IGIHE

Category: People

  • How to Prevent Holiday Luggage Theft

    How to Prevent Holiday Luggage Theft

    {The holiday travel season in upon us and that means thousands of bags will be moving through the nation’s airports over the next month. To protect your bags you’ve got to be careful, otherwise what you packed might not be inside when you get to the baggage carousel.}

    Here are some tips to keep your bags safe over the holidays.

    Get to baggage claim quickly. Don’t lollygag, don’t go to the bathroom, don’t get a cup of coffee, make sure you stand next to the carousel and watch your bag come off the conveyor. The sooner you get there, the more likely you are to leave with your bag, instead of someone else.

    You’ve got that junky suitcase you’re embarrassed to travel with? Don’t be, that’s the one you should travel with. Designer bags are a magnet for thieves, who are betting there’s something nice inside your Louis Vuitton suitcase.

    Finally, if your bags do go missing, file the claim quickly. Some airlines give passengers only four hours to file a claim for a reimbursement, after that it’s your loss.

    {{ABC News Beyond the Headline}}

  • Nyamagabe: Collaboration between local leaders and public remains unpredictable

    Nyamagabe: Collaboration between local leaders and public remains unpredictable

    {Residents of Nyamagabe District, Gasaka Sector were surprised as one new settler who had just shifted to that sector started digging on the road that had been constructed by the village residents and this kept on destroying the road continuously}.

    The road connects Nyamagabe district to other areas around the district

    In Interview with IGIHE, one of the settlers confirmed Manirareba Boniface bought land and built a house, 4 meters beside the road where he had planned to operate a Bar Business.

    Later on, these buildings came to block the road as cars which carry tea failed to find their way as the road had been blocked by the construction.

    Currently, local leaders are continuing to sensitize the residents to construct the Road again as it’s the only road that connects the residents to the main road which heads to the city of Huye.

    He added,” after constructing this road, we had started constructing a school and demanding for a hospital. But as we find drawbacks we are being told of working on the road in the next monthly social community work. Therefore, we find it hard for us to work on other stuff since what many people constructed was destructed by one person”.

    According to the residents, they had informed the issue of the road which was destroyed, to the local leaders who never acted as Boniface claims the local leaders gave him the land and authority for construction.

    As the state of affairs was aggravating, Local leaders decided to ban Boniface from continuing with the construction activities, but they said Boniface’s house will not be demolished

    Residents put all the blame on their leaders as they watched someone destructing the road they built and no measures to support them were taken.

  • Kigali: The man who walks around with his raven gives his reason

    Kigali: The man who walks around with his raven gives his reason

    {After many people wanted to know why he walks the streets with a raven, Harerimana aka Rusumo, a resident of Nyarugege District who walks every day with a raven in his hand, told IGIHE that raven brings luck to him.}

    In an interview with IGIHE journalist, Harerimana said people should not worry about him to carry his raven due to the fact that it brings daily chance to him.

    “People should not worry about me because of this raven. In different ways it brings luck to me and even without it I am not sure if I can live well”

    He narrated that “Even if people treat me like a mad because they say I don’t have money, I always reply to them that my raven is my chance. I tell them that I feel as if I have enough money and happiness. Remember that there are some who have money and property but lack peace and happiness”

    He concluded affirming that his life depends on “this raven and without it my life is at risk”

    This is the second man who walks with a flying animal after another one called Hamisi from Nyamirambo who walks with an Eagle in his hands.

  • World’s tallest man wed the “Love of his life”

    World’s tallest man wed the “Love of his life”

    {Turkey’s Sultan Kosen, at 2.51 metres (eight foot three) the world’s tallest man, has wed a Syrian woman he called the “love of my life”, though he towers over his 1.75-metre bride.
    }

    “I cannot describe my feelings in words,” the 31-year-old groom said during the wedding celebration in his hometown in the southeastern province of Mardin on Sunday.

    “I am the happiest man in the world,” he was quoted as saying on the website of the state-run Anatolia news agency.

    His 20-year-old bride Mervi Dibo, who hails from the Syrian town of Hasaka, added: “I hope this happiness will be long-lasting.”

    The groom’s black suit was custom made, requiring six metres of fabric, Anatolia reported.

    Born into a farming family in southeastern Turkey, Kosen won global fame in September 2009 when Guinness World Records declared him the tallest man in the world. He was then 2.47 meters tall.

    His growth has resulted from a tumor affecting his pituitary gland.

    US doctors treated Kosen’s tumor in August 2010 in the state of Virgina with a precisely targeted shot of extremely high frequency gamma rays, using a non-invasive radiosurgical device known as a Gamma Knife.

    Last year, doctors said Kosen has overcome acromegaly, a rare hormonal disorder that caused him to keep growing well into adulthood.

    Kosen is forced to use crutches in order to walk.

  • Rwandan Listed For Global Innovation Award

    Rwandan Listed For Global Innovation Award

    {{A Rwandan has been short-listed for an international innovation award for inventing an environmentally-friendly power device.}}

    Henry Nyakarundi’s solar-powered device that charges cell phones has been short-listed among 23 projects for the global ‘Empowering People Awards.’

    The winning project will be announced later this month.

    Nyakarundi’s project was selected from the more than 800 entries that were made by individuals and firms from across the world.

    According to Rolf Huber, the managing director of Siemens Stiftung, the initiator of the awards, the selection process was conducted by an international jury of experts, based on aspects such as technical quality, environmental impact, social and economic relevancy of the project submitted.

    “Our aim is to recognise the most promising technological solutions and products suitable for solving basic problems of ordinary people in developing countries,” Huber is quoted in a statement.

    The statement adds that voting for finalists will be online and open to public from 90 countries worldwide.

    The winner will walk home with Euro 50,000 (about Rwf45 million), while the first and second runners-up will bag Euro 30,000 (about Rwf27 million and Euro 20,000 (about Rwf18 million), respectively.

    Twenty other ‘best losers’ in the competition will receive Euro 5,000 (about Rwf4.5 million) each.

    “I am glad that at last, four years of vigorous research and testing to develop this product have been recognised0,” Nyakarundi said.

    “However, I cant celebrate now because a lot of work still has to be done to go through the final phase, but I am confident.”

    source: {Newtimes}

  • 30 Million People are Slaves, Half in India- Survey

    30 Million People are Slaves, Half in India- Survey

    {{Some 30 million people are enslaved worldwide, trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labour, victims of debt bondage or even born into servitude, a global index on modern slavery showed on Thursday.}}

    Almost half are in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labour in quarries and kilns to commercial sex exploitation, although the scourge exists in all 162 countries surveyed by Walk Free, an Australian-based rights group.

    For factbox on the 10 countries where slavery is most prevalent, click here

    Its estimate of 29.8 million slaves worldwide is higher than other attempts to quantify modern slavery. The International Labour Organisation estimates that almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour.

    “Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report said.

    “Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”

    The Global Slavery Index 2013 defines slavery as the possession or control of people to deny freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, usually through violence, coercion or deception. The definition includes indentured servitude, forced marriage and the abduction of children to serve in wars.

    According to the index, 10 countries alone account for three quarters of the world’s slaves.

    After India, China has the most with 2.9 million, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000), Ethiopia (651,000), Russia (516,000), Thailand (473,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (462,000), Myanmar (384,000) and Bangladesh (343,000).

    The index also ranks nations by prevalence of slavery per head of population. By this measure, Mauritania is worst, with almost 4 percent of its 3.8 million people enslaved. Estimates by other organisations put the level at up to 20 percent.

    Chattel slavery is common in Mauritania, meaning that slave status is passed down through generations. “Owners” buy, sell, rent out or give away their slaves as gifts.

    After Mauritania, slavery is most prevalent by population in Haiti, where a system of child labour known as “restavek” encourages poor families to send their children to wealthier acquaintances, where many end up exploited and abused.

    Pakistan, India, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon have the next highest prevalence rates.

    At the other end of the scale, Iceland has the lowest estimated prevalence with fewer than 100 slaves.

    Next best are Ireland, Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Finland and Denmark, although researchers said slave numbers in such wealthy countries were higher than previously thought.

    “They’ve been allocating resources against this crime according to the tiny handful of cases that they’ve been aware of,” said Kevin Bales, lead researcher and a professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation at Hull University.

    “Our estimates are telling them that the numbers of people in slavery – whether it’s in Great Britain or Finland or wherever – in these richer countries actually tends to be about six to 10 times higher than they think it is.”

    Walk Free CEO Nick Grono said the annual index would serve as an important baseline for governments and activists in the anti-slavery fight.

    “This kind of data hasn’t been out there before,” he said. “It’s a multi-year effort, and next year we’ll have a much better picture of where slavery is and what changes there are. If you can’t measure it, you can’t devise policy to address it.”

    Countries with highest absolute numbers of slaves

    Country Estimated slaves

    India 13.9 million

    China 2.9 million

    Pakistan 2.1 million

    Nigeria 701,000

    Ethiopia 651,000

    Russia 516,000

    Thailand 473,000

    D.R. Congo 462,000

    Myanmar 384,000

    Bangladesh 343,000

    Ranking by prevalence of modern slavery per head of population

    Rank Country Estimated slaves Population

    1 Mauritania 151,000 3.8 million

    2 Haiti 209,000 10.2 million

    3 Pakistan 2.1 million 179.2 million

    4 India 13.9 million 1.2 billion

    5 Nepal 259,000 27.5 million

    6 Moldova 33,000 3.6 million

    7 Benin 80,000 10.1 million

    8 Ivory Coast 157,000 19.8 million

    9 Gambia 14,000 1.8 million

    10 Gabon 14,000 1.6 million

    Source: Global Slavery Index 2013, Walk Free

  • Congolese Surgeon Awarded Civil Courage Prize

    Congolese Surgeon Awarded Civil Courage Prize

    {{A Congolese surgeon ({pictured above}) who treated tens of thousands of women who were gang-raped received a prize honouring his courage.}}

    Denis Mukwege accepted the 2013 Civil Courage Prize, awarded by the New York-based Train Foundation, on Tuesday for his work at the Panzi Hospital, which he founded in 1999 in the capital of the war-torn province of South Kivu.

    “Meeting these women completely changed my life,” Mukwege said.

    “My profession as a medical doctor led me to become a direct witness to a mass crime that is hard to fully understand. This is because sexual violence targets our most precious resource: our mothers, our wives and our daughters.”

    The UN has said various armed groups are behind rapes in eastern Congo.

    The Congolese army and M23 rebels it fights also have been accused of raping civilians.

    Eastern Congo’s mineral riches have been exploited for years by a myriad of armed rebel groups and militias who have used violence to control the region’s mines.

    M23 formally launched its rebellion last year, drawing its name from a failed March 23, 2009 peace agreement with the Congolese government.

    Mukwege said in his speech that rape is probably “history’s oldest and least condemned crime” and said that struggles over the metals used in cell phones have contributed to the loss of 5 mllion lives in his country.

    “There is nothing inevitable about this situation,” he said. “We can bring positive change to the Congo.”

    Last year, Mukwege in a speech at the United Nations, lashed out at the international community for its inaction on his country’s civil war.

    He moved to Europe following an assassination attempt against him last October.

    {Agencies}

  • Snowden Warns Against Mass Surveillance

    Snowden Warns Against Mass Surveillance

    {{Former US National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden says surveillance programs used by the United States to tap into phone and Internet connections around the world are making people less safe.}}

    In short video clips posted by the WikiLeaks website on Friday, Snowden said the NSA mass surveillance he revealed before fleeing to Russia “puts us at risk of coming into conflict with our own government.”

    Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the U.S. over the leak, described the techniques as “dragnet mass surveillance that puts entire populations under sort of an eye that sees everything even when it’s not needed.”

    “They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak and think and live and be creative, to have relationships and to associate freely,” Snowden said.

    The videos are the first of Snowden speaking since July 12, when he was shown at a Moscow airport pleading with Russian authorities to grant him asylum, which they did on Aug. 1.

    That decision has strained the relations between the U.S. and Russia. President Barack Obama called off a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at a summit hosted by Russia in September.

    Snowden said the U.S. government was “unwilling to prosecute high officials who lied to Congress and the country on camera, but they’ll stop at nothing to persecute someone who told them the truth.”

    In a note accompanying the videos, WikiLeaks said Snowden spoke on Wednesday in Moscow as he accepted the Sam Adams Award, given annually by a group of retired U.S. national security officers and named for a CIA analyst during the Vietnam War who accused the U.S. military of deliberately underestimating the enemy’s strength for political purposes.

    Four former U.S. government officials who were at the ceremony told The Associated Press on Thursday that Snowden is adjusting to life in Russia and said they saw no evidence that he was under the control of local security services. They refused to say where they met with Snowden or where he is living.

    wirestory

  • Malala wins EU’s Sakharov Human Rights Prize

    Malala wins EU’s Sakharov Human Rights Prize

    {{Pakistan’s teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for fighting for girls’ rights to education, on Thursday was awarded the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize.}}

    “Today, we decided to let the world know that our hope for a better future stands in young people like Malala Yousafzai,” said the chairman of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul.

    The 16-year-old who has become an emblem of the fight against the most radical forms of Islamism has also been nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

    She was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban on October 9 last year for speaking out against them and has gone on to become a global ambassador for the right of all children to go to school.

    Three jailed Belarussian dissidents and US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden had also been short-listed for the parliament’s Sakharov prize.

    The three Belarussians, Ales Belyatsky, Eduard Lobau and Mykola Statkevich, were jailed after mass protests in Minsk in December 2010 against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

    Snowden, the US contractor who revealed widespread spying by the United states on friends and foes alike, has sought asylum in Russia.

    Last year’s award went to detained Iranians, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film-maker Jafar Panahi, to honour those “standing up for a better Iran.”

    Past winners of the 50,000-euro ($65,000) prize include South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

    (AFP)

  • Madonna Reveals She Was Raped when Young

    Madonna Reveals She Was Raped when Young

    {{US pop icon Madonna was raped at knifepoint when she was a young struggling artist in New York, she revealed in an article in Harper’s Bazaar.}}

    The 55 year old recalled being held up at gunpoint and having her seedy apartment burgled three times, saying she was “scared shitless” at times before she started making it as a singer and dancer.

    Describing her arrival in the Big Apple from the Midwest, where she grew up, she wrote: “New York wasn’t everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms,” and described “paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked.”

    “The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don’t know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time.

    “The tall buildings and the massive scale of New York took my breath away. The sizzling hot sidewalks and the noise of the traffic and the electricity of the people rushing by me on the streets was a shock to my neurotransmitters,” she added.

    She continued: “I felt like I had plugged into another universe. I felt like a warrior plunging my way through the crowds to survive. Blood pumping through my veins, I was poised for survival.

    “I felt alive.

    “But I was also scared shitless and freaked out by the smell of piss and vomit everywhere, especially in the entryway of my third floor walk up.”

    She also talked about her time living in Britain married to director Guy Ritchie, saying there is “nothing more beautiful than the English countryside,” and revealed that she is now studying the Koran.

    The “Material Girl” singer, whose career has ranged from “Like a Virgin” to movie roles, the 1992 coffee table book “Sex” and who last toured in 2012, wrote the cover story to accompany a fashion photoshoot of her in typically provocative gear, including a bondage style mask and a sword.

    Moving on a decade a time, she recalled being a pop star in her 20s, embracing Kabbalah in her 30s, before marrying Ritchie and moving to Britain by the age of 45.

    “I consider moving to a foreign country to be a very daring act. It wasn’t easy for me I didn’t understand pub culture. I didn’t understand that being openly ambitious was frowned upon. Once again I felt alone.

    “But I stuck it out and I found my way, and I grew to love English wit, Georgian architecture, sticky toffee pudding, and the English countryside. There is nothing more beautiful than the English countryside.”

    Madonna and Ritchie were divorced in 2008, and a decade later she is back in New York.

    “I have started making films, which is probably the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done. I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Koran. I think it is important to study all the holy books.

    “As my friend Yaman always tells me, a good Muslim is a good Jew, and a good Jew is a good Christian, and so forth. I couldn’t agree more.”

    AFP