Nigeria: Bomb suspects may be kidnapped schoolgirls

Nigeria wants to know if two girls arrested before they could detonate suicide bombs are Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram two years ago, state broadcaster NTA said Saturday.

photo internet

Friday, three female suicide bombers planning to carry out an attack near the northern Cameroon village of Limani were spotted by local vigilantes before they could blow themselves up, Cameroon's state broadcaster CRTV said.

One girl escaped. One girl who was captured claimed to be part of the group of 276 teenage girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from the Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014, NTA reported.

Boko Haram sparked international outrage when it abducted the girls from the town in northeastern Nigeria, police said. About 50 girls escaped but authorities fear the rest may have been raped, brutalized or forced to convert to Islam.

The Nigerian government designated two parents from Chibok to travel to Cameroon and visit the girls, NTA said. A timeline has yet to be announced about the Chibok parents' trip.

One of the attackers is being held by the Cameroonian military and a second was sent to a health unit for medical treatment, though her condition was not revealed, CRTV reported. One of the two was also believed to be heavily drugged and therefore not in full control of her senses, NTA said.

Boko Haram is a militant Islamic group based in Nigeria whose purpose is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law.

The group especially opposes the education of women and its name translates to "Western education is a sin" in the local language.

Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write.

Its members have repeatedly targeted places of learning in deadly attacks that have highlighted its fundamental philosophy against education.

source: CNN

Somalia's forgotten soldiers

A growing sense of neglect among Somali soldiers as they are left to deal with loss and injuries on their own.

 Two men - one in military uniform, the other in a baggy button-down shirt - sat on a plastic mat in an unfurnished tin-roofed room in the heart of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. They were contemplating how they could voice their plight to those in the country's corridors of power after many failed attempts to reach out.

Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim and Hasan Mohamed Yusuf were active soldiers fighting on the front lines against al-Shabab - the al-Qaeda-linked armed group fighting Somalia's internationally recognised government - until they were both seriously wounded.

Twenty-five-year-old Ibrahim vividly remembers the day his life changed forever. He was part of a group of soldiers responsible for protecting the presidential compound and the country's seat of power, Villa Somalia,against advancing al-Shabab fighters.

"Al-Shabab wounded me in 2010. I was guarding the presidential palace. Three bullets hit my arm, shattering the bones above my elbow into pieces," Ibrahim told Al Jazeera as balls of sweat formed on his brow. "That was the last time I used my arm properly."

Doctors at the local hospital told him he needed to be taken abroad for treatment to save his arm.

"I don't come from a wealthy family, so there was no way I could afford to go outside of Somalia for treatment. I was my family's breadwinner," he said in a soft, clear voice, void of emotion. "The local hospital stitched my wound and put a bandage on it. Now, only the skin is holding my arm together."

He was only 20 when he was wounded during his second year of army service. He has not been formally discharged from the army since his injury, but since 2012, Ibrahim hasn't received any wages or compensation from the army - which probably doesn't know whether or not he is even alive, he said.

'I have lost everything'

Yusuf sat next to Ibrahim on the mat, staring at his own heavily scarred legs. The 37-year-old father of four said his injuries are not just physical.

"I can't sleep at night. I can still smell the blood from that day," he recalls. "I was not able to walk for more than a year, and I have constant pain in my head from the shrapnel wound I sustained that day. But worse than the physical pain is that I have lost everything; my wife left with my kids because I could not provide for them after I was injured."

Yusuf almost lost both legs when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu in 2007. There were more than 20 soldiers in the convoy and more than half died. Yusuf escaped with his life.

"It was not my time to go, but I ask myself: Is this life worth it? Will my life have been better if I died that day?" he said in a dejected voice.

Al-Shabab, active mostly in south and central Somalia, wants to overthrow the government in Mogadishu and impose a strict Islamic law in the horn of the African country of more than 10 million people.

But the group, which used to control large swaths of the country, has suffered many recent setbacks.

Somali troops, backed by thousands of African Union troops and after months of close quarters battle on the streets of Mogadishu, were able to push al-Shabab out of the city in 2011. The rebel group, which still carries out attacks and targeted assassinations in southern Somalia, has also been forced out of most towns and cities in the country.

But the military offensive has come at a heavy prize for the Somali government and the African Union.

No one knows the number of soldiers injured or killed in the ongoing fight between the Somali government and the armed group. The government does not keep a record of the soldiers injured or killed in the line of duty. Al-Shabab often exaggerates government loses.

A grieving family

Many soldiers have lost their lives fighting the armed group in the aim of restoring normality to a country struggling to stand on its feet after more than two decades of civil war.

A short drive from where the soldiers were sitting in a three-bedroom house in the Wadajir district of the city, a family was still grieving their loss.

Long past retirement age Mohamud Gaafow Afrah, the  lieutenant-colonel in the Somali navy, had refused to hang up his boots and believed his country was in need of his service. Two years ago, shortly after turning 85, Afrah was assassinated in front of the family home by two al-Shabab gunmen. The bullet holes are still visible on the walls.

"They emptied their pistols into him. They stopped firing only after they ran out of bullets. Serving his country is all he did," Khadija Abukar Mohamed, Afrah's widow, told Al Jazeera. "It was the only thing he knew and the only thing he ever did," she said, surrounded by her children and grandchildren as tears welled in her eyes.

Mohamed lost her husband three months before they celebrated their 30-year anniversary.

Most of the troops under Afrah were born during the country's civil war, which started in 1991. Many lost their parents during the war. To many of his soldiers, he was a symbol of hope, a pillar to lean on in times of hardship.

"He was a father figure to the troops serving under him. Many of them asked to be transferred elsewhere, and many left the force after his death," his widow added.

Afrah joined the force as the country gained independence from Italy in 1960. His two eldest sons are currently in the country's security services - one in the police force, the other in the military. Their mother, still grief-stricken - wished they hadn't signed up to join the country's struggling security services.

'Foreigners in their own country'

Al-Shabab is adapting its tactics and using roadside bombs more frequently, but the Somali troops wear no bulletproof vests and travel in unarmoured vehicles, unlike their African Union counterparts. This is not lost to the injured soldiers and the families of the deceased troops.

"They [Somali government and the international community] love the African Union troops more than the Somali soldiers. The foreign soldiers are treated better. They have good healthcare. Their families receive good compensation if they die. No one cares about us," Ibrahim said, with Yusuf nodding in agreement.

"I want to tell our leaders only Somali soldiers can help this country - not foreigners. It is time they gave us our rights so we can continue doing our job and do it even better than we are doing now," Yusuf added.

"Looking at how they are treated, you would think the Somali soldiers are the foreigners in their own country. Why should anyone care about the Somali soldiers when their own government doesn't care about them?" Mohamed, the widow, asks, her soft voice filling with anger.

The Somali government denies that it has neglected its soldiers and says things are getting better for those serving the country.

"We are coming from decades of civil war and have only started building our military again. It is a start, and things will get better in terms of both our troops' welfare and equipment." Abdalla Hussein Ali, the deputy defence minister, told Al Jazeera.

"Yes, there used to be difficulties in terms of paying the troops, but our government has put a lot of effort into this recently. Currently, the government spends more than 50 percent of its budget on its security services. Paying our troops and making sure they receive their salaries on time is now a top priority for us," Ali added.

But, to some of the troops, the promise of better times ahead might have come too late.

"I have lost my family. I have seen my friends die. I can barely walk," Yusuf said.

"Nothing they say or do will change that."

source: Al Jazeera News

Mood lighting for stress-free chickens

A new energy efficient lighting system for poultry farms uses bulbs with a light spectrum specially adjusted for chicken retinas. The makers say it reduces animal pecking and crowding; making for more relaxed and happy chickens. Many livestock farmers still use incandescent lamps in their barns, but these are designed for human eyes. Optimal light conditions are especially hard to achieve in poultry farming; too much light will cause stress to the birds, whereas if it's too dark in certain areas they are more likely to lay eggs on the floor instead of nest boxes, making them harder to collect.

According to John Matcham from Greengage Lighting Ltd., the chicken's superior eyesight isn't taken into account by traditional lighting that is better suited for human sight. "We're only seeing about 40 percent or so of what the chicken actually sees. They see much, much more detail," Matcham told Reuters, adding: "It's not just about how bright the light is; it's about light saturation, image saturation."

Edinburgh-based Greengage Lighting Ltd spent several years developing its AgriLamp Induction System - known by the acronym ALIS - which uses up to 60 percent less energy than other common forms of agricultural lighting. The induction technology in each LED fixture means it is simply clipped onto the power cable in order to turn on. The patented system is shatterproof and water resistant, with the bulbs lasting at least 60,000 hours, according to the company. Crucially, ALIS delivers an even spread of light to minimize 'hotspots' and shadows.

"Today for humans in an office we have to have between 5 and 7 hundred lux [units of illumination] of light on a desk and it must be a minimum of 200 hertz. What we've done here is have a system that's operating on a system of 50,000 hertz; so there's lots and lots of frequency, no risk of any flickering effect. And we've got a saturation right across the spectrum of light that enables a bird to see more detail," added Matcham.

The ALIS lamp has a light spectrum that is much closer to that of sunlight which, Matcham said, makes it ideal for mimicking the natural influence that daylight has on a hen's ability to produce an egg.

"We need about 14 hours a day to keep the birds thinking it's spring and summer so they keep producing eggs for us," he said. "So the right type of light has to do a multitude of tasks; it has to keep the birds calm, it has to stimulate all of the different glands inside of the body that work to produce the hormones that says 'I'm going to lay an egg'; and then we get a nice egg."

This made it a perfect option for Woodcock Farm in Derbyshire, which has been using the ALIS system for two years in its hen barns.

"I can definitely say that the chickens are moving around a lot more even; the way they perch and sleep at night, and when they move around in litter areas. And also for my staff, we're walking the birds every day, checking them for stock and floor eggs etc. So it's a lot easier for them because they see an even light and they see in a better light as well. So I seem to have a better, happy staff as well as happy chickens," said farm owner Andrew Watson. "By manipulating and moving the light - giving them the intensity and the detail of information - they don't need to struggle for it. So there's less stress. And the types of things we start to see and benefits are in some cases reduced quantities of water, which is often an indicator if the birds are stressed if they're drinking an excessive amount of water," added Matcham.

ALIS has been tested by the UK's national measurement institute, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), with its performance subsequently verified by an EU Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) pilot program. Greengage Lighting Ltd. says this shows that ALIS gives a high luminosity for low power consumption through a safe current.

AgriLamp says its bulbs are significantly more energy efficient than all other traditional bulbs and energy saving bulbs such as CFLs (compact fluorescent lamp) and halogen bulbs. While the LED lamps cost slightly more to buy, AgriLamp says the savings over time vastly outweigh the initial cost. At Woodcock Farm, however, it was the effect it had on the happiness of the brood that was most enlightening.

"The difference between outside and inside is a lot more balanced. So even inside when they're in the scratching areas; they're very happy, they're scratching, natural behavior from there and they enjoy it. Their eyesight is far better than ours and so they must be clearly enjoying it because they can see better," said farmer Andrew Watson. "And if the chickens are happy, I'm happy - it wins for everybody."

Source: Reuters.com

Five major advances the next 10 years will bring

The last decade saw a phenomenal rise in mobile communications, wearable electronics, the ubiquity of GPS and even the discovery of surface water on Mars. So what’s in store for the decade ahead? Looking to 2025, Bob Stembridge, an analyst with Thomson Reuters’ IP & Science division, outlines the five things that could generate major changes in science and technology in the next 10 years.

Nuclear fusion

The dream of an unlimited source of energy that could replace man’s reliance on damaging fossil fuels now appears within reach. Nuclear fusion involves two atomic nuclei merged together to become one large nucleus, an action that would in theory release a huge amount of energy. Stembridge points to advancements in the ability to contain plasma — the superhot fuel for fusion — in a magnetic field as an encouraging development.

“The running joke is that nuclear fusion is 30 years away and always will be,” Stembridge says. “However, recent advances in taming the conditions necessary to create a mini-star here on earth are such that there’s good reason to believe the problems will be cracked by 2025 and commercial nuclear fusion will become the answer to the planet's energy problems.”

The beginning of the end of aging?

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar recognized the trio for great strides in understanding how DNA repairs itself from damage caused by a number of routes, including aging.

“Tomas Lindahl discovered base excision repair; Paul Modrich showed how cells correct errors during DNA replication and Aziz Sancar explained nucleotide excision repair,” Stembridge said. “Together, if these mechanisms could be harnessed and controlled, that could lead to the potential for immortality.”

Farming to beat famine

While global crops may be suffering from climate change, innovations in crop breeding of “super seeds” designed to survive in drought, heat and pestilence were identified in the Thomson Reuters 9 Billion Bowls report and credited with being able to help feed the planet in 2025.

Stembridge also points out that new drone technologies could help in spotting diseases in crops by doing flybys “to identify crop problems before they have significant effect.”

Driverless cars

Stembridge says autonomous vehicles could soon run the streets, as Google continues evolving its self-driving cars program and even GM’s Cadillac experiments with a Super Cruise technology. Uber is also reportedly developing a driverless vehicle.

The technology exists today, but the political and social questions will take longer to address. Nevertheless, the driverless car will be common-place on our streets by 2025, according to Stembridge.

A home base on the Moon

It sounds like a throwback, but Stembridge notes that manned space exploration “has been confined to near-Earth orbit since the early 1970s.” The last time a human touched down on the Moon was in 1972, as part of the Apollo 17 mission.

Stembridge says that with the likely demise of the International Space Station at the end of this decade, the Moon will be used as a “staging post for manned exploration of our solar system.”

NASA is on board with the plan. The space agency says that astronauts will again explore the surface of the Moon before the end of the next decade. “And this time, we're going to stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond.”

SOURCE: REUTERS.COM

45 Year-Old Man In Southern Rwanda Goes Back To Primary School

Etienne Ngango, 45 year old peasant of Ruhango sector in Ruhango district, did not have the chance to go to college, but he swore never to die an illiterate man.

The married carpenter with two children, Ngango told his family he would only feel a proud father if he went back to school.  He only completed primary school, back in 1994 after Tutsi Genocide.To kick-start his brain and learn basic language, especially English, which he is desperate to learn,  a nearby primary school admitted him in primary four.His neighbors and friends ridiculed him.

“I realized I can never reach my goals without speaking English language among other things with the rate at which the world is going on. I am sure I will be a professional carpenter,” says Ngango with confidence.

Ngango finds that with English, he will be able to learn more about the world.“I have been discouraged many times for getting off work and going to school especially because of my age, but I find no shame in going after my dream,” he proudly says.

Jean Bosco Shikama, the Deputy Headmaster for Academics at Muyange Primary School in Ruhango sector where Ngango goes to school, says the school has never had a pupil of this age or even close.Yet, Shikama says, “He [Ngango ] is one of the outstanding and exemplary pupils we have at this school, we are proud he chose to come to our school.”

Rose Uwimbabazi, Ngango’s class teacher, says he is always surprising the class with his courage and the zeal to learn more. He does all his homework on time and he is respectful and attentive to his teachers.Seeing him in a school uniform, mixing and interacting with his classmates, is a lifetime experience one might not want to miss.

Ngango has just shot too high above the targets of his peers.
Ngango who is married with 2 children lives in a rented house for Rwf15000 per month in Ruhango district and his family lives in Ngoma district.

source: ktpress.rw

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Rwanda To Fix Guinea’s Dead Airline

Guinée is considering to send its transport experts to get trained in Rwanda and later help revive its ailing transport sector.

The West African nation believes Rwanda’s experience will bring its airline industry back to life, owing to Rwanda’s success in resurrecting Rwandair.

Oye Guilavogui, the Guinean Minister of Transport said, “We are in talks to revive Air Guinea…the Rwandan experience will help us a lot.”

“[Rwanda] is landlocked, they worked on their air transport, and we are learning from them,” Guilavogui said.

Air Guinée was formed in 1960 with the help of Russians, however, the company struggled to grow.

It was costing the country an annual loss of US$4 million until it was privatized in 1992 and dissolved later in 2002 and collapsed the same year when Rwanda was establishing its national carrier.

Despite the stiff competition in the air transport sector on the continent, Rwandair is regarded as the fastest growing airline in Africa, flying to an increasing number of destinations across Africa and Middle East.

Rwanda’s experience in navigating the complex air transport sector is what the Guinée government wants to carefully emulate to revive its defunct Air Guinée.

President Paul Kagame on Wednesday concluded a two-day state visit to Guinée where he was awarded the highest medal of honour.

Guinée’s President, Alpha Conde, and President Kagame signed seven bilateral agreements including visa facilitation, investment and air transport.

“What remains is for us to work together for the better future and development of our continent,” Kagame said after the signing.

Rwanda has announced that Rwandair will begin flights to Guinée Conakry immediately.

John Mirenge the Chief Executive Officer of RwandAir told KTPress, “We are going to study the market and will soon announce” a comprehensive plan on how to start flights between Kigali and Conakry, Guinée.

Obama invokes 'future of hope' for Cuban people

US President Barack Obama has invoked "a future of hope" for Cuba in an unprecedented live TV address delivered from the Grand Theatre in Havana.

President of US BARACK  HUSEIN OBAMA/photo internet

Mr Obama said he had come to Cuba "to bury the last remnants of the Cold War" after decades of conflict.

He told Cuban President Raul Castro that he did not need to fear a threat from the US nor from "the voice of the Cuban people".

Mr Obama is the first sitting president to visit Cuba in 88 years.

In his keynote speech on the last day of his three-day visit to Communist-run Cuba, Mr Obama said it was time for the United States and Cuba to leave the past behind and make a "journey as friends and as neighbours and as family, together" towards a brighter future.

He urged Cubans to "leave the ideological battles of the past behind" and to define themselves not through their opposition to the US but just as Cubans.

But he also said he believed that citizens should be free to speak their mind without fear and to choose their government in free elections.

He said it was no secret that the Cuban and US governments disagreed on many issues.

Mr Obama acknowledged that there were "flaws in the American system: economic inequality, the death penalty and racial discrimination".

He said those were just a few samples and that Raul Castro had "a much longer list" of US shortcomings and had reminded President Obama of many of them.

"But open debate is what allows us to get better," he said. "Democracy is the way to solve these problems," he added.

After the speech, Mr Obama left to meet Cuban dissidents, the most controversial part of his itinerary in the eyes of the Cuban government.

President Castro was visibly angered on Monday when a US reporter asked him about political prisoners held in Cuba.

Not accustomed to probing questions from the media, President Castro challenged the reporter to give him a list of political prisoners and denied Cuba was holding any.

Among the dissidents Mr Obama is meeting on Tuesday are expected to be members of the Ladies in White, a group which campaigns for the release of political prisoners.

Just hours before Mr Obama landed in Havana on Sunday, dozens of their members were arrested as they held their weekly protest in front of a church.

source: BBC.COM

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Hirya no Hino NewsObama invokes 'future of hope' for Cuban people