LBN News Digest: MTN Says Sabotage, Attacks Hampering …
May 17th, 2012Nigeria Fines Emirati Telecom for Poor PerformanceNew York TimesDUBAI — Etisalat Nigeria, part-owned by the Emirati telecommunications giant Etisalat, was fined around $2 million by Nigerian regulators this week for poor service and failure to meet quality targets. The company says it plans to spend more than $500 …
MTN Says Sabotage, Attacks Hampering Nigerian ServicesBusinessWeekThe company only pays fees and operating taxes to the NCC. Nigeria needs to have one consistent set of taxes and regulations that it enforces, Goschen said. MTN is investing $1.4 billion in Nigeriathis year to improve infrastructure and capacity.
Doctor firings expose medical failings in NigeriaBusinessWeek… so the state hospitals represent a crucial safety net for the poor in a nation where the political andbusiness elite routinely fly out of the country for care. In the 1960s here, even in the 1970s, the golden days of Nigeria, people came from …
Scomi Group sells Nigerian operations for RM123.9mMalaysia StarScomi Group said on Thursday it had entered into a conditional share sale agreement with AOS Orwell Ltd to dispose of the stakes in the two companies which are involved in the machine shopbusiness in Nigeria. “The proposed disposal is to enable Scomi …
Shell Begins Repair Of Nembe Creek Trunkline In Niger DeltaFox BusinessIBADAN, Nigeria -(Dow Jones)- The Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd., or SPDC, said Wednesday it has begun repairing the Nembe Creek Trunkline after shutting it down on May 2 because of alleged crude thefts. The shutdown of the pipeline in …
Lee Ropiak Announces New Business Partners in Africa for Infinity Medical …Houston ChronicleNigeria is no longer an empty field for medical diagnostic imaging. Competition has arrived. There,business is built on trust and trust is built on good communication and service. As the proverb “Through people to people” proves, it is references and …
Nigeria, France seal $200m power dealThe Nation NewspaperHe said the Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, and the Chief Executive Officer of the TransmissionCompany of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Sola Akinniranye, executed the MoU with the executives of the French companies, Mr Jean Paul Mairesse of the Electricite …
How to enter Nigeria’s booming consumer marketAfrican Business ReviewNigeria ranks 133 from 183 in the ease of doing business index. This is a result of different factors like electricity, contracts, permits and tax issues. Also corruption has to be understood before entering the market. The most important aspect while …
Industrialisation holds key to unlocking Nigeria’s wealth AgangaBusinessDay… the Ministry of Trade and Investment had started brainstorming with the Organised Private Sector and the Ministry of Power to reduce the cost of doing business inNigeria and ultimately increase the productivity of the manufacturing sector.
Nigerian Case Study Wins 2012 Emerald/AABS Case Study CompetitionBusinessDayA case study about popular Nigerian entrepreneur Nike Davies Okundaye has won the first prize for the 2012 Emerald and Association of African Business Schools (AABS) Case Study Competition. The announcement was made today at the AABS annual meeting …
Two Nigerian Oil Firms Take Over Shell In KenyaLeadership NewspapersTwo Nigerian oil and gas firms Helios Investment Partners and Vitol Holding BV are set to buy over Royal Dutch Shell Plc business in Kenya. This deal is expected to bring about Kenya Shell petroleum trading business changing ownership in the next three …
NCC Slams MTN, Etisalat, Airtel, Glo With N1.17 Billion Penalty Over PoorÂ…AllAfrica.comBy Prince Osuagwu, 12 May 2012 The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, yesterday, slammed four major Nigerian telecommunications operators, MTN Nigeria, Etisalat, Airtel and Globacom with a cumulative fine of about One billion, one hundred and …
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Nema warns city council over piliing garbage | All Kenya News
May 17th, 2012Nema warns city council over piliing garbage | All Kenya News
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The National Environment Management Authority has put the City Council of Nairobi on notice over uncollected garbage. Nairobi county NEMA boss Titus Simiyu said the council was exposing Nairobi residents to environmental hazards by failing to perform its duties. “It is unfortunate to see heaps of uncollected and dumping of solid waste in several undesignated sites in the city and its environs. We have already notified the council a…Read the Full Article
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Mugabe must rule forever | All Kenya News
May 17th, 2012HARARE, October 17 – The women’s league of President Robert Mugabe’s party want him to run in the next election and rule the country forever, state media reported on Sunday.
“We endorse your candidature. We are saying stand in the next election and rule forever,” Oppah Muchinguri, the secretary of ZANU PF Women’s League was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mail.
“Your work cannot be compared to that of anyone else. Do not leave us.”
Muchinguri was speaking at the league’s annual assembly which was Mugabe attended on Saturday.
The 86-year-old, who has ruled the southern African country since independence in 1980, currently shares power with his former rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai following a political deal signed in 2008.
Last week, Mugabe said Zimbabwe’s unity government should dissolve within months and called for elections next year despite stalled efforts at political reform.
“We do not want to pass June (2ዋ) without elections. We want acceleration of pace,â Mugabe told the women.
No election date has been set yet but both Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s parties say they are ready for the ballot.
The unity government has faced crippling tension over the allocation of key positions since its creation in 2009.
Last week, Mugabe stirred fresh conflit within the power-sharing government when he appointed ambassadors to the United Nations, the European Union and South Africa without consulting Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai has asked the UN and the EU not to recognise the ambassadors named solely by Mugabe.
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Bring your favourite restaurant home
May 17th, 2012
Photo/FILE
Restaurants can be a great source of inspiration when planning your dining area; think about your favourite restaurant and what it is you like about it. Â
By LIZ NJENGA liznjenga108@gmail.com
Posted
Wednesday, May 16
2012 at
07ᛝ
It happens all the time — you have laid out the dinner table then, after your guests have served themselves, they scatter all over the house.
You can tell they don’t intend to settle at the dining table if they serve themselves while standing.
Some stroll back to the lounge, others into the kitchen, while others go outside. Rarely, will you find diners sticking to this dedicated area. Ever wondered why?
It is the atmosphere; create an atmosphere of fun and relaxation in the dining room and you just might keep your guests in there.
Restaurants can be a great source of inspiration when planning your dining area; think about your favourite restaurant and what it is you like about it — you will agree that the ambience is one of the things that keeps pulling you there, besides the food of course.
Think of how the decorative lighting works well both during the day and during the night.
For a perfect experience in your own dining room, consider the sensual pleasures of dining and seek to enhance your interior style to enhance the same.
Work to evoke all the body senses — sight, sound, touch, taste and smell — and make your dining room the magnet that brings the family (and the guests) together.
Presentation is everything. The colours on your wall, lighting, place mats, table linens and cutlery all stimulate the sight sense.
Nineteenth century table coverings are making a comeback, and should not be confined to restaurants only.
You too can use them in your favourite selected colours. Ensure you get a high quality fabric to go with your freshly laundered napkins, which should be neatly ironed without stains.
Select curtains that will look good on your windows when they are drawn or even closed. They will give a sense of privacy to the room as well as add some warmth to the dining experience.
They are also an easy way of adding texture and colour to your dining room. Cushions on the dining chairs to match the curtains will also create interest (anchor the cushions on the chairs to ensure they don’t keep falling off).
The addition of music in your dining room can give your dining room a suitable atmosphere and mood.
Background music will help fill the silence gaps as you eat or even the embarrassing noises people make with their mouths as they eat.
But remember, music that is too loud may become an interruption and can make conversation impossible.
Original post: Bring your favourite restaurant home
Judge pulls out of Ahmednasir case
May 17th, 2012
Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi. Photo/FILE
By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted
Tuesday, May 15
2012 at
22:30
A judge on Tuesday disqualified himself from hearing a ShȆ.2 million dispute between a bank and lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi.
Mr Justice Daniel Musinga said he could not hear the case because Mr Brian Yongo, — who has filed a complaint with the Law Society of Kenya against Mr Abdullahi (right) — had also named him adversely before the judges vetting board.
He referred the case to Mr Justice Alfred Mabeya.
“After brief consultation with counsel in chambers, it is hereby agreed that this matter be mentioned on June 20, 2012. I also recuse myself from hearing this case any further because Mr Brian Yongo, who has made a complaint against the plaintiff herein, has also made an unrelated complaint against me to the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board,” the judge wrote in a brief ruling, which the Nation exclusively saw, adding:
“It would therefore be improper to hear this case.”
Earlier, the National Bank of Kenya, through lawyer Ochieng Oduol, had asked the court to suspend the case until Mr Abdullahi is cleared of claims that he forged his pupilage certificate.
Mr Abdullahi, who is a member of the Judicial Service Commission, is a partner at Ahmednasir, Abdikadir and Company Advocates.
The law firm is pursuing Sh38,279,118 in legal fees from NBK. The case has been in court since 2004.
Mr Yongo, a businessman, has lodged a complaint with LSK, claiming that Mr Abdullahi was not qualified to practise as an advocate.
And yesterday, the bank asked Justice Musinga to adjourn the case, citing the allegations.
An adjournment would enable the bank to obtain documents from LSK regarding the complaints about Mr Abdullahi’s qualification, Mr Oduol submitted.
However, Mr Abdullahi’s lawyer, Mr Waweru Gatonye, protested that the said letter, which was copied to him, did not refer to any request for documents from LSK. He opposed the adjournment, arguing that complaints against law firms were normal and the same could not be used as an excuse to adjourn court proceedings.
According to Mr Oduol, if the allegations that Mr Abdullahi was not a qualified lawyer were proved, it would impact on the “substratum” of the legal fees case.
The matter was to proceed to full hearing on Tuesday.
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Mbeki heading to Khartoum to push talks | All Kenya News
May 17th, 2012KHARTOUM, May 17 – African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki was expected in the Sudanese capital Thursday night to help push Sudan and South Sudan back to talks, which were suspended after border fighting last month.
The two countries did not comply with a United Nations Security Council demand that they resume the talks by Wednesday, but Mbeki and other diplomats are nonetheless trying to get negotiations restarted.
“President Mbeki will arrive this evening in Khartoum, foreign ministry spokesman Al-Obeid Meruh told AFP.
The former South African president would meet over two days with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir and other officials, Meruh added.
Mbeki is also expected to visit the South Sudanese capital Juba.
“He is encouraging both sides to put proposals on the table on the key issues that have divided the countries,” the US government’s top diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, said on Wednesday.
“While there has not been a full resumption of discussions between the two sides, things are being done,” Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told Africa-based reporters in a telephone news conference.
“We want them to be done much faster, and with greater alacrity and commitment.”
The Security Council on May 2 gave Sudan and South Sudan two weeks to unconditionally resume negotiations. It threatened sanctions if its demands are ignored.
Following months of AU-led talks, Sudan withdrew from the process after South Sudanese troops occupied the north’s main oil region of Heglig on April 10.
The 10-day seizure coincided with Sudanese air raids on South Sudanese territory, leading to fears of wider war.
The UN resolution called for a halt to the fighting and a resumption of talks to settle “critical” issues left unresolved after the South’s separation in July last year following a 쌿-2005 civil war.
These include oil payments, the status of each country’s citizens resident in the other, the status of the contested Abyei region, and resolution of disputed and “claimed” border areas as well as demarcation of the frontier.
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Russia delivers three astronauts to ISS
May 17th, 2012View from the balcony of the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia © AFP/NASA Bill IngallsMOSCOW, May 17 – A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and an American on Thursday successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), two days after their launch from Earth, officials said.
The Soyuz TMA-04M capsule with Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba on board automatically docked with the ISS at 0436 GMT, Russian mission control said.
The trio blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday morning in Russia’s first manned space launch for almost five months after their start date was put back due to technical problems.
On board the ISS, the three newcomers will join Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers who have already been on the station almost five months since their December launch.
The hatches are expected to be opened at around 0800 GMT and the three newcomers will then enter the ISS itself and be given the traditional welcome by the incumbent crew.
Their mission has been cut down to an unusually short 126 days due to the launch delay but is expected to be intense, taking in dozens of experiments and the expected arrival of the first private cargo vessel at the ISS.
Private firm SpaceX is seeking to launch its Dragon spacecraft carrying cargo for the ISS on May 19 from Cape Canaveral, Florida in what the company hopes will be the first step towards an eventual private manned mission.
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Mladic instigated ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, UN court told
May 17th, 2012Posted by AFP on May 17, 2012
A screen grab released by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) shows former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic sitting in the courtroom at The Hague. © AFP/ICTYTHE HAGUE, May 17 â Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic went on trial accused of carrying out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.
Mladic’s trial opened at the Yugoslav war crimes court in The Hague, also watched in a live broadcast in Sarajevo by widows and other relatives of victims of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica where almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were allegedly murdered by Mladic’s forces.
“Ratko Mladic assumed the mantle of the criminal goal of ethnically cleansing Bosnia,” prosecutor Dermot Groome told International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Now 70, Mladic has been indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Balkan country’s brutal 1992-95 war that killed 100,000 people and left 2.2 million homeless.
“The prosecution will present evidence that will show without reasonable doubt the hand of Mr Mladic in each of these crimes,” Groome said.
Mladic, dressed in a dark grey suit and patterned tie, sarcastically applauded judges as they entered the courtroom, but was not asked to speak during the hearing.
Before the television cameras started rolling, Mladic made a âthroat-slitting” towards the public gallery where victims’ relatives were seated, said one widow of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
“At one moment, Mladic looked towards the public. I think he has recognized us, the women of Srebrenica, and then made a gesture moving his hand over the throat, meaning ‘I will slit your throat’,” Munira Subasic told AFP.
Subasic heads the “Mothers of Srebrenica” organisation representing widows and victims of the Srebrenica massacre when 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Mladic’s troops in July 1995.
Nerma Jelacic, the UN tribunal’s spokeswoman, told Serbian state agency merely that “there has been a communication between the defendant and people at the gallery.”
The former Bosnian Serb commander had pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court hearing last June. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.
In his opening address, the prosecutor displayed population maps showing the ethnic distribution in Bosnia before and after the war, explaining how mixed or predominantly Muslim municipalities became exclusively Serbian after a campaign of ethnic cleansing he said was one of Mladic’s “strategic objectives”.
Groome said the very first objective had been to “separate the Serbs from the other two national communities” — Bosnians and Croats.
“Thousands of families were forced from their land, Groome added, as he told the court how groups of non-Serbs were executed and others forced to jump from a bridge by soldiers under Mladicâs command.
Presiding judge Alphons Orie warned both Mladic and people sitting in the public gallery not to make eye contact during the trial when several comments including the word “vulture” were uttered.
Prosecutors also hold Mladic responsible for the 44-month siege of Sarajevo where his forces waged a “terror campaign” of sniping and shelling that left an estimated 10,000 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians.
“Sarajevo was a model of diversity, a cosmopolitan city,” said Groome.
“They (Bosnian Serb leaders) sought to destroy it, to sever the city in half, with the Serbs living in one part and the non-Serbs in another part.”
It was in pursuit of a âGreater Serbia” that Mladic allegedly also ordered his troops to “cleanse” other Bosnian towns, driving out Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs.
After the war, Mladic continued his military career but went into hiding in 2000 after the fall of his ally in Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic.
Indicted for war crimes, he was on the run until May 2011 when he was arrested at a relative’s house in Lazarevo, northeastern Serbia and flown to a prison in The Hague several days later.
Two days ahead of the trial, his lawyers filed a request for a six-month adjournment, saying they needed more time to prepare a defence.
The judge said Wednesday the court was still considering whether to postpone the case, on the grounds that the prosecution made a “significant error” which could affect the course of the trial.
During a string of pre-trial hearings, the former general complained of his poor health and asked Orie if he could wear his military uniform.
Defence lawyer Branko Lukic said Mladic suffered three strokes in 1996, 2008 and 2011 and was partly paralysed on his right side.
Mladic however appeared in better shape than at his first appearance last June when he told the court he was a “sick man”.
Lukic told journalists Wednesday that Mladic had had extensive medical and dental surgery since his capture, saying “he lost a lot of teeth” during his years as a fugitive.
At the end of the first day’s hearing, Lukic said “the prosecution has to tell the story and the story is of course very ugly… Our task is to show what they say is not true.”
The trial was due to continue on Thursday, before resuming on May ǽ.
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War crimes court adjourns Mladic trial over ‘irregularities’
May 17th, 2012Posted by AFP on May 17, 2012
THE HAGUE, May 17 – The Yugoslav war crimes court on Thursday adjourned the trial of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, just a day after it opened, because of “irregularities” by prosecutors.
âThe hearing is adjourned sine die,” presiding judge Alphons Orie said. “(The court) has decided to suspend the start of the presentation of the prosecution evidence.”
Orie said there were “irregularitiesâ in the transfer of prosecution documents to the defence to enable it to prepare for the trial which opened in The Hague on Wednesday.
Mladic, the so-called “Butcher of Bosnia” is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the 1992-19ȿ war in Bosnia and in particular the Srebrenica massace, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II.
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Bulgaria extends smoking ban to cafes, stadiums
May 17th, 2012Posted by AFP on May 17, 2012
Cigarette butt/FILESOFIA, May 17 – Lawmakers in Bulgaria approved on Thursday last-minute changes to the country’s health bill to ban smoking in stadiums and all enclosed public spaces such as cafes and restaurants as of June 1.
The small Balkan country, home to Europe’s second-heaviest smokers after Greece, had already banned smoking in all government buildings, public transport, trains, cinemas, schools and kindergartens in 2005.
The new changes approved Thursday would extend the ban to all enclosed public spaces including bars, cafes and restaurants. Up to now these establishments were allowed to have separate smoking and non-smoking sections and smaller places could choose to be either.
Smoking was also banned near childrenâs playgrounds as well as in all school and kindergarten courtyards.
At the same time lawmakers failed to back a smoking ban at bus stops and public gardens.
âSmoking at bus stops and in parks is OK but at stadiums it must be banned…. There you do not have any room for manoeuvre to avoid the smoke,” Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told private bTV in an interview Sunday.
The new changes will take effect on June 1 but they have already caused an uproar among bar owners and smokers, who staged a protest Sunday calling for âa more balanced approach.”
The media has also questioned the health inspectors’ ability to enforce the ban, especially at football games.
“Smoking wonât be rooted out in Bulgaria. Well just go underground and have fun breaking the law,” hospital intensive care chief Milan Milanov, an avid smoker, told the Presa newspaper last week.
“If we ban tobacco, let’s also ban aubergines — they contain nicotine too,” left-wing lawmaker Lyuben Kornezov objected in parliament Thursday, adding that 18,000 jobs will be lost due to the new ban.
According to health ministry data, about 44 percent of Bulgaria’s total population of 7.4 million are regular smokers.
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