{{An Indian MP who threatened to kill opposition workers and have women raped has apologised, saying it was a “gross error of judgement”.}}
Trinamool Congress (TMC) party MP Tapas Pal said he had “no excuses to offer” for his remarks.
Mr Pal made the controversial comments warning the rival Communist party while addressing his party supporters.
Opposition parties and the National Commission for Women have also condemned his comments.
Mr Pal made the threat weeks ago, but a video clip of his comments emerged for the first time on Monday when it was aired on Bengali news channels.
In the video, Mr Pal says: “If any CPM [Communist Party of India – Marxist] man is present here, listen to me. If you ever touch any Trinamool Congress worker or their families, you have to pay for this.
“If any rival touches any Trinamool woman, father or child, then I will ruin their generations. I will let loose my boys, they will commit rape. Yes, they will commit rape,” the MP warned.
Mr Pal’s statement has led to widespread outrage in India and TMC, which is the ruling party in the eastern state of West Bengal, has distanced itself from his comments.
{{Swiss private banking group Edmund de Rothschild will invest US$530mn in Africa to develop the continent’s economy and raise the living standards of the middle class population.}}
According to reports, the funds will be managed by Amethis, an Africa-centric financing firm.
The company, which is majority owned by Rothschild, has already invested in five African companies including Kenyan Chase Bank and gas distributor Petro Ivoire.
Rothschild, along with Dubai-based private equity investor Abraaj and Washington-based asset management firm Carlyle, will be seeking investors to focus on minority stakes in small to medium-sized companies, stated Reuters.
After five years, investors will have the option to convert their stakes in the fund into shares of a company that could then float to gain permanent capital, allowing them to retain investments over a long period, rather than having to sell them after five to six years, according to reports.
Based on information gathered by data provider Preqin, private equity funds targeting Africa attracted US$2.4bn in 2013 – nearly double the amount from 2012. In early 2014, Carlyle secured nearly US$700mn for its first sub-Saharan African fund – lesser than Helios Partners’ US$908mn pool – considered the largest thus far.
Johnny El Hachem, chief executive of Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild Conseil, said, “We are looking for high-return projects but with a strong social development aspect. Time counts in Africa. You can get much better returns if you stay longer.”
• Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
• Silvana Koch-Melhrin, Founder and Chair of the Women in Parliament global forum,
• President of the Rwandan Senate,
• Speakers of Parliament,
• Honorable Ministers,
• Senators and Members of Parliament,
• Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening,
We are so used to being taken out by men, but it feels good, rather refreshing to have a ladies night out. I thank the Women In Parliament global forum, for choosing Rwanda to host its 2014 summer summit.
By virtue of your positions, it feels as though the millions you represent were actually in the room with us. Tonight, I promise to spare you the statistics because I know how difficult they can be to digest with dinner. I will simply share a few thoughts on the forum’s theme: how the spirit of women in Parliaments can advance societies.
We thank you for coming together to share ideas and inspiration, on how you can be better enablers, of an equal and just world. Nous vous remercions de vous etre reunies afin d’echanger des idees et vous inspirer mutuellement, sur le moyen de devenir de meilleurs catalyseurs en vue d’un monde juste et equitable.
Rwanda is pleased and honored to welcome such a force, especially at this significant time in our journey – 20 years since the liberation of our country, from the genocidal regime.
As we come out of the 100 days of mourning, we salute the women who shouldered an immense burden during this most tragic time of our history, enduring horrors that would shake any human being to the core.
In these next few days, the national mood will be punctuated by a sense of gratitude, to the Rwandan sons and daughters who stopped the genocide against the Tutsi.
We hold our liberation process and those that led it, in high regard, we are conscious of the price they had to pay. Their sacrifice is warm in our veins.
As the world watched on television, these brave men and women stopped to look fear in the face and fought evil with purpose and passion. They refused to close their eyes and hearts to the worst form of human cruelty, a people can face.
We would be remiss if we did not pay tribute to our defense forces as we celebrate the 20th liberation. These valiant men and women in uniform continue to be part and parcel of Rwanda’s development.
They have truly surpassed our expectations by not only protecting civilians, but also providing practical solutions to daily problems.
For instance: they introduced the annual ‘Army Week’ initiative. They build schools, homes for survivors of the genocide, health centers and they provide medical care for communities.
They have participated in peacekeeping missions in Africa and beyond, where they help women make energy-saving stoves to limit their visits to the bushes in search of firewood, risking rape and death. They have held the Rwandan flag high.
Our National Police has also played a pivotal role in the campaign to end violence against women and girls in Rwanda, and hosts the Africa Centre for Security Organs to end Violence against women and girls, mobilizing an unprecedented 32 African countries against this pandemic.
Since we have only a few men in the room, let me hope they will not take offense at what I am about to say. In the last few centuries, under the exclusive leadership of men we have seen 2 world wars; several genocides; the rise of terrorism; a world dictated by the scramble for scarce resources, and the advancement of strategic interests at the expense of human dignity. I am only stating facts, no emotions.
{{Ladies and gentlemen:}}
While we are not going to pretend that women can fix all the problems, I believe we can make a difference, at this tipping point. Some would argue that people only respond to economic incentives and force.
As women we dream of a world where soft power: aspects such as values, culture, innovation can be compatible with the responsible quest for global influence and wealth creation.
True, the world has evolved and demands that we aspire for more and better. The age we live in requires more of our skills and energy. Martin Luther King said and I quote ‘there is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time’. Ladies, this is our time. For a second, can you imagine what the world would miss out on, if they had ignored and excluded such a powerful group?
We enjoyed the confident and bold expressions from Sophia, Natacha and Angel, along with our graceful traditional dancers. I cannot forget Sandrine and Carole, our MCs. These young women are the face of Rwandan women all over this country.
Women who work very hard and are in fact the ones delivering key targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals, on behalf of Rwanda. They need to be encouraged to do even better.
I also want to acknowledge women leaders at national and community level. They have been instrumental in Rwanda’s rebirth and reconstruction and some of them are in the room tonight. This was all made possible, thanks to a visionary leadership that recognized our rightful space.
As legislators representing millions of constituents, I wish to leave you with a few challenges:
• Will you be remembered as the generation of global women leaders that used its power to reach out to the often forgotten?
• Are you ready to protect and sustain the gains women have made?
• And if I may borrow from Angel, will you be a legend?
As I close my remarks, I would like to thank you for associating with Rwanda, especially at this time. This global sisterhood means a lot to us. Thank you for your kind attention and I wish you a memorable stay in Rwanda.
{{A cargo plane crashed into a commercial building in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, shortly after taking off from the city’s main airport on Wednesday and the four crew members on board were feared dead, the Kenyan Airports Authority (KAA) said.}}
Television footage showed the tail and wings of a white plane ripped in half outside a smouldering two-storey building left mangled by the force of the impact.
KAA said on its Twitter feed all the crew members were “feared to have perished”. Kenyan media reported the four crew members were killed.
“A Fokker 50 cargo plane with 4 people on board has this morning crashed at a commercial building in Utawala after taking off from JKIA,” KAA said on its Twitter feed.
The plane crashed into shops in Nairobi’s Embekasi neighbourhood near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), where a terminal was gutted by a major fire last year.
JKIA is east Africa’s busiest airport and acts as vital travel gateway to the region.
{{A wealthy Chinese businessman who once tried to buy the New York Times offered a free lunch of seared tuna and filet mignon to several hundred homeless New Yorkers at a swank Central Park restaurant on Wednesday.}}
Chen Guangbiao, who made his fortune in the recycling business, took out newspaper advertisements last week inviting “poor and destitute Americans” to lunch in the park.
Several hundred people showed up for the lunch and Chen entertained them by singing “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity hit song to fund African famine relief, and a ceremony in which Chen was presented with a certificate declaring him “the world’s greatest philanthropist.”
He announced to applause and cheers he would hand out $300 (£176.7) to each of the guests and also introduced a self-immolation survivor whose medical treatment he paid for.
“If you have a river (of wealth) you better know how to share it with other people,” Chen said. “We are one big happy family in the world.
“Diners were seated around dozens of round tables covered with white table cloths and set with china and fine cutlery in the banquet room of the Loeb Boathouse, backdrop for such films as “When Harry Met Sally” and television shows including “Sex and the City.”
Standing on the periphery were dozens of Chinese nationals in green uniforms.
Chris Weber, 38, said he heard about the event at the New York City Rescue Mission – a homeless shelter that helped organise the event and where he sometimes receive free dinners. He said he enjoyed the lunch but found it “a little propaganda-y.”
“It’s a nice gesture but I’m guessing he also has a motive,” he said.
{{At least one United Nations peacekeeper was killed and six others injured in Mali on Monday when their vehicle struck a land mine in the north of the country, a U.N. spokesman said.}}
Three of the peacekeepers, all from Burkina Faso, were seriously hurt in the blast, the latest in a serious of incidents underscoring insecurity in northern Mali despite the French and U.N. troops who deployed to drive out al Qaeda-linked Islamists last year.
“A vehicle from the Burkinabe contingent hit a mine, injuring seven soldiers, four of them seriously,” Olivier Salgado told Reuters. “One of the four subsequently died.”
Salgado said the explosion took place outside the town of Goundam in Timbuktu region.
The explosion comes as Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, a key figure in regional politics, visited Mali on Monday in a bid to revive dialogue with rebels still occupying positions in Mali’s desert north.
Al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups took advantage of an uprising by Tuareg separatist rebel fighters and a military coup in the capital to seize Mali’s vast desert north in 2012.
France dispatched thousands of troops last year to drive the Islamists out of the zone and a U.N. peacekeeping mission is rolling out to try to stabilise the fragile northern regions.
But pockets of Islamists that remain have launched a series of bomb attacks on Malian and U.N. troops this year.
Mali’s government and rebel groups not officially linked to the Islamist militants are due to complete peace talks.
However, Mali’s army lost 50 soldiers in a failed bid last month to dislodge Tuareg separatists still occupying the town of Kidal.
Mali’s foreign minister last week called on the United Nations to speed up deploying the remainder of its promised 12,000-member peacekeeping force and station more troops in the north.
{{The United States on Tuesday blacklisted a Ugandan Islamic group, the Allied Democratic Forces, for targeting children in armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.}}
The move, which freezes the group’s assets in the United States and blocks U.S. firms from dealing with it, follows a U.N. Security Council committee decision on Monday to blacklist the same group.
The U.S. Treasury said the ADF launched attacks against civilians in the DRC last year, including women and children, forcing thousands of people to escape into neighboring Uganda. The Treasury said the group kidnapped people and recruited some children as young as 10 years old to join its ranks.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the ADF’s activities and continuing violence against civilians,” David Cohen, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. “The international community made clear that groups responsible for such atrocities must be isolated.”
The ADF – also known as the ADF-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda – was created to fight the Ugandan government, but was forced across the border into Congo. Treasury officials estimate it to have between 1,200 and 1,500 fighters.
The Ugandan government says the ADF is allied to elements of Somalia’s al Shabaab movement, an al Qaeda-linked group. U.N. experts say most of ADF’s money comes from the timber industry and gold, which is smuggled into Uganda and sold.
{{At least 18 people have been killed in an explosion at a market in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria, a medical worker has told reporters.}}
The explosives were reportedly hidden in a vehicle carrying charcoal.
No group has said it carried out the attack but Maiduguri is the epicentre of the violent campaign waged by militant group Boko Haram.
Earlier, the Nigerian army said it had broken up a Boko Haram cell linked to the abduction of 200 schoolgirls.
“A van loaded with charcoal and IED [improvised explosive device] exploded at Monday Market in Maiduguri this morning. The location has been cordoned,” the defence headquarters said on its Twitter account.
The vehicle exploded into a huge fireball, media quotes a witness as saying.
French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been detained for questioning over alleged influence peddling.
Mr Sarkozy is being held at Nanterre, near Paris, in an unprecedented step against a former president.
Mr Sarkozy is being questioned about whether he sought inside information from a judge concerning an investigation into campaign funding.
The latest developments are seen as a blow to Mr Sarkozy’s attempts to challenge for the presidency in 2017.
Investigators are trying to find out whether Mr Sarkozy, 59, who was president from 2007 to 2012, had promised a prestigious role in Monaco to a high-ranking judge, Gilbert Azibert, in exchange for information about an investigation into alleged illegal campaign funding.
They are looking into claims that Mr Sarkozy was warned his phone was being bugged as part of the funding probe.
Mr Azibert, one of the most senior judges at the court of appeal, was called in for questioning on Monday. Another judge, Patrick Sassoust, was also questioned, as was Mr Sarkozy’s lawyer Thierry Herzog.
{{On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Rwanda on the 52nd anniversary of your independence on July 1. }}
Rwanda and its neighbors are turning adversity into prosperity, and I commend all Rwandans for their commitment to a brighter and more hopeful future.
Over the last 20 years, Rwanda has emerged as a regional leader, borne by a deep commitment to strengthen economic growth for all Rwandans. It has improved health institutions across the country.
And it provides wider access to healthcare and universal primary school education to all Rwandan children.
By investing in its people, Rwanda is building a strong foundation for peace and prosperity in the years to come.
I congratulate the people of Rwanda on all you have achieved, and wish you a joyous Independence Day celebration.
