IGIHE

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  • Russia Won’t Switch off Gas Supply to Europe

    Russia Won’t Switch off Gas Supply to Europe

    {{European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger does not expect Russia to switch off gas supplies to Europe over the Ukraine crisis, he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche in an interview published on Saturday.}}

    “I don’t believe it would be in Russia’s interests,” Oettinger was quoted as saying.

    Russian gas export giant Gazprom issued a thinly veiled warning on Friday that it could stop shipping gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills. Ukraine is a major gas transit nation for supplies from Russia to the European Union, which relies on Russia for about a quarter of its gas.

    But Oettinger said a cut-off would not be beneficial for the company: “Gazprom has an interest in its daily sales revenues so that investment is worthwhile and turnover is generated.”

    Oettinger said if no more gas flowed through Ukraine, it would affect 14 percent of European gas consumption.

    In early 2009 Gazprom cut off gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills, leading to reductions in European supplies during a cold winter.

    But Oettinger said Europe was better placed to deal with such a scenario given that the winter had been mild, gas storage sites were fuller than a year ago and European Union countries were now obliged to ensure they had 30 days’ worth of supplies.

    “We’re in a better position than we were five years ago,” he said.

    {reuters}

  • Libya Port Rebels say Started Exporting Oil

    Libya Port Rebels say Started Exporting Oil

    {{Armed protesters controlling ports in eastern Libya said on Saturday they had started exporting oil, bypassing the Tripoli government in a major escalation of their blockade to demand a greater share of the nation’s petroleum wealth.}}

    A North Korean-flagged tanker docked earlier at the Es Sider port, which is controlled by protesters who want more regional autonomy, officials at state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) confirmed.

    The oil standoff is one part of deepening turmoil in the North African OPEC producer, where the government is struggling to control militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons and are challenging state authority.

    Any independent shipment would be a blow to Libya’s government. Tripoli had said it would destroy tankers trying to buy oil from Ibrahim Jathran, a former anti-Gaddafi rebel who seized the port and two others with thousands of his men in August.

    “We started exporting oil. This is our first shipment,” said a spokesman for the protesters based in the eastern town of Ajdabiyah.

    Jathran had commanded a brigade of former rebels paid by the state to protect petroleum facilities. He defected with his troops, however, to take over the ports.

    There was no immediate word from the Libyan government and navy about the shipment, but Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and the justice minister scheduled news conferences in the afternoon.

    In January, the Libyan navy fired on a Maltese-flagged tanker which it said had tried to load oil from the protesters in the Es Sider port.

    The tanker Morning Glory, which was previously flagged in Liberia and can load around 35,000 tonnes (about 250,000 barrels) of oil, had been circling off the Libyan coast for days.

    The vessel had tried to dock at Es Sider on Tuesday, when port workers still loyal to the central government had told the crew to turn back.

    Workers confirmed they could see the ship docked at the port, but it was not immediately clear whether it had started loading crude. Tanks at Es Sider and other seized ports are full, according to oil sources.

    “We have informed the government and the defense ministry so they can take action,” a senior NOC official said, adding that the tanker’s crew “are trying to buy oil illegally.”

    It is extremely unusual for an oil tanker flagged in secretive North Korea to operate in the Mediterranean region, shipping sources said.

    A spokesman for NOC said the Morning Glory was owned by a Saudi company. It had changed ownership in the past few weeks and previously been called Gulf Glory, according to a shipping source.

    reuters

  • China Warns North Korea Against War on Peninsula

    China Warns North Korea Against War on Peninsula

    {{China declared a “red line” on North Korea on Saturday, saying that China will not permit chaos or war on the Korean peninsula, and that peace can only come through denuclearization.}}

    China is North Korea’s most important diplomatic and economic supporter, though Beijing’s patience with Pyongyang has been severely tested following three nuclear tests and numerous bouts of saber rattling, including missile launches.

    “The Korean peninsula is right on China’s doorstep. We have a red line, that is, we will not allow war or instability on the Korean peninsula,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters on the sidelines of China’s annual largely rubber-stamp parliament.

    Wang called upon all parties to “exercise restraint”, adding that “genuine and lasting peace” on the peninsula was only possible with denuclearization.

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited China last month and said after talks in Beijing that China and the United States were discussing specific ways to press North Korea to give up its nuclear program.

    Western countries and independent experts have accused China of failing to implement properly U.N. sanctions on North Korea, including punitive measures adopted after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February last year.

    North Korea has forged ahead with its nuclear development after declaring the so-called six-party talks dead in 2008, overturning its commitments made under a 2005 disarmament deal aimed at rewarding it with economic incentives.

    Wang reiterated China’s calls for a resumption of the talks between North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China.

    “Confrontation can only bring tension, and war can only cause disaster,” Wang said. “Some dialogue is better than none, and better early than later.”

    U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged world powers last month to refer North Korea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court following a U.N. report documenting crimes against humanity comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.

    China has rejected what it said was “unreasonable criticism” of Beijing in the U.N. report, but has not said directly whether it would veto any proceedings in the Security Council to bring Pyongyang to book.

    The team also recommended targeted U.N. sanctions against civil officials and military commanders suspected of the worst crimes. North Korea is already subject to U.N. sanctions for refusing to give up its atomic bomb program.

    wirestory

  • Rwanda Peacekeepers in CAR Share Food with Bangui Residents

    Rwanda Peacekeepers in CAR Share Food with Bangui Residents

    {{Rwandan Peacekeepers serving in the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA) on 7th March shared food with CAR needy families of 5th Arrondissement, Bangui.}}

    The shared food consisted of 3400 loaves of bread to recently returned families in Socati and Bengewe neighbourhoods (quartiers) who had taken refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp at Bangui Airport.

    “This is a tradition of Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) of being close to the vulnerable population wherever we serve.

    RwaMechBatt1 had received issues of lack of food from the population during the security meeting with the population, raising their concern that Humanitarian NGOs only distribute food to people in IDP camps.

    This prompted our Forces serving in MISCA to humanely share the little they have with the vulnerable and suffering people in Bangui”, explained Brigadier Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, RDF Spokesman.

    Local leaders helped Rwanda Peacekeepers in the distribution of the food. “Bread was equally distributed in an orderly manner. We thank you for the support”, Socati local leader, Philemon Lariyom told the Peacekeepers.

    Apart from performing security duties, Rwanda Peacekeepers provide medical care, conduct security meetings with the local population and provide humanitarian escort to convoys of NGOs and Commercial trucks to deliver goods from Cameroon-CAR border to normalise life in Bangui and CAR.

    “Rwanda Peacekeepers in MISCA will continue to escort and deliver commercial and humanitarian goods, a lifeline needed to normalise Bangui and CAR”, underlined Brig Gen Nzabamwita.

    MOD

  • Vietnam Navy Says Malaysian Plane Crashed in China Sea

    Vietnam Navy Says Malaysian Plane Crashed in China Sea

    {{A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew crashed in the South China Sea on Saturday, Vietnamese state media said, quoting a senior naval official.}}

    The Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had been missing for hours when Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre news quoted Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying he had asked boats from an island off south Vietnam to rush to the crash site.

    If the report is confirmed, it would mark the US-built airliner’s deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago.

    Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed. It said earlier in the day that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

    Malaysia Airlines said people from 14 nationalities were among the 227 passengers, including at least 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, six Australians and three Americans. It also said a Chinese infant and an American infant were on board.

    No South Africans were reportedly on board.

    Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

    Search and rescue

    Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue, he said but gave no details. China has also sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue, state television said on one of its microblogs.

    “We are extremely worried,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing before the Vietnamese report that the plane had crashed. “The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe.”

    The flight left Kuala Lumpur at 00:21 (16:21 GMT on Friday) but no trace had been found of the plane hours after it was due to land in the Chinese capital at 06:30 (22:30 GMT on Friday) the same day.

    “We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370,” Jauhari said.

    If it is confirmed that the plane has crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year and by far the worst since the jet entered service in 1995.

    An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco in July 2013, killing three passengers and injuring more than 180.

    Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane was missing and was monitoring the situation but had no further comment. The flight was operating as a China Southern Airlines codeshare.

    An official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said the plane had failed to check in as scheduled at 17:21 GMT while it was flying over the sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh city.

    – Reuters

  • Turkey Considers to Ban Facebook

    Turkey Considers to Ban Facebook

    {{Turkey’s embattled prime minister has warned that his government could ban popular social media networks YouTube and Facebook after a number of online leaks added momentum to a spiralling corruption scandal.}}

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposals to tighten his government’s grip over the Internet have generated criticism at home and abroad about rights in the EU-hopeful country.

    “There are new steps we will take in that sphere after 30 March… including a ban [on YouTube, Facebook],” Erdogan told private ATV television in an interview late on Thursday.

    In stark contrast, President Abdullah Gul, a frequent social media user, said Facebook and Youtube cannot be unplugged.

    “Youtube and Facebook are recognised platforms all over the world. A ban is out of the question,” he told reporters on Friday.

    The president in Turkey is however a largely ceremonial figure.

    Erdogan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader since 2003, has been under mounting pressure after audio recordings were leaked last month in which he and his son allegedly discuss how to hide vast sums of money.

    The Turkish premier dismissed them as a “vile” and an “immoral” montage by rivals ahead of key local elections on 30 March. His office claimed the recordings were “completely untrue”.

    A series of other leaks on YouTube showed Erdogan allegedly meddling in trade deals and court cases.

    Erdogan’s government has been shaken by a high-level corruption scandal that erupted in mid-December and ensnared the premier’s key political and business allies.

    wirestory

  • Harley Classics Updated & in South Africa

    Harley Classics Updated & in South Africa

    {{Harley-Davidson has released three more new motorcycles to expand its diverse line-up of street bikes and put more models for more riders on showroom floors around the world – including South Africa. }}

    There’s the “retro-cool”l Low Rider, nimble SuperLow 1200T and a mean ole Street Bob Special Edition to complete the most abundant new-model launch in Harley-Davidson’s 110-year history.

    “It’s been an incredible year,” said

    {{‘REBELLIOUS SPIRIT}}’

    Rob Lindley, Harley’s vice-president and MD, told Wheels24: “First Project Rushmore, H-DStreet, and now the new Street Bob Special Edition, SuperLow 1200T and Low Rider, all the result of riding with our customers and delivering what they want.

    “Each has been executed with the technical prowess and rebellious spirit that we infuse in each and every new Harley.”

    news24

  • Nigeria’s Economic Growth to Accelerate 2014-IMF

    Nigeria’s Economic Growth to Accelerate 2014-IMF

    {{Economic growth in Nigeria will accelerate this year, driven by sectors outside its dominant energy industry, while inflation will continue its downward path, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.}}

    Africa’s second-largest economy is set to grow 7.3% this year, up from 6.4% in 2013, the IMF said, a more optimistic outlook than Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s projection for 6.75% growth.

    Inflation will end the year at 7%, down from 7.9% at the end of 2013, continuing a two-year downward trend supported by tight monetary policy, the IMF said.

    Africa’s most populous nation plans this year to recalculate its gross domestic product, which could push it above South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy, although the rebasing has missed several deadlines already.

    The IMF’s forecast does not account for the rebasing.

    “Economic growth is expected to improve further in 2014, driven by agriculture, trade, and services,” the IMF said in a report following consultations with Nigerian officials.

    “Inflation should continue to decline, with lower food prices from higher rice and wheat production and supported by a tight monetary policy and a budget execution that maintains medium-term consolidation objectives,” it said.

    The IMF said there were risks to its projections, including the uncertain pace of the global recovery, lower oil prices and production, slow implementation of reforms and the continuation of a bloody Islamist insurgency in the north.

    It also cautioned against draining fiscal buffers.

    Nigeria’s excess crude account, where Africa’s biggest oil exporter saves money from excess oil revenues not allocated for in the government’s budget, contained $2.28 billion at the end of last year, down from around $9 billion a year earlier.

    Forex reserves have also fallen, to a 19-month low of $40bn, and the naira, which had been stable, is under pressure from the emerging market asset sell-off and since President Goodluck Jonathan unexpectedly suspended respected central bank governor Lamido Sanusi last month, hitting investor confidence.

    Reserves remain at a relatively comfortable 5.6 months of imports, the IMF noted.

    Nigeria will hold presidential and parliamentary elections next February and investors are concerned about a possible spike in government spending ahead of the vote and potential leakages in oil revenues, in a sector which has suffered a number of corruption scandals in recent months.

    “Policies should focus on rebuilding external and fiscal buffers, avoiding spending pressures from the political cycle, strengthening the transparency and governance of the oil sector,” the IMF said in its report.

    Nigeria estimated oil output would average 2.39 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, which oil industry experts think is overly optimistic and is likely to lead to an underfunded budget, as happened last year.

    Large scale oil theft, which can reach 400 000 bpd, and outages caused by ageing pipelines and other infrastructure deficiencies are keeping output well below the sector’s 2.7 million bpd capacity.

    Despite robust growth and an attractive investment outlook, Nigeria still suffers from gaping inequality, the IMF noted. Thousands of new millionaires are created each year but most of the country’s 170 million people live on less than $1 a day and unemployment is stuck at around 25%.

    “Despite significant job creation, unemployment and poverty are high and social indicators lag those of peers,” the IMF said.

    “Continued weaknesses in labour markets, access to electricity, cost of doing business, and small and medium enterprises’ access to finance have prevented a transition to a more robust and inclusive growth path,” it said.

    news24

  • All Aboard! Pakistan’s First Women-only Bus

    All Aboard! Pakistan’s First Women-only Bus

    {{At 07:15 on a dusty street corner in Rawalpindi, among the dozen rickety minibuses jostling for passengers, a brand-new, bright pink vehicle stands out.}}

    Emblazoned with the words “Ladies Transport”, this is Pakistan’s first commuter bus solely for women, aimed at those sick of wandering hands and unwanted attention on regular services.

    Some see it as a welcome respite, but detractors warn it is reinforcing gender segregation in a highly patriarchal and often misogynistic country.

    Sat on one of the minibus’s four banquette seats, Azra Kamal, who works at an electronics shop, welcomes the new project, named “Tabeer” – “fulfilment of a dream” in Urdu.

    Her face half-hidden behind a black veil, she tells of obscene comments and other inappropriate gestures she suffered on mixed transport.

    “I have a long journey to work and when I get there it’s often only me left on board. Sometimes the driver will take advantage to give me his phone number and ask for mine,” she said during the 20-odd kilometre ride to her destination in the capital Islamabad.

    Others on board described being touched by drivers, conductors and male passengers.

    To add to this harassment, the tiny minibuses that ply the roads of the Pakistani capital and its twin city Rawalpindi often have only a few seats, sometimes with only one out of a dozen reserved for women.

    “I used to work in a hospital. Often there would be no space on the bus and I would get told off for being late,” said Sana.

    Today the 21-year-old proudly wears a pink tunic, the uniform of her job as conductor on the women’s bus, as she collects the 30-rupee fare.

    {{ Mobile segregation?}}

    But the new service has not impressed everyone in a country where the forces of conservatism are seen to be growing in strength.

    In a blog post for one of Pakistan’s leading English-language newspapers, journalist Erum Shaikh called the project a “complete sham”.

    “The mere fact that the authorities thought it appropriate to introduce something like this should actually offend women and yet we sit there smile, look pretty and let the big, tough, muscular men build walls around us to ‘protect’ us,” she wrote.

    On board the bus, bank worker Misbah agrees.

    “I really appreciate the service but we must tackle the root of the problem and make people take harassment seriously,” she said.

    But the man behind the project, Ali Naqi Hamdani, says it is empowering women in a society where many are not permitted to leave the house without male accompaniment.

    “The women here are willing to go out to work, they’re willing to go out for education purposes but they don’t have such a conducive situation where they can feel secure in public transport,” he said.

    “So it was very important that you provide them an environment where they step out of their homes, they feel secure before they reach their universities or their offices so they are encouraged to come out.”

    The Tabeer project has been running for three weeks, with 12 vehicles in the capital, and is hoping to expand to other cities if there is enough demand.

    Sana is already dreaming of moving on to drive the bus – for a shortage of female drivers means that currently the women-only bus has a man behind the wheel.

    – AFP

  • Questions Asked About Oscar Trial Judge

    Questions Asked About Oscar Trial Judge

    {{During the first week of Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial in South Africa, the judge presiding over the case has come under fire for giving defence lawyers too much leeway and not protecting witnesses.}}

    With the trial broadcast live on television, presiding Judge Thokozile Masipa has not escaped the scrutiny of millions watching around the world.

    Criticism has centred on Masipa permitting a fierce line of questioning from Barry Roux, Pistorius’s defence lawyer known for his hectoring style of cross-examination.

    He has reduced two female witnesses to tears and even read one witness’s cell phone number out in court, although he later apologised.

    Major South African newspapers have run articles questioning if witnesses are now less likely to come forward, for fear they may face a Roux-like buzz saw.

    But his badgering is par for the course, according to some of South Africa’s legal fraternity.

    “So far I have not noticed any impropriety from the side of the judge,” said Mary Nel, a senior criminal law lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.

    “Cross examination is a robust court process, it can get really aggressive.”

    It is crucial, according to Nel, that the judge does not appear to be taking sides by being too protective of the state witnesses.

    “The playing field must be level.”

    “What we have seen so far is the cross examining of the state witnesses by the defence, the same will happen when the state gets to the defence witnesses,” she said adding that she expects the same kind of robustness.

    {{Roux criticised}}

    Some have criticised Roux for asking witnesses questions seemingly unrelated to testimony or beyond the witness’s knowledge.

    But according to Nel, sometimes “the pieces of the puzzle will be revealed at a later stage”.

    Masipa has occasionally stepped in, but some believe she should have intervened more often.

    Thea Illsley, a procedural law expert at the University of Pretoria said that the judge had at times been “decidedly leniently” with Roux.

    “The judge is giving Roux leeway to paint a bigger picture of the events, to set a background and context… that is understandable,” she said

    “Some of the questions seem to be beyond the witnesses knowledge.”

    “The judge has been allowing him to ask questions which may be eventually irrelevant.”

    For now, most are willing to give Masipa, 66, the benefit of the doubt.

    She was appointed a judge in 1998, only the second black woman to be admitted to the bench at the time.

    Masipa studied law in her 40s. Before that she was a crime journalist and also was a social worker.

    In a decade-and-a-half on the bench, she has presided over criminal cases involving rape and murder, and has spoken out strongly about violence against women.

    She handed down a 252-year prison sentence to a serial rapist last year, and has been outspoken against the government’s rights and responsibilities towards ordinary South Africans.

    But none of these cases saw the glare of a trial televised around the world.

    – AFP