Sudan Protests

   CAIRO (AP) - Thousands demonstrated Friday in nearly two dozen neighborhoods of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, calling for President Omar Bashir to step down, according to activists, keeping up the pressure on the autocratic general-turned-president who has been in power for nearly 30 years.

   The activists said hundreds also took to the streets Friday in the railway city of Atbara north of Khartoum, Obeid in the western North Kordofan province, and Senar and Wad Madani south of the capital. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.

   They said police used tear gas to disperse protesters in the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, a traditional hotbed of dissent. There were no reports of casualties.

   Friday's protests were the latest in a wave of demonstrations that began across much of Sudan on Dec. 19, first against price rises and shortages but which later turned against Bashir, in power since a 1989 military coup he led. They coincide with worsening economic woes that saw a currency devaluation spiking prices, fuel shortages and a steep rise in the price of bread, a main fare for most Sudanese.

   The government says elections are the only legitimate means for "regime change" and insists that "subversive elements" have infiltrated the ranks of peaceful protesters. Lawmakers loyal to Bashir are rallying support in the legislature for constitutional amendments to allow Bashir, who is in his mid-70s, to run for election in 2020.

   On Friday, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he wanted authorities in Sudan to conduct a "thorough investigation" od the deaths and violence during the protests. "The Secretary-General emphasizes the need to safeguard freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," the spokesman said.

   London-based rights group Amnesty International says it has "reliable reports" to show that 37 people were killed in the first five days of unrest. The United States, Britain, Canada and Norway have expressed concern about the use of lethal force by security forces against protesters and are demanding an investigation.

   On Thursday, the government gave its first casualty figures from the unrest. It said 19 people were killed in the protests and more than 200 protesters were wounded. Nearly 190 members of the security forces were wounded, it added.

   As in previous protests, participants numbered in the hundreds or very low thousands, but the continuing defiance of the government in the face of security forces accused of using lethal force indicate a high level of popular discontent.

   But it's too soon to speculate on whether these relatively modest numbers could force Bashir to step down. They may embolden top army commanders to counsel the president to quit in the nation's interest, although another general at the helm is unlikely to placate the Sudanese. A protracted uprising would likely paralyze the country and turn into the kind of chaos seen in Libya, whose 2011 revolt turned into a civil war that has left the country divided to this day.

   Sudan's military has dominated the country since independence in 1956 and the ongoing protests bear some resemblance to popular revolts in 1964 and 1985 that toppled military regimes and ushered in democratically elected governments, later overthrown by military coups in 1969 and 1989 respectively.

   The protesters in Atbara chanted "the people want to bring down the regime," the main slogan of the Arab Spring revolts of 2010 and 2011. In Omdurman, they chanted "freedom, peace and justice."

   A video clip provided to The Associated Press by the activists and posted online purported to show the scene at a Khartoum mosque where Bashir, an Islamist, performed his Friday prayers. A lone male voice could be heard shouting "Bashir, leave!" The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.

   Friday's protests also coincided with an indefinite strike by doctors and a three-day strike by journalists that began on Thursday.

   Also Friday, the activists reported another wave of arrests of opposition leaders, including some of the organizers of an attempted march on Bashir's presidential palace on Tuesday. The call for the march attracted thousands of participants who clashed with police who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. Scores were wounded, some seriously.

   Among those arrested is the chairman of the liberal Sudan Conference Party and a senior leader of the Communist Party, the latter a key player in past popular uprisings.

What is Boxing Day?

   LONDON (AP) - In Britain and other countries like Australia and Canada, the day after Christmas is a secular national holiday known as Boxing Day. Here's a brief look at some theories about how the holiday got its name and how people celebrate it:

   NO NEED FOR BOXING GLOVES

   While no one seems to know for sure how it came to be called Boxing Day, it definitely has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. Perhaps the most widely held understanding of its origins comes from the tradition of wealthier members of society giving servants and tradesmen a so-called Christmas Box containing money and gifts on the day after Christmas.

   It was seen as a reward for a year's worth of service. Other believe it comes from the post-Christmas custom of churches placing boxes outside their doors to collect money for distribution to less-fortunate members of society in need of Christmas cheer.

   Some trace it to Britain's proud naval tradition and the days when a sealed box of money was kept on board for lengthy voyages and then given to a priest for distribution to the poor if the voyage was successful.

   There are other explanations, but it's clear the designation has nothing to do with the modern habit of using the holiday for shopping at "big box" stores selling televisions, computers and the like.

   SHARING THE WEALTH, AROUND THE COMMONWEALTH

   No one knows for sure when Boxing Day started, but some believe it was centuries ago, when servants would be given the day after Christmas off as a day of rest after feverish preparations for their masters' celebrations.

   Others trace it back even earlier, to the Roman practice of collecting money in boxes - they say Roman invaders brought this practice to Britain, where it was taken up by the clergy to collect money in boxes for the disadvantaged.

   The tradition gained popularity during the Victorian era and has flourished to this day. The British Empire may now be a thing of the past, but Boxing Day is still celebrated in some other parts of the Commonwealth, including Canada, Australia and Kenya.

   SO IF THEY'RE NOT BOXING, WHAT DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO ON BOXING DAY?

   Boxing Day has evolved into a day of relaxation and indulgence - and shopping. It is filled with sporting events (including a marathon soccer schedule tailor-made for TV viewing from a comfortable couch) and it is often a day when people open their homes to family and friends who drop by for turkey, ham and perhaps half-consumed bottles of wine left over from Christmas dinner.

   In Britain it used to be a day for fox hunting in the frost-tinged countryside, but that practice has been mostly banned for more than a decade now. In its place, "Boxing Day Sales" have flourished, with many Britons lifted from their post-Christmas torpor by the lure of low prices in department stores.

Usafiri Dar es Salaam (UDA)

Nani nakumbuka mabasi ya UDA ya miaka ya 1970's-1980s.  Zilikuwa zinajazana, vibaya mno! Mwenyezi mungu alitulinda! Walileta kumbakumba lakini hazikudumu kwa sababu barabara zilikuwa mbovu. Yaani siyo mashimo, ilikuwa mahandaki!!!  Depot ya Kumbakumba ilikuwa Ubungo (Pale yanapoondokea mabasi ya mkoani)

UDA Bus is Dar es Salaam circa 1978

Yvonne Sangudi - MistaRomeo [Official Music Video]

Cheki video mpya kutoka Dada wa KiTanzania, Yvonne Sangudi!  Kweli Superstar quality!  Hongera Yvonne!

Update - MV Nyerere Sinking

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A survivor has been found inside a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster on Lake Victoria, an official said Saturday, while coffins arrived for at least 167 victims and counting.

   An engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately clear.

   Search efforts continued around the ferry's exposed underside as families of victims prepared to claim the dead. No one knows how many people were on board the ferry, which had a capacity of 101. Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

   The government's Chief Secretary John Kijazi announced the rising death toll to reporters after President John Magufuli ordered the arrests of those responsible.

   "This is a great disaster for our nation," Magufuli said, announcing four days of national mourning.

   The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark. Horrified fishermen and other witnesses have expressed fear that more than 200 could have died.

   Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of African leaders have expressed shock and sorrow.

   The MV Nyerere, named for the former president who led the East African nation to independence, was traveling between the islands of Ukara and Ukerewe when it sank, according to the government agency in charge of servicing the vessels.

   Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where aging passenger ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and well beyond capacity.

   In 1996, more than 800 people died when passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria.

   Nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.

MFALME WA REGGAE JAH KIMBUTE KUZIKWA TANGA LEO 22/9/18

Tanzia - Jah Kimbute

KUTOKA FACEBOOK:

Yohana Blacklista

Yesterday at 12:24 AM · 

TANZIA: MFALME WA REGGAE JAH KIMBUTE AFARIKI DUNIA DAR ES SALAAM

Habari zilizotufikia katika chumba chetu cha habari usiku huu zinasema kwamba gwiji wa muziki wa reggae nchini Jah Kimbute amefariki dunia nyumbani kwake Msasani jijini Dar es salaam, mshirika wa karibu wa marehemu David Msitta Manju, amethibitisha.
Akiongea nasi kwa njia ya simu kutoka Mwanza aliko kikazi, Manju amesema amepata habari usiku huu kwamba Jah Kimbute amefariki dunia Alhamisi jioni nyumbani kwake.
Amesema kwamba amepata taarifa hizo toka kwa mkewe aliyeko jijini Tanga na kwamba mipango ya mazishi itajulikana leo asubuhi baada ya ndugu kukusanyika.
Mke wa marehemu pia alithibitisha habari hizo akiwa Tanga, na kusema kila kitu kitafahamika baada ya ndugu wa Jah Kimbute kukutana.
Amesema marehemu alikuwa akiishi na mwanae nyumbani kwake Msasani na kwamba jana jioni alipokwenda chumbani kwake alimkuta amefariki.
"Hizi habari tumezipata usiku huu na sasa ndugu wa marehemu ambao wengi wako Lushoto wanakusanyika tayari kwa safari ya Dar es salaam kesho kukamimlisha mipango yote.
Jah Kimbute, ambaye jina lake halisi alikuwa Samwel Mleteni, alitamba sana katika anga ya muziki na kuitwa Mfalme wa Reggae wa Tanzania miaka ya 80 akiwa na kundi lake la Roots and Culture lililokuwa na makaazi yake jijini Dar es salaam.

Sehemu ya marafiki wa karibu wa Jah Kimbute wakiwa Hospitali ya Taifa ya Muhimbili jijini Dar es salaam Ijumaa jioni kuuaga mwili wa marehemu kabla ya kupelekwa Tanga kwa mazishi yanayotarajiwa kufanyika Jumamosi Septemba 22, 2018  (picha kwa hisani ya Michuzi blog)

Ferry MV Nyerere Yazama Ziwa Victoria - Watu zaidi ya 400 Wahofia Kufa

Inasdikiwa kuwa watu zaidi ya 400 wamekufa  baada ya Feri ya MV Nyerere kuzama Ziwa Victoria siku ya Alhamisi.  Feri ilizama karibu na kitou  cha Ukara Island. Ilikuwa na uwezo ya kubeba abiria mia lakini watu waansema ilikuwa imebeba zaidi ya watu 400.  Siku ya alhamisi iliku siku ya watu kwenda Sokoni 'Market Day', kwenda kununua na kuuza bidhaa mbalimbali. Raisi Magufuli amesema kuwa nahodha wa Ferry hakuwa na kipaji cha kuendesha feri hiyo.

KWA HABARI ZAIDI BOFYA HAPA

MV Nyerere ikiwa kazini Ziwa Victoria

MV Nyerere baada ya kuzama Ziwa Victoria

Jitihada za Uokoaji

Mwanaume Mweusi Atafutwa kwa Kushika Matako ya Wanawake Boston!!

Huyo bwana, Nyege Mwasho, anatafutwa na polisi wa jimbo la Massachusetts baada ya kuwashika wanawake wawili matako, siku ya alhamisi.  Indaiwa aliwapita akiwa anaendesha baiskeli halafu kawashika matako maeneo  ya Boston Esplanade.  Kama Unamtambua piga simu 617-727-6780.

Kwa haari zaidi bofya hapa:

Massachusetts State Police want to know if you have seen this man who was riding his bicycle on the Boston Esplanade Thursday afternoon just before 2pm.

He is suspected of grabbing two women by the buttocks as he rode by them, just west of Community Boating. 

The surveillance video shows the man, a black male, dressed all in black with a black backpack that had two pieces of white tape on it.

If you can help this investigation, please contact Trooper Martin Concannon at 617-727-6780.

Listen to the Music of Ron Murphy

Ron Murphy Band

07 The Night We Make Love

PLEASE LISTEN TO THE LUSCIOUS VOICE OF RON MURPHY

Posted a new song: "07 The Night We Make Love" https://www.reverbnation.com/q/7am317

Wadau, huyo  Mzee anakaa Boston. Ni rafiki yangu wa miaka mingi,

Mwanamke MKenya Ajarubu Kuibia Benki Texas!

Wadau, huyo dada MKenya alijaribu kuibia benki Texas!  Ni bahati hakuuawa na polisi!  Alitumia mtoto wake wa miezi tisa kama ngao! Atapata kifungo si chini ya miaka 20! 

**********************************************

Evelyn Misumi alijarubi Kubia tawi la Bank of America

By CHAD KITUNDU and AGENCIES

A Kenyan woman was on Wednesday arrested after she walked into a Texas bank and tried to rob it.

Police say the suspect, identified as 36-year-old Evelyn Misumi, walked into a Bank of America branch armed with a hammer, gasoline and lighter fluid.

According to local police, Ms Misumi poured gasoline and lighter fluid on the bank’s lobby and demanded cash from the tellers while waving a hammer.

Murphy Police said alert tellers and office personnel called 911 and when the officers arrived on the scene, the 36-year-old suspect was heading out of the building towards her car.

“Police elected not to draw weapons as no immediate danger to themselves or surrounding individuals was apparent,” the department said in a news release.

Evelyn Misumi Mug Shot

PEPPER SPRAY

“They did, however, attempt to impede her escape by tasing her. When that proved unsuccessful, officers used pepper spray on the woman.”

Police said when she reached her car, she pulled a small child out of the vehicle and attempted to use the child as a shield. After a brief standoff she eventually surrendered.

She was taken to the Collin County jail where she remains in custody and faces charges of robbery and endangering a child charges.

Investigators are working to determine if the child is related to Misumi.

No injuries were reported.

Barua kutoa kwa Matapeli

You don't know me and you're thinking why you received this e mail, right?

Well, I actually placed a malware on the porn website and guess what, you visited this web site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching the video, your web browser acted as a RDP (Remote Desktop) and a ke ylogger which provided me access to your display screen and webcam. Right after that, my software gathered all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook account, and email account.

What exactly did I do?

I made a split-screen video. First part recorded the video you were viewing (you've got a fine taste haha), and next part recorded your webcam (Yep! It's you doing nasty things!).

What should you do?

Well, I believe, $1900 is a fair price for our little secret. You'll make the payment via Bitcoin to the below address (if you don't know this, search "how to buy bitcoin" in Google).

BTC Address: 1FDZq1JN6dzoriqiXVMrqTqv2cCUbFZpC8rW
(It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Important:

You have 24 hours in order to make the payment. (I have an unique pixel within this email message, and right now I know that you have read this email). If I don't get the payment, I will send your video to all of your contacts including relatives, coworkers, and so forth. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the video immidiately. If you want evidence, reply with "Yes!" and I will send your video recording to your 5 friends. This is a non-negotiable offer, so don't waste my time and yours by replying to this email.

***********

Reply Me Quickly Please

My name is Beatrice Madou. I am 20 years old; am the only daughter of

late Mr. Madou Johnson. Here in Burkina Faso, I am contacting you to

help me relocate to your country. To continue my education in your

country, before my father died he deposited the Sum of ($4.5Million)

in a bank here and he advised me before he died to look for a faithful

and reliable foreigner who can help receive the Funds in outside

country and help me to relocate over there to continue my Education.

I hope you are capable to receive the 4.5 Million in your country with

trust.  I will like to travel to your country immediately the bank

wire the funds into your account. You will take 30% of the total 4.5

Million for your good and kind assistance to me. I will send to you

the full details concerning the funds. immediately I hear from you.

My Regards,

Beatrice.

Barua Pepe Kutoka Kwa Matapeli

Dear Friend,

I came across your e-mail contact prior a private search while in need

of your assistance. My name is Aisha  Gaddafi a single Mother and a

Widow with three Children. I am the only biological Daughter of late

Libyan President (Late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi).

I have an investment funds worth Twenty Seven Million Five Hundred

Thousand United State Dollar ($27.500.000.00 ) and i need an

investment Manager/Partner and because of the asylum status i will

authorize you the ownership of the funds, however, I am interested in

you for investment project assistance in your country, may be from

there, we can build a business relationship in the near future.

I am willing to negotiate investment/business profit sharing ratio

with you base on the future investment earning profits. If you are

willing to handle this project kindly reply urgent to enable me

provide you more information about the investment funds. Your Urgent

Reply Will Be Appreciated Please Reply me in my box.

(mrsaishddddag77@gmail.com)

Best Regards

Mrs Aisha Gaddafi

*************************************************************

Greetings

Please assist me to receive about 15 million euros into your personal

account. I will give you details as I hear from you.

Regard,

Mr Ahmed Zama

**********************************************************

Dear Friend,

I want to transfer US$5.5 Million to your bank account. The fund belong to our deceased customer who died with his entire family in Iraq War , leaving nobody for the claim and as such, I decided to contact you to enable us claim the fund. Your share is 40% while 60% for me. This transaction is 100% risky free.

Thanks,

Ali Usman.

Banque Régionale de Solidarite( BRS),

ouagadougou,Burkina Faso

Watu 26 wauawa Burundi Leo!

DEALDY ATTACK IN BURUNDI


By ELOGE WILLY KANEZA
Associated Press

Archive Photo

   BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) - Twenty-six people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack in a rural area of Burundi, the country's security minister said Saturday, calling it the work of a "terrorist group" he did not identify.

   Speaking at the scene, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni told reporters that 24 people were killed in their homes Friday night and two others died of their wounds at a local hospital.

   He gave no further details about the attack in the Ruhagarika community of the rural northwestern province of Cibitoke.

   The attack came shortly before Burundians vote May 17 in a controversial referendum that could extend the president's term. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related.

   One survivor told The Associated Press the attackers came around 10 p.m. local time and "attacked households and set fire on houses." Some victims were hacked with machetes and others were shot or burned alive, she said.

   Her husband and two children were killed, she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.

   This East African country has seen deadly political violence since early 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully pursued a disputed third term. An estimated 1,200 people died.

   Now Burundians are being asked to vote on a proposal to extend the president's term from five years to seven, which would allow Nkurunziza to rule for another 14 years when his current term expires in 2020.

   Campaigns ahead of the referendum have been marred by hate speech, with one ruling party official sent to prison after he called for those who oppose the referendum to be drowned.

   The United States earlier this month denounced "violence, intimidation, and harassment" against those thought to oppose the referendum and expressed concern about the "non-transparent process" of changing the constitution.

   Human Rights Watch has noted "widespread impunity" for authorities and their allies, including the ruling party's youth wing, as they try to swing the vote in the president's favor.

   Many in Burundi, a poor country that still relies heavily on foreign aid, worry that a new round of bloodshed will follow the referendum no matter its results.

   Already more than 400,000 people have fled the country since the political unrest began in April 2015, according to the United Nations.

   Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader, rose to power in 2005 following the end of Burundi's civil war that killed about 300,000 people. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010 after the opposition boycotted. He said he was eligible for a third term in 2015 because lawmakers, not the general population, chose him for his first term.


   Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP-Africa

 

WaMasai Wafukuzwa Kwenye Ardhi yao Kwa Ajili ya Watalli

Tanzania's Maasai evicted in favor of tourism, group says

Maasai Women

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Associated Press

   KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Tens of thousands of Tanzania's ethnic Maasai people are homeless after the government burned their houses to keep the savannah open for tourism benefiting two foreign safari companies, a U.S.-based policy think tank charged Thursday.

   Villagers in northern Tanzania's Loliondo area, near the Ngorongoro Crater tourism hotspot, have been evicted in the past year and denied access to vital grazing and watering holes, said the new report by the Oakland Institute, a California think tank that researches environmental and social issues.

   "As tourism becomes one of the fastest-growing sectors within the Tanzanian economy, safari and game park schemes are wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the Maasai," said Oakland Institute's Anuradha Mittal. "But this is not just about a specific company - it is a reality that is all too familiar to indigenous communities around the world."

   Allegations of wrongdoing have persisted in recent years against Tanzania Conservation Limited, an affiliate of U.S.-based Thomson Safaris, and Ortello, a group that organizes hunting trips for the royal family of the United Arab Emirates.

   Young Maasai herders are so afraid of authorities that they "flee when they see a vehicle approach," thinking it might carry representatives of foreign safari companies, the Oakland Institute report said.

   Responding to the findings, Thomson Safaris said the "awful allegations of abuse are simply untrue." The company invested in Tanzania "in good faith," director Rick Thomson said in an email Thursday.

   Concern for the Maasai has been raised at home and abroad by rights groups such as Minority Rights Group International and Survival International, which has warned that the alleged land grabs "could spell the end of the Maasai."

   The Maasai, hundreds of thousands of cattle herders who inhabit the savannah in southern Kenya and parts of neighboring northern Tanzania, need land to graze their animals and maintain their pastoralist lifestyle. But the land bordering Tanzania's famous Serengeti National Park is also a wildlife corridor popular with tourists.

   The east African nation's government depends substantially on tourism revenue to finance its budget.

   The government has prioritized safari groups at the expense of indigenous communities, said Hellen Kijo-Bisimba, head of the Tanzania Legal and Human Rights Centre.

   "The government has been reviewing boundaries and subsequently evicting communities in the name of conservation," she told The Associated Press. "In my understanding the conservation should have been made to benefit people, and if people are affected then it calls for worries. The Maasai community (is) indeed suffering."

   A court in the regional capital, Arusha, ruled against Loliondo's Maasai in 2015 when it decided that Thomson Safaris legally purchased 10,000 acres of a disputed 12,617 acres in 2006. The Maasai appealed and the case is pending.

   Thomson, of Thomson Safaris, said in Thursday's email that "witnessing" the wildlife in Tanzania was a passion.

   "But what made Tanzania so alluring was not just the wildlife, but the people," he said. "When people return from a safari with us, they say how magnificent the wildlife was, but that what was so extraordinary were the people they met."

   Tanzania's Tourism Permanent Secretary Gaudence Milanzi denied the Maasai are being targeted, saying the government is working to improve their welfare by embracing modern methods of livestock keeping.

   "There is no single group of people, say Maasai, who are intimidated, arrested, beaten or forced out of their land," Milanzi said.

   ---

   Associated Press writer Sylivester Domasa in Dodoma, Tanzania contributed.

Trump Achachamaa Kuhusu Nchi za Africa Kukataa Mitumba

Second Hand Clothes (Mitumba) for Sale in Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - The sweaty mechanic tossed aside the used jeans one by one, digging deep through the pile of secondhand clothes that are at the center of another, if little-noticed, Trump administration trade war.

   The used clothes cast off by Americans and sold in bulk in African nations, a multimillion-dollar business, have been blamed in part for undermining local textile industries. Now Rwanda has taken action, raising tariffs on the clothing in defiance of U.S. pressure. In response, the U.S. says it will suspend duty-free status for clothing manufactured in Rwanda under the trade program known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

   Similar U.S. action against neighboring countries could follow; Uganda and Tanzania have pledged to raise tariffs and phase in a ban on used clothing imports by 2019.

Elephant Conservation Project in Tanzania

Tembo Wakivuka Barabara  Mikumi/ Elephants crossing Highway in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

MIKUMI NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania (AP) - The elephant staggered and keeled over in the tall grass in southern Tanzania, where some of the world's worst poaching has happened.

   It wasn't a killer who targeted her but a conservation official, immobilizing her with a dart containing drugs. Soon she was snoring loudly, and they propped open her trunk with a twig to help her breathe. They slid a 26-pound (12-kilogram) GPS tracking collar around the rough skin of her neck and injected an antidote, bringing her back to her feet. After inspecting the contraption with her trunk, she ambled back to her family herd.

   The operation was part of a yearlong effort to collar and track 60 elephants in and around Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve, widely acknowledged as `Ground Zero' in the poaching that has decimated Africa's elephants in recent years. The Associated Press traveled to the area to witness how the battle to save the continent's elephants is gaining some momentum, with killings declining and some herds showing signs of recovery. Legal ivory markets are shrinking worldwide, and law enforcement has broken up some key trafficking syndicates, say experts.

   But it's far too early to declare a turnaround. Poachers are moving to new areas and traffickers are adapting, aided by entrenched corruption. The rate of annual elephant losses still exceeds the birth rate. And the encroachment of human settlements is reducing the animals' range.

   "The trend in poaching is going in the right direction, but we have a long way to go before we can feel comfortable about the future for elephants," said Chris Thouless of Save the Elephants, a group based in Kenya, where elephant numbers are rising again.

   In a move to crack down on demand, Britain this month announced a ban on ivory sales. In China, trade in ivory and ivory products is illegal as of 2018. And in the U.S., a ban on ivory apart from items older than 100 years went into place in 2016.

   If poaching can be brought under control here in Tanzania, there is hope that the killing of elephants can be stemmed elsewhere on the continent.

   Africa's elephant population has plummeted from millions around 1900 to at least 415,000 today. Intelligent and emotional, with highly developed social behavior, elephants have been hunted for their ivory for centuries. A ban on commercial trade in ivory across international borders went into effect in 1990, but many countries continued to allow the domestic buying and selling of ivory.

   Increased demand from consumers in China fueled a new wave of killings.

   In Tanzania alone, the elephant population declined by 60 percent to 43,000 between 2009 and 2014, according to the government. Much of the slaughter happened in an ecosystem comprising the Selous and the adjacent Mikumi National Park. A tourist guide told The Associated Press that several years ago, he and a client saw an elephant family at sunset in the Selous reserve. They returned the next day to the ghastly sight of carcasses of elephants slaughtered for their tusks.

   The killings in Tanzania appear to have slowed down. A count in the Selous-Mikumi area last year added up 23 carcasses of poached elephants, just 20 percent of the number found four years earlier. And African elephant poaching has declined to pre-2008 levels after reaching a peak in 2011, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

   It's a positive trend, but there is speculation there is a dearth of elephants to kill in many areas.

   "All the `easy' elephants are dead," said Drew McVey, East Africa manager for the WWF conservation group.

   In Tanzania's Selous region, more newborn elephants are visible and confident elephants are moving more widely outside unfenced, officially protected areas, said Edward Kohi, principal research officer with the state Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and leader of the GPS collaring program funded by WWF. The collars are designed to allow rangers to track the movement of elephant herds, and then mobilize to protect them if they move into poaching hotspots. By receiving satellite-transmitted data on mobile phones, rangers could also intercept elephants that drift into a human settlement or fields of crops.

   Adam Rajeta, a farmer and cattle herder living next to Mikumi park, said elephants sometimes cause havoc.

   "During the harvesting season, they come close to our homes," Rajeta said. "When they do, we beat drums and make noise to scare them and thus protect ourselves. Only with God's mercy do they leave our neighborhood."

   There has also been movement to crack down on trafficking. Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who took office in 2015, took a hard line and authorities have arrested key suspects linked to trafficking syndicates.

   However, the fight against the illegal ivory trade is like squeezing a balloon - when gains are made in one area, such as Tanzania, the killings intensify in another spot, like Mozambique's Niassa reserve to the south, which is linked to the Selous by a wildlife corridor. And international seizures of smuggled ivory appear to be as large as ever, a possible sign of hurried efforts by traffickers to move stockpiles before business gets too difficult.

   On Friday, media in Mozambique reported the seizure by authorities of more than a ton of elephant ivory that had been stashed in a shipping container by traffickers. It had been bound for Cambodia, the reports said.

   Some poaching gangs in Niassa are Tanzanian and "there is a lot of movement across the border" that includes other illicit trade, including in timber and minerals, said James Bampton, Mozambique director for the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. The group co-manages Niassa with the government.

   There are probably fewer than 2,000 elephants in Niassa, Bampton said. That's a small fraction of the estimated number a decade ago in Mozambique's main elephant refuge. Periodic thefts of confiscated ivory and rhino horn in Mozambique also raise concerns about official collusion with traffickers.

   Another worrying development is evidence of increased processing of ivory tusks into jewelry and trinkets within Africa, instead of the old method of shipping raw ivory out of the continent. This allows traffickers to transport ivory in smaller quantities that are hard to detect and avoids increased scrutiny of ivory-carving operations in Asia.

   The challenges of protecting wildlife were apparent to AP journalists who traveled with the collaring team in Mikumi park next to the Selous reserve, a U.N. world heritage site.

   Plans to deploy a helicopter to help spot and herd the elephants fell through. Vehicles got stuck in mud. One morning, a startled wildlife official sprinted to his vehicle after briefly entering a toilet labeled "Gents" at a dirt airstrip. A female lion who had been reclining in a stall sauntered out.

   The team sometimes tracked elephants on foot, studying big round footprints, broken branches and the freshness of elephant dung for clues to their whereabouts.

   Just two out of a planned five elephants were collared over three days in the Mikumi park. The conservationists refrained from darting elephant matriarchs, instead choosing younger females that they know will follow the group. They also intend to collar often solitary bull elephants.

   The elephants displayed their social bonds in one instance, retreating into a defensive circle after hearing the pop of the dart gun. When a female was hit, the others appeared to try to prop up their woozy companion before fleeing.

   Suspected traffickers are a threat to more than elephants. In August 2017, conservationist Wayne Lotter, credited with helping Tanzanian authorities dismantle some ivory smuggling operations, was murdered in Dar es Salaam in an apparent hit. Eight people have been arrested for the murder, including two bank officials and several businessmen.

   Tanzania's Selous-Mikumi region is known as one of the biggest killing fields for African elephants, but the vast wilderness of about 23,000 square miles (60,000 square kilometers) still offers hope for the world's biggest land animal.

   In 50 to 100 years, said Kohi, the collaring team leader, "when the human population is skyrocketing, this will be one of the important areas for the conservation of elephants."

Serikali ya Marekani Kufuatilia blogu zote DunianI!

Kama una blogu, serikali ya Marekani itakuchunguza!  Watafuatlia zipi zina nguvu ya kushawishi wasomaji....pia watafuatilia waandishi wa habari, magazeti na wahariri.

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Homeland Security to Compile Database of Journalists, Bloggers

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to monitor hundreds of thousands of news sources around the world and compile a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers.”

It’s seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and identify “any and all” coverage related to the agency or a particular event, according to a request for information released April 3.

The data to be collected includes a publication’s “sentiment” as well as geographical spread, top posters, languages, momentum, and circulation. No value for the contract was disclosed.

“Services shall provide media comparison tools, design and rebranding tools, communication tools, and the ability to identify top media influencers,” according to the statement. DHS agencies have “a critical need to incorporate these functions into their programs in order to better reach federal, state, local, tribal, and private partners,” it said.

The DHS wants to track more than 290,000 global news sources, including online, print, broadcast, cable, and radio, as well as trade and industry publications, local, national and international outlets, and social media, according to the documents. It also wants the ability to track media coverage in more than 100 languages including Arabic, Chinese, and Russian, with instant translation of articles into English.

The request comes amid heightened concern about accuracy in media and the potential for foreigners to influence U.S. elections and policy through “fake news.” Nineteen lawmakers including Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month, asking whether Qatar-based Al Jazeera should register as a foreign agent because it “often directly undermines” U.S. interests with favorable coverage of Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.

The DHS request says the selected vendor will set up an online “media influence database” giving users the ability to browse based on location, beat, and type of influence. For each influencer found, “present contact details and any other information that could be relevant, including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the media influencer.”

A department spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment.

Responses are due April 13. Seven companies, mainly minority- or women-owned small businesses, have already expressed interest in becoming a vendor for the contract, according to the FedBizOpps web site.

Kwa habari zaidi BOFYA HAPA:

Clement Nkurunziza Detained in Burundi FOllowing Depportation from USA

Trump kachachaa! Watu wanafukuzwa USA kila siku. Hali mbaya sana!  Kama una rangi na huna makaratasi ulie tu. Trump na ubaguzi wake hana huruma.  Kama una kosa lolote utaondoshwa.

Huyo inasemekana alishiriki katika mauaji ya waHutu wa Burundi.

Mr. Clément nkurunziza was a leader of the university of Burundi gang that killed over a 1000 university students because they were hutus. The USA should not be a hub for criminals like Clément Nkurunziza. Justice should be served. He should be sent to Burundi immediately to face Justice. 

KWA HABARI ZAIDI BOFYA HAPA:

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  KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Burundian activists say a man recently deported from the United States after failing to receive political asylum has been detained without charge back home.

   The group iBurundi, which monitors alleged government abuses, says Clement Nkurunziza has had no access to a lawyer since his March 22 arrest.

   Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed Nkurunziza is in custody but gave no details.

   iBurundi says Nkurunziza was arrested after arriving on a plane from the U.S. Over 1,000 people had signed an online petition urging the U.S. not to send Nkurunziza back to Burundi, saying "his life would be in jeopardy."

   Nkurunziza had urged Burundi's president to retire after two terms in 2015. Deadly protests broke out when President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully sought another term. The two men are not related.

   The International Criminal Court judges last year authorized an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored crimes in the East African nation that the U.N. human rights chief recently called one of "the most prolific slaughterhouses of humans in recent times."

Si Rahisi Kwa Mweusi Marekani Kupata Kazi ya Maana!

   BOSTON (AP) - Fifty years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, black Americans are still struggling to gain a foothold in the nation's more prestigious and lucrative professions.

That's according to an Associated Press analysis of government data that found black workers are chronically underrepresented compared with whites in technology, business, life sciences, and engineering, among other occupations. Meanwhile, black are proportionately overrepresented in lower-wage fields, such as food service and maintenance.

In Boston - a hub for technology and innovation - white workers outnumber black ones by about 27-to-1 in computer- and mathematics-related professions, compared with the overall ratio of 9.5-to-1 for workers in the city. King earned his doctorate in Boston in the 1950s.

Experts cite numerous causes, including lack of educational opportunities and systemic discrimination in hiring and promotions.