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  • Khartoum Wants OIC to Investigate Uganda’s Support Rebels

    Khartoum Wants OIC to Investigate Uganda’s Support Rebels

    Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Karti, Thursday called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to say explicitly if Uganda harbours and supports rebel groups that fight his government.

    Sudan last February objected the election of Uganda as member of the OIC commission and demanded to condemn the east African country for supporting rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

    Following what the Islamic organisation formed a fact findings mission led by a Tunisian diplomat, Al-Habib Kaabashi who is also the head of OIC political department.

    Karti who is participating at a meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was briefed by Kaabashi on the activities of his panel and told the Sudanese foreign minister that they demanded Kampala to “stop harbouring armed groups that are fighting against Sudan”.

    According to the official SUNA, the diplomat said they recommended at the level of the OIC general secretariat that the committee continues its activities and work to bridge the gap between the two countries.

    Kaabashi further added that the Ugandan president welcomed their demarche and expressed readiness to engage in talks with Sudan to address the problem.

    However, the Sudanese minister said that fact finding committee has to submit a report on its mission and to say “whether Uganda effectively supports the armed movements opposed to the Sudan or not”.

    Regarding the willingness of Yoweri Museveni to settle the issue, Karti told the OIC official that it is not the first time that Uganda makes such pledges and fails to meet it.

    On 12 October 2013, in a “friendly and frank” meeting held in Addis Ababa with his Sudanese counterpart Omer al-Bashir, president Museveni vowed to stop his support to the rebel groups.

    But the two countries continued to trade accusations of support to rebel groups.

    The Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, on 23 April, said his country filed a complaint with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about Sudan’s alleged support for LRA.

    Karti expressed the hope that Kampala shows a sense of responsibility and work to respect Sudan’s sovereignty and stop interfering in its internal affairs.

    He further stressed Sudan’s keenness to build good relations with all countries, especially its neighbours, adding that Khartoum does not object to support any efforts that will bring peace and stability in the region.

    sudantribune

  • South Sudan’s Kiir Draws “Red Line” for Interim Govt

    South Sudan’s Kiir Draws “Red Line” for Interim Govt

    In a very strongly-worded speech to the parliament in Juba on Thursday, South Sudanese president Salva Kiir said any interim government without him or the elected national assembly is “a red line.”

    Kiir accused unnamed countries of intending to “dismantle” his county and the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

    “They intend to constitute a transitional government without me as the elected President. They want to bring somebody of their choice to be the president of that transitional government.

    That is a red line,” said Kiir, attracting a standing ovation from the lawmakers who interrupted his speech with songs saying “we shall never.”

    “The whole intention is to dismantle the SPLM which they believe has become a very stronger monster in South Sudan,” he added amidst applause.

    Different sources say western countries including the USA were pushing for the designation of the former SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum as interim president to implement constitutional and political reforms.

    Kiir’s remarks are the first public signal of his frustration from these speculations.

    The mediation was keen to invite a group of SPLM political leading members including Amum who are opposed to Kiir’s “failed government” and the “doomed armed rebellion” led by Riek Machar.

    sudantribune

  • Uruguay, Colombia make it South America’s World Cup day

    Uruguay, Colombia make it South America’s World Cup day

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  • Ghana Govt Quietly Reintroduces Fuel Subsidies

    Ghana Govt Quietly Reintroduces Fuel Subsidies

    Ghana’s government quietly reintroduced fuel subsidies in April and has spent around $85 million since then in extra payments, the head of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) told media.

    The subsidies were scrapped early last year in a bid to reduce the budget deficit and restore macro-economic stability in Ghana.

    The reintroduction has not been publicly announced and senior government officials were unavailable for comment.

    The chamber’s chief executive, Senyo Hosi, also told Reporters that Ghana’s reserves of oil for domestic consumption normally stand at around four weeks but have fallen to just one week because banks are refusing to extend credit to importers due to outstanding government payments.

  • U.S. to Remove some Diplomats out of Kenya

    U.S. to Remove some Diplomats out of Kenya

    The United States said it would move some of its diplomats out of Kenya and has banned all embassy staff from travelling to its Indian Ocean coastline, where about 65 people were killed in attacks on Sunday and Monday.

    Islamist militants from neighbouring Somalia claimed responsibility for the indicriminate shootings and execution-style killings but Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said they were instead the work of his domestic political rivals.

    Kenya has seen a spate of gun attacks and bombings by Somali al Shabaab militants who want it to pull its troops out of Somalia.

    “Due to the terrorist attack on June 15 … the U.S. Embassy instituted restrictions on U.S. government personnel travel to all coastal counties,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

    It said the U.S. government continued to receive information about potential attacks on U.S., Western, and Kenyan interests in east Africa’s biggest economy, including the capital Nairobi and coastal cities of Mombasa and Diani.

    “Based on the recent changes in Kenya’s security situation, the Embassy is also relocating some staff to other countries,” it said.

    Britain, France and Australia last month issued warnings to their citizens against travelling to parts of Kenya’s coastline. President Kenyatta earlier this year said the tourism industry was “on its knees” due to Islamist attacks.

    Kenya called the alerts “unfriendly”, saying they would increase panic and play into the hands of those behind the violence.

  • Pope Francis Warns on ‘Evil’ of Legalising Drugs

    Pope Francis Warns on ‘Evil’ of Legalising Drugs

    Pope Francis on Friday called recreational drug use an “evil”, a day before he is due to visit Italy’s Calabria, home of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which controls a significant share of the global trade in illegal narcotics.

    Francis, who has spoken out against drug use several times, said that to ensure young people did not fall prey to drugs, society had to say “‘yes’ to life, ‘yes’ to love, ‘yes’ to others, ‘yes’ to education, ‘yes’ to greater job opportunities”.

    “If we say ‘yes’ to all these things, there will be no room for illicit drugs, for alcohol abuse, for other forms of addiction,” he said in remarks to a drug enforcement conference in Rome carried on the website of Vatican radio.

    “The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders,” he said.

    Pressure on Western governments to ease restrictions on so-called “soft drugs” such as marijuana has led to a number of countries legalising their use under certain circumstances.

    The state of New York prepared on Friday to pass measures that should lead to it becoming the 23rd U.S. state to allow medical use of marijuana.

    This week, Uruguay, which has already legalised the production and sale of cannabis, said it would also allow doctors to prescribe the drug to treat certain conditions.

    “Attempts, however limited, to legalise so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the pope said.

  • Android & Windows Add ‘Kill Switch’

    Android & Windows Add ‘Kill Switch’

    Google and Microsoft will add a “kill-switch” feature to their Android and Windows phone operating systems.

    The feature is a method of making a handset completely useless if it is stolen, rendering a theft pointless.

    Authorities have been urging tech firms to take steps to help curb phone theft and argued that a kill-switch feature can help resolve the problem.

    Apple and Samsung, two of the biggest phone makers, offer a similar feature on some of their devices.

    The move by Google and Microsoft means that kill switches will now be a part of the three most popular phone operating systems in the world.

    Authorities claim that Apple’s feature – dubbed Activation Lock – which it introduced on all iPhones running the iOS 7 operating system in September last year, has helped reduce theft substantially.

    According to a report by the New York State Attorney General, in the first five months of 2014 the theft of Apple devices fell by 17% in New York City.

    Meanwhile iPhone robberies fell 24% in London and 38% in San Francisco in the six months after Apple introduced the feature, compared to the previous six months.

    “During the same period, thefts of other popular mobile devices increased,” the report says.

    Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said the move was a step in the right direction.

    “This is a fantastic move and will go a long way in helping authorities come one step closer to realising a vision of zero theft of mobile phone,” he told the BBC.

    But he added that it was “not a foolproof system” as thieves “will find a way to monetise the accessories and parts of a phone”.

    However, he said the market for parts and accessories was relatively small and the kill switch “does substantially reduce the financial incentive of stealing a device”.

    wirestory

  • Malaysia Plane Search to Move South

    Malaysia Plane Search to Move South

    The next phase of the hunt for missing Malaysian jet MH370 will move hundreds of miles south, officials have said.

    The search will focus on an area 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the city of Perth, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief Martin Dolan said.

    Nearby areas were previously surveyed from the air, but the undersea hunt was directed north after pings were heard.

    The jet vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March with 239 passengers on board.

    Experts had hoped that the pings detected shortly after the plane vanished were from its flight-data recorders.

    But after weeks of searching the ocean floor, it was concluded that the noises were unrelated to the plane.

    Search teams have now returned to the initial satellite data to frame the new search area.

    “All the trends of this analysis will move the search area south of where it was,” Mr Dolan said.

    “Just how much south is something that we’re still working on.”
    maly.jpg

  • Egypt’s Mubarak Breaks Leg in Fall at Hospital

    Egypt’s Mubarak Breaks Leg in Fall at Hospital

    Deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak broke his leg on Thursday after falling while walking to the bathroom at a Cairo military hospital where he is being held, his lawyer and a military source at the hospital told Reuters. Mubarak, 86, fractured the top of his left thigh bone, both sources said.

    Mubarak’s lawyer Fareed El-Deeb said that this client was “in a very dangerous situation after his fall” and that he would have a “major operation” later in the day. Deeb has frequently highlighted the age and frailty of his client.

    Mubarak spent 23 months in jail from shortly after the 2011 uprising that ousted him until August 2013, when he was placed under house arrest at the upscale Maadi hospital.

    Mubarak is still pending retrial in a case of complicity in the killings of protesters during the 2011 revolt.

    He was sentenced to prison last month along with his two sons in a corruption case, but was not transferred from the hospital to Tora Prison, where his sons are jailed.

  • India Covertly Expanding Uranium Enrichment Plant

    India Covertly Expanding Uranium Enrichment Plant

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