin said voice conversion might be used to bring back the long lost voices of iconic cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny or Popeye. Such voices — and those of famous actors or historic figures — could then be used to create narration for new movies, or even integrated into automated intelligent personal assistants like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa.

The Princeton researchers are currently refining the VoCo algorithm to improve the system’s ability to integrated synthesized words more smoothly into audio tracks. They are also working to expand the system’s capabilities to create longer phrases or even entire sentences synthesized from a narrator’s voice.

Finkelstein said that editing software like VoCo raises important questions about how to treat digital content when we know it may have been altered to change its meaning. “This question came to the forefront for photography decades ago with the arrival of digital image editing software like Adobe Photoshop,” he said.

He said the emergence of fast and easy photo editing led to long discussions of the reliability of photos in news stories. Even before digital editing became available, expert photographers had many tricks for modifying their prints, but new programs made it faster and easier, and did not require the same degree of expertise.

“Today we take it for granted that photos can be edited, and we judge photos with a little more skepticism,” he said. “We understand there is a journalistic responsibility attached to photos.”

He said the same discussion is now happening with digital audio. Editors have long been able to modify audio files to clean up an audio track, and they could choose to change its meaning, for example simply by removing the word “not.” But he said that programs like VoCo, by making that process easier, will likely raise concerns.

“This tool will almost certainly fuel the conversation about audio that was preceded by a conversation about photos,” Finkelstein said. “Soon enough, it will be followed by a conversation about video.”

Source:Science Daily

May 16, 2017
Rwanda Tea wins 11 of 12 continental awards

{Five tea processing plants in Rwanda have won 11 of 12 awards presented during the competition dubbed Africa Tea Convention and Exhibition bringing together African countries with tea processing plants. }

The competition was held in Kenya from 11th to 12th May 2017 and brought together farmers, traders, packers, researchers and others working in various activities of processing tea from East African Countries and beyond.

The competition was organized on the theme ‘Sustainable tea agriculture as foundation of health and livelihoods of the future.’ It brought together African countries with tea manufacturing plants including Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.

Raising funds to support various organizations, seeking together how tea trade can be sustained ,addressing climate change, using technology and boosting traded tea production were among top objectives of the competition.

Nyabihu, Gisovu, Muganza-Kivu, Rubaya and Kitabi are Rwanda’s tea plants which won the eleven awards. Nyabihu tea factory outperformed other local plants in receiving many awards while the 12th award was presented to Kenya Tea Factory.

Nyabihu plant received awards of various categories for its quality tea.

Rwanda tea was sold at the all-time high during the competition where a kilogram sold between USD 10 and 15 raising a total of USD 56,180.

The competition held for the third time was preceded by the first held in Kenya organized by East Africa Tea Trade Association (EATTA) and the second held in Rwanda organized by National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB).

May 15, 2017
One student succumbs to food poisoning

{One of more than 12 students from the University of Rwanda, Huye Campus, who was recently referred to CHUB hospital after eating poisoned food at the campus’ restaurant, breathed his last yesterday.}

The director of CHUB, Dr Augustin Sendegeya has told IGIHE that one of the students identified as Augustin Ngendahimana died yesterday night.

“It is true that he has died. He died in the night around 10pm,” he said.

Late Ngendahimana was a first year student in Business, Banking and Administration-BBA.

Students who ate the poisoned food in the night of 10th May 2017 experienced strong bouts of diarrhea, vomiting and stomach upset before they were admitted at University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB).

Police immediately arrested four cooks at Huye Campus restaurant as investigations continue.

May 15, 2017
Parents taken through benefits of ‘Nootri’ flour

{African Improved Food company processing various kinds of nutritious flour for porridge has joined mothers in celebration of Mother’s Day and took them through health benefits of ‘Nootri’ mixed flour to the growth of children. }

The event which took place on Saturday in Kigali city was attended by mothers of different generations who received extra services including treating their nails and massage while children were given ample space for entertainment.

Parents received explanations on their role in 1000 days during child growth with emphasis on proper nutrition.

They were introduced to two typpes of flour including ‘Nootri mama ‘dedicated to pregnant mothers and ‘Nootri Toto’ reserved for children of six months and above.The latter is rich in nutrients that better child growth while the mother maintains good health.

Mothers who attended the ceremony expressed delight over the knowledge acquired.

“It is a very good act for having thought about us and invited us with our children. I will start buying my children this flour,” said Umwali Doreen, a mother of two.

Mukamisha Jeanne d’Arc, another mother said; “They have quality flour better than the one we have been using. I have checked ingredients and discovered that it has many nutrients. For instance the [Nootri Toto] is made of milk, sugar and can help us avoid diabetes risks.”

The president of Rwanda Nutritionists’ Society, Muhamyankaka Venuste said the flour is rich in nutrients with mineral salt, among others which can solve the matter of lacking strength and shortage of blood for mothers and children.

The country director of AIF in Rwanda, Prosper Ndayiragije said they are committed to involvement in improving good nutrition among Rwandans and reduce stunted growth among children.

“Our objective is to offer diets full of nutritious ingredients using our made in Rwanda flours. Our goals will be attained by reducing the number of children with stunted growth,” he said.

Apart from ‘Nootri mama’ and ‘Nootri Toto’, AIF processes other types of flour including ‘Shisha Kibondo’ offered to children from the first and second Ubudehe category and ‘Super’ manufactured for World Food Program. All of the flours are made from soya and maize among other foods.

AIF is expected to produce 45,000 tons of Nootri flour per annum in support of combating malnutrition among children countrywide.

May 15, 2017
Prison guards kill inmates after jailbreak in Lae

{Three prisoners captured, 17 shot dead, and 57 still at large in a mass jailbreak from Buimo jail, according to reports.}

Prison guards have killed at least 17 prisoners after a mass breakout at a jail in Papua New Guinea (PNG), according to reports, with dozens of inmates still on the run.

The incident took place in Buimo jail in the Pacific nation’s second-largest city, Lae, on Friday, but only became public after media reports on Monday.

“Unfortunately these incidents, tragic as they are, happen all too frequently in Papua New Guinea as there is poor accountability with police and security officers,” Kate Schuetze, Amnesty International’s Pacific Researcher, told the Reuters news agency.

The PNG Post-Courier and The National newspapers both cited local police as confirming 17 people were killed, three were caught and 57 were still at large.

“These are undesirable people and will be a threat to the community,” Lae police metropolitan commander Chief Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr said of those who escaped, warning the public to be vigilant.

“The majority of those who escaped were arrested for serious crimes and were in custody awaiting trial.

“A good number were arrested by police last year for mainly armed robberies, car thefts, break and enter and stealing.”

Buimo is the same prison where police shot dead 12 inmates during a jailbreak last year. The jail, one of the largest in the country, has been criticised in the past for overcrowding and for poor prisoner conditions.

Wagambie urged family members and associates of the escapees not to harbour them.

“I am warning them that they will be caught. They must do what is good for them and surrender,” he said.

Source:Al Jazeera

May 15, 2017
North Korea says new rocket can carry nuclear warhead

{State media says latest test was aimed at verifying missile’s capability to carry a ‘large scale heavy nuclear warhead’.}

North Korea said on Monday it had successfully launched a new type of ballistic missile in its latest test which it said was aimed at building capacity to launch nuclear missiles.

The North fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday in a launch that came just days after South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in, who has called for closer engagement with Pyongyang, was inaugurated in Seoul.

Sunday’s launch was of a “new ground-to-ground medium long-range strategic ballistic rocket” named the Hwasong-12, the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the test, it said, and “hugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing”.

Kim accused the United States of “browbeating” countries that “have no nukes” and warned Washington not to misjudge the reality that its mainland is in the North’s “sighting range for strike”, KCNA reported.

EXPLAINED: Why North Korea tests nuclear weapons

The missile was launched at the highest angle so as not to affect the security of neighbouring countries and flew 787km reaching an altitude of 2,111.5km, KCNA said.

Experts said the altitude reached by the missile tested meant it was launched at a high trajectory, which would limit the lateral distance it travelled.

But if it was fired at a standard trajectory, it would have a range of at least 4,000km, according to experts.

It “represents a level of performance never before seen from a North Korean missile”, aerospace engineering specialist John Schilling wrote on the respected 38 North website.

“The test-fire aimed at verifying the tactical and technological specifications of the newly developed ballistic rocket capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead,” KCNA said.

It appeared to demonstrate an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that could “reliably strike the US base at Guam” in the Pacific, he said, and “more importantly, may represent a substantial advance to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)”.

In a statement after the launch, US President Donald Trump’s White House called North Korea a “flagrant menace” and urged “far stronger sanctions” against the isolated nation.

The North says it needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the threat of invasion and has carried out two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the beginning of last year.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have heightened in recent weeks due to Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and missile tests and threats from Trump that the US could take unilateral action against it in retaliation.

“The timing is particularly significant because South Korea has a new president – testing him is partly what this is about,” Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas, reporting from Seoul, said. “This is also a sign that they don’t feel intimidated by Donald Trump,” he added.

“It does seem that this may be a new type of rocket that is being tested – that makes this the most significant launch in at least a year.”

Source:Al Jazeera

May 15, 2017
Israel dismisses US concern over Jerusalem embassy move

{Prime Minister Netanyahu says embassy move to Jerusalem would be positive for peace process with the Palestinians.}

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has challenged US concerns over moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and said a move will help the peace process progress.

During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump promised to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, whose status is one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The transfer of the American Embassy to Jerusalem not only will not harm the peace process, but the opposite,” Netanyahu said in the statement on Sunday.

“It will advance it by correcting a historic injustice and by smashing the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.”

The statement from Netanyahu’s office came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump is still assessing the impact of the potential move.

“The president is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact the peace process,” Tillerson said.

He said Trump’s decision would be informed by feedback from all sides, including “whether Israel views it as helpful to a peace initiative or perhaps a distraction”.

The Palestinians and the Arab world fiercely oppose a move, and the international community has warned that it could spark fresh unrest.

Palestinians argued moving the embassy would prejudge one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict, undermining America’s status as an effective mediator.

Former US presidents have repeatedly waived a US law requiring the embassy be moved to Jerusalem.

The most recent waiver, signed by Barack Obama, expires on June 1. Trump is expected to sign a six-month renewal of the waiver, as he continues deliberating, before it expires.

In another sign the White House is proceeding cautiously, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, plans to work out of the current embassy in Tel Aviv rather than out of the US Consulate in Jerusalem, as some had urged him to do.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

In 1980, Israel declared “reunited” Jerusalem its capital in a move unrecognised by major states.

Source:Al Jazeera

May 15, 2017
Hunger-strike leader Barghouti says snacking video fake

{Marwan Barghouti rejects authenticity of the video that Israel released, saying he will see his protest ‘to the end’.}

Palestinian hunger-strike leader Marwan Barghouti has denied the authenticity of a video purportedly showing him eating secretly in his prison cell, his lawyer said.

Barghouti, along with 1,500 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, launched a hunger strike on April 17, demanding better conditions, including family visits.

Last week, Israeli authorities, in an apparent attempt to discredit Barghouti, released a video that they said showed the 58-year-old Barghouti having food.

On Sunday, his lawyer Khader Shkirat said he described the video to Barghouti who told him it’s not authentic.

According to Shkirat, Barghouti said the cell featured in the video, with a bunk bed, is much nicer and cleaner than the run-down cell where he is being held, which has a single bed, smelly blanket and no pillow.

“Marwan said that he does not know when these pictures were taken, and he considered publishing the video as blackmail and illegal action by the Israeli government,” Shkirat said before adding that Barghouti is preparing to see his protest “to the end” by refusing to drink water.

“I plan to escalate my hunger strike soon. I will stop drinking water,” Barghouti was quoted as saying. “There is no backtracking. We will continue until the end.”

Israel has alleged Barghouti, widely seen as a potential successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, staged the strike to raise his political profile.

Barghouti is serving multiple life sentences after an Israeli court convicted him of directing attacks that killed five people during the second Palestinian uprising.

Barghouti, in prison since 2002, never mounted a defence, saying the court had no jurisdiction over him.

He has been kept in isolation since the hunger strike began last month. His lawyer added that Barghouti has not been permitted to change his clothes, and that Israeli guards search his room four times a day.

In a rare statement last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it is Israel’s responsibility to ensure prisoners receive family visits.

Human rights groups say it is a violation of international law to move prisoners from occupied territories to detention centres in Israel, which also makes it more difficult for relatives to visit the inmates.

Israeli Prison Service spokesman Assaf Liberati said the video was authentic and was taken in Barghouti’s current cell.

Source:Al Jazeera

May 15, 2017
Ivory Coast launches military operation to quash mutiny

{Loyalist troops advance on Bouake after soldiers mutinying over pay refuse army demand to lay down arms.}

Ivory Coast has launched a military operation “to re-establish order” after soldiers who staged a three-day mutiny over bonus payments refused the army’s demand to disarm.

The mutineers, most of them former rebel fighters who fought to bring President Alassane Ouattara to power, have sealed off Ivory Coast’s second-largest city, Bouake, and used gunfire to break up protests against the revolt.

As loyalist soldiers advanced on Bouake on Sunday, the Military Chief of Staff General Sekou Toure issued a statement announcing the new offensive.

“These acts of an extreme seriousness are contrary to the mission of protection assigned to the armed forces,” the statement said. “As a result, a military operation is under way to re-establish order.”

Six people were wounded by gunfire on Sunday, and one of three protesters shot and wounded on Saturday died of his wounds.

The mutineers said they would not surrender.

“They asked us to lay down our arms and surrender. We refused and demand our money … We are waiting for them,” Sergeant Seydou Kone told the Reuters news agency.

The soldiers’ uprising began in Bouake on Friday when a spokesman for the group dropped demands for extra pay promised by the government during negotiations to end a previous mutiny in January.

The 8,400 mutineers received 5m CFA francs ($8,370) each at the time, and were due to get the rest of the sum this month. But the government has struggled to make the payment, with a budget hit by the collapse in the price of cocoa, Ivory Coast’s main export.

The defence minister has vowed not to re-negotiate with the renegade troops, and public anger at the mutineers is growing.

Protests against the mutiny took place in Abidjan, the northern city of Korhogo and western cocoa hub of Daola on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, the soldiers used gunfire to break up a march in Bouake’s city centre, wounding six people.

“The population rose up, but the mutineers quickly dispersed the march with shots,” said Bouake resident Simon Guede. “Everything is closed.”

The Ivorian army, which consists of about 22,000 soldiers, includes many former rebels who were integrated into the armed forces after years of conflict.

Ivory Coast was plunged into civil war in 2002 following a failed attempt to oust then-president Laurent Gbagbo.

The revolt sliced the former French colony into the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south and triggered years of unrest, which ended when Gbago was forcibly removed from office in 2011.

Source:Al Jazeera

May 15, 2017