Author: b_igi_adm1n

Al-Shabaab has again threatened to bomb Kenya within two weeks promising Kenyans that they will weep.

According to a US-based private intelligence firm (Virginia-based IntelCentre) the militant group had Wednesday warned Kenyans that “two weeks from now, you will weep”.

IntelCentre said the militant group threatened to bring down Kenya’s skyscrapers warning that “something big is coming” within two weeks and that the country would soon “watch your towers coming down”.

The group has in the past months threatened to bring down Kenya’s “tall glass buildings” after Kenyan troops in October crossed into Somalia following a spate of attacks and abductions in its territory that it blamed on the militants.

IntelCentre says that the buildings most likely to be targeted were those housing hotels, especially “those frequented by Westerners, government offices, media and prominent corporations”.

The extremist group is suspected of carrying out a May 28 attack on a Nairobi building housing clothing retail stores that killed one person and injured 35 others.

After 31 years Egypt has lifted its state of emergency, that gave security forces sweeping powers to detain suspects and try them in special courts.

It has been in place without interruption since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Lifting the law was a key demand of activists in last year’s uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt’s military rulers, who took charge after the ousting of Mubarak, indicated they would not renew the law.

Some Egyptians had feared the country – preparing for a presidential election run-off- would be left in a power vacuum without the law, which expired at midnight on Thursday.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) issued a statement to reassure the country that it will “continue to carry its national responsibility in protecting the country until the transfer of power is over”.

“This is huge,” said Hossam Bahgat, a human rights activist who had long campaigned to lift the law.

“What is really crucial is the message. The security forces operated under a culture that told them they were constantly above the law. Now they need to abide by the existing legislation and they won’t enjoy any extra-legal powers.”

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner described the lifting of the emergency law as “a step in the direction” towards democratic transition.

The former Rwandan Youth Minister Callixte Nzabonimana will spend the rest of his life in prison after the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) sentenced him to life in Jail on Thursday.

ICTR Trial Chamber presided by Ugandan Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa convicted Nzabonimana of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and extermination, as a crime against humanity.

“For these crimes, and considering all relevant circumstances, the Chamber sentences you (Callixte Nzabonimana) to life imprisonment,” the presiding judge announced.

According to the judgment, Nzabonimana agreed with other members of the Interim Government to encourage the killing of members of the Tutsi population, at a meeting in the prefecture, on April 18,1994.

Parties to the agreement shared a “specific intent to destroy the Tutsi population as such in whole or in part in Gitarama prefecture,” the chamber concluded.

The Judges also found that this Geologist who hold a PhD from France incited Hutus to kill Tutsis at several occasions in various locations in Gitarama, in April, May and June 1994.

Shortly after pronouncement of the judgment, the convict’s Lead Counsel, Vincent Courcelle-Labrousse said he had already decided to appeal, “surely we will appeal. The trial is starting now on appeal.”

The Prosecution had labeled Nzabonimana as the main instigator of the killings in his home prefecture of Gitarama. He was a leader of the then Rwandan ruling party, MRND, at both national and prefecture level and at various times between 1989 and 1994, held the positions of Planning Minister and later Minister of Youth within the Government of Rwanda.

Born in 1953, the convict was arrested in connection with the charges on February 18, 2008 in Tanzania. His trial opened on November 9, 2009 and was concluded on September 12, 2011. The prosecution called 20 witnesses, while the defence fielded 40.

Many other members on the interim government were convicted by the ICTR, among them former Prime Minister Kambanda, now serving life imprisonment sentence in Mali.

Four others were acquitted, three of them still hosted by the tribunal, for lack of countries to accommodate them.

Police has detained a group of seven men in connection with theft of a cargo truck (Fuso) belonging to Edouard Rutayisire.

Police sources say the driver of the truck Callixte Nsengiyumva, stole the truck from its parking yard at Magerwa and drove it to Muyumbu sector in Rwamagana district where he hid it. He later returned to Kigali to look for a buyer.

Nsengiyumva convinced Samuel Nkongoli, a second hand spare parts dealer in Gatsata to help get technicians to dismantle the truck while Nkongoli would help sell spare parts and get a cut.

A group of mechanics later travelled to Rwamagana to dismantled the truck, loaded the spares and drove back to Kigali. They stopped at Kabuga to celebrate and began quarrelling over who would take the Lions share.

Sensing the likelihood of being arrested, Nkongoli called a Police officer at Gikondo Police station claiming he overheard thieves quarreling over who deserved the lion’s share of the loot.

A Revenue protection department was quickly dispatched to intervene and Nkongoli was asked to lead them to the city on the promise he would not be arrested.

However, the promise wasn’t kept as Police quickly found out that in fact, Nkongoli was part of the scheme from the beginning.

Rutayisire acknowledged Police efforts in arresting the thieves and retrieving the spare parts of his vehicle. “Though they managed to salvage the spare parts, I am overjoyed that the thugs didn’t get away with it,” Rutayisire said.

If convicted, Nsengiyumva and his accomplices are likely to face up to five years behind bars for breach of trust according to the Rwandan Penal code article 424.

Sweden has advised East African Community (EAC) member states to first create strong economic fundamentals for convergence before rushing to introduce a single currency in the region.

The advice was given yesterday by the Swedish minister for Finance, Mr Anders Borg, during a public lecture on “Lessons from the European Crisis” at the University of Dar es Salaam.

He said: “I am a supporter of the monetary union, but I would advise that the EAC countries take cautious steps by building very strong economic fundamentals, without which partner states are likely to see negative productivity and a high rate of unemployment.”

He said, if rushed, the monetary union may backfire by dragging even better performing economies to negative growth because of disparity in productivity among them.

Instead, he advised that the EAC partner states make use of the over 130 million people of the regional market at their comparative advantage to increase trade integration and productivity among themselves.

Although Sweden is a member of the European Union, it rejected a proposal to adopt the euro currency in 2003 and has since recorded better economic performance than the rest of Europe.

While productivity has been negative in Europe in the past few years, Sweden is growing at 1.5 per cent, three times that of European countries.

According to Mr Borg, who was on a state visit to–South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania, Sweden has been able to perform well as a result of structural reforms that it underwent within the past 20 years.

These especially concerned strengthening the fiscal framework that involved deregulating the agricultural sector, improving entrepreneurial climate and increasing investment in research and development (R&D).

In a quick rejoinder, local economists said looking at the experience of the Eurozone economic crisis, concurred that the EAC bloc should not rush into establishing a single currency.

“We must be very careful with the monetary union in EAC. We could start with increasing the degree of our political relations and labour market issues before saying farewell to our currency, which would mean giving away financial sovereignty as a tool to regulate the economy,” said Mr Adolf Mkenda, an economist at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).

An SUV belonging to Canadian mission in Rwanda has been crashed by a fuel tanker this morning at Gishushu near the traffic lights area along Airport road.

The incidence happened at about 11AM 31st .

The Crashed car REG: 18CD005R belongs to the canadian embassy was waiting at the traffic lights when a fuel tanker REG:RAB 341 H arrived from Remera side with failed brakes and crashed into the rear of the SUV.

There were no major casualities however, the Car belonging to the canadians was being driven by an unidentified canadian woman and her child was in the passenger seat when the tanker crashed into their car.

The mother of the child is currently in a state of shock and the child was not injured.

A new type of cannabis narcotic has been developed by Israeli scientists. They claim it is very simmillar to the natural type but doesn’t get people stoned.

The new type may help those smoking marijuana for medical purposes as reported in Maariv daily on Wednesday.

The new cannabis looks, smells and even tastes the same, but does not induce any of the feelings normally associated with smoking marijuana that are brought on by the substance THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol.

“It has the same scent, shape and taste as the original plant — it’s all the same — but the numbing sensation that users are accustomed to has disappeared,” said Tzahi Klein, head of development at Tikkun Olam, the firm that developed the species.

“Many of our patients who tried the new plant come back to us and say: ‘You tricked me,’” because they assumed they had been given a placebo, he said.

According to Maariv, Tikkun Olam sought to neutralise the effect of the THC and to increase the effect of another substance called CBD, or cannabidiol, which has been shown to help diabetics and to ease various psychiatric disorders.

Not only does it leave users stone-cold sober, it also doesn’t induce the munchies, the hunger pangs that the drug’s smokers generally suffer.

Despite the innovation, it is unlikely to have any impact on Israeli law, which outlaws the use of marijuana as illegal except for medical purposes.

According to figures published earlier this year by Sheba Medical Centre and the Israel Cancer Association, medical marijuana has been approved for use by about 6,000 Israelis suffering from various illnesses.