IGIHE

Author: Publisher

  • Djibouti Says Restaurant Bomber Couple Were Somali

    Djibouti Says Restaurant Bomber Couple Were Somali

    {{A man and woman who blew themselves up in a restaurant in Djibouti on Saturday – in the first attack of its kind in the East African state – were probably Somalis, the interior minister said.}}

    The suicide bombing killed one other person – a Turkish national – in the restaurant that was filled with Western military personnel. Seven Frenchmen and four Germans were among the wounded, Interior Minister Hassan Omar said on Sunday.

    “I would say two suicide bombers are probably of Somali origin. But the investigations will prove that,” Omar told journalists.

    The interior ministry, which had previously stated as fact that the couple were Somali, did not say if it suspected any group for being behind the bombing.

    “This act of blind terrorism does not jeopardise our determination to fight with the international community against this scourge,” President Ismail Omar Guelleh said.

    “We promise to make every effort to find the perpetrators and sponsors of this barbaric crime.”

    A former French colony, Djibouti hosts a French military base and the only U.S. military base in Africa. Its port is used by foreign navies policing the Gulf of Aden’s shipping lanes, some of the busiest in the world, against pirates from Somalia, which borders the country to the south.

    Somalia is home of the al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab which has carried out many gun and bomb attacks outside the country, including as assault on a Kenyan shopping mall last year that killed 67 people.

    On Saturday, it attacked the Somali parliament, killing at least 10 security officers.

    Djibouti has troops in Somalia as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia or AMISOM – also comprising forces from Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia – which helped drive al Shabaab from Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in 2011.

    The European Union said members of the its naval mission EUNAVFOR Atalanta and civilian maritime security mission EUCAP Nestor were wounded in Saturday’s bombing.

    Spain said three of its airforce personnel, in Djibouti as part of the EU mission, were hurt, one of whom was seriously wounded by shrapnel. The Pentagon said no Defense Department personnel were wounded.

    agencies

  • Gunmen on Motorcyles Kill 23 in Nigeria

    Gunmen on Motorcyles Kill 23 in Nigeria

    {{Gunmen mounted on motorbikes killed at least 32 people in the northeastern Nigerian village of Gurmushi, a police source said on Thursday.

    The attacked occurred along the Cameroon border area of Borno state, the heart of an insurgency by Boko Haram militants fighting for an Islamic state in religiously mixed Nigeria, on Wednesday afternoon.

    On hearing of the attack, Abba Shuwa contacted his family who live in village, he told Reuters by telephone. They said many of the 32 dead had already been buried.}}

  • Uganda Inflation Drops 5.4%

    Uganda Inflation Drops 5.4%

    {{Ugandan inflation slowed to 5.4 percent in May from 6.7 percent a month earlier, official data showed on Friday.

    Core inflation dipped to 3.3 percent from 3.4 percent in April.}}

  • President Banda Says Will Accept Court Ruling on Vote

    President Banda Says Will Accept Court Ruling on Vote

    {{Malawian President Joyce Banda said on Thursday she is ready to step down if the High Court ratifies a disputed election last week and her opponent ends up as the winner, even though she still believes the vote was fraudulent.}}

    The High Court is due to decide on Friday whether the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should announce the result of the May 20 vote, which Banda’s opponent is likely to have won, or if it should recount ballots, a process that could take two months.

    The decision could raise the risk of post-election violence in the impoverished southern African country after the most hotly contested vote since the end of the one-party state two decades ago.

    “I have told the MEC and related stakeholders that I will accept their decision, and the decision of the courts,” Banda told Reuters in an interview in the Malawian capital Lilongwe.

    “I will rest knowing that I tried to defend the rights of Malawians in a critical moment to ensure they have a leader elected in a fair and credible manner,” she added.

    The election was plagued by problems, with voting materials turning up hours late and ballot papers sent to the wrong end of the country. The MEC had to extend voting in some urban areas into a second day and initial counting was held up by a lack of electricity at polling stations.

    Four days after the election, the MEC said a count of 30 percent of the votes cast showed that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), headed by Peter Mutharika, brother of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika, was in the lead with 42 percent of the vote.

    Banda, southern Africa’s first female head of state, followed with 23 percent. The MEC has finished counting but has not announced the result. Local media reports suggest Mutharika would comfortably win if there is no recount.

    reuters

  • Mali Army Chief to Resign After Kidal Defeat

    Mali Army Chief to Resign After Kidal Defeat

    {{Mali’s army chief of staff, General Mahamane Toure, offered to step down on Thursday following the military’s failed attempt to seize the Tuareg separatist town of Kidal, three military sources said.}}

    General Toure, if his resignation is accepted by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, will be the second senior official to resign after Defence Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga quit on Tuesday following fighting in which 50 Malians were killed.

    “He tendered his resignation letter to the president this morning. We do not have an answer yet, we do not know if it will be accepted or not,” one military source close to the general told media.

    Another military source close to the Malian presidential office confirmed the army chief had offered to resign.

    The Malian army launched an assault on Kidal last Wednesday after clashes broke out in the northern town during a visit by Prime Minister Moussa Mara. The government has said President Keita did not give the order for the attack.

    Mali’s army was quickly overrun by rebel forces, who said they subsequently captured seven other northern towns as U.N. and French peacekeepers declined to intervene.

    The failed action had threatened to sink struggling peace negotiations between the government and the rebels, and plunge the impoverished West African country back into war. A ceasefire was later brokered by the African Union and the United Nations.

    wirestory

  • US Citizens Immunised: Measles on Rise

    US Citizens Immunised: Measles on Rise

    {{Public health experts in the US are urging people to get vaccinated after a spike in measles cases in the country this year.}}

    The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 288 cases of measles in the first five months of 2014 – the largest number for 20 years.

    The outbreak is thought to be linked to US citizens travelling to the Philippines.

    The CDC says timely vaccination is the best way to prevent measles.

    Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s National Centre for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, said many US healthcare providers had never seen or treated a patient with measles because of the country’s robust vaccination efforts and rapid response to outbreaks.

    Measles was eliminated from the United States in 2000, meaning that for more than 12 months there was no longer any continuous measles transmission.

    She said: “The current increase in measles cases is being driven by unvaccinated people, primarily US residents, who got measles in other countries, brought the virus back to the United States and spread to others in communities where many people are not vaccinated.”

    “Many of the clusters in the US began following travel to the Philippines where a large outbreak has been occurring since October 2013.”

    Two doses

    Of the 288 cases, 280 were thought to have been imported from at least 18 countries.

    Ninety per cent of all measles cases in the US occurred in people who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

    More than one in seven cases has led to stays in hospital.

    In the US, the CDC recommends two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for everyone starting at age 12 months.

    For those travelling abroad, the CDC recommends that babies older than six months receive the MMR vaccine.

    Measles is a serious viral illness that is highly contagious.

    The initial symptoms of measles develop around 10 days after infection. These can include cold-like symptoms, red eyes and sensitivity to light, a high temperature or fever and greyish white spots in the mouth and throat.

    After a few days, a red-brown spotty rash will appear. This usually starts behind the ears and then spreads around the head and neck before spreading to the rest of the body.

    Measles is still common in many parts of the world, including countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Africa.

    BBC

  • Google Launches ‘Right to Be Forgotten’

    Google Launches ‘Right to Be Forgotten’

    {{Google has launched a service to allow Europeans to ask for personal data to be removed from online search results.}}

    The move comes after a landmark European Union court ruling earlier this month, which gave people the “right to be forgotten”.

    Links to “irrelevant” and outdated data should be erased on request, it said.

    Google said it would assess each request and balance “privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information”.

    “When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there’s a public interest in the information,” Google says on the form which applicants must fill in.

    Google said it would look at information about “financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials” while deciding on the request.

    Earlier this month, the BBC learned that more than half of requests sent to Google from UK individuals involved convicted criminals.

    This included a man convicted of possessing child abuse images who had also asked for links to pages about his conviction to be wiped.

    On 13 May, the EU’s court of justice ruled that links to “irrelevant” and outdated data on search engines should be erased on request.

    The case was brought by a Spanish man who complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home, which appeared on Google’s search results, infringed his privacy.

    On Friday, Google said that EU citizens who want their private details removed from the search engine will be able to do so by filling out an online form.

    However, they will need to provide links to the material they want removed, their country of origin, and a reason for their request.

    Individuals will also have to attach a valid photo identity.

    “Google often receives fraudulent removal requests from people impersonating others, trying to harm competitors, or improperly seeking to suppress legal information,” the firm said.

    “To prevent this kind of abuse, we need to verify identity.”

    agencies

  • Japan Inflation Rises to 23-year High

    Japan Inflation Rises to 23-year High

    {{Consumer prices in Japan rose at their fastest pace in 23 years in April, following an increases in sales tax.

    Prices rose 3.2% compared with the same period last year, beating analysts’ forecasts of a 3.1% jump.

    The government raised its sales tax rate from 5% to 8% on 1 April.

    Japan has been battling deflation, or falling prices, for best part of the past two decades, and policymakers have said that ending that cycle is key to reviving the country’s economy.

    Falling consumer prices hurt domestic demand as consumers and businesses tend to put off purchases in the hope of getting a cheaper deal later on. }}

    The Japanese government has taken various steps over the past few months to try and reverse this trend, and have set a target of a 2% inflation rate.

    The measures, which include boosting the country’s money supply, have started to have an impact and consumer prices in the country have now risen for 11 months in a row.

    The hope is that once prices start to rise, it may force consumers and business to spend more money and not hold back on purchases, as they may have to pay more later on.

    But there have been some concerns that higher inflation may trigger a decline in spending.

    Data released on Friday showed that household spending fell 4.6% in April, compared to a year earlier.

    That follows a 4.4% decline in retail sales during the month.

    However, analysts said the decline in spending was in part due to consumers rushing to make purchases ahead of the tax rise. That had been evident in March, when sales surged 11% – the fastest pace of growth since March 1997.

    BBC

  • Bugesera Artists Thrill Audience at Cultural Gala

    Bugesera Artists Thrill Audience at Cultural Gala

    {{Artists hailing from Bugesera district have been drawn together at a cultural gala that was organised by district authorities aimed at identifying artists from the area and establishing ways of promoting them.}}

    During the gala, artists presented various songs, dance, poems and art with messages focused on prevention of HIV,promotion of security, prevention of cross generation sex, anti corruption, prevention of domestic violence among others.

    Mr Gasana John in charge of culture and sports at the district welcomed the cultural gala saying it was organised to bring together artists from the area and determining ways of supporting them.

    “There is no other way, one can know and bring together artists from Bugesera. We are looking for ways to support them and improve their works,” he said adding that the artists were provided with a theme onto which to develop their messages for presentation at the gala.

    Ndayishimiye Claude emerged the winner at the cultural gala scooping a cash prize; “I will use the cash prize to buy a piano and thus improve my music,” he said.

    However, some participants were not pleased with the manner in which points were awarded at the cultural gala competitions.

    Bagaragaza Emmanuel a teacher at GS Mayange School said that although his school managed to win two categories in the competition, he was not contented with the way points were awarded.

    The competitions were organised in three categories including Poems, Singing and Dance.

    Cash prizes included Frw200,000 (overall winner), Frw150,000 (second position) and Frw100,000 for the third position.

  • Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda Develop Security Framework

    Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda Develop Security Framework

    {{Security chiefs from Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya met Thursday in Kigali to deliberate on a framework of the mutual defence, peace and security pacts developed by experts from security agencies in the three East African community member states. }}

    Military, Police prisons, intelligence and immigration experts from the three countries have been meeting in Kigali since Monday to developed a framework that will facilitate the implementation of the pacts signed in February this year by the three Head of States.

    The experts’ working group developed policies, organs and structures that were presented and approved by heads of the five security institutions in the three states, during their session on Thursday.

    Burundi and South Sudan are attending as observers.

    The Inspector General of Rwanda National Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana said these pacts will fast-track the Northern corridor integration projects.

    He thanked the experts working group for the good work done and their commitment that resulted into formulating the security document.

    “We all look forward to successful deliberation guided by the spirit of fast tracking the Northern corridor integration projects under the guidance of our respective Commanders in Chief,” IGP Gasana said.

    The Security chiefs are scheduled to present the framework to their line ministers for amendment and approval on Friday.

    RNP