‘Africa’ Articles
Written by admin on 12 December 2012
Cairo, Dec 12 (IANS) Egypt will not run the referendum on its draft constitution in two rounds scheduled for Dec 15, the Al Jazeera TV reported Wednesday.
The announcement from the higher commission for elections comes after some newspapers reported that President Mohamed Morsi Tuesday issued a decree that it will be held in two stages on Dec 15 and Dec 22.
Egyptian expatriates Wednesday started casting their votes for the constitutional referendum in an electoral process set to end Saturday.
Egyptians at home are to take part in the referendum Saturday despite the opposition’s call for a nationwide protest, urging to postpone it until a consensus is reached.
Morsi has and called on the civilians to help maintain security for the referendum.
Tags: Cairo,, Egypt
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Written by admin on 10 December 2012
Pretoria, Dec 10 (IANS) South African icon Nelson Mandela, now admitted to a hospital here, is doing well, said President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma visited Mandela, also a former president, at the Pretoria hospital, the official news agency SAnews.gov.za said.
“We continue to appeal to the media and the public to respect the privacy of Madiba and his family,” said the presidency, using a term with which he is popularly known.
According to the presidency, Mandela was admitted for medical tests.
“Mandela will receive medical attention from time to time, which is consistent with his age. Madiba is doing well and there is no cause for alarm,” an official statement said.
“We wish Madiba all the best. The medical team is assured of our support as they look after and ensure the comfort of our beloved founding president of a free and democratic South Africa,” said Zuma.
Tags: Pretoria, South Africa
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Written by admin on 10 December 2012
Cairo, Dec 10 (IANS/EFE) The number of tourists visiting Egypt recently has fallen markedly due to the political instability in the country and the repeated protests in different provinces, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement released Sunday.
Ibrahim lamented the decline in tourism on a trip he made Sunday to the National Museum in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria, which recently has been receiving no more than 50 visitors per day.
The minister said that some 2,000 people Saturday attended the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, located on central Tahrir Square, which currently is the site where tens of thousands of demonstrators are camped out and where they organize daily protests opposing the government.
In addition, 23,557 tourists last week visited the pyramids at Giza and another 340 went to the ruined temples at Abu Simbel, in southern Egypt, far below the number of tourists who in past years have been to those sites at this time of year, the minister said.
Egypt has been experiencing a period of political and social turmoil since Nov 22 when President Mohammed Mursi issued a controversial decree protecting the work of the constituent assembly drafting the new constitution from judicial interference, thereby immunizing his actions from any legal challenge.
Opposition members have also criticized the holding of a constitutional referendum, scheduled for Dec 15, since they feel that the new constitution is being drafted without the input or consent of all groups.
–IANS/EFE
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Tags: Egypt
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Written by admin on 09 December 2012
Cairo, Dec 9 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has agreed to delay the referendum on a new draft constitution and make amendments to his constitutional declaration, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said Saturday.
“President Morsi and the country’s political forces are discussing legal ways to delay the referendum. The president does not object to a postponement of the vote,” Qandil said.
Morsi is meeting with leaders of several opposition political parties in his residence. The sides are discussing ways out of the current political crisis in the country as part of a national dialogue the president called for Thursday.
“The country’s political forces and the president, who gathered on Saturday to hold a national dialog, have agreed to establish a commission to amend the constitutional declaration,” Qandil said.
Morsi’s Nov 22 constitutional declaration expanded his executive authority by barring the courts from challenging his decisions.
The country’s highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, earlier called Morsi’s move “an unprecedented attack on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings”.
Opposition groups have been rallying against the constitutional declaration and Morsi’s decision to hold a nationwide referendum on the new Constitution Dec 15, which they described as too hasty.
The postponement of the referendum is one of the Egyptian opposition’s key demands.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: Egypt
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Written by admin on 08 December 2012
Johannesburg, Dec 8 (IANS) Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital in Pretoria “to undergo tests”.
Mandela will undergo routine medical check as he has always done so in the past, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
Mandela turned 94 on July 18, Xinhua reported.
Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years during the apartheid, was elected the country’s first black president in 1994.
Tags: Johannesburg, South Africa
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Written by admin on 08 December 2012
Abu Dhabi, Dec 8 (IANS/WAM) The Indian economy, which is “stuttering”, needs to be shored up, and development is the prudent way forward even as the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “has lived to fight another day”, a leading UAE daily has said.
The vote in the Lok Sabha ensured that the decks were cleared for Manmohan Singh to introduce foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector and thereby show the people that the government was firm on reforms, The Gulf News said in an editorial.
“In truth, however, despite (Manmohan) Singh’s best intentions, he is eight years too late”, the paper said.
It said the reforms have largely been seen as a “desperate gamble” by the government to secure the voters’ trust after having failed on numerous counts, “including honesty and good governance”, ahead of the 2014 general elections.
Its effects, therefore, will only be short term if at all, it said.
“The government must also desist from setting bad precedents such as putting executive decisions to vote in parliament”, the paper said.
Even though it (Indian government) has triumphed this time, allegations of horse-trading have mauled its credibility.
The goal now should be for the government to do everything it can to take prompt decisions. Time should not be spent debating in parliament, if it is allowed to convene at all, thanks to an obstructionist opposition, the paper added. Meanwhile, the opposition must gather its wits and focus on the bigger picture. Its ideologies have wavered thanks to the focus on government bashing, it said.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Togo
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Written by admin on 08 December 2012
Cairo, Dec 8 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Egypt’s National Salvation Front, a coalition of the country’s largest liberal-democratic parties and movements, has officially rejected talks proposed by President Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi addressed Egyptians Thursday urging a national dialogue between all political forces, but the opposition said the president had not offered enough concessions.
Instead, Morsi’s opponents said they would take to the capital’s streets to protest the president’s recently expanded powers, Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya reported.
Two other opposition groups said they would also boycott the talks, BBC reported citing state media.
Morsi’s Nov 22 constitutional declaration expanded his executive authority by barring the courts from challenging his decisions. Egypt’s highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, earlier called Morsi’s move “an unprecedented attack on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings”.
Opposition groups have been rallying against the constitutional declaration and Morsi’s decision to hold a nationwide referendum on the new Constitution Dec 15, which they described as too hasty.
Earlier this week, violent clashes between Morsi’s supporters and opponents left five people dead and hundreds injured.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: Egypt
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Written by admin on 07 December 2012
Nairobi, Dec 7 (IANS) Kenya will bid to host the 2019 Africa Nations Cup with the country eyeing the 2015 Africa Under-17 football championships as the event to showcase the nation’s capability of staging a world class tournament.
This was disclosed by Sports Minister, Ababu Namwamba, when he hosted his first round table discussions among various stakeholders in the country’s sporting fraternity here Thursday, reports Xinhua.
“I had the opportunity of meeting CAF President Issa Hayatou during the CECAFA Tusker Challenge Cup in Uganda and we declared our interest to host the 2019 edition since Morocco and Libya have already secured the rights to stage the 2015 and 2017 editions.”
“We suggested hosting the 2015 Africa under 17 championships as a means of preparing for the senior event,” Namwamba disclosed during the discussions.
The minister also unveiled plans for the country to host English Premier League teams during the off-season beginning next year in conjunction with Openside Sports Limited, a British company who are laying out the ground work to organise a tournament featuring local sides against their visitors.
“Teams like Arsenal and Manchester United have visited African countries in the past and we want to invite them here to showcase our ability to accommodate top teams.”
“It is my wish that our country will be able to welcome these teams so that we can promote sports tourism as well as raise the standards of our game,” Namwamba added.
Tags: Kenya, Nairobi
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Written by admin on 07 December 2012
Abu Dhabi, Dec 7 (IANS/WAM) UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has set a new Guinness World Record with the largest identity card, which is 20 times the size of the actual National ID card in the country.
The card — with Sheikh Khalifa’s name and picture — is 1.4 metres long and 0.86 metres wide. Guinness said the UAE currently holds 110 world records.
Regional director of Guinness World Records, Talal Omar, said the largest ID card was an identical copy of the original National ID card which meets all the standards required to set a world record.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Togo
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Written by admin on 06 December 2012
Abu Dhabi, Dec 6 (IANS/WAM) Temporary contractual Indian workers in the UAE have a remarkable impact on the living conditions of their families back home in India, says a report by a US organisation.
The study was conducted by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) in the US.
A seminar was held at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in collaboration with the ministry of labour and the CGD.
The seminar discussed the findings of the study which aimed to measure the developmental impact of Indian workers in the UAE.
The Indian community in the UAE, numbering around 1.75 million, constitutes 30 percent of the total population of the country. It is the largest expatriate community in the UAE. However, only 15-20 percent of the Indian community is made up of professionally qualified personnel, while 65 percent are employed in construction, municipalities and agricultural farms, according to the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Togo
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Written by admin on 06 December 2012
Abu Dhabi, Dec 6 (IANS/WAM) Top officials of the UAE and Britain have held discussions on ways to enhance ties between the two countries.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met British National Security Adviser Nigel Kim Darroch, who is currently on a visit to the country.
Mohammed Mahmoud Al Khaja, director of the UAE foreign minister’s office, and British Ambassador to the UAE Dominic Jermey were also part of the meeting.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Togo
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Written by admin on 06 December 2012
Abu Dhabi, Dec 6 (IANS/WAM) The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), since its establishment four decades ago, has provided loans and grants for 323 development projects in 58 developing countries at a total value of 29 billion dirhams.
Loans and assistance offered by the ADFD and the government of Abu Dhabi throughout 2012 stood at 393 million dirhams.
The ADFD was established in 1971 as a leading national entity to provide development aid to developing countries in the form of concessionary loans and grants on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government.
The ADFD encourages the private sector in recipient countries to play an essential role in accelerating the economic development process.
The fund has given special importance to the development of infrastructure, agriculture, industry, transportation, water and electricity.
–IANS/WAM
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Tags: Abu Dhabi, Togo
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