Author: Publisher

Ghana, Germany and Portugal have one spot to fight for – a confident US coach

{{United States coach Juergen Klinsmann believes his side will turf out Germany, Portugal or Ghana in the first round of the World Cup in Brazil in June.}}

The German trainer says the Black Stars must fight with Germany and Portugal to clinch the group’s other automatic ticket to the second round of the competition.

The ex-striker thinks they will secure the top spot in the group leaving the three other countries fighting for the other ticket as they have hugely matured from their previous appearances in the competition.

“Our team has matured a lot over the last couple of years and we are going to give them a big, big fight,” he said at a FIFA pre-World Cup workshop in Brazil on Thursday.

“We are expecting to go to the knockout stage, that means Germany, Portugal and Ghana will have to fight it out for the other spot (from Group G).

“We’ve come through a tough qualifying process where we proved our capability. We have a lot of good players,” said the former Germany coach who led his home country to third spot at the 2006 finals.

America lost matches to Ghana in the previous two World Cups and the Black Stars are seeking to complete a hat-trick over the Americans.

The Americans meet Ghana in Natal, Portugal in Manaus and Germany in Recife, arguably the toughest schedule of any of the 32 finalists.

{myjoyonline}

February 20, 2014
Oil of DRC to Rebuild Road Link in Country’s Province

{{Fleurette Group’s subsidiary Oil of DRCongo has agreed to renovate the Bunia-Kasenyi Road, situated in the Oriental Province in northeast DR Congo, for US$750,000.}}

The project, covering a stretch of 14km, is expected to be complete within the next six to eight months.

The road is reportedly a vital artery linking the towns of Bunia and Kasenyi. It facilitates the supply of goods to Bunia and the on-going trade between these towns, creating jobs, encouraging investment and aiding the development of a region which has been heavily impacted by conflict over so many years, the company said.

As operator of Blocks I and II on the Albertine Graben, Oil of DRCongo said that it has provided support to the local community, company sources said.

The explorer has also completed feasibility studies for the refurbishment of the Budana Power Plant with the aim of doubling capacity, the enhancement of waters supply system to Bunia through a new pipeline and new storage/treatment facilities, and the drilling of new water wells in Kasenyi.

The company added that it has also received endorsements from the country’s minister of hydrocarbons to ensure the continued development of the oilfields.

According to the company sources, Oil of DRCongo has invested in excess of US$70mn in the exploration works of the Blocks I and II so far, including above US$20mn on the seismic investigations. The seismic data acquisition was carried out by UK’s TESLA.

Giuseppe Ciccarelli, CEO of Oil of DRCongo, said, “We are delighted to be supporting the rehabilitation of this important transport link as part of Oil of DRCongo’s on-going commitment to the communities in northeast DR Congo. We are excited about the future prospects for Blocks I and II.

Oil of DRCongo is generating jobs, fuelling development and prosperity and contributing to social progress. Fleurette Group is proud to be leading the effort help the DR Congo build a competitive, sustainable oil industry.”

The company is currently carrying out a feasibility study aimed at evaluating the entire drilling exercise to establish four wells in the country.

{africanreview}

February 20, 2014
Korean Families Head to Bittersweet Reunions

{{A group of 82 elderly, frail South Koreans, two of them in ambulances, have started a journey to the North Korean border to attend the first family reunion in more than three years for familes divided by the Korean war.}}

Ten coaches, with half a dozen police vehicles as escorts, left the eastern port city of Sokcho at 8:30am local time on Thursday (23:30 GMT Wednesday) for the heavily-militarised border 50kms away.

The departure was delayed as two female members of the group needed medical attention, and ended up being put in ambulances for the journey.

“Twenty-six of the group are over 90 years old, so we have to be very careful. It’s more challenging than any other time,” Yoo Jung-Kaeun, president of the South Korean Red Cross, told media.

“This is why there are so many more accompanying family members,” she added.

She was referring to 58 family members who have joined the journey, emotionally and physically supporting the elderly travellers, of whom more than a dozen are in wheelchairs.

After crossing the world’s last major Cold War frontier, there will be another 30km drive to a resort on Mount Kumgang – the venue for the reunion with 180 North Korean relatives they have not seen for more than 60 years.

“I think when I see her face, I won’t believe it’s real,” Kim Dong-Bin, 81, said of the elder sister he left decades ago in the North’s capital, Pyongyang.

“I wonder if I will be able to recognise her immediately? It’s been so long,” Kim said.

Pyongyang concessions

All of the South Koreans carried bags filled with gifts, ranging from basic medicines, to framed family photos and packets of instant noodles. Some brought bags of fresh fruit that they planned to offer in a joint prayer ceremony with their reunited siblings to their late parents.

“The gifts I’m bringing to my sister should be good. Something you can’t see much in North Korea so I hope she will be happy,” said Kim Se-Rin, 85.

“I’ve also included some US dollars for her and my younger brother,” Kim said.

The reunion is the result of tortuous, high-level negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul, which nearly broke down over the North’s objections to overlapping joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.

The majority of Koreans separated by the war died without meeting again.

aljazeera

February 20, 2014
French Tycoon in Custody for ‘Vote-Buying’

{{French industrialist billionaire and Senator Serge Dassault was detained Wednesday for alleged vote-buying in his former fiefdom south of Paris. He faces renewed questioning Thursday after having been released for the night.}}

The 88-year-old manufacturer of fighter jets is suspected of buying votes in Corbeil-Essonnes, where he was mayor from 1995 to 2009.

Dassault is ranked by Forbes magazine as the fourth-richest man in France and the 69th-richest in the world, with an estimated fortune of 13 billion euros ($18 billion).

French judges suspect him of operating an extensive system of vote-buying which influenced the outcome of three mayoral elections in the Paris-area suburb of Corbeil in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Those votes were won either by Dassault or his successor and associate, Jean-Pierre Bechter.

Formal charges against Dassault now look inevitable, experts say.

{{Allegations of bribing immigrants}}

Bechter has already been charged, as has Cristela de Oliveira, a former official in the mayor’s office suspected of giving council flats to families in exchange for supporting Dassault or Bechter.

Dassault heads the Dassault Group, which owns the country’s main conservative daily newspaper, Le Figaro, and holds a majority stake in Dassault Aviation, which makes business and military aircraft (including the Rafale fighter jet).

A member of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, Dassault admits using his vast personal wealth to help residents of Corbeil, but denies any payouts were made in return for votes.

But at least two men who claim to have been paid by Dassault to help organise the alleged vote buying have described an efficient electoral machine which targeted poorer families from immigrant backgrounds.

In return for casting their ballots for Dassault or Bechter, residents were promised help with paying for driving lessons and finding subsidised housing.

In addition to vote-buying, Dassault could be charged with money laundering and misuse of public assets. Those charges are serious enough to warrant prison time.

In 1998, Dassault received a two-year suspended prison sentence in Belgium for bribing members of the country’s Socialist Party in order to secure an army helicopter contract in what became known as the “Agusta scandal”.

agencies

February 20, 2014
Japan Bar Sues Website for Unwanted Publicity

{{An exclusive Japanese bar is suing a foodie website, arguing that unwanted publicity from a review is damaging its operational strategy of being little-known and hard to find, reports said on Thursday.}}

The bar in the western city of Osaka, which was not named in reports, has asked the wildly popular “Tabelog” web site to take down a client review and photos of the establishment.

But the operators of the site, which claims to have around 53 million users a month, refused the request, arguing that the review is covered by the right to freedom of expression, the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei business daily said.

The bar, which threw open its nondescript doors in 2010, has no sign outside saying what it is or what it does. It requires known customers and their guests to ring a doorbell and ask staff to unlock an iron door from inside.

“It was a way to differentiate the establishment. Our stagecraft as a secret hideaway was designed to appeal to visitors’ imaginations,” the bar operators told the Osaka District Court in a hearing Wednesday, according to the Asahi.

The Tabelog information “took away the elements of surprise and fun and undermined our operational strategy”, they said, demanding the website take down the post and asking for 3.3 million yen ($32,400) in damages, the Asahi reported.

The review, alongside pictures of the bar, was posted in 2012. Its operators noticed it last summer and asked Tabelog to take it down, according to local press.

Tabelog claims to be the premier restaurant review website in Japan. A New York version launched in March last year.

Users write reviews of places they have eaten which others can use as a guide for finding the right spot.

aljazeera

February 20, 2014
US Urged to Recall Uganda Envoy Over Gay Bill

{{Human Rights Watch has said the United States should recall its ambassador to Uganda and review diplomatic relations after the Uganda’s leader said he would sign into law a bill prescribing life imprisonment for homosexuals.}}

The New York-based group also said Uganda’s international donor partners should “clearly and publicly” specify the consequences for relations with Uganda if the Anti-Homosexuality bill becomes law.

“There is real urgency now that [Yoweri] Museveni has stated his intention to sign the bill,” Daniel Bekele, the Africa director for Human Right Watch, said on Wednesday, referring to the Ugandan president.

“The US should temporarily recall the ambassador to conduct strategic consultations on the US/Uganda relationship, while making clear the range of concerns for yet another clawback to human rights in Uganda.”

Human Rights Watch said the bill violates the country’s human rights obligations and would act as a barrier to advancing critical public health goals.

It called for a review of funding assistance to Uganda to ensure that US funds are not used to further prosecution of anyone under the homosexuality law.

“In particular funding for the police should be subject to close scrutiny as they would be legally mandated to enforce this law,” the group said.

Though popular among Ugandans who insist homosexuality is a “vice” from Western countries, the bill has attracted criticism from world leaders as it seeks to increase penalties for some forms of consensual same-sex conduct between adults and infringe on constitutionally protected rights to privacy.

{wirestory}

February 20, 2014
Venezuela Opposition Leader Surrenders Amid Fresh Protests

{{Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez (pictured) surrendered to authorities at a rally in Caracas Tuesday as his followers gathered for a fresh round of anti-government protests in a plaza surrounded by anti-riot troops.}}

President Nicolas Maduro last week ordered Lopez’s arrest on charges of homicide and inciting violence after street clashes in the capital left three dead.

The surrender was a dramatic move following two weeks of protests in the country, spearheaded by students who are angry over rampant crime, deteriorating living conditions and the arrests of demonstrators.

The government banned Tuesday’s opposition march after Lopez said he would use it to surrender. Defying the ban, thousands of Lopez’s supporters turned out dressed in white at the Plaza Brion after he called for the march in a video message on Sunday.

Lopez, also in white, suddenly emerged in the crowd, climbing a statue of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti with a Venezuelan flag. After delivering a brief message to his cheering supporters, he surrendered to the National Guard.

“I present myself before an unjust justice, before a corrupt justice,” said the 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist.

“If my incarceration serves to wake up a people … my infamous incarceration will have been worth it,” he said to an explosion of cheers from the crowd.

He calmly walked under escort to a National Guard vehicle as his supporters pressed in around the vehicle, blocking its path.

Shouts of “Freedom, Freedom!” and “It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall; this corrupt government is going to fall” rose from the crowd.

Lopez himself got on the loudspeaker from within the vehicle to appeal for calm.

Three rings of national police – backed by a second line of National Guard anti-riot troops with light armoured vehicles – were positioned around the plaza.

The government summoned its followers to rallies of its own in an area of downtown Caracas where the opposition march was to end, raising the risk of a violent confrontation with rival protesters.

{wirestory}

February 20, 2014
Facebook to Buy Messaging Network WhatsApp

{{Facebook, the world’s biggest social-networking company, says it is buying the mobile messaging service WhatsApp in a deal worth $16bn.}}

The purchase, announced on Wednesday, will leave WhatsApp with its own independent board.

WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay telecom charges.

It is Facebook’s biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg’s firm raised $16bn in the richest technology-sector public stock offering.

The purchase includes $12bn in Facebook shares and $4bn cash.

It calls for an additional $3bn in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp founders and employees that will vest over four years.

“The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core Internet services efficiently and affordably,” Facebook said in a statement.

The WhasApp deal translates to roughly nine percent of Facebook’s market value and is bigger than any acquisition made by Google, Apple or Microsoft.

Google’s biggest deal, Motorola Mobility, stood at $12.5bn, while Microsoft’s largest was Skype – which allows users to make voice and video calls over the internet – at $8.5bn. Apple, meanwhile, has not done a deal above $1bn.

{{Separate service}}

Facebook, which has more than 1.2 billion members, said it will keep WhatsApp as a separate service, just as it did with Instagram, which it bought for about $715.3m.

WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly active users. In comparison, Twitter had 241 million users at the end of 2013.

“WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable,” Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, said.

“I’ve known [WhatsApp founder] Jan [Koum] for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.”

Koum, who joins Facebook’s board under the deal, said “WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide.”

In a blog post, Koum said, “Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody. Nothing else mattered to us.”

The tie-up gives WhatsApp “the flexibility to grow and expand, while giving me, [co-founder] Brian [Acton], and the rest of our team more time to focus on building a communications service that’s as fast, affordable and personal as possible,” Koum said.

Facebook reportedly sought to acquire another messaging firm, Snapchat, for $3bn last year.

{Agencies}

February 20, 2014
Franco-German Joint Military Brigade Heads to Mali

Troops from a joint Franco-German military brigade will be sent to Mali, the force’s first deployment to Africa, a statement said on Wednesday.

“France and Germany have decided to send elements of the Franco-German Brigade to Mali: the first deployment under the aegis of the EU and in an African location,” a joint statement said following a security and defence meeting in Paris between the two countries.

It said the troops would be integrated into a European soldier-training mission in Mali that was launched in February last year and which has already trained nearly 3,000 Malian forces.

The statement did not specify how many troops would be involved. But the two sides called for greater investment in helping reorganise and train troops in the West African nation, as well as in the police and other security forces.

The Franco-German brigade, which was set up in 1989 to increase military cooperation between the World War II-era foes, comprises some 4,800 troops based in both countries. Its soldiers have in the past been sent to Afghanistan and Kosovo.

The brigade is highly symbolic in nature, as it is difficult for both countries to deploy soldiers to hotspots jointly, given the different rules of engagement that govern each army.

Mali was thrown into chaos in 2012 when Tuareg separatist rebels launched an offensive in the northern desert helped by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda after the country’s president was toppled in a coup.

The Islamists took control of northern Mali, ruling it under a brutal vision of Islamic law until former colonial ruler France sent in troops to flush them out in January 2013. But the rebels are regrouping in the desert and remain an ever-present threat to security.

UN peacekeepers took over security in July last year from the Pan-African AFISMA military mission, which had been supporting the French troops.

France is winding down its deployment from a peak of around 5,000 soldiers but will keep 1,000 troops in Mali beyond the northern spring.

france24

February 20, 2014
Al Jazeera Journalists on Trial in Egypt Over Brotherhood Claims

{{Some 20 Al Jazeera journalists, including four foreigners, go on trial in Cairo on Thursday for allegedly supporting the former ruling party, the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, in a case that has fuelled accusations of media censorship in Egypt.}}

The trial of journalists from the Qatar-based channel comes against a backdrop of strained relations between Cairo and Doha, which is a backer of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, and of his Muslim Brotherhood party.

Prosecutors allege that the defendants, including award-winning Australian reporter Peter Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, manipulated footage and supported the Brotherhood, which was banned after Morsi was deposed.

In all, 20 journalists are on trial, but only eight of them are in custody.

Prosecutors say the journalists falsely portrayed Egypt as being in a state of “civil war,” possibly a reference to the broadcaster’s coverage of a crackdown that has killed more than 1,000 Morsi supporters in street clashes.

The government has designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, although the group denies involvement in a spate of bombings since Morsi’s overthrow.

{{‘Effort to frighten journalists’}}

Al Jazeera, which says only nine of the defendants are on its staff, has denied the charges.

Greste, a former BBC correspondent, and Fahmy, who worked with CNN before joining Al Jazeera, were arrested in a Cairo hotel in December.

The other foreign journalists listed in the indictment are abroad and will be tried in absentia.

They are Britons Sue Turton and Dominic Kane and Dutch journalist Rena Netjes, who does not work for the channel.

US authorities, press freedom groups and scores of journalists have protested against the detention of the reporters.

On Wednesday, the International Press Institute urged the court to release the journalists.

It said a fact-finding trip suggested that “security forces have been systematically accusing journalists of unsupported charges of aiding terrorists or spreading ‘false news’ in an effort to frighten all journalists and hinder independent news-gathering”.

france24

February 20, 2014