Obama pledges fix to healthcare policy

Figures showed that only 106,185 people have been able to register for the healthcare programme [Reuters]

The US president, Barack Obama, has that Americans will be allowed to keep cancelled health plans for an extra year, in a major climbdown after the troubled launch of his landmark reform

Tendulkar falls short in last Test match

Tendulkar had resumed on the second day of the second test between India and the West Indies on 38 [Reuters]

Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed for 74, falling short of a fairytale win in what may have been the legendary Indian batsman's last innings

Why deferral of Uhuru, Ruto trials may flop

A resolution on deferral of ICC cases against Kenyan leaders is expected to divide the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) today when it is put to vote.

Diplomatic sources suggest the 15 members of the UNSC have failed to reach consensus on the African Union-backed petition but the continent’s representatives in the UN body are determined to press a vote.

Toronto's drug-shamed mayor threatens to sue

Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, has threatened to take legal action against former aides who spoke to police about their concerns about his drug use.

Ford was reacting on Thursday to details in court documents that revealed more allegations about his behavior, including drunken driving and verbal abuse, which fed a political storm that has already consumed Toronto for months.
Ford acknowledged that he might have drunk alcohol while driving. But he said he would take legal action against his former chief of staff Mark Towhey and two other aides over their interviews with police. He did not say what he would sue them for, however

Majority support ICC cases, says survey

PHOTO | AFP Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) speaks with Cabinet secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammed (right), and Attorney General Githu Mungai (second right) at the African Union ahead of a special summit on the continent's relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 12, 2013. A survey conducted in the country has revealed that majority of Kenyans want Uhuru to attend his ICC trial in The Hague.  AFP

Is Barack Obama dipping past the point of no return?

US President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on November 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. PHOTO/Mandel NGAN
WASHINGTON

Barack Obama's second term fumbles have pitched him to record low poll ratings and splintered his credibility with the American people. But has his presidency reached the point of no return?

Will ICTR miss closure date?

Arusha.The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which is now in its completion phase, may not meet the December 2014 deadline to wind up its activities, it was learnt here this week.

The deadline was put in place by the United Nations which set up the tribunal in 1994 to indict and prosecute suspects of the Rwanda genocide, in which over 800,000 people were massacred.

Widow speaks about Mvungi’s unfulfilled plans

Dar es Salaam. She may not have been seen sitting next to the renowned late lawyer Dr Sengondo Mvungi at public functions, but within the Mvungi Family, friends and relatives, Ms Anna Shayo, is a popular figure.

Another fact that may help to bring home the idea of Ms Shayo’s proper and exhauted place is that had the late Dr Mvungi clinched the presidential seat when he battled it out with President Jakaya Kikwete and other eight candidates in 2005, Ms Shayo would have been this country’s First Lady.

Rostam, Dewji, Mengi in 50 richest Africans list

Dar es Salaam.Tanzania has three new entrants in the list of Africa’s top 50 millionaires even as fresh data reveals that poverty levels have dropped significantly since 2007. Rostam Azizi, Reginald Mengi and Mohammed ‘Mo’ Dewji are the newcomers in the latest edition of Forbes, an American business magazine. Said Salim Bakhresa rounds up the number to four on the list published on Wednesday.

Gambia breaks off diplomatic ties with Taiwan

President Yahya Jammeh, right, says Gambia wants to "remain friends" with Taiwanese people [EPA]

Gambia's government will cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan with immediate effect, a statement from President Yahya Jammeh's office said on Thursday.

N Korea denies giving military aid to Syria

North Korea has long-standing ties with Syria and links with its chemical weapons programme [AP]

North Korea denied it was sending military aid to the Syrian government, in its battle against opposition forces after media reports said that Pyongyang had sent advisers and helicopter pilots.

JOBS AND VACANCIES!!!

SENIOR SURVEYOR GRADE II
Qualifications: Holder of a  Bachelor degree in Land or Quantity surveying from any recognised institution with experience of not less than 5 years and must be a registered surveyor
Apply: Director General Rufiji Basin Development Authority Finance) Mzumbe University
Box  9320, Dar es Salaam
Details: Mwananchi
Oct 30, 2013
Deadline: 14  November, 2013

Body of slain don Mvungi expected in Dar tomorrow

Dar es Salaam. The body of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) member Dr Sengondo Mvungi who died on Tuesday at the Milpark Hospital in South Africa will arrive in Dar es Salaam tomorrow.

Immediately after arriving at the Julius Nyerere International Airport, the casket bearing the body of the lawyer, politician, and university lecturer will be taken to Lugalo mortuary, according to NCCR Mageuzi Chairman James Mbatia.

Israeli soldier killed in bus stabbing

Hamas issued a statement congratulating the suspected attacker in Wednesday's bus stabbing [Reuters]

A 16-year-old Palestinian has stabbed an Israeli soldier to death on a bus in an attack apparently motivated by the jailing of his relatives in Israel, police said.

Raila Odinga and President Yoweri Museveni to open talks with Tanzania over EAC

ENTEBBE, UGANDA: Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have agreed to open a new round of talks with Tanzania to address the issues that have been causing rifts in the East African Community.
Mr Odinga and President Museveni held talks at State House Entebbe during a meeting initiated by the Ugandan leader.

Philippines struggling to bury storm victims

Panic is mounting in the Philippines, with minimal food and medical supplies reaching people areas worst hit by Typhoon Haiyan, reports of civil order breaking down and the number of unburied dead threatening the health of survivors.
Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras on Wednesday said the government had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of victims that need to be buried.
The UN estimated that 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone, where five-metre waves flattened nearly everything in their path. President Benigno Aquino, however, said the death toll was no more than 2,500 people.

Fear and hope in World Cup playoffs

Hair-raising: The last thing Ronaldo wants is a close shave against Sweden in the playoffs [GALLO/GETTY]

The World Cup playoffs bring a potent mix of emotions along with them when they kick off this week.

For some teams, this is the realisation of all their dreams. Two matches away from reaching a World Cup is huge for the likes of Jordan, Iceland, and Portugal.

Ok, well spotted. Not Portugal. The Iberians are among those for whom the playoffs look more like a crisis than an opportunity.

US names Boko Haram as 'terror organisation'

The government declared a state of emergency in May in three northeastern states after repeated attacks [AFP]

The US State Department has designated Nigeria's Boko Haram and a splinter group named Ansaru as "foreign terrorist organisations".
The statement, released on Wednesday, said Boko Haram had links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and was responsible for "thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years, including targeted killings of civilians".

UK spy found dead in locked bag 'not murder'

Gareth Williams was working for MI6 when he was found dead locked in a bag in a bath tub [AFP]

A British spy whose naked, decomposing body was found padlocked in a bag in his bath, probably died accidentally on his own, police in the UK have said, rejecting conspiracy theories that his death was the work of foreign agents.
The Metropolitan Police's deputy assistant commissioner, Martin Hewitt, said on Wednesday that investigations suggested it was likely Gareth Williams, a code-breaker working for MI6, had not been murdered.
"Most probably, it was an accident," Hewitt said. "I'm convinced that Gareth's death was in no way linked to his work."

This is a case where there's been enormous theorising and speculating...and weird and wonderful stories... It is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present Martin Hewitt, London Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner

In May last year, a coroner concluded that Williams was probably killed unlawfully by another person.
Williams, 31, worked as a code breaker at the GCHQ but was on a three-year secondment to MI6, which deals with foreign espionage matters. His remains were found inside a zipped and padlocked red hold-all at an intelligence service "safe house" close to MI6's headquarters.
His body had laid undiscovered for a week. Tests found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poison in his body. Detectives found no palm prints on the side of the bath nor any traces of his DNA on the padlock.
Hewitt admitted the original police investigation had been flawed, and after the inquest they pursued new lines of inquiry. But detectives found no evidence anyone had been in the flat when he died.

He rejected suggestions the flat could have undergone a "forensic clean" to remove traces of any killers.
Despite the fact that there had always been doubt that someone could have locked themselves in a bag, as a number of experts tried and failed, Hewitt said they now believed this was what Williams had done, though he had not intended to kill themselves.
"It's theoretically possible for someone to do that. It is a more probable conclusion that there was no other person present," said Hewitt

Pakistan urged to vaccinate against polio

Somalia has begun vaccinating against polio [Unicef]

Pakistan is being urged to vaccinate all of its children against polio amid a dangerous outbreak that has reached Syria and neighbouring countries.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that 21 nations from the Middle East and surrounding area signed a joint declaration on eradicating the disease, pointing to Pakistan as a key part of the problem.
The UN's health organisation said said earlier this week that the polio virus had been confirmed in 13 of 22 children who became paralyzed in a northern Syrian province.

Desperation grips Philippine storm survivors

The expected death toll from Typhoon Haiyan's rampage through the Philippines is much lower than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino has said, as attention shifts to a quickly deteriorating security situation.
Aquino said an initial UN estimate of 10,000 people killed in in the city of Tacloban was "too much", five days after one of the strongest tropical storms on record destroyed tens of thousands of houses.
"The figure I have right now is 2,000 ... so far about 2,000, 2,500 is the figure we're working on," he said, adding that the death toll still could rise.

The latest official government death toll stands at 2,275, although authorities say they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.
International aid groups say they fear what is known now is just the tip of the iceberg.
"Obviously the situation in Tacloban is appalling but we are also very concerned about outlying islands," Patrick Fuller, Red Cross spokesman in the Asia-Pacific, told the AFP news agency.
Security concerns
Authorities struggled to keep a grip on security as relief operations were only starting to pick up pace, with two more airports in the region reopening, allowing for more aid flights.

 

But minimal food and water was reaching people in Tacloban and outlying regions due to a lack of lorries and blocked roads.
Desperation has begun to grip the country as looting turned deadly on Wednesday and survivors panicked over delays in supplies of food, water and medicine, some digging up underground water pipes and smashing them open.
In one incident, eight people were crushed to death as thousands of typhoon survivors stormed a rice warehouse to gain access to the rice bags, near Tacloban, Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority, the government's rice trading agency, said on Wednesday.
"The looting is not criminality. It is self-preservation," Tecson John Lim, Tacloban city administrator, said.
Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas, reporting from Cebu, an island also hit hard by Haiyan, said the government was worried now about looting of homes and malls by people so desperate to find something to eat of some shelter.
Since the storm, people have broken into homes, malls and garages, where they have stripped the shelves of food, water and other goods.
Authorities have struggled to stop the looting. There have been unconfirmed reports of armed gangs involved in some instances.
Our correspondent said the government was concerned about communist rebels who have been operating in and around the disaster-hit areas staging attacks in relief workers and relief envoys.
"The government said that they are trying to deploy military aid as fast as the can to gain control of the

US, UK reiterate support for Iran talks

The two leaders discussed expectations for next round of talks amid push to give diplomacy a chance [Reuters]

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have spoken about their expectations for the next round of negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, as part of a phone conversation about several security issues in the Middle East, the White House said.

Jews and Muslims to share al-Aqsa Mosque?

Occupied East Jerusalem - Until a few weeks ago, most Israeli and Palestinian pundits dismissed the possibility of a Palestinian uprising in the near future.
However, a draft Israeli law granting Jews the right to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque esplanade - one of the three most holy sites in Islam - is forcing some observers to reconsider their previous assessments.
The draft law, which is being discussed in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, would designate "time and space" for Jews wishing to pray there.
The haram al-sharif, or "noble sanctuary", has been an exclusively Islamic shrine since the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century AD. But the mosque was built upon the Temple Mount, itself one of Judaism's most sacred sites.

Morsi: my removal was treason against Egypt

Morsi said he was 'kidnapped' on July 2 at the height of protests against his rule [Reuters]

Egypt's deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, has said he was kidnapped by the military and those who removed him from power of committing "treason against the whole nation".

Deadly cyclone ravages Somalia's Puntland

Many people in Puntland have fled to African Union-run camps to escape the flooding [AP]

As many as 300 people are feared dead after  a cyclone and heavy floods in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland  region, according to the local government.

Iran 'a lot to do' to finish nuclear reactor

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian use but Western nations suspect it is trying to build a bomb [AFP]

The leader of the UN's nuclear authority says Iran has "quite a lot to do" to complete a nuclear reactor which is of deep concern to the West and which formed a central sticking point in negotiations to lift sanctions.
Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday that he had seen no "radical" change in Iran's nuclear activities since Hassan Rouhani became president three months ago.

Is Kigali planning to pull out of EA Community?

A few days after President Jakaya Kikwete stated Tanzania’s stand about the East African Community, one of its members, Rwanda is set to join the Economic Community of Central African States (Eccas).

A Rwandan newspaper, New Times, quoted the country’s foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo as saying during a visit to the Republic of Congo: “My Republic of Congo counterpart Basile Ikouebe and I informed our teams that Rwanda will soon be welcomed back in the Community of Central African States.”

MY LIFE IS GOD'S MIRACLE: MKAPA

At 75, Benjamin Mkapa looks several years younger and stronger than many a man of that age. He is still upbeat with the same keen focus and seriousness that defined his persona in the days he occupied the Magogoni Street address.

It is about eight years since Mr Mkapa left the State House as the third President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and his legacy is still felt in the country and beyond.