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752 youths at Iwawa rehabilitation centre have been presented with certificates after successful completition of training in vocational skills.

The director of Iwawa Nicolas Niyongabo during the Award ceremony announced a profit of Frw75 million accumulated from products made by the youths at the center.

Niyongabo highlighted that some of the courses include farming, construction, carpentry and bee keeping.

He added that the center faces challenges of infrastructure, “we don’t have enough electricity and water.We use charcoal for cooking and our health facilities are substandard.”

In his remarks the minister of youth Protais Mitali urged the graduates to fully utilise skills acquired to improved their welfare and promote the country’s development.

They were urged to avoid indulgence in drug abuse and immoral activities.

Charles Kabanda a parent whose son graduated, commended the center’s performance but added that more improvement is needed especially in improving the curriculum, more workers and better classrooms and toilets.

Saidi Zirarushya one of the graduates noted that for the past two years he has studied at the center and is able to read and write. “i used to be a drug addict from Rubavu district but now I’m reformed.”

Four people died last night on the eve of Christmas succumbing to road accidents, The police spokesman supt. Theos Badege has said.

Among the four death tolls countrywide, included two who died in a motorcycle accident on the road from town to Nyarutarama via Utexrwa textile company near Redcross.

Badege added that also six people were arrested country wide due to reckless driving while drunkard.

While 15 others were also arrested at Muhima police station for over drinking and distabilising their neigbours though they were not driving.

However, Badege says generally the country was safe and at peace through the eve of Christmas.

“I think Rwandan have started knowing and understanding to have discipline in their lives and they really took police warnings seriously,” Badedge said by cell phone.

“This not alarming though, if you compare last weekend’s accidents they are equal to what was recorded last night, so we can’t actually associate it with celebrations,” Badege added.

Police had begun an earlier warning through different media to drivers and the public to have safe celebrations.

Particularly the police warned against sound pollution, over speeding and the like the only issue was the extended traffic jam ciculation.

Though it extended compared to daily hours traffic policemen had been deployed in different joints to assist in the increased traffic that could have been caused by different people going to and coming from shopping for Christmas.

But also partly due to weddings since it was a Saturday that always sees weddings takeoff, traffic jam at Remera, Gipoloso for example almost stretched upto 11:00pm .

According to Badege, all those collective celebrations like concerts took place in the given time, and wedding or home parties made sure that they do it calmly not to interfere in their neighbor’s freedom.

ENDS

US. President Barack Obama Thursday announced $113Million in emergency relief assistance to Horn of Africa.

More than 13 million people are at risk of starvation in this region of Africa including Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

The new emergency relief assistance will go for food, health, shelter, water and other needs.

Calling the crisis “urgent,” Obama said in a statement that the additional aid would come on top of the $870 million in assistance the United States has already provided to help countries hit by the worst drought in decades.

“The heartbreaking accounts of lives lost and of those struggling to survive remind us of our common humanity and the need to reach out to people in need,” President Obama said.

“Importantly, and even as we help to meet the emergency needs of the people of this region, we are also investing in their long-term food security,” Obama added.

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has urged policymakers to fully involve scientific experts and technocrats in disaster management in efforts to reduce and build resilience against catastrophes.

This follows the recent floods that devastated Dar es Salaam Capital of Tanzania.

The Speaker,Abdirahin Haithar Abdi, said when addressing a UN disaster conference in Geneva early this week that drought currently ravaging the Horn of Africa has long been predicted but nothing has been done to curb its effects.

“This is a clear sign of disparity between scientists and legislators. If meaningful advances in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster management is to be realized, we need to urgently close ranks and begin working together for the betterment of the communities,” he said.

He said Eala would soon call together regional parliaments to share experiences on disaster management and put DRR on the radar. He remarked that disasters were hindering development and that it was time for action.

Parliaments, he noted, must carry out their functions of legislation, oversight, budgeting and representation with more deligence “but must be true ambassadors who are accountable on disaster matters.

On what the East African Community was dealing with the issue,Abdi revealed that the EAC Transboundary Ecosystems Bill 2010 was likely to be brought before the House for its second reading when the Assembly convenes in Kampala, Uganda late next month.

The Bill inter-alia aims at providing a legal framework to streamline management of trans-boundary ecosystems with the view of enhancing quality of environment and ensuring sustainable utilization of shared natural resources.

At the same time, Eala shall look into the possibility and way forward towards finalization of the model legislation on DRR for the EAC region.

Participants at the meeting hailed the parliaments of Uganda and Senegal for the positive progress on the DRR realized.
Both nations have a positive parliamentary fora on DRR, a move termed as positive in efforts to address disaster risks at the high level.

According to a Uganda MP Alex Byarugaba, Uganda has developed and refined its policy on DRR and was headed towards instituting an Act of Parliament which will be the first in the region.

Abdou Sane of the Parliament of Senegal said it was time legislators formed networks consisting of parliamentarians, media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), citizens and other stakeholders to champion DRR.

“We in the Ecowas (Economic Community of West African States) are contemplating forming networks in each of the 16 member states of the bloc”, he stated.

An MP from Bangladesh Saber Chowdhury termed mapping of disaster prone areas as essential in the universal bid to contain disasters.

He called for a change of mindset by identifying modalities that build resilience and capacities to handle disasters as opposed to relief and reconstruction which, he said, were reactionary and defeatist.

The two day consutative talks in Geneva concluded with a clarion call by the legislators to re-double their efforts in building global resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

The Parliamentarians called for the enactment of legislation on Disaster Management, increase in resources and scale-up of networking and information to shore up DRR in the local, regional and global communities.

The objective of the meeting was to review progress with regards to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNIDR) initiative on Parliamentarians in disaster risk reduction,exchange views on challenges that Parliamentarians encountered in promoting DRR and identify priorities for the 2012-2013 Action Plan.

Margareta Wahlstrom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Reduction reiterated the UN’s support for DRR as key in sustainable and equitable development.

“We are pursuing this important subject on the multilateral agenda of the UN. Business as usual is not an option adding that it was time for re-definition of development to be sensitive to disasters and climate
risks” she said.

The UN Representative further informed Parliamentarians of major forthcoming events including the next World Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2015 and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development where disaster risk was set to take centre stage in the discussions in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA).

The Hyogo Framework is a blueprint adopted by Member States of the UN in 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction and it aims at building resilience of nations to disasters.

Yahoo is deepening its integration with Facebook’s online social network.
The latest bond announced late Tuesday will enable Facebook users to share more of their activities on Yahoo’s websites, including which stories they are reading.

Yahoo has now announced that it would be extending the feature to 26 other parts of Yahoo’s site, including U.S.-based entertainment experiences omg!, Yahoo! TV, Yahoo! Movies, and Yahoo! Games.

By opting-in to the new feature, people can easily let their Facebook friends know what they’re reading on Yahoo

By tying more of its services to Facebook’s popularity, Yahoo is hoping to give people more reasons to visit and stick around its website. Yahoo ultimately wants to sell more online advertising.

That’s an area where Facebook has been gaining ground as its website has emerged as a top Internet hangout.

As Facebook has become more influential, Yahoo has been struggling to remain relevant among Web surfers and online advertisers.

It’s been a daunting challenge so far. Yahoo has gone through three different CEOs in the past four years while its revenue and stock price have drooped.

The difficulties have prompted a board review that will culminate in a sale of all or part of the company.

Yahoo has been pleased with the results of Facebook-sharing so far. Traffic to Yahoo’s news section from Facebook has tripled since that sharing feature was introduced, according to the company, which is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Apparently, a relatively small percentage of Yahoo’s 700 million users want their online social circles to know what they’re reading on the Web.

Yahoo says about 12 million people have opted to share their tastes in news stories so far.

The feature is particularly popular among young adults ranging from 18 to 24 years old, according to Yahoo.

Facebook sharing still isn’t available on two of Yahoo’s most popular sections, finance and sports. The company says those sections will be linked to Facebook early next year.

Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims have packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations, bringing holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

With turnout at its highest in more than a decade on Saturday, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.

Bethlehem, like the rest of the West Bank, fell onto hard times after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in late 2000. As the fighting has subsided in recent years, the tourists have returned in large numbers.

By late night, the Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of town, said some 100,000 visitors, including foreigners and Arab Christians from Israel, had reached Bethlehem, up from 70,000 the previous year.

Thousands of Palestinians from inside West Bank also converged on the town.

“It’s wonderful to be where Jesus was born,” said Irma Goldsmith, 68, of Suffolk, Virginia. “I watch Christmas in Bethlehem each year on TV, but to be here in person is different. To be in the spot where our saviour was born is amazing.”

After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, along with a 50-foot-tall (15-metre-tall) Christmas tree, was awash in Christmas lights.

Festivities were to culminate with Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

Among the visitors were a surprisingly large number of veiled Muslim women with their families.

“We love to share this holiday with our Christian brothers,” said Amal Ayash, 46, who came to Manger Square with her three daughters, all of them covered in veils.

Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion.

Pilgrims from around the world also wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.

John Houston, 58, from Long Beach, California said: “It makes me feel really good to see what I have been learning from the time I was a kid in Sunday school until today.”

Houston said he was surprised by Bethlehem’s appearance, which is a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times. Today, it is a sprawling town of cement apartment blocs and narrow streets.

Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a barrier Israel built to stop Palestinian militants from attacking last decade.

Palestinians say the barrier has damaged their economy by constricting movement in and out of town. Twenty-two per cent of Bethlehem residents are unemployed, the Palestinian Authority says.

Most visitors entering Bethlehem, including the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, had to cross through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint to reach town.

In his homily, he referred to the Arab Spring, imploring Arab leaders to have “wisdom, insight and a spirit of selflessness toward their countrymen” and praying for reconciliation in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa.

He also noted the Palestinian campaign to join the United Nations, and complained that the UN was “less than united” in its support for the now-stalled initiative. He also criticised the international community for pushing the Palestinians to “re-engage in a failed peace process”.

The patriarch lamented the Israeli barrier enveloping Bethlehem – “let us tear down the walls of our hearts in order to tear down the walls of concrete” – and prayed for peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.

With peace talks at a standstill, the Palestinians are seeking membership as a state in the United Nations and recently gained admission to UNESCO, the UN cultural agency.

“We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we’ll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique,” said Mayor Victor Batarseh, who is Christian.

Late Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a meeting of Christian leaders that he is committed to reaching peace with Israel, despite a three-year standstill in negotiations.

Today, only about one-third of Bethlehem’s residents are Christian, reflecting a broader exodus of Christians from the Middle East in recent decades.

AP

While speaking to worshipers at the Christmas eve, Pope Benedict XVI decried of the commercialization of Christmas day.

Sending his message across to the estimated 1.3 billion Roman Catholics from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Pope called upon humanity to remember those who are poor, sick or far away from home.

The 84 year old pope urged that celebration of Christmas should be beyond the superficial gleam and commercialism of the season and rediscover the real meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ.

At the start of a Christmas Eve service, he was wheeled up the central aisle of St Peter’s Basilica standing on a mobile platform which he has been using since October.

The Vatican says it is to conserve his strength, allow more people to see him and guard against attacks such as one on Christmas Eve, 2009, when a woman lunged at him and knocked him to the ground. He is believed to suffer from arthritis in the legs.

But he seemed to be in good shape during the solemn service in Christendom’s largest church as choirs sang, cantors chanted and organ music filled the centuries-old basilica.

Benedict, wearing resplendent gold and white vestments, urged his listeners to find peace in the symbol of the powerless Christ child in a world continually threatened by violence.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us for humility and simplicity,” he said in his sermon to about 10,000 people in the basilica.

“Let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart,” he said.

The pope, who earlier placed a “candle of peace” on the windowsill of his apartments as the life-size nativity scene in St Peter’s Square was inaugurated, called for an end to violence, for oppressors to put down their “rods” and for all to become peacemakers.

“God has appeared as a child. It is in this guise that he pits himself against all violence and brings a message that is peace,” he said.

“At this hour, when the world is continually threatened by violence in so many places and in so many different ways, when over and over again there are oppressors’ rods and bloodstained cloaks, we cry out to the Lord.” he said.

“We suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours.”

On Christmas Day, the pope will deliver his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing from the central loge of St Peter’s Basilica.
He continues his Christmas and New Year’s celebrations on Dec 31 with a year-end Mass of thanksgiving known by its Latin name Te Deum.

On January 1 he marks the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, on January 6 he marks the Epiphany and on January 8 will baptise several newborns in the Sistine Chapel.

He is due to visit Mexico and Cuba in March.

ENDS

A local church Pastor James Gasana of Church of hope, Samuduha Kicukiro District has put clarity of emerging arguments that tends to bend the meaning of celebrating Christmas.

Christmas or Christmas Day literally Christ’s mass is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious or cultural holiday by all Christians around the world.

The precise day of Jesus’s birth, which historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. In the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church first placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted also in the East.

The original date of the celebration in Eastern Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where it is a public holiday.

As of 2011, there is a difference of 13 days between the modern Gregorian calendar and the older Julian calendar.

Those who continue to use the Julian calendar or its equivalents thus celebrate December 25 and January 6 on what for the majority of the world is January 7 and January 19.

For this reason, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine and Macedonia celebrate Christmas, both as a Christian feast and as a public holiday.

“we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our savior, we Christians believe that Jesus Christ was born, what is important to us that Jesus Christ was born to us, it does not matter to me the actual date, because I don’t worship the date anyway I only worship the Lord so the date should not get control over me,” Pastor Gasana James of Church of Hope, has said.

In a cell phone interview with Igihe.com, Gasana said some people have spent lots of energy debating on the actual date other than knowing the importance, reason and the mighty of the one who was born on that date.

“The fact is that HE was born, all of them who debate about the date believe HE was born which is a huge success to all of us who believe in HIM, Had HE not born we would not have a reason to celebrate,” Gasana added.

” This is a time to look back in 2011 and say thank you lord. It is also the time to look forward and say lord I need your favor, blessings, protection, and guidance in 2012,” He noted.

He also called upon all Christians to pray and work for them to grab their destiny noting that having faith to pray for provision from God and noting is faith without action which is dead referring to holy book, The Bible.

Pastor Bruce Muhoza of Jehova Shalom Church, Kacyiru Gasabo District said on Rwanda Television that Jesus Christ was born to bring salvation to mankind adding that he had a mission to redeem mankind.

Quoting the bible in the book Isaiah 9:6-7, Pastor Muhoza Christmas should be celebrated with intent to understanding who Jesus Christ is and what HE came to on this planet earth.

Apostle Moses Muhumuza of Prayer Palace Church, Remera said that Jesus Christ is the only reason for celebrating this festive season whether Christmas or New Year days quoting the book of Luke 1:26-38 in the bible.

Christmas is a feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide.

Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world’s nations,celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians,and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.

The precise day of Jesus Christ’s birth, which historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown.

In the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church first placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted also in the East.

Theories advanced to explain that choice include that it falls exactly nine months after the Christian celebration of the conception of Jesus, or that it was selected to coincide with either the date of the Roman winter solstice or of some ancient pagan winter festival.

The popular celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian and secular themes and origins.

Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving, Christmas music and caroling, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations, including Christmas trees, lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly.

In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and Kris Kringle among other names, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore.

Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses.

The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

ENDS

Dependable news from Stockhom,Sweden indicates that Swedish police has arrested a Rwandan genocide fugitive.

The suspect identified as Stanislous Mbanenande in his fifties, lived in Gävle, in central Sweden. According to the Swedish police he has both Swedish and Rwandan citizenship.

The suspect was arrested Thursday evening (10pm) at Bromma airport. The suspect is believed to have been returning from Liberia where he is said to have been working with a NGO.

“The remand hearing was expected today to be held in Stockholm,”if there’s time”, according to Wretling. If not, the hearing will be held over Christmas,” Said the chief investigator Anders Wretling.

Wretling said that plenty of work remains to be done in the investigation, which has been going on since April.

The suspect was interrogated shortly after his arrest, and denies all crimes. His lawyer Tomas Nilsson assisted him in a police interrogation today (Friday) afternoon.

“As you surely understand, I can’t tell you what was said, except that my client denied all crimes,” said Nilsson. This was the first time he met with the suspect.

“We’re happy to be able to give a clear signal that Sweden is no safe haven for war criminals,” said Wretling.

Jean Bosco Siboyintore the head of the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit of Rwanda has confirmed the developmet saying Mbanenande was arrested in partnership between the two countries.

This followed an arrest warrant and indictments issued in a search for the hiding perpetrator.

“We don’t want many of Genocide Fugitives to continuously get a blanket cover from different prosecution,” John Bosco Siboyintore said in an interview with IGIHE.com.

According to Siboyintore, the arrest of Mbanenande was first announced on swidish Television.

He fled the country immidiately after 1994 Genocide. He is accused of organising attacks to exterminate and kill ethnic Tutsis.

Ends