Friday, January 31, 2020

Tanzania Added to Trump's Travel Ban

Washington (CNN)The Trump administration on Friday announced an expansion of the travel ban -- one of the President's signature policies, which has been derided by critics as an attempt to ban Muslims from the US -- to include six new countries.
Immigration restrictions will be imposed on: Nigeria, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar (known as Burma), with exceptions for immigrants who have helped the US.
The latest iteration comes three years after President Donald Trump -- in one of his first moves in office -- signed the first travel ban, which caused chaos at airports and eventually landed at the Supreme Court. The announcement also comes at the end of a major week for Trump with the signing of the USMCA trade deal and expected acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.
The updated ban has already sparked controversy over its targeting of African countries with lawmakers and advocates calling the changes discriminatory and without merit.
    The administration has argued that the travel ban is vital to national security and ensures countries meet US security needs, by requiring a certain level of identity management and information sharing requirements.
    In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third version of the travel ban after the previous iterations were challenged in court. The current policy restricts entry from seven countries to varying degrees: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along with Venezuela and North Korea.
    Restrictions on those countries will remain in place, the official said. Chad was removed from the list last April after the White House said the country improved security measures.
    Unlike the original ban, the new restrictions only include categories of immigration visa applicants. Specifically, all immigrants from Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria will be banned from the US. However, only green card lotteries will be restricted from Sudan and Tanzania, said a DHS official Friday.

    Saturday, January 04, 2020

    Sundance Film Festival Diversity!

    I hope that this move will help with the quality of films that make it. The Sundance Film Festival will have a more diverse set or critics!  

    Sundance Film Festival aims for more Movie Critic Diversity



      SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -  A Sundance Film Festival program designed to increase diversity among media members covering the annual event in Park City boomed in popularity in the initiative's second year. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that 51 journalists were selected this year out of a pool of 319 applicants to receive travel stipends provided in the program. More than 80% are minority journalists. Most of the chosen writers are women. About half are LGBTQ and a quarter are people with disabilities. Sundance officials created the Press Inclusion Program in 2018 after a study found two-thirds of movie critics were white men. The festival runs Jan. 23-Feb. 2.

    Thursday, January 02, 2020

    Tanzia - Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule

    Ninasikitika kutangaza kifo cha ndugu yangu, Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule, kilichotekea, Janauri 1, 2020, huko kijijini, Ilela, Manda, Tanzania. Alikuwa mama Mzazi wa Stephen Challe na Burton Challe.

    Bibi Suka amekwisha lazwa katika nyumba yake ya milele. Mwenyezi Mungu ailaze roho yake mahala pema mbinguni. Amen.





    Bibi Jeredina Paulo Suka Haule
    October 28, 1928 to January 1, 2020

    Mimi na Bibi Suka (mwenye ndoo)  kijijini Ilela mwaka 2009

    Bibi Suka na baadhi ya wajukuu wake mwaka 2014

    Misa ya Kumwombea Bibi Suka Kanisa Anglikana Ilela



    Saturday, November 16, 2019

    US `gravely disappointed' by South Sudan coalition Government delay, will Reevaluate Relationship

    By SAM MEDNICK
    Associated Press

       NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The United States said Wednesday it is "gravely disappointed" and will reevaluate its relationship with South Sudan over the failure of its rival leaders to form a coalition government according to the country's fragile peace accord.

       President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar last week agreed to postpone the formation of a coalition government for 100 days. They had faced a Nov. 12 deadline but said security and governance issues needed to be resolved.

       The State Department statement said that "their inability to achieve this basic demonstration of political will for the people of South Sudan calls into question their suitability to continue to lead the nation's peace process."

       The U.S. said it will work bilaterally and with the international community to "take action against all those impeding South Sudan's peace process." That could mean sanctions.

       South Sudan government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny called the U.S. statement disappointing but said the government understands the U.S. position. South Sudan's government also wanted the coalition government formed on time, he said.

       "The president wasn't willing to extend until we realized the opposition was adamant to see the extension done or they'd go back to war," Ateny asserted.

       South Sudan's civil war erupted in late 2013, just two years after the country's independence from Sudan, when supporters of Kiir and Machar, then his deputy, clashed. A previous peace deal under which Machar returned as Kiir's deputy fell apart amid fresh fighting in 2016 and Machar fled the country on foot.

       South Sudan experts have warned that without a new approach, the current uneasy situation may well be the same when the 100-day period ends in February.

       The oil-rich country is slowly emerging from five years of fighting that killed almost 400,000 people and displaced millions. The fragile peace agreement signed in September 2018 has been riddled with delays and a lack of funding.

       Pope Francis on Sunday called for South Sudan's politicians to salvage the peace deal and announced he intends to visit the East African country in the coming year. In a striking gesture of concern earlier this year the pope knelt and kissed the feet of Kiir and Machar to encourage them to strengthen the faltering peace process.

    UN report links Kenyan military to attacks on Somalia's largest Telecommunications provider


    By TOM ODULA
    Associated Press

       NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A new United Nations report says it has corroborated evidence of five attacks allegedly carried out by Kenya's military on communication masts belonging to neighboring Somalia's largest telecom provider. One attack killed two civilians in 2018.

       The report by the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia says destroying telecommunication masts may prevent al-Shabab extremists from triggering explosives using mobile telephone signals.

       The report, made public this week, says Kenya's military denied involvement in the attacks. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

       Hormuud Telecom Somalia says the attacks violate international law. The company asserts that its communications masts have been attacked 10 times by Kenya's military over the past two years.

       The attacks have caused at least $5 million in infrastructure while destabilizing communities, undermining Somalia's economic development and impeding the coordination of humanitarian efforts, a company spokesman said.

       Many people in the Horn of Africa nation long wracked by extremist attacks and climate shocks such as drought rely on remittances wired from family members in the Somali diaspora.

       The destruction of telecom infrastructure may be aimed at curtailing the transmission of intelligence on troop movements or extremist operations, Hormuud said.

       Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, which also carries out attacks inside Kenya. As assault on a luxury hotel complex in the capital, Nairobi, in January killed 21 people.

       The new U.N. report also said the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab remain "a potent threat" to regional peace and are now manufacturing home-made explosives, expanding their revenue sources and infiltrating government institutions.

    Saturday, November 02, 2019

    Leah Mwamoto Awaonya Wazazi wa Kilolo Wanaokatisha Masomo ya Wanafunzi

    Mjumbe wa halmashauri Kuu (CCM) Mkoa wa Iringa, Leah Mwamoto akiongea na wazazi wa shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika wilaya ya Kilolo mkoani Iringa
     Wanafunzi wa shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika wilaya ya Kilolo mkoani Iringa wakicheza nyimbo mbele ya mgeni Rasmi

    NA FREDY MGUNDA,KILOLO

    Mjumbe wa halmashauri Kuu (CCM) Mkoa wa Iringa, Leah Mwamoto amewaonya wazazi wanaokatisha masomo watoto kuwa serikali itawachukulia hatua kali pindi watakapobainika kufanya kosa hilo.

    Mwamoto ameongea hayo katika mahafali ya kidato cha nne katika shule ya sekondari ya Mlafu iliyopo katika kijiji cha Mlafu wilayani Kilolo alipomuwakilisha mbunge wa jimbo la Kilolo Venance Mwamoto.

    Akiwaonya wazazi katika mahafali hayo Mwamoto amewaeleza wazazi juu ya mazingira mabaya wanayoyakuta watoto wanaokwenda kufanya kazi za ndani katika miji mikubwa.

    Hata hivyo amewaomba watendaji wa kata kuendelea kuwafutilia watoto ili kuwaepusha kujiingiza katika mazingira hatarishi yatakayoharibu ndoto zao.

    Aidha Mwamoto amepongeza uongozi wa shule ya sekondari Mlafu kwa matokeo mazuri pamoja na mbunge wa jimbo la Kilolo, Mhe Venance Mwamoto kuchangia bati 180 na mifuko 100 ya saruji kwa ujenzi wa zahanati kijiji cha Mlafu.

    Awali akisoma taarifa fupi ya shule mwalimu mkuu wa shule hiyo Emmanuel Mbangwa ameomba wadau kujitokeza kuboresha mazingira katika shule hiyo hususani kujenga nyumba za walimu na mabweni.

    Nae diwani Mlafu Isidory Kiyenge amewataka wazazi wa kata hiyo pamoja na wadau kuwa tayari kuchangia katika sekta ya elimu ili kuongeza mazingira ya ufaulu.

    Kayenge amewataka wanafunzi kujiandaa kwa mitihani ya kidato cha nne huku alito ahadi ya kuwaandalia chakula wakati wa mitihani.

    Saturday, October 19, 2019

    Please Help Lay Boston Actor Charles L Jackson to Rest!

    UPDATE - Charles L. Jackson was laid to rest in his family plot in Springfield, MA on Friday November 1, 2019.   may he rest in eternal peace. Amen.



    Please help lay Charles Lee Jackson to rest. He died on October 7, 2019 in his apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His body wasn't found until Wednesday, October 9, 2019 and his notified on October, 10, 2019. His family is struggling to put the money together to give him a proper burial. A GOFUNDME has been set up. Please help if you can. Charles did a lot of background acting work, he also did numerous play in Roxbury, and Boston. He was a father and grandfather. Rest in peace Charles (1955-2019)

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/his-final-scenelaying-to-rest-charles-l-jackson

    GO FUND ME FOR CHARLES L. JACKSON
    The Late Charles Lee A Jackson at Revere Beach in 2011.  

    Saturday, October 12, 2019

    Tanzia - Charles Lee Jackson (Actor) 1955-2019

    It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my friend and acting buddy, Charles Lee Jackson aka. Mzee Matumbi. He was also a fellow member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG AFTRA). He died at his apartment in Dorchester, MA from natural causes. Funeral arrangements are pending. We will miss you Charles.

    Rest in eternal peace Charles Lee Jackson 1955-2019





    He did background work in several TV shows and  Hollywood movies filmed in the Boston Area.

    Charles was nominated for Best Actor in a Short Film, Downbeat, at the Massachusetts Independent Film  Festival  in 2017.


    You can see the Late Charles Jackson's acting chops in this short film, Downbeat. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Short film at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in 2017.


    https://vimeo.com/210828895 Best Actor Short: Brooklyn In July - Thaddeus Daniels WINNER What Weighs Us Down - Adam Masnyk Fils (Son) - Herve Sogne Le Risque Zero - Hugues Boucher Downbeat - Charles Jackson http://www.massiff.org/2017nominees

    Saturday, October 05, 2019

    There is no Ebola in Tanzania - Minister of Health Hon. Ummy Mwalimu

    MAY GOD CONTINUE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF TANZANIA FROM EBOLA! AMEN!

    By TOM ODULA
    Associated Press

       NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Tanzania on Thursday rejected suspicions that it might have covered up cases of the deadly Ebola virus, calling it a plot to show the country "in a bad light."

       The health minister's comments came after the World Health Organization issued an unusual statement saying Tanzania refused to share information and the United States and Britain issued travel warnings. The current Ebola outbreak based in neighboring eastern Congo is now the second-deadliest in history with more than 2,000 people killed.

       Tanzanian Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said there were two suspected Ebola cases last month but the East African country determined they did not have the virus.

       "Ebola is not a disease one can hide," the minister said. "Tanzania is well aware of the dangers of hiding such an epidemic."

       Global health officials had repeatedly asked Tanzania to share the results of its investigations, but Mwalimu asserted there is no need to submit a "negative sample" for further testing.

       Countries with little or no experience testing for Ebola, especially ones such as Tanzania which have never had a confirmed Ebola case, are asked to send samples to a WHO-accredited lab to confirm the initial results, no matter whether they are positive or negative.

       Tanzania's health minister said the country will follow international protocols, including reporting to WHO, "if there is an Ebola case."

       WHO has said it was made aware on Sept. 10 of the death in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, of a patient suspected to have Ebola. A day later, it received unofficial reports that an Ebola test had come back positive. On Thursday, it received unofficial reports that a contact of the patient, who had traveled widely in the country, was sick and hospitalized.

       The lack of information from Tanzania made it difficult to assess potential risks, WHO said.

       A rapid response is crucial in containing Ebola, which can be fatal in up to 90% of cases and is most often spread by close contact with bodily fluids of people exhibiting symptoms or with contaminated objects.

       The initial symptoms for Ebola, including fever and pain, are similar to those of other diseases such as malaria and measles, and mistakes in diagnosis and mismanagement of patients could inadvertently allow an outbreak to spread.

       Critics have shown increasing alarm as Tanzanian President John Magufuli's government has restricted access to key information and cracked down on perceived dissent. Lawmakers recently approved an amendment to a statistics law to make it a crime to distribute information not sanctioned by the government or which contradicts the government.

       ---

       Associated Press writer Maria Cheng in London contributed.


    Saturday, September 14, 2019

    Funeral Services for Late Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Today

     

    Late President Robert Mugabe Coffin Today

    HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - African heads of state joined thousands of Zimbabweans at a state funeral Saturday for Zimbabwe's founding president, Robert Mugabe , whose burial has been delayed for at least a month until a special mausoleum can be built for his remains.

       More than 10 African leaders and several former presidents attended the service and viewing of the body of Mugabe, who died last week in Singapore at age 95, at the National Sports Stadium in the capital, Harare. The crowd filling about 30% of the 60,000 capacity of the Chinese-built stadium. Most of those attending were supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

       South African president Cyril Ramaphosa drew boos from the crowd, as a result of the recent attacks in Johannesburg on foreigners, including Zimbabweans. An official pleaded with the stadium crowd to let him speak. Ramaphosa apologized for the attacks.

       Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta described Mugabe as "a great icon of African liberation" and "a visionary leader and relentless champion of African dignity."

       The announcement Friday evening that that burial will be postponed until the building of a new resting place at the national Heroes' Acre Monument is the latest turn in a dramatic wrangle between Mugabe's family and President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a once-trusted deputy who helped oust Mugabe from power.

       Mnangagwa presided over Saturday's ceremony, attended by Mugabe's widow Grace, who wore a black veil.

       "A giant tree of Africa has fallen," said Mnangagwa, who hailed Mugabe as "a bold, steadfast revolutionary."

       He praised Mugabe for seizing land from white farmers. "To him, this was the grievance of all grievances of our people," Mnangagwa said. "The land has now been reunited with the people and the people have been reunited with the land." He also called on Western countries to remove sanctions imposed during Mugabe's era.

       "Go Well Our Revolutionary Icon" and "Farewell Gallant Son of the Soil" were among the banners praising Mugabe, who led the bitter guerrilla war to end white-minority rule in the country then known as Rhodesia. Mugabe was Zimbabwe's first leader and ruled the country from 1980 for 37 years, from years of prosperity to economic ruin and repression.

       He was deposed in 2017 by the military and Mnangagwa in a bloodless coup that was marked by more than 100,000 people demonstrating in Harare's streets to demand that he step down. Following Mugabe's resignation, Mnangagwa took power and won elections the next year on campaign promises he would improve the collapsed economy and create jobs. But Zimbabwe's economy has lurched from crunch to crisis and some in the crowd expressed the view that life was better under Mugabe's rule.

       "Bread was less than a dollar when we marched against him (Mugabe). It is now $9," said Munashe Gudyanga, 18. "I am just here to say `Sorry, President Mugabe, we didn't know things will be worse."'

       Some in the stadium sang an impromptu farewell to Mugabe, "When you left bread was a dollar," lyrics that implicitly criticized Mnangagwa, whose nearly two-year rule has been marked by rising prices, with inflation currently more than 175%.

       The visiting leaders viewed Mugabe's the partially open casket, followed by a 21-gun salute, a flypast by Zimbabwean air force jets and the release of 95 doves, to mark Mugabe's 95 years.

       Mugabe's body is to be viewed in his birthplace, Zvimba, on Sunday and then will be held in preservation until the new mausoleum is ready.

       In downtown Harare, many Zimbabweans were busy with their weekend errands, and expressed little interest in the funeral, which was open to the public.

       "What will I get if I go there? What will Mugabe do for me now that he failed to do when he was alive?" said Amelia Tukande, who was selling cellphone chargers along Harare's Samora Machel Avenue that leads to the stadium. "It is a waste of time. I have to work for my family."

       Others said they would have wanted to attend the funeral but cannot afford transport fares.

       "I didn't like him, but I still wanted to attend just to see for myself that he is gone ... but kombis (minivan taxis) want $3.50 just to get to the stadium," said Amos Siduna, waiting in line at a bank to get cash, which is in short supply. "That's too much money for me just to go and say `bye bye' to a corpse. Mugabe's corpse. No."

       The mourning period for Mugabe's death has been marked by the ongoing drama over where, when and how the ex-strongman will be buried. The new resting place will be built near the stadium at Heroes' Acre, a national burial site for top officials of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party who contributed to ending white colonial rule

       The mausoleum will be at an elevated site above the other graves, according to Mnangagwa and a Mugabe family spokesman.

       Grace had previously insisting on a private burial rather than the state funeral and burial in a simple plot alongside other national heroes planned by the government.

       "We are building a mausoleum for our founding father at the top of the hill at Heroes' Acre," Mnangagwa said on state television Friday night, consenting to the Mugabe family's wishes.

       ---
    The Late President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe

    Saturday, September 07, 2019

    Who is the Best Actress to Play Hattie McDaniel in the Biopic of her Life?


     Who do you think would be the Best Hattie McDaniel in the Bipoic about the Famous Actress Life?
    Hattie McDaniel was the first African American Women to win an Oscar. She won for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind made in 1939.

    Hattie McDaniel


    Take the Poll Here:   HATTIE McDANIEL ACTRESS POLL

    Candidates

    Mo'nique

    Octavia Spencer

    Gabourey Sidibe

    Marietta Sirleaf

    Rest in Peace Robert Mugabe - Former President of Zimbabwe



    The Late President Robert Mugabe (1924 -2019)

    HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Robert Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe's ruling elite, an official said Saturday, as the southern African nation began several days of official mourning.

       Mugabe, who was 95 when he died Friday in Singapore, will be laid to rest in Harare at the National Heroes Acre, which has been set aside for Zimbabweans who have made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation, which emerged from the ashes of colonial Rhodesia.

       "Comrade Mugabe will be buried at the Heroes Acre," deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said. "That is where he deserves to rest."

       Leo Mugabe, a nephew of Robert Mugabe and a family spokesman, told The Associated Press that the date of the funeral and other details, including when Mugabe's body will arrive in Zimbabwe, weren't yet available.

       "Arrangements are not in place yet," he said in a text message.

       Located on a hilltop, and built with the help of North Korean architects, the plot has a commanding view of Harare, features a huge bronze statue of three guerrilla fighters and boasts black marble and granite flourishes.

       Mugabe is viewed by many as a national hero despite decades of rule that left the country struggling. He was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power in 1980 when Zimbabwe shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise.

       Mugabe had been forced to relinquish power by a previously loyal military in November 2017.

       Flags flew at half-staff Saturday, but there were no public activities to mark the death of a man who singularly shaped the once-prosperous country in his own image and created a repressive system that some say remains even today.

       Reaction to his death was mixed, although praise ironically came mostly from ruling party officials and military leaders.

       The state-run Herald newspaper, which vilified Mugabe when he was forced to resign and when he subsequently voiced support for the opposition, carried glowing tributes.

       In a "commemorative edition," the newspaper, which often acts as a mouthpiece of the government, carried a montage of his pictures with the headline: "Robert Mugabe-1924-2019" on its front page and glowing reports throughout.

       In an editorial page, the newspaper praised Mugabe for "his uncompromising stance when it came to the rights of Africans."

       "Whatever happened towards the end of his leadership should not be used to rubbish the good things that he did during his life," the commander of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and one of the commanders who led the military campaign to oust Mugabe after years of propping his rule, was quoted as saying in a separate story in the newspaper.

       Others were less charitable. "95 and out," read the privately-owned Newsday newspaper.

       "Despite his intellectual prowess, Mugabe's failure to let go of power when it was time was his major undoing . In short, he was a liberator who turned villain. Leaders need to know when to draw the line," said the newspaper in an editorial.

       "End of an era as Mugabe dies, leaves Zim poor, divided," read the front page headline of another privately-owned newspaper, the Daily News.

       "Notwithstanding the many mistakes that he made, many Zimbabweans will probably agree that had he not held on to power beyond the 1990s, he would today be largely remembered as one of Africa's best leaders in history," the paper said in an editorial.

       Both newspapers were major targets of Mugabe's vitriol, with editors and reporters routinely arrested during Mugabe's rule.

       On the streets of the capital, Harare, few seemed bothered as people struggled to cope with biting economic problems largely blamed by critics on Mugabe's rule and perpetuated by his successor and an ally who later turned foe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa took power in 2017 with the help of the military.

       "Who cares?" said Percy Maute, a street vendor pushing a cart full of tomatoes along a busy street named after the former president.  "I don't care. I am too busy looking for money to mourn a man who put me in this position."

       A small group of people drank beer and sang pro-Mugabe songs outside a liquor outlet and wore T-shirts with Mugabe's face. Although only a few people cared to join or commiserate with them, they danced vigorously and spoke glowingly of a man they said fought for the liberation of not just Zimbabwe, but "the rest of Africa."

       "Bob was our hero, he taught us that the white man is not a master," they sang. Mugabe was popularly known by the nickname Bob.

    Saturday, August 24, 2019

    Tanzania has enough Giraffes - Government

       GENEVA (AP) - Nations around the world moved Thursday to protect giraffes as an endangered species for the first time, drawing praise from conservationists and scowls from some sub-Saharan African nations.

       Thursday's vote by a key committee at the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES paves the way for the measure's likely approval by its plenary next week.

       The plan would regulate world trade in giraffe parts, including hides, bone carvings and meat, while stopping short of a full ban. It passed 106-21 with seven abstentions.

       "So many people are so familiar with giraffes that they think they're abundant," said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "And in Southern Africa, they may be doing OK, but giraffes are critically endangered."

       Lieberman said giraffes were particularly at risk in parts of West, Central and East Africa.


       The Wildlife Conservation Society said it was concerned about the multiple threats to giraffes that have already resulted in population decline, citing habitat loss, droughts worsened by climate change and the illegal killings and trade in giraffe body parts.

       The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, hailed the move, noting that giraffes are a vulnerable species facing habitat loss and population decline. A key African conservationist said it could help reverse drops in giraffe populations, as the move would help better track numbers of giraffes.

       "The giraffe has experienced over 40% decline in the last 30 years, said Maina Philip Muruthi of the African Wildlife Foundation. "If that trend continues, it means that we are headed toward extinction."

       Still, not all African countries supported the move.

       "We see no reason as to why we should support this decision, because Tanzania has a stable and increasing population of giraffes," said Maurus Msuha, director of wildlife at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. "Over 50% of our giraffe population is within the Serengeti ecosystem, which is well protected. Why should we then go for this?"

       CITES says the population of wild giraffes is actually much smaller than that of wild African elephants.

       "We're talking about a few tens of thousands of giraffes and we're talking about a few hundreds of thousands of African elephants," said Tom De Meulenaar, chief of scientific services at CITES. He said the convention was intended to specifically address the international trade in giraffes and their parts.



       "With fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa, it was a no-brainer to simply regulate giraffe exports," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

       The U.S. is the world's biggest consumer of giraffe products, conservationists said. Sanerib said it was important for the U.S. to act on its own as well.

       "It's still urgent for the Trump administration to protect these imperiled animals under the U.S. Endangered Species Act," she said in a statement.

       The meeting in Geneva comes after President Donald Trump's administration last week announced plans to water down the U.S. Endangered Species Ac - a message that could echo among attendees at the CITES conference, even if the U.S. move is more about domestic policy than international trade.

     

    Saturday, August 10, 2019

    Mkuu wa Wilaya Kasesela Asuluhisha Mgogoro wa Ardhi Iringa


     Mkuu wa wilaya ya Iringa Richard Kasesela akiwa katika shamba la familia ya marehemu mzee Mwenda kutatua mgogoro wa ardhi uliodumu kwa miaka mingi katika kijiji cha Nduli kata ya Nduli manispaa ya Iringa. 
     Mkuu wa wilaya ya Iringa Richard Kasesela akiwa katika shamba la familia ya marehemu mzee Mwenda kutatua mgogoro wa ardhi uliodumu kwa miaka mingi katika kijiji cha Nduli kata ya Nduli manispaa ya Iringa. 
    Mkuu wa wilaya ya Iringa Richard Kasesela akiwa katika shamba la familia ya marehemu mzee Mwenda kutatua mgogoro wa ardhi uliodumu kwa miaka mingi katika kijiji cha Nduli kata ya Nduli manispaa ya Iringa na akiwa amezungukwa na wanafamilia pamoja na mashahidi waliohudhuria kutatua mgogoro huo. 

    NA FREDY MGUNDA,IRINGA.

    Mkuu wa wilaya ya Iringa Richard Kasesela amefanikiwa kutatua mgogoro wa familia ya mzee Mwenda iliyopo katika kata ya Nduli uliodumu kwa miaka mingi kutokana na kaka yao Ayubu Mwenda kwenda tofauti na wanafamilia wengine.

    Akizungumza kwenye shamba la familia marehemu mzee Mwenda Kasesela alisema kuwa kaka yao Ayubu Mwenda na wanafamilia wote kwa pamoja wamekaa na kufikia makubariano ya kugawana sawa ardhi ambayo ipo katika kijiji cha Nduli kata ya Nduli.

    “Kwa leo nimefalijika kuona familia hii imeamua kumaliza mgogoro huu ambao ulikuwa hauna afya katika harakati za kuleta maendeleo kwa wananchi hawa kwa kuwa walikuwa wanapoteza muda mwingi kupigania mgogoro huu” alisema Kasesela

    Kasesela alisema kuwa familia hiyo inagombea hekali mia moja na hasini na tisa (159) ambazo waliachiwa na marehemu mzee wao mzee Mwenda na kusema kuwa Ayubu ambaye ndiye kaka yao mkubwa amekuwa kisababishi cha mgogoro huo.

    Aidha Kasesela alimtaka afisa mtendaji na afisa tarafa kuhakikisha shamba hilo linagawawiwa kwa wake wote sita wa mzee Mwenda ili kuondo na kumaliza mgogoro huo kwa kugawa kwa usawa na haki ili kila mmoja apate haki yake.

    “Mzee Mwenda alikuwa na wake sita hivyo shamba hilo litagawiwa kwa kufuata familia za akina mama wote kwa haki ili kumaliza hili tatizo na hakuna mtu mwingine ataleta mgogoro kwa kuwa nitalipeleka shauri hili mahakamani kuweka zuio la kuanzisha kesi yeyoyte ile katika shamba hilo” alisema Kasesela

    Kwa upande wake msimamizi wa mirathi hiyo Sadiki Abdalah Mwenda alimshukuru mkuu wa wilaya ya Iringa Richard Kasesela kwa kuasidia kutatua mgogoro huo ambao umedumu kwa miaka mingi bila kupata ufumbuzi wa mgogoro huo.

    Naye askari mstaafu Hawa Mwenda ambaye ni mwanafamilia alimshukuru mkuu wa wilaya na kumuomba awafikishie salaam kwa Rais Dr John Pombe Magufuli kwa kuongoza vizuri na kufanikisha wananchi wanyonge wafikiwe kirahisi na kutatuliwa matatizo yao.


    Uchu wa Mafuta yaua watu zaidi ya 70 Morogoro - Ajali ya Lori la Mafuta

    Jamani wadau, mkiona  mafuta yanavuja kutoka kwenye gari kimbia, siyo mnakimbilia kupata mafuta dezo!  Yanawaka kwa kirahisi mno. Umaskini kitu kibaya sana, maana si ajabu wengine waldihani watuuza hayo mafuta wapate hela ya ugali!   Ona sasa watu zaidi ya  sabini wamepoteza maisha baada yakuungunguzwa! 

    Wengine waliokufa ni madereva wa bodaboda na mama nitilie!  Walizoa mafuta hata kwenye ndoo! Na wanasema, mafuta yalilipuka baada ya mtu kuchomoa  betri 
    ya lori  na mtu mwingine alikuwa anavuta sigara!   Nasikia huyo mvuta sigara aliambiwa asivute karibu na mafuta.  Alijibu mafuta ya kisasa hayawezi kuwaka moto! Nadhani watakuwemo kwenye watu waliokufa!
    Mungu alaze roho za waliokufa mahala pema mbinguni. Amen.


    Kutoka Associated Press
    DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — A damaged tanker truck exploded in eastern Tanzania as people were trying to siphon fuel out of it Saturday, killing at least 62 in one of the worst incidents of its kind in the East African country.
    Tanzanian state broadcaster TBC, citing police figures, said at least 70 more people were injured during the explosion in the town of Morogoro, located about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the economic hub of Dar es Salaam.
    Regional police commissioner Steven Kabwe told the local Azam TV that many suffered serious burns.
    Witnesses told The Associated Press that a crowd had gathered around the fuel tanker after it was involved in an accident early Saturday and some people were trying to siphon away fuel when the truck burst into flames.
    Video footage posted on social media showed people collecting fuel into jerry cans before the fire incident.
    In a statement expressing condolences, Tanzanian President John Magufuli said he was dismayed people attacked vehicles involved in accidents instead of offering help.
    Residents are routinely killed by explosions while stealing fuel from incapacitated tankers in East Africa. Those who steal the fuel usually hope to be able to sell it cheaply to motorists.
    In 2013, at least 29 people were killed on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, as scores swarmed around the scene of an accident.
    There is limited awareness about the danger of explosions of damaged fuel tankers, said Henry Bantu, a road safety expert who runs the Tanzania-based Safe Speed Foundation. Local leaders need to do more to educate people on the risks, he said.



    Watazamaji kwenye shemu ya mlipuko Morogoro

    Saturday, July 27, 2019

    TANZIA - Agnes Kabigi

    Wadau, Agnes Kabigi alikuwa rafiki yangu pamoja na mwandishi wa habari mwenzangu.   kweli nina huzuni leo.  Mungu ailiaze roho yake mahala pema mbinguni. Amen.

    HABARI KUTOKA https://www.habarimtaa.com/2019/07/picha-mwili-wa-agnes-kabigi-waagwa.html
    Mwili wa Meneja Mawasiliano wa asasi inayolenga kutokomeza UKIMWI kwa watoto na familia Ariel Glaser Pediatric AIDS Healthcare Initiative (AGPAHI), Bi. Agnes Kabigi umeagwa leo Jumamosi Mjini Kahama na kusafirishwa kwenda jijini Dar es salaam kwa ajili ya mazishi.

    Agnes Kabigi alifariki dunia aliyefariki dunia jana mchana Ijumaa Julai 26,2019 baada kuanguka ghafla wakati akitekeleza majukumu yake akiwa katika Hospitali ya wilaya ya Kahama mkoani Shinyanga.

    Agnes Kabigi ni mwandishi Mwandamizi aliyewahi kufanya kazi katika Magazeti ya Uhuru,Mzalendo na Nipashe na mpaka umauti unamkuta alikuwa anafanya kazi katika shirika la AGPAHI linalojihusisha na mapambano dhidi ya VVU na UKIMWI ambalo linafanya kazi zake katika mikoa ya Shinyanga,Mwanza,Simiyu na Mara.

    Akizungumza kwa niaba ya Mkurugenzi wa shirika la AGPAHI,wakati wa kuaga mwili wa marehemu,Mfanyakazi wa AGPAHI mkoa wa Shinyanga,Kasablankhahr Herman amesema mwili wa Agnes utasafirishwa kwa ndege majira ya saa 10 leo jioni kutoka Mwanza hadi Jijini Dar es salaam kwa ajili ya mazishi.

    Agnes alizaliwa tarehe Julai 13,1967.
    Mungu ailaze mahali pema peponi roho ya marehemu Agnes Kabigi . Amina

    Saturday, July 13, 2019

    Rest in Peace Hodan Nalayeh

    Thanks for your contributions to the Somali Diaspora as well as African Diaspora overall!  Your beautiful  blogs and short films about life in Kismayo  were/are enlightening!  Rest in peace, you are gone too soon.




    The late Hodan Nalayeh

    By NATALIE SCHACHAR and TRACEY LINDEMAN
    Associated Press

       OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - As bombings and attacks rocked the African nation of Somalia in recent years, Canadian-Somalian journalist Hodan Nalayeh found what she believed was a higher calling: Showcasing the hidden beauty of her homeland and its people.

       On Twitter, she shared posts featuring marine life dangling from the hands of fishermen, a small boat setting out in cerulean waters, and locals holding leopard-spotted stingrays.

       "Dried fish is big business on the island of (hash)Ilisi. They call this fish `Shabeelka Bada,' or `tiger of the ocean,"' Nalayeh wrote Thursday.

       "People save all their lives to have a retirement by the beach, yet we have plenty of it and cannot see its value. Let's appreciate the beautiful blessings we have," she wrote in an earlier posting.

       On Friday, the journalist dedicated to telling positive stories from a country suffering through decades of civil war, extremist attacks and famine was killed along with her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, entrepreneur Mahad Nur and at least 23 others after a bomb exploded outside the Asasey Hotel in the Somalian city of Kismayo and gunmen stormed inside. Fifty-six other people were wounded in the attack, according to the Jubbaland regional president.

       Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the 14-hour assault that ended as troops killed the gunmen.

       On Saturday, friends and family reeled as they heard that Nalayeh, 43, a journalist and mother expecting her third child, was among the dead.

       Maaz Khan, a 24-year-old filmmaker in Toronto, said Nalayeh had shared her hard-earned wisdom when he met her a few years ago.

       "She was always very inspiring," he told The Associated Press. "She would say, `It's tough in the beginning, but always push through and don't give up on your passion."'

       Ahmed Hussen, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, mourned the journalist's death, saying on Twitter that she "highlighted the community's positive stories and contributions in Canada" through her work.

       "We mourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the (hash)KismayoAttack," he said.

       Nalayeh was born in the northern Somalian city of Las Anod but moved with her parents and 11 siblings to the Canadian province of Alberta in the winter of 1984, when temperatures dropped to -40 degrees Celsius. Her father, a former Somalian diplomat, took a job as a parking attendant, she told Toronto.com in a 2014 interview.

       The family relocated to Toronto in 1992, and Nalayeh later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Windsor and worked in sales and business, she said.

       In the podcast "Meaningful Work, Meaningful Life," Nalayeh told host Francine Beleyi that she made a mid-career pivot, going back to school to earn a postgraduate certificate in broadcast journalism and fulfill her childhood dream of being a journalist and television host. She became the world's first woman Somali media owner, according to statements she made to Canada's Status of Women committee in 2014.

       "I went back to work three months after giving birth. I said "This is not for me anymore," she told Beleyi.

       In 2014, she launched the Integration TV platform as a way to tell Somali stories, moving to the coastal city of Kismayo in 2018 to continue her work after visiting Somalia several times.

       The platform, widely known among members of the Somali diaspora, had gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers in the last five years. It also led Nalayeh to meet Suleiman, who was recently helping to build a drinking well in the drought-stricken African country. The couple was married last November in Kenya, according to her sister.

       Saciido Shaie, a Somali activist in Minnesota, said Nalayeh had wanted her two sons and younger generations of the Somalian diaspora to know about her country of birth.

       "She was like, `I will take this platform and I will use it to shed a light both to Somalians in Somalia and Somalians outside," Shaie said, adding "I'm heartbroken" at her death.

       Aw Hirsi, who knew Nalayeh's husband from their time together as government ministers in Jubbaland, described him as a dedicated husband.

       "He was a magnificent, creative guy who deeply cared for the (average) man. He was so kind, so understanding and down to Earth," Hirsi said.

       Shaie said when someone asked Nalayeh what she would like to be remembered for, the journalist said she didn't want to be "famous and all of that."

       Rather, she said, Nalayeh responded: "I just want people to remember me as someone who is a unifier."


       ---