BURUNDI :
RWANDA
London — Yesterday, Rwanda’s flag was raised at Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth, in London, in a ceremony to officially welcome the country as the 54th member. President Paul Kagame, who attended the ceremony, expressed Rwanda’s readiness to take advantage of existing opportunities that include trade, education and culture. Addressing a gathering which included the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning, who is also the chair-in-office and the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, President Paul Kagame thanked the Commonwealth group for accepting Rwanda’s entry and pledged the country’s active and fully integrated role in the club. “Rwanda recognizes the strengths of these partnerships – this is why we greatly value our membership in the Commonwealth, like we do with other organizations,” Kagame said. “As the newest member of the Commonwealth, Rwanda is prepared to establish stronger bonds with fellow members in a number of important areas”. Kagame added that by associating with other countries in several areas, through sharing common values, Rwanda is able to learn from others and build on its own home-grown solutions for a brighter future. “Firstly, the future of all nations depends on their youth, and so I hope that Rwanda can capitalise on the wide range of education and training programmes that the Commonwealth provides. “Secondly, we hope to tap into the trade and investment opportunities that the Commonwealth offers, so that Rwanda can expand its economy and effectively participate in the global marketplace,” Kagame observed. He noted that, at the same time in the context of mutual learning, Rwanda will also play its role in sharing her successful experiences, not only from its recent past, but also its traditions and culture. “Rwanda is committed to the values of the Commonwealth and will contribute to strengthening the organisation, furthering our mutual development agendas, and working in close partnership with other members to promote prosperity, freedom and rights for all,” Kagame asserted. Shortly after the flag raising ceremony, President Kagame, alongside Prime Minister Manning and Sharma, addressed a news conference. Manning defended the idea of countries joining various blocs or organisations, arguing that there are particular interests that may arise. Secretary General Sharma, formally welcomed Rwanda into the group and pledged the Commonwealth’s commitment to engage with Rwanda in various areas of development. “I think the gods agreed, Mr President, that this is a very special occasion, and we look forward to installing your membership formally here,” Sharma told President Kagame. “I just want to say that from now on, we are going to have a very dense roadmap of collaboration with Rwanda, in which I, myself, and the two Deputy Secretaries-General who are present here, will be personally engaged in carrying it forward,” he said. Sharma said that the Commonwealth already has an electoral commission to conduct civic education, train journalists and engage in many of the areas that are coming up, adding that his recent interaction with officials in the areas of audit, women, youth, human rights, budget and others will provide an action plan. Rwanda: Gov’t Calls for Concrete Action Against Kabuga Kigali — The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) has urged Kenyan authorities to take more serious action to pursue and arrest Felicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The remarks follow reports in Kenyan media on Monday which revealed that the country’s security agencies have renewed the hunt for the Genocide fugitive. “If they are serious this time, it should be manifested in actions and not just words,” the NPPA Spokesperson, Augustin Nkusi told The New Times yesterday. The media reports said that international and local investigators in Kenya have found new leads, which they are using to track down the fugitive. “They (Kenyan government) have the ability to arrest him; it’s only the will that is missing. Let this not end in words because these have been spoken for a long time,” Nkusi said. When contacted, the Kenya’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, Harriet Ndumo. was tightlipped on the matter, only saying that a joint tracking task force comprising of the Kenyan government and ICTR is doing its work to arrest Kabuga. “I have not looked at those reports but what we are aware of is that Kabuga is not in Kenya,” she said. The ICTR Chief Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow declined to give a comment, referring this newspaper to his personal assistant. Kabuga is the most wanted Genocide suspect sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) still on the run. The United States placed a five-million-dollar bounty on his head. Kabuga, 75, was expelled from Switzerland in 1994, and spent some time in Democratic Republic of Congo before seeking refuge in Kenya, where he has dodged several attempts to arrest him. In 1998, an ICTR team raided a Nairobi rented house and found a note indicating that the fugitive, who escaped arrest, had been tipped off by police. International Women’s Day www.indianasnewscenter.com/By Scott Sarvay/Mar 9, 2010 FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – Women all over the world bridged out for peace Monday afternoon. The 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day was celebrated by women and men gathering on bridges around the world to raise awareness of women affected by war. This is the first time women’s rights groups have met on a bridge to represent building a bridge for peace and development for the future. Pamela Steinbach with Women For Women International says, “When I hear of the victims that of war that we support and we learn about, they are so resilient and it just encourages me, if they can do what they do, then we can certainly do a lot with our lives and help them and create peace.” The group sponsors women in war torn nations including Iraq, Sudan and Rwanda. UGANDA
UN dispatches relief aid to Uganda for victims of deadly mudslide disaster www.un.org/9 March 2010 The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), along with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have provided 1,000 pieces of plastic sheeting, 6,110 blankets and 10 hydraform machines to construct huts and other community structures. While as many as 20,000 households may have been affected by the disaster and 5,000 people are expected to be relocated from the villages in Bududa district, flooding has submerged thousands of acres of crops, roads, schools and housing in Butaleja district at the foot of Mt. Elgon. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is expected to supply 10 kilograms of seeds per household, targeting 1,000 households in Bududa, and another 10 kilograms of seeds per household targeting the 20,000 people whose crops were destroyed in Butaleja. The likelihood of water-borne disease outbreaks remains high in Butaleja, where floods have either submerged or cut off health facilities and other critical infrastructure, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA reported that while the Government continues to lead the emergency relief response, as well as the search and rescue operation, the UN dispatched two teams last week – comprising representatives from FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and others – to assess the situation in both districts. In addition, the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has dispatched 20 Thuraya satellite terminals, which will be vital for coordinating the logistics of relief work. “I learnt with deep sorrow the loss of life resulting from a massive landslide that swept the slopes of Mt. Elgon in eastern Uganda,” said ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau Director Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid. “This equipment has been dispatched with much urgency to assist in search and rescue operations and coordinating logistics on the ground,” added Mr. Al Morshid. Since last October, the Great Lakes nation has been experiencing heavy rains – expected to last another month – that are believed to be tied to the El Niño weather phenomenon. Uganda: Rains Displace Thousands More than 10,000 people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands put at risk in eastern Uganda as torrential rains continue after fatal mudslides swept away villages near the Kenyan border last week. The confirmed death toll from the mudslides has risen to 104, and more than 300 people are presumed dead. TANZANIA:
CONGO RDC :
‘Here, it is a single meal per day’ In the middle of the Moundzombo school courtyard at Betou in the north of the Republic of Congo, Aime Ngbatambala is surrounded by near-naked children, some crying, others playing hide-and-seek. “The children who are playing have just had a small meal,” said Ngbatambala, a community leader. “The ones who are crying haven’t had anything since this morning. Here, it is a single meal per day.” The school has become part of a settlement of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, across the border formed by the river Oubangui, who arrived in the Congo to flee ethnic bloodshed back home. Ngbatambala, 50, told AFP that meals consist of manioc or sweet potatoes, and said, “It is difficult to create the conditions, even minimal, to eat, take care of oneself, and sleep.” Currently, 548 people are sleeping in the eight classrooms of the school, in a remote region which is hard to access, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Congolese capital Brazzaville. Betou and the villages of the Likoula region shelter more refugees from the DR Congo than the other zones of northern Congo to have taken them in after the violence broke out last October in northern DR Congo’s Equateur Province. Inter-ethnic violence between two local tribes disputing farming and fishing rights sparked the exodus. The Enyele and Munzaya tribes have long been in dispute over farming and fishing rights, which led to heavy fighting. But this is only one trouble spot in the huge, mineral-rich country still struggling to recover from a 1998-2003 war that directly or indirectly left millions dead and displaced and triggered a humanitarian crisis. Though a peace deal was signed and a transition government set up, violence also continues in the country’s east where UN peacekeepers backing government troops are battling several armed groups, including Hutu rebels from neighboring Rwanda. Around Betou, there are camps for 55,000 of the 115,000 people, mainly women and children, who fled. The refugees already outnumber the local population of about 46,000, according to local authorities. The UN refugee agency has tried to smooth over difficulties caused by the influx of people and is coordinating humanitarian aid and relief work. “Here, you get the impression that people are sleeping on top of each other, that privacy doesn’t exist any more,” said Moujinga Kabeya, who runs a site for refugees set up in the former premises of Congo’s match factory. The two factory buildings, which have both lost most of their roofs, shelter about 1,000 people in highly overcrowded conditions. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is currently building a camp of 15 hectares (37 acres) to house at least 70 families “It is the most vulnerable who will live in the camp we are setting up,” said Monica Noro, the cooordinator in Betou for the UNHCR. “For the others, we will hand out sheeting and boards to enable them to construct shelters.” The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has paid only one visit, last December, to distribute food across the whole region, according to aid workers and refugees. “They brought us peas, a little salt and rice. Since then, the stocks have run out. Manioc leaves have become the staple daily meal,” said Jonas Babomba Mango, a refugee leader at Ikpengbele, a village near Betou. “If someone could bring us seed to sow, I think that we would live better,” Manho added. Philippe Pebila, a nurse for the non-governmental organisation Medecins d’Afrique (Doctors of Africa), works in Gnamoba, also upstream from Betou. “We are still treating cases of moderate malnutrition. The most severe cases are sent to Betou.” In the Liranga district, more than 11,000 refugees have received no food aid at all, according to Daniel Roger Tam, the head of the UNHCR office in Impfondo, capital of the Likouala region. “There are too many assessment missions and not enough aid ones,” complained the deputy district administrator in Betou, Colonel Jean-Dominique Engamba. Relief agencies say that 52,000 of the refugees have received some food aid since they arrived in the region, where they are scattered over 92 sites. Some 35,000 others have received non-food such as cooking pans, blankets and soap. KENYA :
(RTTNews) – Kenyan authorities’ policy response to the crisis was appropriate and timely and it will be crucial to continue sound economic policies to place the economy on a robust growth path, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Monday. He said Kenya’s response to a series of shocks was remarkable. In June 2009, the Fund provided about US$200 million for the African country under the rapid access component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility. Later in the year, Kenya received about US$350 million through the general and special allocations of Special Drawing Rights to all IMF members. “As a result of these combined efforts, a nascent recovery is taking place,” Strauss-Kahn said. He foresees about 3% economic growth in 2010 and to rise gradually to 6.5% over the medium term. Kenya’s economic growth slowed to 2.7% in 2009 from 7.1% in 2007. Further, Strauss-Kahn said Kenya should continue its economic policies. “It will be important to continue sound economic policies to contain risks and place the economy on a robust growth path with sustainable debt levels and low inflation,” he said. In order to strengthen the financial sector further, it will be crucial to enact several pieces of legislation that are still pending, including the banking, new deposit insurance and importantly the anti-money laundering bills, he added. by RTT Staff Writer Local ‘SuperProm’ will forever change Kenya school
They did it. Cupertino High School students won the prom of their dreams — a $100,000 bash, fueled largely by their dream for Kenya. Their 60-second video, featuring a montage of Cupertino High students and their adopted school in Kenya, received the most online votes in a nationwide SuperProm contest sponsored by Dell. “It’s pretty unbelievable, I was speechless when I heard,” said Nithin Jilla, co-president of the Kenya Dream club. “It was like a dream come true.” Since entering the contest, Cupertino High students had waited anxiously as the vote tallies were posted online each day. Then, on Monday, representatives from Dell arrived on the Cupertino campus, and the entire student body gathered in the assembly and held hands, waiting anxiously. When the news finally came that they had won, students jumped up and the gymnasium echoed with shouting and screaming. Students grabbed Justin Li, the class president and lead organizer, and marched him around on their shoulders as he cried tears of joy. For many, it was the ultimate reward, four years after beginning the project, dubbed the Kenya Dream. During their freshman year, more than 90 percent of the class signed a petition pledging to give all funds raised to the Nthimbiri Secondary School in Meru to upgrade its modest school facilities. Typically, student fundraisers help offset costs for junior and senior proms, but with all the money going toward the project, students simply paid more for ticket prices. Throughout the contest, Cupertino had remained in the top three schools with the highest votes, but the race was tight, and the final winner was kept a secret until a Dell representative could personally make the announcement. “When we came to this school, our class seemed incredibly spirited. We wanted to leave our mark at Cupertino High forever. We wanted to be remembered for leaving a very different mark in the world,” Jilla said. “We want people to know that the average high school students is not just about Facebook and MySpace. We’re out there to help the world and each other.” Apparently, the egalitarian nature of the Cupertino pitch caught the attention of voters and propelled the school to a neck-and-neck race with schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin. In total, 78 schools were in the competition. “We wanted to do something different. It’s usually the norm for schools to mostly fundraise for the senior prom, but we wanted to do something unique and give back to community,” said Li, who has been class president for all four years and is co-president of Kenya Dream club. So far, the students have raised $25,000 for Kenya Dream, with an additional $25,000 donated by Rotary Club of Cupertino. Their goal is to raise $100,000 by June. To raise even more money for the Kenya Dream, Li said, all prom tickets and proceeds now will go toward the project. During the final two weeks of the contest, the students rallied nonstop for votes. Students spent the final weekend camped out in shops and the Cupertino Library asking for votes and sending messages on social networking sites. Even other Cupertino schools such as Homestead High and Monta Vista High put aside friendly rivalries to rally in support of Cupertino High. Homestead entered the contest, but halfway through gave its votes to Kenya Dream. Said senior Diane Hwu: “It was really touching to hear.” Kenyan Legislator Says Regional Countries Are Concerned About Tensions in Sudan Peter Clottey/www1.voanews.com/09 March 2010 The chairman of Kenya’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs says a summit of heads of states of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) scheduled to begin Tuesday will review Sudan’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Adan Keynan said regional countries are expressing concern about tensions in Sudan ahead of the general elections scheduled for April. “This particular meeting is coming at a time when Sudan is gearing up for a referendum and also for an election. Kenya being one of the guarantors actually of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, there are a number of critical issues, which the regional states have been jittery about. One is what is likely to happen with the referendum. Will there be an intra and inter southern Sudan conflict?” he said. Sudan’s Vice Presidents Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and Salva Kiir (the latter, who is also chairman of semi-autonomous South Sudan) are scheduled to participate in Tuesday’s deliberations in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Lawmaker Keynan said regional leaders will take stock of the 2005 peace accord. “What the heads of state or heads of government will be attempting to do is to do some sort of formative and summative evaluation on how the implementation has been carried out the issues that have been contentious. Like the issue of wealth sharing. Like the issue of how the election is going to be conducted. So in general, it is going to be a comprehensive review of the entire peace agreement,” Keynan said. IGAD is reportedly expressing concerns about the implementation of the Southern Sudan peace agreement ahead of the April vote. Kenya’s media reports that foreign minister Moses Wetangula urged the international community to keep its $4.8 billion pledge to help with the full implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Keynan said the regional bloc has to ensure the success of the peace accord. “What happens or what is likely to happen in Sudan is going to have a direct effect on all the neighboring states…and because the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was a regional peace initiative, all countries in the region are duty bound to make sure the Comprehensive Peace Agreement succeeds,” Keynan said. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement effectively ended more than two decades of war between the north and south. 09 Mar 2010: Oil And Gas Opportunities Abound That’s according to Peter Kinuthia, manager: tax at Ernst & Young Kenya. It is anticipated that Kenya will strike oil by April 2010, the result of the activities of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation in the country’s northern reaches. The company is licensed to explore other basins in Kenya including the coastal region which is estimated to have a potential of producing around 100 million barrels of crude oil and 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas. With some of the world’s most extensive known deposits of methane gas Rwanda has several projects underway for its exploitation and conversion to electricity. This deposit, Kinuthia adds, indicates the possibility of oilfields beneath or adjacent to it. Classified as ‘underexplored’ but endowed with diverse energy sources including biomass, natural gas, hydropower, coal, geothermal, solar and wind power, Tanzania shows strong hydrocarbon potential in its oil industry sector. “Leaders and experts in the Tanzania energy sector have expressed optimism concerning the potential for discovering oil. Current reports indicate that over 20 international oil companies are concentrating on various inland and deep sea drilling projects,” says Kinuthia. Meanwhile, oil companies have recently found more than 700 million barrels of commercially viable oil in western Uganda, which may soon put the country among major Africa’s oil producing nations. Notably, explains Kinuthia, while oil companies prefer to export the oil to recoup investment costs quickly, the Ugandan government is insisting on beneficiation inside the country to ensure a greater share of the profit remains while bringing an end to reliance on imported fuel. Turning his attention to the taxation structures which are typically in place in these countries, he says in Kenya, incentives for oil and gas companies include levying of the standard resident income tax rate of 30%. “There is no ring-fencing in the determination of corporate tax liability, while depreciation expensing is provided for in terms of wear and tear for plant and machinery necessary for exploration.” Income tax losses can be carried forward for five years. “However, the Commissioner can extend the period if there are acceptable reasons for recurring losses. Tax losses, however, cannot be carried back,” Kinuthia adds; VAT relief is extended for exploration and prospecting companies. In terms of taxation, he explains that, as in Kenya, Tanzania resident corporations are subject to income tax on their worldwide income at a rate of 30%. Again, there is no ring-fencing in the determination of corporate tax liability. Expensing of capital exploration costs is executed on a straight line basis at a rate of 20% of capital allowance. “Income tax losses can be carried forward indefinitely while tax losses may not be carried back. The low-royalty regime requires that onshore project royalties are levied at a rate of 12.5%, while offshore project royalties are levied at a rate of 5%,” Kinuthia explains. VAT relief is extended for prospecting companies. Kinuthia points out that with heightened activity and interest in the oil and gas industry in East Africa, organisations conducting business in the region require sound advisory and guidance to take advantage of the tax peculiarities. “With an extensive presence across Africa and intimate knowledge of the shifting taxation landscape, Ernst & Young has the resources and insights to support these companies.” Kenya offers food aid to survivors By David Mafabi/www.monitor.co.ug/Posted Tuesday, March 9 2010 The government of Kenya has given relief aid worth Kenya Shs13.5 million to victims of the March I Bududa landslides. While handing over the aid in Lwakhahha yesterday, the Western Kenya Provincial Commissioner, Mr Samuel Kilele, who represented the Vice President of Kenya, said the Kenya government through Kenya Red Cross had mobilised 60 metric tonnes of maize flour, 30 metric tonnes of rice, 20 metric tonnes of beans and 13 metric tonnes of cooking oil for the landslide victims. “The Vice President was scheduled to be here but his plane got a mechanical problem forcing him to land at Kabarak. His efforts to get another chopper were futile since it was late. We are sorry and we apologise for this. He has sent me to represent him here to handover the relief for our brothers caught up in the landslides in Bududa,” Mr Kilele said. While receiving the relief aid, Prime Minster, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, said: “I want to extend appreciation to the government of Kenya for the relief you have given us. We have a reciprocal relationship.” It is a week now since landslides buried an entire village in Nametsi and killed about 350 people, only about 89 bodies have so far been recovered. Kenya Suspends Officials Over Alleged Corruption (Update2) March 9 (Bloomberg) — Kenya has suspended 13 senior officials from departments including the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Finance because of allegations of corruption, the presidency said. President Mwai Kibaki ordered the suspensions because of the alleged fraudulent purchase of 120 acres (49 hectares) of cemetery land at Mavoko Township by the City Council of Nairobi at an “exorbitant” price of 283 million shillings ($3.7 million),” he said on his Web site late yesterday. The 259 million shillings, which was overpaid for purchase of the land, should be recovered from the beneficiaries and “collaborators including lawyers and agents, should be prosecuted for the serious fraud which they have committed against the Kenyan public,” Kibaki said. Kibaki is being pressured by donors to crack down on corruption. On Feb. 13 he suspended eight officials, including four permanent secretaries, for three months over two corruption cases involving allegations connected to the re- export of corn amid food shortages and over the alleged embezzlement of funds for a free primary-school program. The officials suspended yesterday include Sammy Kirui, the permanent secretary in the local government ministry, Paul Ngugi, the director of budget in the finance ministry, deputy head of the City Council of Nairobi, Geoffrey Katsolleh and the former head of the council, John Gakuo, Kibaki said. –Editors: Antony Sguazzin, Vernon Wessels ANGOLA :
SOUTH AFRICA:
Winnie Mandela accuses Nelson of letting down South Africa’s blacks 09 Mar 2010/www.telegraph.co.uk In a strongly-worded attack she claimed that Nelson Mandela had failed to help the poor, instead becoming a “corporate foundation” who only ever appeared in public to raise money for the ANC political party. Mrs Mandela, 73, also criticised his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize with FW de Klerk, the former prime minister who had Mandela jailed, according to the Daily Mail. She said: “This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family. “You all must realise that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others, hundreds who languished in prison and died.” She said her former husband went into prison as a revolutionary, but had changed. “Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically we are still on the outside. The economy is very much ‘white’. “I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel with his jailer de Klerk. Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart? “He had to. The times dictated it, the world had changed.” The Mandelas were married for 38 years. They divorced in 1996. Mrs Mandela also hit out at the Truth and Reconciliation Committee – which she appeared before in 1997 and which implicated her in gross violations of human rights. “Look at this Truth and Reconciliation charade. He should never have agreed to it,” she said. “What good does the truth do? How does it help anyone to know where and how their loved ones were killed or buried?” The comments were made in an interview with Nadira Naipaul, the wife of novelist V S Naipaul. FirstRand, Mvela Resources, Omnia: South African Stocks Preview South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index gained for a seventh day, its longest rising streak in more than three months. The measure increased 212.04, or 0.8 percent, to 28,116.69 at the close in Johannesburg. Ceramic Industries Ltd. (CRM SJ): The tile and sink manufacturer said net income in the six months through December rose 34 percent to 86.7 million rand ($11.7 million). The company’s stock rose 2 rand, or 1.9 percent, to 108 rand. Digicore Holdings Ltd. (DGC SJ): The maker of vehicle tracking devices said net income in the six months through December fell 60 percent to 22.41 million rand. The stock was unchanged at 3 rand. FirstRand Ltd. (FSR SJ): South Africa’s second-biggest banking group by value reports fiscal first-half earnings. FirstRand’s stock fell 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to 19.55 rand. Mvelaphanda Resources Ltd. (MVL SJ): The explorer of metals and minerals reports first-half earnings. The company’s stock fell 80 cents, or 1.6 percent, to 49 rand. Omnia Holdings Ltd. (OMN SJ): South Africa’s largest fertilizer maker said fiscal 2010 profit will be “considerably” more than 20 percent below the earnings it posted for the year through March, 2009. Omnia’s stock was unchanged at 61 rand. Sephaku Holdings Ltd. (SEP SJ): The mineral explorer hired Nedbank Group Ltd. to arrange 1.8 billion rand in finance for the construction of two cement plants, Business Report said, citing Pieter Fourie, the chief executive officer of Sephaku’s cement unit. The stock was unchanged at 3 rand. Universal Industries Corp. (UNI SJ): The supplier of ovens said net income fell almost 31 percent to 51.1 million rand in the year through December, according to a stock exchange filing. Universal’s stock was unchanged at 85 cents. Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows: Anglo American Plc (AAUK US) fell 0.4 percent to $20.13. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) dropped 1.2 percent to $37.86. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) added 0.4 percent to $67.32. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) shed 2.4 percent to $6.19. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) retreated 0.2 percent to $12.29. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) slipped 0.9 percent to $9.81. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) climbed 0.7 percent to $26.29. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) fell 1.4 percent to $4.14. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) rose 2.6 percent to $39.54. –Editors: Vernon Wessels, Antony Sguazzin. Condom use still far from the norm in South Africa Denialism and hypocrisy from leaders is failing to help in the fight against HIV and aids, say critics An estimated 5.7 million South Africans are living with HIV, about one in every five adults. There are about 1,400 new HIV infections and nearly 1,000 Aids deaths every day. Television adverts ask viewers to “imagine the possibility of an HIV-free generation” by being cautious. But condom use is still far from a social norm. Critics accuse South Africa’s leadership of undermining the fight with denialism and hypocrisy. Former president Thabo Mbeki’s unwillingness to act has been blamed for the premature deaths of 300,000 people. President Jacob Zuma, while being tried on charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend in 2006, was ridiculed for testifying he took a shower after sex to lower the risk. He was acquitted of rape. Earlier this year he again did not use a condom when having sex with the daughter of a family friend, who subsequently gave birth to his 20th child. South Africa committed to achieving universal access 9 March 2010/www.unaids.org South Africa is transforming its AIDS response. Today, the Deputy President of South Africa HE Mr Kgalema Motlanthe met with Executive Directors of UNAIDS and Global Fund in Johannesburg. He recommitted his government’s commitment to meet their universal access targets. “AIDS is one of the top priorities for South Africa and we will work with development partners and civil society,” said Deputy President Mr Motlanthe. In its annual budget for 2010-2011, the country has proposed a budget of US$ 1.1 billion for the AIDS response, the biggest domestic investment in a developing country. South Africa has recently taken the responsibility of providing antiretroviral treatment from its own budget and aims to provide access to nearly 2.1 million people living with HIV. “A successful AIDS response in South Africa can break the trajectory of the global AIDS epidemic,” said Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “South Africa must lead the region in stopping all new infections and providing treatment for everyone who needs it.” At the meeting the Deputy President also pledged to support the regional and global AIDS response and advocate for a fully funded Global Fund. The Global Fund also invited the Deputy President to participate in the Third replenishment conference that will be chaired by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October this year. Sustaining investments in health and development are critical if the world has to reach the millennium development goals “We welcome South Africa’s support in fully funding the Global Fund,” said Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director. “We cannot afford to let down the millions who are still waiting to receive treatment and prevention services.” UNAIDS also called on South Africa to leverage the upcoming football 2010 FIFA World Cup to mobilise the global community on preventing HIV transmission to children. “We can eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV by the time the next World Cup is played in Brazil,” said Mr Sidibé. “From Soweto to Rio de Janeiro, we have to show the red card to AIDS for stopping babies from becoming infected with HIV.” At a separate meeting of civil society representatives working on issues of maternal health, TB, HIV and malaria, participants urged for a synergetic approach to ensure that health rights are realised. Recent evidence shows that many maternal deaths are now associated with HIV. South Africa has pioneered the integration of HIV and TB services under one roof. Efforts such as these complement each other as well as increase efficiencies. South Africa leadership-political, civil society and people are together bringing about change—for the better. South African Official’s Luxe Lifestyle Raises Doubts March 9, 2010 In South Africa, the lifestyles and business relationships of Cabinet ministers and prominent politicians of the ruling African National Congress Party are coming under intense scrutiny. Calls are growing for “lifestyle audits” of public officials to assess their income and spending to help root out corruption. At a recent, raucous news conference, ANC Youth League spokesman Floyd Shivambu sparred with journalists investigating the group’s president, Julius Malema, on conflict of interest charges, conflicting statements about his business interests and his apparently luxuriant lifestyle. The dozen or so journalists at the news conference have been working on stories about how Malema could afford what has been widely described as his “lavish lifestyle” on his ANC salary, reportedly some $2,500 a month. Malema, 29, denies any wrongdoing. Piet Rampedi, an investigative reporter with City Press, is one of the journalists digging into Malema’s business ties. He notes that Malema owns luxurious cars and two houses — one in an exclusive Johannesburg suburb — worth approximately $500,000 and $150,000. “He has bought all these properties since 2007. And according to official records, those houses were not bonded; they were bought for cash. Common sense would tell you there is no way he would have earned enough to buy those houses,” Rampedi says. Rampedi has been pursuing the Malema story for months. He and other journalists have recently reported Malema’s ongoing ties to several companies that benefited through government contracts in Limpopo province worth millions of dollars. Malema says he told his attorneys to break these business ties once he became president of the ANC Youth League in 2008. But they are still listed in public documents the journalists obtained. “There was always this big question from almost everybody: Where does this guy get all the money to sustain his luxurious lifestyle?” Rampedi says. “He has always denied having business links, he has always denied having any business interests, and he has always denied having any interest in any company,” he says. The media, opposition parties and some civil society organizations believe Malema is among some ruling ANC party politicians who have used their political power to enrich themselves and their friends, and ensure that their political allies are rewarded with lucrative business contracts or tenders, while closing the door on others. During a radio interview as combative as the news conference, host Redi Direko asked Malema about reports that he had used his influence to make money. “These are all lies. These are just fabrications,” Malema responded. Although so far he has refused to do so, Malema said he could account for the sources of all his money. “There’s nothing I got from this government,” he told Direko. “I’ve got nothing to do with stealing from the poor. There’s nothing wrong I’ve done,” he continued, when Direko brought up the issue of government tenders. While not naming Malema specifically, the African National Congress’ alliance partner, the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions, has been among the strongest voices calling for lifestyle audits. Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, says the offenders are a small minority. Vavi refuses to identify those he suspects of being awarded lucrative contracts. Vavi calls them “tenderpreneurs.” “People are just sick and tired of the stories that have been written in the newspapers of the tenderpreneurs, of the back-stabbers and crass materialists who want to hijack the ANC and make it an instrument and a vehicle to take forward their narrow interest,” Vavi says. But South African President Jacob Zuma, who has faced corruption allegations, has come out against lifestyle audits. And during intense parliamentary debate on the issue, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told parliament that there was no need to go beyond the selective lifestyle audits done by the South African Revenue Service. But the debate is likely to intensify. A recent report said more than 2,000 government officials were benefiting from government tenders worth more than $26 million. S.Africa’s rand slips vs dollar, stock futures down JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand softened against the dollar on Tuesday on subdued risk appetite while stock futures suggested a lower start on the local exchange. Asian shares slipped from six-week highs and a fall in commodity prices may limit gains on the resource-heavy Johannesburg bourse. The JSE’s blue chip Top-40 March futures contract was down 0.23 percent ahead of the market opening at 0700 GMT. At 0639 GMT, the rand was trading at 7.42 to the dollar, 0.46 percent weaker than its previous close of 7.3860 in New York on Monday. It touched a 7-½ week high of 7.3625 the previous session. “The rand has taken a little bit of a breather after commodity prices came off and the euro (fell) … we are seeing a bit of rand weakness,” said a Johannesburg-based trader. “We should be trading in the 7.36/46 range.” The euro, which the rand traditionally follows, fell on continued concerns about Greece’s fiscal problems. Government bonds weakened, ahead of a weekly auction, the results of which will be released around 0900 GMT. The yield on the 2015 bond was up two basis points at 8.24 percent and the 2036 yield increased by the same margin to 9.03 percent. The government will issue 700 million rand of its 2017 bond and 1.4 billion rand of its 2020 bond at its weekly debt auction Tuesday. AFRICA / AU :
Asia proves golden for McDonald’s Sales – McDonald’s Corp. reported a better-than-expected 4.8 per cent rise in February sales at established restaurants as Asia helped offset softness in the United States and Europe, sending its shares up nearly three per cent. New menu items, Olympic sponsorships and the company’s introduction of a $1 breakfast value menu in the United States helped the hamburger chain surpass analysts’ average call for overall same-store sales growth of 3.9 per cent, Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst David Tarantino said in a client note. Sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 0.6 per cent in the United States, 5.4 per cent in Europe, and 10.5 per cent in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region. Togo dispute setback for Africa democracy Togo’s presidential vote is the latest in a string of disputed elections in Africa which risk undermining the trend of the last decade for political power to come through the ballot box. Provisional results showing incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe the comfortable winner of Thursday’s poll were immediately challenged by his main rival, while police used tear gas to quell protests in the capital Lome over the weekend. While the unrest is not seen matching that of the last poll in 2005, when hundreds were killed in a security crackdown on protests, the row highlighted just how difficult many African countries still find it to stage a credible election. “The principle that you have to seek legitimacy through the ballot box is more entrenched then it was a decade ago,” said Omaru B. Sisay of Exclusive Analysis. “But the real danger with (disputed elections) is they might drive people who would otherwise seek power through With the 2010/11 election calendar due to include tense votes in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger, Central African Republic, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo, the potential for further trouble is high. Africa does not have a monopoly on election disputes, as shown by rows over polls last year in Iran and Afghanistan and the likelihood that the outcome of Iraq’s parliamentary vote on Sunday will be contested. However events around Togo’s vote on Thursday bore all the hallmarks of what is emerging as a typically African experience of elections that have left nagging questions over the outcome, such as recent polls in Gabon, Congo Republic and Equatorial Guinea. As in Gabon last year, the ruling Togolese party had the resources to ensure blanket billboard and campaign coverage of its candidate, ensuring that Gnassingbe was more visible than any rival from a fragmented opposition. Even before official results givi With African and European observers raising concerns about procedural flaws but not questioning the result outright, Togo is now left in an uneasy limbo as it awaits the constitutional court ruling later this week needed to validate the result. Sisay and others believe Gnassingbe, who deployed extra troops to secure the poll, is more able to contain protests than in 2005, when events exploded out of control and the subsequent crackdown killed up to 500, according to UN estimates. Rolake Akinola of Global Risk Analysis said poll disputes in themselves did not automatically deter hardened investors in the region, who in many cases are able to live with leaderships of all hues as long as their assets are secure. But she argued that they served to highlight how far many countries still have to go in consolidating the reforms which ensure a sense of confidence in elections, such as an independent judiciary and freedom of press and expression. “For example, Nigerians have in general embr Increasingly sophisticated African electorates and tighter procedural checks are making it harder to rig elections in the blatant manner of the early post-colonial rulers who often claimed near unanimous backing from voters. But Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s appeal on Sunday for international observers and peacekeepers to ensure a level playing field against President Robert Mugabe’s camp next year demonstrates that fear of meddling remains alive. Akinola said it was vital that foreign pres The other big test being the long-delayed poll in regional giant Ivory Coast. Sisay warned against failure to resolve a dispute over voter eligibilty and other procedures holding up a election needed to reunite the country divided in two by a 2002-3 conflict. “In Ivory Coast the stakes are so high,” he said of the world’s top cocoa grower and former regional economic engine. “There is a real risk of return to civil war.” – Reuters Nigeria: The Fresh Offensive Against Polio Beginning from Saturday March 6, Nigeria joined 19 countries in West and Central Africa in a campaign to immunize over 85 million children under five years old against polio. The four-day exercise ends today. Nigeria’s effort has been supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO), and other international partners. A schedule of the programme from the UNICEF office in Nigeria shows that staff at 19,112 fixed immunization posts will immunize babies and children while 32,172 house-to-house vaccination teams and 14,224 special teams carrying vaccine cool are travelling on foot or motorbikes and in cars and boats on the door-to-door vaccination drive. The other countries involved in this special programme include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone. All these countries are in the March 6 to 9 immunization programme. Cote d’ Ivoire, Niger and Togo will join at a later date because of transition programmes currently taking place in the three countries. The campaign is being spearheaded by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a network of partners including national governments, the Rotary International, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Federation of the Red Cross, as well as the UNICEF and WHO. The aim is to reach every child under the age of five. It is considered significant because without a critical mass of children being immunized, the virus will rage on. More than 400,000 volunteers and health workers are involved in the aim to reach the targeted 85 million children. Part of a statement from UNICEF which relates the incidence of polio in the two subcontinents, reads, “For children in West and Central Africa, the threat of the crippling disease, eradicated in much of the world, still looms. In Nigeria, the virulent polio virus is still endemic. In 2008, it spread from the north of the country to other nations in the region. Many of these countries were on the way to being declared polio-free and had successfully eradicated the virus. Yet with the movement of people across borders, and the inadequate level of routine immunization in many areas, the virus has quickly spread. Now, many of these areas are re-infected, threatening more children with paralysis and even death.” In the current logistical exercise, vaccination teams are crossing some of the toughest and most challenging terrain in Africa to reach children. The teams, equipped with special carriers that ensure the vaccine remains below the required 8 degrees Celsius, go from door to door in search of every child under five. Experienced health workers are being deployed to locations known to be the most challenging. A special plan is in place to focus on the border areas between countries with an independent monitoring system developed to track progress. Count Down, an internet newsletter produced every two weeks by the World Health Organization in Nigeria, provides an update on the effect of polio in Nigeria within the last one year. According to the update which comes under the caption, “Total number of children paralysed by polio 26 February 2009 to 26 February 2010,” Kano State presents the worst case of 70. Kano is followed by other affected states in this order: Katsina (25), Bauchi (23), Borno (16), Kebbi (14), and Niger (13). Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kaduna states had 10 cases each, while Gombe and Yobe had nine and eight cases respectively. The states of Delta, Kogi, and Nasarawa suffered five polio paralysis each within the recorded year while Benue, Plateau and Bayelsa came down each with four. Three and two cases were recorded against Ogun and Ebonyi States respectively while Abia, Lagos, Edo and Kwara states had one each. The Count Down newsletter, known fully as Count Down to Polio Eradication in Nigeria, also reports, however, that a more portent vaccine, the bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV)), which was administered for the first time in Africa in Nigeria during the January National Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) would speed up the interruption of the polio viruses troubling Nigeria and neighbouring countries. It explains in its report that the bOPV “simultaneously targets type 1 and 3 polio viruses and is at least 30 percent more effective than the traditional trivalent polio vaccine, according to a clinical field trial conducted in India.” The success of the polio eradication exercise will be significant. It will mean the prevention of a life of disability and physical hardship in communities already facing countless threats to survival. Sudan’s army says rebels ambushed UN-AU peacekeepers A force of around 60 joint U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeepers was ambushed on Friday and held for 24 hours by unidentified armed men in Jabel Marra, which for years has been a rebel-controlled area. “They were attacked in Jabel Marra and rebels took from them 53 guns, seven cars and seven large artillery,” Sudan’s armed forces spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled told Reuters. “We are now completely in control of Jabel Marra,” he added. “There are some small groups of rebels here and there but we are in overall control.” The army had previously denied it was fighting with Darfur rebels in Jabel Marra, but on Monday Khaled said they had clashed there with “small criminal gangs blocking roads.” The Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) loyal to founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur denied the army was in control of the area they have claimed since the conflict began in early 2003. They also denied any involvement in the ambush. “This is the thousandth time (President Omar Hassan al)Bashir has claimed to have won the battle in Darfur and… this is totally untrue,” SLM commander Ibrahim el-Helu told Reuters from Paris, where Nur is based. Sudan’s army also questioned how UNAMID lost its vehicles, weapons, money and communications equipment without a fight. “How a 61-man force with 3 vehicles of soldiers — how could they hand over all these things without any battle or any exchange of fire? This contradicts totally with military logic,” the spokesman said. UNAMID were not immediately able to comment but have previously denied army accusations that they have supported Darfur rebels. Last month Khartoum signed a ceasefire agremeent with the most militarily powerful of Darfur’s divided rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement. But other rebel groups criticised the deal. The United Nations estimates some 300,000 people died in Darfur’s humanitarian crisis sparked by a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in 2003 to quell rebels demanding more of a share in wealth and power. More than 2 million were driven from their homes and the International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant for Bashir for war crimes in Sudan’s west. Nigeria urged to investigate religious violence JOS, Nigeria — The U.S. government and human rights activists called Tuesday for Nigeria to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the deaths of more than 200 unarmed people in renewed violence between Christians and Muslims. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had promised that the fighting would stop after more than 300 people were slain in January. Jonathan fired his national security adviser late Monday night following the weekend violence. “After the January killings, the villages should have been properly protected,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said. “Clearly, previous efforts to tackle the underlying causes have been inadequate, and in the meantime the wounds have festered and grown deeper.” Human Rights Watch also urged Jonathan to provide protection for those in the small villages surrounding Jos, a central Nigerian city that has become the fault line for religious violence in the region. Those who survived attacks Sunday in three mostly Christian villages said security forces never provided them any guards, even though Jos itself has remained under a dusk-til-dawn curfew since January’s fighting. “It’s time to draw a line in the sand,” Human Rights Watch researcher Corinne Dufka said in a statement Tuesday. “The authorities need to protect these communities, bring the perpetrators to book and address the root causes of violence.” Police say they have arrested more than 90 people suspected of inciting the violence. Some described it as a reprisal attack for Muslim deaths in January, while others said Fulani cattlemen wanted to take over land on the dusty plateau. The U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, issued a statement calling on Nigeria’s federal government to seek justice “under the rule of law and in a transparent manner,” the embassy said. The U.S. also asked the state government to “to ensure that all people and citizens in the Jos area feel that they are respected and protected.” Jonathan said security forces would lock down the borders of Plateau state to stop weapons and potential fighters from infiltrating the region. But on Monday, an Associated Press reporter passed through seven supposed checkpoints where searches should have been conducted and none were. Some posts were unmanned, while police and soldiers at others merely watched a line of cars pass by without stopping them. The killings Sunday add to the tally of thousands who have already perished in Africa’s most populous country in the last decade due to religious and political frictions. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people. Muslim-Christian battles killed up to 700 people in 2004. And more than 300 residents died during a similar uprising in 2008. Nigeria is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The recent bloodshed has been happening in central Nigeria, in towns which lie along the country’s religious fault line. It is Nigeria’s “middle belt,” where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands. UN /ONU :
Drugs to unleash health disaster in developing world: UN office behavioralhealthcentral.com/ Mar 09, 2010 Costa listed a number of warning signs including increasing use of drugs in areas such as East Africa, West Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, noting poor people have less access to treatment if addicted. “While rich addicts go to posh clinics, poor addicts are being pushed into the gutters or to jail,” Costa said at the annual meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, a policy-making body of the UN in drug control. UN: IOC and FIFA ‘Mega-Events’ Violate Housing Rights A U.N. Special Investigator finds mega-sporting events, particularly the Olympic Games and FIFA Football World Cup, often result in extensive violations of the right to adequate housing. The investigator, who has submitted her report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, is calling for the IOC and FIFA to minimize the abuse by carefully scrutinizing bids before awarding the Games. In the past, U.N. Special Investigator on Adequate Housing Raquel Rolnik says cities often seized on the Olympics as an opportunity to raise the local economy and upgrade their housing and transportation systems. She says this rarely happens now. In fact, she says she has received a great many complaints and allegations of violations of housing rights from residents of cities that have hosted mega-sporting events. “Particularly, on the practice of forced evictions and displacement, on criminalization of homeless persons and criminalization of informal activities, on the dismantling of informal settlements without adequate alternative provisions for adequate housing in the context of mega-events,” she said. Rolnik says she has received allegations about housing rights violations in the lead-up to the World Cup in South Africa this summer. She says the complaints allege that more than 20,000 residents from the Joe Slovo Informal settlements have been moved to impoverished areas on the edge of the city to make room for a modernized housing project. South African officials refute these charges. On a recent visit to Geneva, South Africa’s Minister of Internal Relations said not a single community has been forcibly removed from the so-called Gateway Housing Project in preparation for the World Cup. U.N. Special Investigator Rolnik says she has had constructive discussions with the IOC regarding housing problems. And, she says the IOC has agreed to incorporate housing concerns in their bidding process for the 2016 Olympics. She notes negotiations with FIFA have been far less successful. “It is [a] much less transparent and clear process of building and selecting as compared to the Olympic committee. So, I urge also FIFA to open up, to be more transparent and to open up the discussion on the impact of football games on this matter,” she said. As the two major sporting events in the world, Rolnik says the Olympic Games and the FIFA Football World Cup have the power to influence and set examples for other events. She says she sees the bidding and selection process, as a key moment to set standards for the protection of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing. HIV/AIDS: Curb mother-to-child transmission The revelation by the Executive Director of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Under Secretary General to the UN, Mr. Mitchel Sidibe, that 70,000 babies are born every year with HIV in Nigeria gives serious cause for concern. A total of 400,000 babies, according to Sidibe, are born with HIV in Africa, with 70 per cent of them unable to reach their first anniversary. This, by inference, means that 70 per cent of the 70,000 HIV-infected babies born yearly in Nigeria die before age one. This figure is alarming and unacceptable. The continent’s profile on children living with HIV/AIDS has been horrendous in the last three years with a dim hope of reversal. While UNICEF has said that of the 420,000 children newly infected in 2007, over 90 per cent are from Africa, another report revealed that around 390,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa were infected with HIV in 2008. Nigeria contributes a substantial part of the population of this region – one out of every four African is a Nigerian – and will naturally carry the largest chunk of the scourge. This trend may compromise the country’s future and has to be reversed forthwith. Without doubt, the unacceptable situation stems from the lack of political will on the part of the government and ignorance on the part of the mothers. While public hospitals, which are unfortunately located in the cities, insist on blood screening to determine the HIV status of pregnant women, many private hospitals have yet to fully embrace this important practice, thus making the nation’s intervention efforts ineffective. Besides, because the nation’s population structure is largely rural (70 per cent of Nigerians reside in the rural areas), most mothers still visit unregistered clinics or no clinics at all. Government’s attitude to the 2003 UNICEF’s comprehensive four-pronged strategy to prevent HIV among infants and children has been very uninspiring and is largely responsible for the poor record in the area of children born with HIV/AIDS virus. The comprehensive strategy includes delivery of primary intervention within services related to reproductive health such as antenatal care, postpartum/natal care and other health and HIV service delivery points. This includes working with community structures; provision of counselling and support to women living with HIV to empower them to take informed decisions about their future reproductive life and prevent unwanted pregnancies. It also includes counselling of pregnant women already infected on how to take care of themselves; preventing infection from being passed on to their babies; adopting best feeding option for the baby and integrating HIV care, treatment and support for women found to be positive and their families. Unfortunately, of the seven countries found to have provided Anti-Retroviral Drugs to more than 40 per cent of HIV-infected pregnant women in 2005, only Botswana made the list in sub-Saharan Africa, which a report says is “more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of the world.” Despite the attention the nation gets from international bodies on Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission, the scourge refuses to abate. The first High-Level Global Partners Forum on the prevention of Mother-to-child transmission “that culminated in the ‘call to action’ declaration for an HIV-free generation by eliminating HIV and AIDS in children was convened in Abuja in December 2005.” Nigeria was also among 13 of the 14 Inter-Agency Task Team joint technical country missions that UNICEF led to review strategies and plans in support of national scale up efforts of both PMTCT and Pediatric HIV care, treatment and support services between 2005 and September 2007. The time has come for all tiers of government to wake up and give the issue of children born with HIV its deserved attention, especially given the implications of the scourge for the nation. A report by AVERT, a United Kingdom-based international HIV and AIDS charity organisation, says, “Without intervention, there is a 20-45 per cent chance that an HIV-positive mother will pass infection on to her child.” The federal and state ministries of health need to come out with a blueprint on how to achieve an effective PMTCT. Mother-to-child transmission, according to experts, occurs during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding. There is an urgent need for massive campaign to sensitise the public in the cities and in the rural areas on health tips during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding, as well as the need for pregnant women to undergo HIV test(s) and go for treatment if they test positive. Mothers need to know that just as it is possible to be HIV positive and still live a normal life, it is also possible for an infected mother to give birth to an uninfected baby if the necessary precautions are taken. Jingles in local languages are needed to bring about an effective reach. Faith-based organisations and traditional rulers must be involved in winning this life-threatening scourge. All tiers of government should enjoin the Nigeria Medical Association and its branches across the nation to encourage private hospitals to subject pregnant women to HIV test(s) as part of their antenatal programme. The governments should also regularly monitor compliance. While the NMA must clamp down on unregistered clinics, mothers should stop patronising quacks. It is expectant also imperative for all tiers of government to wage a total war on MTCT prevalence as the economic and social burden on the nation is higher when a baby is born with HIV. For a nation that is still struggling with basic needs and development challenges, the best option is prevention. A nation that continues to expose its young ones to the HIV/AIDS scourge compromises its own future. USA :
Study Finds Racial Differences When It Comes to Getting Enough Sleep PLANO, TEXAS – In the dark of night Asians, African Americans, Hispanics and Whites all have something in common: We can’t sleep, but for different reasons. According to the National Sleep Foundations Sleep in America poll, Asians report getting the best sleep and use sleep aids the least. Blacks-African Americans have the highest rate of sleep apnea. Hispanics are most likely to be kept awake by financial and personal concerns while Whites have the highest rate of insomnia. Taylor Alexander has a lot on her plate, she’s a new mom, goes to school, works and said she can’t sleep. “That’s when I started feeling kind of groggy during the day, not being able to focus during work or during school. I started getting really bad headaches and it’s been a pain not getting enough sleep at night,” Said Taylor. Dr. Raj Kakar is the medical director at the Dallas Center for Sleep Disorders. He said the racial study enlightening. Generally we are a sleep deprived society, most of us are getting less sleep than we need and most studies have shown that the average adult needs about seven and a half to eight hours a night,” Said Dr. Kakar. The lack of sleep is causing a laundry list of health problems, everything from obesity and diabetes to anxiety and depression. While those conditions are color blind, Dr. Kakar says the study will add some hue to a patients sleep history. “I think it does help to some extent, it just lets us know that there may be certain factors that might be more of a concern in certain ethnic backgrounds,” Says DR. Kakar. Taylor said she gets about five or six hours of sleep a night and goes to bed at about ten and then tosses and turns until midnight. Like many Americans tonight, her day is far from over. “I guess your mind is full of stuff so you can’t really go to sleep at night,” Said Taylor. Somalia terror suspect Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed to be tried in New York By Matthew Clark Staff writer / www.csmonitor.com/ March 9, 2010 Somalia terror suspect Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed is set to become the latest alleged terrorist to be tried in New York. Mr. Ahmed, who was sent to New York on Saturday after being arrested in the West African country of Nigeria, is charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support to the militant Somali group, Al Shabab, which the State Department has listed as a terrorist group. He’s also charged with receiving and conspiring to receive military-type “jihad training” from Al Shabab, which has recently sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda. US prosecutors say Ahmed is believed to be a citizen of the tiny East African country of Eritrea, who lived in Sweden, and that he learned to make bombs in Somalia. Eritrea is the bitter enemy of Ethiopia, which occupied neighboring Somalia for more than a year after a US-backed Dec. 2007 invasion to wrest control of the country from militant Islamists. In an enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend calculation, Eritrea has for years supported Al Shabab, at least according to the US government and most independent Western analysts. During her trip to Africa in August, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the US would “take action” against Eritrea if it does not stop supporting Al Shabab’s efforts to overthrow the weak, Western-backed transitional government in Somalia. “It is long past time for Eritrea to cease and desist its support of Al Shabab and to start being a productive rather than a destabilizing neighbor,” she said. “We are making it very clear that their actions are unacceptable.” Mrs. Clinton also said then that if Al Shabab obtained a haven in Somalia “it would be a threat to the United States.” The group controls wide swaths of the Somalia. All of which could play a role in why Ahmed is being charged in New York. Africa is back – IMF chief â?This is not the time to rest on our laurels,â? he said in a speech in the Ke nyan capital Nairobi, a copy of hich was made available to PANA here. â?Africa remains highly vulnerable to economic dislocation from many different sources. Think about swings in commodity prices, natural disasters, or instability in neighboring countries. Think about the risk s that come from relying heavily on remittances, aid, and financial flows,â? Strauss-Kahn said as he assessed the impact of the globa l economic and financial crisis on Africa. While noting that the crisis had struck Africa through many different channels, he said that â?all across the continent, we can see signs of life, with rebounds in trade, export earnings, bank credit, and commerc ial activity.â? Strauss-Kahn said the IMF expected growth of around 4½ percent in Africa in 201 0, adding: â?In short, I think that Africa is backâ”although a lot depends on a global recovery that is in its early stages.â ? Since many African countries had undertaken good policies before the global econ omic crisis, he said this had helped to inoculate them against a more severe downturn — strengthening budget positions, reducing debt burdens, holding down inflation, and building comfortable reserve cushions. He noted that because debt positions had improved dramatically, many countries h ad been able to use the budget to counteract the crisis, including preserving social spending. At the same time, Strauss-Kahn emphasised that there was no room for complacency regarding Africaâ?s economic outlook. On Africaâ?s challenges, Strauss-Kahn said: â?The first place to start is with macroeconomic policies. A major lesson from the crisis is that countries that sowed in times of plenty were able reap in times of loss. â?Policy buffers must therefore be rebuilt, to allow for future countercyclical responses, with fiscal policy and with reserves. Social safety nets must be strengthened — this is the first line of defense against adverse s hocks. We should also beware that widening income inequality — across regions or segments of the populationâ”can aggravate tensi ons and make shocks more destabilizing.â? Strauss-Kahn also drew attention to the challenge of climate change. He called u pon the international community to marshal the resources needed to help developing countries, particularly low-income countries, address this issue — which he said could be â?the shock to end all shocks.â? He added that â?without action, Africa will suffer more from drought, flooding, food shortages, and diseaseâ”possibly provoking further instability and conflict.â? Strauss-Kahn said that while â?some may rightly argue that climate change is no t in the mandate of the IMF ⦠the amount of resources needed has clear macroeconomic implications — sustainable growth in developing countri es will require large-scale, long-term investments for climate change adaptation and mitigation.â? In this context, he said IMF staff are working on the idea of a â~Green Fundâ? with the capacity to raise US$100 billion a year by 2020. He said while the IMF did not intend to manage such a fund, it aimed to offer so mething that â?can make a significant contribution to the global debate and for consideration by the international community”. Now is the time to put new ideas on the table, he added, acknowledging that laun ching such a scheme would entail a major political effort but also saying the â?potential pay-off is enormous .. for Africa and the world.â? Strauss-Kahn is visiting Africa 7-11 March to discuss opportunities and challeng es facing African economies in the wake of the global crisis. More funds needed for HIV/AIDS, activists say CAPE TOWN — AIDS activists in Cape Town yesterday called on global leaders to step up funding for HIV treatment, saying failure to do so would cost lives and devastate economies in countries hard hit by the pandemic. SA has one of the world’s biggest AIDS epidemics, with 17% of the globe’s HIV patients. Although the government has allocated many more resources to HIV/AIDS projects than most African countries, it gets significant donor funding and would be hard hit by any decline. The activists’ call came ahead of a high-level meeting in London today on the Group of Eight ’s (G- 8’s) commitment to ensure universal access to treatment by the end of this year. The meeting will be chaired by UK Minister of State Gareth Thomas, and delegates will include representatives from the world’s biggest HIV/AIDS donors — the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the US Presidential Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief (Pepfar) , as well as G-8 members. The world was less than halfway to achieving universal access, AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa advocacy co- ordinator Paula Akugizibwe said. About 4-million HIV patients were getting AIDS drugs worldwide, but 10-million were not getting treatment , she said. Activists were worried that donors were shifting resources away from HIV/AIDS, she said. The issue was not on the agenda for the next G-8 meeting in May, and the US government recently said it would cut support to the Global Fund by 50m this year. More than a million HIV patients are getting treatment in SA in the public and private sectors, according to the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, but this represents less than half the patients in need. The government has set aside more than R22bn for HIV/AIDS programmes over the next three years, complemented by funds from Pepfar and the Global Fund. Pepfar had given SA 2,56bn by the end of last year, with another 6,8m promised for this year. SA has also received 184,4m from the Global Fund. kahnt@bdfm.co.za CANADA :
AIDS the leading cause of death among women–report Women all over the world had nothing to be proud of this International Women’s Day as far as the statistics of HIV virus and AIDS are concerned. According to the latest report ‘Women and Health: Today’s Evidence for Tomorrow’s Agenda’ released by the World Health Organization (WHO), HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of killer of women between the age group of 15 and 49 years. Out of the estimated 3.4 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS worldwide, 15.7 million are women. Around 22.4 million people in the Sub-Sahara Africa are suffering from HIV, and it is estimated that three-fifths of people with the virus in the region are women. Infection among women on the rise In a statement, Robin Gorna, executive director, International AIDS Society, stated, “We’re nearly three decades into the epidemic and we have the depressing news that AIDS is now the leading cause of death of women of reproductive age across the globe.” The health of women and girls is adversely affected by other social and economic factors as well, like lack of education, household wealth etc. As per the latest reported titled ‘No Action: No Progress,’ the women and girls in Canada are increasingly being deprived of human rights. Apart from the social and economic discrimination adversely effecting women, the lack of integrative care has also magnified their problems. Difficulties involved in integrative care for women Though these drugs have proved effective, their overall effects on women have yet not been researched. The reason is that doctors and pharmaceutical companies are concerned about the side effects these drugs may have on women, especially those who are pregnant. The side effects of these drugs could include severe deformities in children born to HIV-infected women. A drug called Thalidomide was sold in a number of countries across the world in 1960s and 70s. Since the medication proved effective against morning sickness, thousands of pregnant women took the drug to relieve their symptoms. But after it resulted in birth defects, and miscarriages, the medication, ‘one of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times’, was withdrawn from the markets all over the world. Poverty, environment, women’s health on activists’ agenda for G-8, G-20 Coalition says peaceful campaign will push world leaders for action on poverty, environment and women’s health Mar 9 2010/www.thestar.com/Laurie Monsebraaten Social Justice Reporter They aren’t the guys wearing black balaclavas. They are the dozens of international, national and local groups toiling in the trenches to improve mother and child health, protect the environment and end world poverty. And as Canada prepares to host the G-8 and G-20 leaders in Huntsville and downtown Toronto in June, they have launched “At the Table,” a global campaign to lever peaceful public pressure to make serious progress on these issues. Most of the activity will happen in the months leading up to the meetings before security tightens, and at a time when the groups feel they can have a real impact on the leaders’ discussions. “There will be demonstrations,” said Gerry Barr, chair of Make Poverty History, part of a national coalition of social justice and environmental groups backing the global campaign. “Many of those demonstrations will be family-friendly,” he said Monday during the campaign kickoff at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where the G-20 leaders will meet June 26 and 27. In the coming months, activists here and abroad are being encouraged to invite their public leaders to “At the Table” dinners in private homes and town squares to ensure the voices of the world’s poorest people are heard. In addition to a global day of action on June 16 to coincide with the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, local groups are staging a Mother’s Day card campaign, a concert at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall on May 13 and a People’s Summit at Ryerson University on June 16. They are still debating whether to plan anything for the days the leaders are in town when security will be tightest. In the wake of last week’s federal budget, which capped Canadian foreign aid at 2010 levels until 2014, local activists are focusing on Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “This is an extraordinary betrayal of our commitments which must be upheld,” said Stephen Lewis, Canada’s former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. “It’s absolutely imperative that we keep the pressure on.” AUSTRALIA :
NC2 To Launch Australian Operations NC2 Global, a joint venture between Caterpillar and Navistar International, has planned to launch Australian operations, with truck sales to begin mid-year. Headquartered in Illinois, USA, NC2 said that a 2010 business plan has been formalized embracing efficient markets, with initial focus on Australia, Brasil, and South Africa. According to NC2, it as taken steps to focus on Australian market that include establishing an Australian truck assembly facility in Tullamarine, Victoria, which will incorporate assembly, quality and safety systems, and will be located in a portion of an existing Caterpillar manufacturing facility; appointed Australian personnel, including three key positions in sales and marketing, and manufacturing and finance, that began work in-country on March 1. In addition, the company has put in place an Australian product and brand strategy, including medium, heavy and vocational vehicles; and it has also applied for membership in the Truck Industry Council (TIC). Al Saltiel, president of NC2, said: “Australia is a top priority market for us, and we are committed to taking full advantage of its strong potential. Next week at ITTS we will be announcing specific product plans and dealer arrangements that reflect our commitment to provide Australian customers world-class product and support.” EUROPE :
Sanctions against Zimbabwe may be helping Mugabe www.nrc.nl/9 March 2010 The sanctions against Zimbabwe are supposed to hurt the clique surrounding president Mugabe. They may be having the opposite effect.By Peter Vermaas in Harare The two were no fans of President Robert Mugabe – who was elected to Zimbabwe’s highest office exactly thirty years ago last week. Like almost everybody else here, they support opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who became prime minister in February last year as a member of a government of national unity. But the two unemployed Tsvangirai aficionados were anything but immune to Mugabe’s political propaganda. Like many of their compatriots throughout the country, they believe the European Union and the United States are leaving Zimbabwe little breathing room. “We want to trade internationally again,” Kwaramba said. “Then we will be able to get back to work.” Sanctions extended In the past few weeks the EU and the US announced they would be extending the sanctions against Zimbabwe by another year, because the governing parties there have made too little progress implementing the power-sharing agreement reached after the disputed elections of 2008. The Netherlands and the UK were most vocal in their support of the extension. Human rights, media restrictions and land reform have seen the least improvement. The prospective deputy minister Roy Bennett of Tsvangirai’s MDC party has yet to be inaugurated by Mugabe, and other ministerial appointments have also led to disagreements. “But Zimbabwe can trade as it pleases,” a European diplomat emphasised. The “restrictive measures,” as the sanctions are known officially, “only apply to a small clique of Mugabe loyalists. The man on the street is not hurt by them at all,” he added. The president, his family and a number of prominent members of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party are not allowed to travel to Europe and the US, and a small clique of entrepreneurs affiliated with Mugabe is not allowed to do business in the US. The trade embargo only applies to arms, but Mugabe has been able to portray the sanctions as the cause of all Zimbabwe’s problems in the public eye, especially in rural areas. When the International Monetary Fund refused to grant Zimbabwe, a country that owes billions in debt, any further loans, people were quick to blame the sanctions. A food shortage caused by a local drought and the collapse of the country’s agricultural sector? The sanctions at work. “Ironically enough, the sanctions have ended up serving Mugabe’s interests,” said David Coltart, minister of education on behalf of the opposition. “The president can blame the West for the economic crisis and all Zimbabwe’s other problems. In cabinet, he has used the sanctions as an excuse for the lack of progress with the implementation of the power-sharing agreement.” South Africa wants end to sanctions The sanctions have also led to “pointless irritations” within government ranks, said Hasu Patel, a political analyst and the former ambassador of Zimbabwe in Australia. “A very trivial matter is undermining personal relationships,” he said. He also argued the sanctions did little good for the EU and the US. “The European Union and the United States give Zimbabwe millions of dollars worth in humanitarian aid. But thanks to the sanctions they get no recognition whatsoever in return.” Last week , while meeting with prime minister Gordon Brown on a formal visit to England, the South-African president Jacob Zuma argued the sanctions against the Zanu leadership be lifted. What have sanctions done to help the situation?” Mr Zuma told the Financial Times in an interview. “Zanu-PF says [it is] in a cabinet of this unity government. But part of the cabinet can go anywhere in the world for their work and part [the Zanu PF members] can’t go out of the country. This unity government is being suffocated. It is not being allowed to do its job by the big countries.” Zuma’s argument was greeted with protest in London, but sources surrounding the negotiations in Harare said the South African president’s remarks, made so shortly after sanctions were extended, mostly served a strategic purpose. Zuma was only trying to get on Mugabe’s good side in an attempt to lure him back to the negotiating table with the opposition, they claimed. Mike Mataure, a former parliamentarian for Mugabe’s Zanu party, wondered if a “creative solution” could not be found to fix the problem. “I understand that revoking the sanctions so shortly after an extension would be a hard sell in Europe and America,” he laughed sitting in his Harare office. “But wouldn’t it be possible to suspend them for a few months? Or take a few names off the list? The West cannot do business with the MDC and Tsvangirai alone. This government will never work without Zanu,” he said. Weak sanctions yield little power Prime minister Tsvangirai has also implied he feels the sanctions should be lifted to allow negotiations over thorny issues to proceed more smoothly. “But control over the sanctions is the only weapon the MDC has at the negotiating table,” a European diplomat protested. “If you take that away, Mugabe will be back in full control again.” “In reality, these sanctions are actually very weak and of little consequence. So how much power does that really give us?” asked MDC minister Coltart. The travel embargo has irked the Zanu leadership the most. “But I wonder what will happen once Mugabe is allowed to fly to London again,” Coltart asked. “Will he gain influence? Of course not. I think his reputation will only suffer once his wife Grace can shop at Harrods as she pleases again.” CHINA :
China Sourcing Fair: Garments & Textiles to Launch in 3 Cities in 3 Months March 9, 2010//www.marketwatch.com HONG KONG, Mar 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Global Sources /quotes/comstock/15*!gsol/quotes/nls/gsol (GSOL 6.42, -0.09, -1.38%) is expanding its China Sourcing Fairs in 2010 with the launch of Garments & Textiles. The show is scheduled to be held in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Johannesburg, South Africa in October, November, and December, respectively. As perhaps one of the most dynamic launches ever for a new show, suppliers from Greater China will be meeting face-to-face with leading buyers in 3 major trading and sourcing hubs. The Hong Kong event will attract a global audience of importers. Singapore is the key trading center for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China’s fourth-largest export market, while Johannesburg is the primary gateway for China’s fast-growing trade with Africa. The Fairs aim to showcase finished products ranging from ready-to-wear garments such as casual, bridal, active, beach, lounge, and underwear, to fabrics, fibers, yarns, trimming materials and accessories. “These new shows build upon and complement our existing Garments & Textiles online marketplace, print and digital magazines, and Private Sourcing Events,” said Tommy Wong, President of Global Sources Exhibitions. “China’s textile and garment exports reached $15.5 billion in January 2010 alone, and as the global economic recovery takes hold, overseas demand for garments and textiles is expected to increase.” China Sourcing Fair: Garments & Textiles is scheduled for: — Hong Kong: Oct. 27-30, and thereafter every April and October at the AsiaWorld-Expo. (The event is to be co-located with China Sourcing Fairs: Fashion Accessories and Underwear & Swimwear.) — Singapore: Nov. 22-24, Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. — South Africa: Dec. 1-3, Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg. Chairman and CEO Merle A. Hinrichs said: “The aggressive expansion of our China Sourcing Fairs into new categories and new locations is a three-pronged strategy. First and foremost, because import buyers do not place large volume orders through online marketplaces, virtually all suppliers want the face-to-face opportunities at our shows — where they can negotiate with buyers and win orders. Second, the shows heavily leverage the buyer community and the promotional support of our other media. Lastly, with various initiatives underway to further integrate all of our media, the expanded show schedule will provide tremendous additional exposure and sales leads for the advertisers using our online and print media.” More information about the China Sourcing Fairs is available at: http://www.chinasourcingfair.com. About Global Sources Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China. The core business uses English-language media to facilitate trade from Greater China to the world. The other business segment utilizes Chinese-language media to enable companies to sell to, and within Greater China. The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 888,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in more than 240 countries. Global Sources offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. The company delivers information on nearly 4.5 million products and more than 253,000 suppliers annually through 14 online marketplaces, 13 monthly magazines, over 80 sourcing research reports, and 17 specialized trade shows that run 55 times a year across 10 cities. Suppliers receive more than 136 million sales leads annually from buyers through Global Sources Online (http://www.globalsources.com) alone. Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for 39 years. The company’s network covers more than 60 cities worldwide. In mainland China, Global Sources has about 2,500 team members in more than 40 locations, and a community of over 1 million registered online users and magazine readers for its Chinese-language media. SOURCE: Global Sources FirstRand Targets Nigeria, Other African Markets For Growth online.wsj.com/By Robb M. Stewart /MARCH 9, 2010 The Johannesburg-based banking concern, the only one of the country’s major lenders to show profit growth this earnings season, said Tuesday it is increasing staffing at its representative office in Nigeria and is investigating opportunities from industry reform currently underway. FirstRand said it is interested in all areas of the industry in Nigeria–where the central bank last year injected capital and forced out executives at struggling banks–including corporate, investment and retail banking, and insurance. Standard Bank Group Ltd. (SBK.JO), the continent’s largest lender by assets, has also said it would consider acquisition opportunities here. “Key markets that offer good prospects are Nigeria, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Angola,” FirstRand said in its first-half earnings statement. The company plans to leverage its relationship with China Construction Bank Corp. (0939.HK), which signed a cooperation pact with FirstRand in late July that covers advisory and deal structuring services to each others’ clients. “Given that China is South Africa’s largest trading partner, positioning the group’s franchises to capture the trade and investment flows with China is an important element for its African strategy,” said FirstRand, adding transactional flows with Chinese counterparts have increased since the deal was signed with CCB. FirstRand’s net profit rose 5% in the six months through December to 4.52 billion rand ($609.2 million) from ZAR4.31 billion a year earlier, helped in part by a series of interest-rate cuts in South Africa that provided some relief to consumers. The company said its banking arm’s profitability recovered with the reversal of bad debts from large retail lending books and losses from certain offshore trading portfolios that dented its results a year ago. Overall impairments decreased 13% in the latest six months to ZAR3.23 billion, for a credit loss ratio of 1.51% against 1.64% in the same period the year before. Standard Bank last week posted a 21% fall in net profit for 2009 as credit impairment charges increased 7% after more than doubling in 2008. Absa Group Ltd. (ASA.JO), South Africa’s biggest retail lender, last month said it expects an improvement in bad debts this year after impairments contributed to a 36% drop in its full-year profit. South Africa surfaced from its first recession in 17 years during the third quarter of 2009, following three consecutive quarterly contractions. FirstRand said modest economic growth is expected, which should benefit its banking franchises. It cautioned some risks remain in the corporate sector and while significant defaults are unlikely, business volumes overall will remain subdued. FirstRand declared an interim dividend of 34 cents a share, unchanged on last year. Company Web site: www.firstrand.co.za -By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 11 783 7848; robb.stewart@dowjones.com Yingli Green Energy Appoints SportsMark to Develop Sponsorship Program for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa The first Chinese company to seal a global sponsorship deal with FIFA, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (“Yingli Green Energy” or “Yingli”), which holds the brand Yingli Solar, appointed SportsMark Management Group, a global sports marketing, corporate hospitality, and event management company, to develop Yingli’s sponsorship activation platform and corporate hospitality program for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. Yingli Green Energy, a leading solar energy company and one of the world’s largest vertically integrated photovoltaic (“PV”) manufacturers, has become the first renewable energy company to sponsor the FIFA World Cup™. By establishing this alliance with FIFA, Yingli Green Energy is working to further its strategic worldwide sponsorship marketing initiatives, in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup™. SportsMark has been selected to provide Yingli Green Energy with strategic planning and program development services around their new FIFA World Cup™ sponsorship. The scope of services includes initial consultation and sponsorship program activation, recommendations for hospitality program structure and design, ticket management, FIFA commercial display programs and other event activations. SportsMark is also expected to provide all hospitality operations, ticketing management and event management services for Yingli during the FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa. Dr. Yaocheng Jason Liu, Vice President of Marketing for Yingli Green Energy, commented, “As one of the world’s leading solar companies, we are excited to be joining other world-class brands as an international sponsor of the FIFA World Cup™. This sponsorship links Yingli Green Energy to the world’s most popular and passionately followed sport. We needed an agency that understands the FIFA World Cup™ and has deep knowledge and relationships inside FIFA and MATCH, and SportsMark was that agency. We look forward to leveraging SportsMark’s expertise in the development of our global hospitality, ticketing, and event management programs.” “We are thrilled to be working with Yingli, and it is an honor to partner with the first China-based and the first renewable energy corporate sponsor of FIFA”, said Keith Bruce, President of SportsMark. “This assignment reinforces SportsMark’s growing global reputation in football sponsorship management and leading agency status in FIFA World Cup™ ticketing and hospitality. We look forward to working with Yingli and maximizing the impact of their sponsorship in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup™, as well as on- site in South Africa.” SportsMark adds this appointment to its growing global football business, including their current role as the exclusive agent of MATCH Hospitality in the USA for the sale of the Official Hospitality Programme of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, their role as the global event management agency for FIFA Partner Visa, the official global FIFA World Cup™ ticketing management agency for FIFA Partner Sony, and hospitality and event management services provider for US broadcaster Univision and Major League Soccer. About Yingli Green Energy About SportsMark INDIA :
Ford Launches Affordable Made-for-India Compact Ford Motor Co. launched its first made-for-India compact car Tuesday, as the U.S. automaker continues its push into fast-growing Asian markets. “Come heat, come dust, come monsoon rains or Delhi traffic, the Figo was born and bred for India,” said Michael Boneham, president and managing director of Ford India. As the global auto industry suffers, India has been enjoying an auto boom. An economic rebound, rising incomes and pent-up demand drove car sales to 1,370,659 vehicles from April to February, 25 percent more than during the same period the previous year. Ford has ramped up investment in China and India, but has been slow to adjust to the proclivities of Indian carbuyers, three quarters of whom buy super-small, super-affordable cars. The luxurious sedans Americans favor find little room on India’s teeming streets, and they’re priced stratospherically out of reach for a nation where the per capita income is about 43,750 rupees ($960). The Figo is different. Ford squeezed the car into a tiny frame — 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) by 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) — to ease its passage through the tide of bullock carts, angry taxis, handcarts, motorbikes and cows that clog city roads. And they used easy-to-replace components, like bumpers, to handle the unavoidable dents and dings. “The Figo team went to great lengths to ensure that key components are easily and affordably replaced,” Boneham said. The car also has extra durable lubricating and cooling systems, to deal with India’s extreme heat and torrential rains. But its most Indian feature of all is the price. Starting at 349,900 ($7,690), the Figo is within reach of “Sandeep,” Ford’s vision of its archetypal consumer — a 27-year-old man, recently married and ambitious, with an income of 300,000 to 400,000 rupees ($6,000 to $8000) a year. Sandeep may be budget conscious, but he’s not without aspirations. Higher-end Figos come with keyless entry and Bluetooth connectivity. Like other global auto majors, Ford also hopes to turn India into a small car export hub. Boneham said the Figo would first ship to South Africa. “We’ll be adding more markets as people across the region see how cool the Figo really is,” he said. India may end up spending more on AIDS Accompanying South Africa and Nigeria, India stands at the third spot on the podium of list of maximum AIDS patients standing at 2.5 million. The World Bank has recently said that the country may have to spend more out of its increasing healthcare budget to cure the AIDS patients. It is estimated that currently the Capital spends almost 5% of its total healthcare budget of $5.4 billion on treating AIDS patients. But with Mumbai, the financial capital of India and the northeast regions catching up fast World Bank has cautioned that the spending may go up to $1.8 billion or 7% of the total healthcare budget. The experts are of a view that 15% of the more than 200,000 injectible drug users (IDUs) are already HIV positive as against a global average of 10%. It is estimated that in some of the areas this percentage even cross the 50% level mark creating a situation of havoc in the healthcare ministry. The World Bank further said that 36% of the people living in the country with HIV virus normally face an income loss which makes their living even worse coupled with the higher expenditures on the treatment. Even sub-Sahara pips South Asia NEW DELHI: East Asia and the Pacific are pulling ahead of South Asia on most indicators of gender equality such as health, adult literacy and economic participation. The divergence has become so magnified that today South Asia ranks close to or lower than sub-Saharan Africa, at the bottom of the heap. This was revealed in UNDP’s Asia Pacific Human Development Report, released on Monday. South Asia’s lack of gender equality is a cause of great concern as the region accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s population and within the region India accounts for about 73% of the population. UNDP administrator Helen Clark while releasing the report warned: “High GDP does not automatically deliver human development. That can happen only from more deliberate public policy interventions. The boost to the economy that would result from greater participation of women should result in investment in those specific sectors that will benefit them for gender equality to become a reality.” The report argues that gender equality is also good economics as equal participation of women boosts a country’s GDP. According to the report, in countries such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia, conservative estimates show that GDP would increase by up to 2-4% annually if women employment rates were raised to 70% closer to the rate of many developed countries. In South Asia, the proportion of women in the labour force was just 36% in 2007, much lower than that of even sub-Saharan African at 60%. If you are looking for some comfort, there is one region that does worse on this count and that is the Middle East and North African region. About 67% East Asian women participate in the labour force, the best rate in the world and well above the global average of 53%. However, when it comes to equal pay, women in the entire Asia-Pacific region earn considerably less than men with the pay gap ranging from 54 to 90%. More than 41% of the children in South Asia were underweight compared to less than 27% in sub-Saharan Africa. And more women die in childbirth in South Asia, 500 per 100,000 live births than in any part of the world except sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia barely managed to crawl past sub-Saharan Africa in the last half decade in the ratio of female-to-male life expectancy. Before that, this ratio too was worse than even sub-Saharan Africa. Encouragingly, South Asia’s ratio of female-to-male primary enrolment (93.6) is comparable to the world average of 95. However, this ratio falls drastically by the level of tertiary education to just 71, far below the world average of 106. Over half the adult women (52%) in South Asia are illiterate — the world’s worst performance — while East Asian and Pacific adult women’s literacy rate, at about 90%, is well above the global average of 79%. East Asia reveals its feet of clay in birth gender disparity. In the region 119 boys are born for every 100 girls, one of the worst records in the world. China and India together account for nearly a 100 million missing women estimated to have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition access or neglect or because they were never born as girl fetuses are aborted. Despite significant economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region, women hold only a handful of legislative seats, fewer than anywhere else in the world except in the Arab region. Even high development level does not necessarily correlate with high political participation. For instance, in Japan and the Republic of Korea women comprise just 10% and 14% of national legislatures. EU navies to go on offensive against pirates The Somali pirates use “mother ships” — usually loaded with ammunition, fuel and food — that allow them to operate farther out to sea and attack vessels on heavily used shipping routes, such as the Gulf of Aden and Somali basin. Defense ministers from the European Union had to expand the objective of the EU-led Operation Atalanta, which now gives navies the authority to go after and “disrupt” these pirate supply ships, according to British Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force Somalia. “We’re taking the fight to the pirates,” Harbour said. “We know roughly where they’re operating from, and will position our resources to [capture] their mother ships.” Pirates often use the mother ship as a staging base while one or two smaller skiffs carry out attacks on transiting vessels. If officials feel they have enough evidence against the pirates, the pirates will be taken into custody and typically transferred to Kenya or the Seychelles for prosecution. If there is not enough evidence, the EU will destroy the mother ship and a skiff but leave the pirates a way to return to Somalia. “We mean to take them out of the game,” Harbour said. “We’ll disrupt their operations for a few weeks to a month, and even though they’re likely to return, at least for a month, that one group will not be available to attack.” The EU’s new, more aggressive plan makes sense, said Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa expert with the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House think tank in London. “I think that considered targeting of mother ships could be a very useful tactic,” Middleton said. “The attacks in the Indian Ocean are reliant on mother ships, so anything that targets these is likely to be more successful than trying to respond to individual attacks. Mother ships tend to stay in one area, from which multiple attacks can be launched, Middleton said. “Given the great difficulty of protecting shipping in the Indian Ocean, a strategy to target mother ships seems to be a sensible idea,” he said. Until this point, Operation Atalanta’s main mission has been to provide escorts to merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program and to ships of the African Union Mission in Somalia. The mission has expanded to include protecting vulnerable ships, such as slow-moving oil tankers, in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. This was a successful weekend for EU naval forces, which disrupted six would-be pirate attacks and detained 35 suspected pirates, all Somali citizens, Harbour said. Additionally, a French fishing trawler under attack collided with the assaulting pirate skiff, tipping the skiff. “The pirates were all swimming around and the people who they attacked picked them out of the sea and saved their lives,” Harbour said. The six suspected pirates now are on the fishing trawler. Naval forces are awaiting rulings from Kenya and the Seychelles to determine which countries will take in and prosecute the 41 men detained over the weekend, he said. Hiring Expectations In Global Labor Markets Improve: Manpower 3/9/2010/RTTNews (RTTNews) – Employers in most major labor markets intend to hire in the second quarter at a pace equal to or stronger than in the same period last year, results of the global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey published by the employment services provider Manpower showed Tuesday. The survey found that employers in 27 out of 36 countries and territories expect positive hiring activity in the second quarter. At the same time, employers in eight regions registered negative hiring expectations, but it was an improvement in comparison to the 18 countries and territories reporting negative outlooks a year ago. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is carried out quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or reduce the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. Job prospects in the Asia Pacific region remained strong, with the exception of Japan. Employers in India and Taiwan reported strongest hiring plans, while Japanese employers alone reported the region’s negative Net Employment Outlook. Hiring expectations are considerably stronger compared to a year ago in all other nations and territories in the region. Of the 18 countries surveyed in the Europe, Middle East and Africa or the EMEA region, hiring expectations were mixed with employers in 10 nations reporting positive hiring activity for the next quarter. Hiring activity in the region is expected to be strongest in Poland, South Africa, Norway and Sweden and weakest in Italy and Spain. In comparison to a year ago, hiring plans were stronger in 10 nations surveyed in the American region for which annual data is available. Regional hiring plans stood strongest in Brazil, Costa Rica and Peru. At the same time, hiring expectations of U.S. employers remained relatively stable from three months ago but were stronger than those reported in the second quarter of 2009. Jeffrey Joerres, Chairman and CEO of Manpower said, “U.S. employers are still hesitant to hire for permanent positions, but for five consecutive months we have seen positive signals in temporary staffing data and that’s a good sign that demand is slowly picking up.” Earlier this month, a survey by Monster Worldwide showed that the employment index for the U.S., which is a monthly gauge of the online job demand in the nation, rose to 124 in February from 114 in the previous month. Online job availability increased in 15 of the index’s 20 industrial sectors and in 19 of the 23 occupational categories monitored. by RTT Staff Writer BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 09 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,09/03/2010 |
BURUNDI – AFRICA / INTERNATIONAL : 09 MARS 2010 [Nigeria urged to investigate religious violence]
