How Kariakoo traders defrauded Stanbic Bank

“Stanbic Bank Tanzania is to be restructured to return the business to profitability and has taken decisive action to improve the bank’s performance. It received capital injection of Sh24 billion ($15 million) from its parent, Standard Bank Group, on 31 July 2013 to ensure smooth and stable operations of the bank,”  

Dar es Salaam. A Harvard-tailored banking scheme that was fully controlled from Santiago, Chile, has cost Stanbic a loss of Sh15 billion, The Citizen has reliably learnt.

UK police arrest couple suspected of holding three women captive for 30 years

London (CNN) -- British police have arrested a couple on suspicion of holding three "extremely traumatized" women captive for more than 30 years, Scotland Yard announced Thursday.

One of the women -- a 30-year-old Briton -- "appears to have been in servitude for her entire life," Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland said. She and the other two women, a 57-year-old from Ireland and a 69-year-old from Malaysia, have been taken to a place of safety and are being cared for by a charity, police said.

Deaths in Latvia supermarket roof collapse

The incident occurred on Thursday evening when Riga's Maxima supermarket was busy with shoppers [Reuters]

 

Large sections of the roof of a supermarket have collapsed at a supermarket in Latvia's capital, Riga, killing at least 12 and injuring 30 others, rescue officials say.
The incident happened on Thursday evening, 6pm local time, when the Maxima store was busy with shoppers on their way home from work.
There are fears that more people

MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams' death 'perfect crime,' expert says

-- The death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams -- whose naked body was found inside an externally locked bag in his bathtub in 2010 -- was a "perfect crime," a confined spaces expert says.

Peter Faulding said he disagreed with Scotland Yard's conclusion that Williams most likely locked himself in the bag, saying it was his belief that the MI6 worker was murdered.

Last week, Lond

Armed group says it carried out Beirut blasts

• Attack on Iranian embassy in Beirut

  Two powerful explosions struck the area around the Iranian emb
  

  MOHAMED AZAKIR/REUTERS
• Attack on Iranian embassy in Beirut

  There is still some confusion over the cause and origin of the blasts.
  

• Attack on Iranian embassy in Beirut

  Two powerful explosions struck the area around the Iranian embassy in Bei
  

  MOHAMED AZAKIR/REUTERS
• Attack on Iranian embassy in Beirut

  There is still some confusion over the cause and origin of the blasts.
  

A Lebanese group linked to al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's double suicide bombing outside Iran's embassy in Beirut that killed at least 23 people, including a senior Iranian diplomat, and wounded more than 100 others.
The bombing in the Lebanese capital was one of the deadliest in a series of attacks targeting Hezbollah, the Shia armed group, and Shia strongholds in the country in recent months.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades has said the attack is a "message of blood and death" to Iran and Hezbollah - both supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Mkapa speaks on the tough times of his presidency

Dar es Salaam. After a long silence, former President Benjamin Mkapa yesterday opened up on some of the toughest decisions he had to take during his presidency. If there is one thing he wants, it is that Tanzania should remember him as the man who brought the country back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1995.

When Mr Mkapa took over as president, he inherited empty state coffers. The situation was so bad that, at some point, the government had to borrow money from businessmen to finance key expenditure. The country was so highly indebted it was on the point of losing its creditworthiness among local and international lenders

Woman dies after vehicle drags her 3 miles down Massachusetts road

The man accused of hitting a woman with his vehicle and dragging her for more than three miles near Foxborough, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty to several charges at his arraignment Tuesday.

The woman, Kanchanben Patel, 58, was killed, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office said.

Poor Language Skills 'Hampering UK Economy'

Britain's inability to speak "important" foreign languages could jeopardise future prosperity and global standing, according to a new report.

According to the British Council, the UK has an alarming shortage of people who are able to speak what it regards as the 10 most important languages.
They are Spanish, Arabic, French, Mandarin Chinese, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese

Why Israel, Gulf states are wary of Iran nuclear talks

Editor's note: Barak Seener is the Associate Middle East Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute and founder and CEO of Strategic Intelligentia.

(CNN) -- Olli Heinonen, the former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency recently asserted that Iran having passed the "point of no return" in its nuclear weapons program could within two weeks have the ability to enrich enough missile-grade uranium to build a bomb.

Yet U.S.-led direct negotiations with Iran broke down in Geneva while the potential remains for the unraveling of sanctions. Israel wants Iran's enrichment of uranium set back by 12 months along with the dismantling of numerous centrifuges. The U.S., however, is willing to set it back by five months. Israel fears the problem with the U.S. timeline is if Iran kicks out inspectors, Washington would not have sufficient time to gear up militarily.

Barak M. Seener

At Geneva, Iran opposed suspending work on its plutonium-producing reactor at Arak and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium. Israel notes that recently Iran has planned for 3

Greenpeace activists granted bail in Russia

Ekaterina Zaspa was released on bail while others await hearings in St Petersburg [AFP]

Nepal votes to elect new assembly, a second attempt to form constitution

+Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- Nepalis went to the polls Tuesday amid tight security to elect an assembly that will draw up a new constitution.

The tiny Himalayan nation has been trying since 2008 to draft a constitution. When it failed to reach any kind of agreement last year, Nepal dissolved its parliament -- paving the way for Tuesday's vote.

Blasts outside Iranian embassy kills at least 15 in Beirut

Beirut, Lebanon -- At least 15 people were killed in an attack Tuesday in front of the Iranian embassy in southern Beirut, Lebanese Internal Security Forces told CNN.

The agency said the exact number of blasts was not clear, but the country's official National News Agency said there were two explosions.

Rebels attack Somalia police station

Al-Shabab have attacked a police station in the town of Baladweyn in central Somalia, after blowing the gates of the compound with a car bomb, Al Jazeera can confirm.

Blast Off: Nasa's Mars Mission Under Way

The white Atlas V 401 rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (Maven) orbiter took off on schedule at 18:28 UK time from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

 

 NASA mission control said the launch was trouble-free.
"Everything is looking good," it said

Hollande: We won't allow a nuclear-armed Iran

Francois Hollande, the French president, has told Israeli MPs that his country would not allow Iran to secure a nuclear weapon, saying that such a situation was a threat to Israel and the region.
To loud applause inside the Israeli parliament, Hollande said: "We have nothing against Iran, or its people, but we cannot allow Iran to get nuclear arms as it is a threat to Israel and the region."

Opinion Israel's other silent war

African immigrants face harassment and deportation in Israel [Getty Images]

A recent Jerusalem Post op-ed on "South Africa's obsession with Israel" resurrects complaints regarding the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which during its 2011 session in Cape Town concluded that "Israel's rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid."

Consenting Muslims in America

Getting through US borders has become more difficult for American Muslims [Getty Images]

 

 

On the evening of November 13, I flew back from Gwangju, South Korea - where I was invited to participate in Gwangju Biennale - to JFK airport in New York. Upon exiting the airplane I was met by two CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) agents who collected my passport and escorted me to their headquarters at the airport.  I was then asked to empty all my pockets, and my small handbag was thoroughly searched. The agent in charge then picked a number of items in my possession - including my credit card receipts, driver's license, Columbia University ID, iPhone, iPad, and a handbook in which I write my v

Saudi denies contact with Israel on Iran

A recent IAEA report found that Iran had slowed down its nuclear programme [EPA]

 

Saudi Arabia has ruled out any contact with Israel, with which it has no diplomatic ties, after a British newspaper reported that the two countries could coordinate efforts against Iran.
The kingdom "has no relations or contacts with Israel of any kind or at any level," said a

Iran unveils 'biggest missile-equipped drone'

Iran has been building its drone capabilities for reconnaissance missions and combat operations [Al Jazeera]

 

Iran has unveiled the biggest missile-equipped drone yet to be developed in the Islamic republic, the official IRNA news agency has reported.
Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said on Monday that the reconnaissance and combat drone Fotros had a range of 2,000km, capable of covering much of the Middle East, including Israel.

Palestine casts first vote at UN

Palestine's UN status was upgraded last November to 'non-member state' from 'entity' (Getty Images)

Palestine's delegation to the United Nations has cast a ballot for the first time in a routine General Assembly vote, an act the envoy said brought his nation a step closer to full UN membership.

Haiti anti-government protests turn violent

Thousands of critics of Haiti's President Michel Martelly have staged protest marches that turned violent, after people threw rocks and shots were fired in the air.
The Associated Press reported that at least one person had been shot in the head during Monday's protest. It was unclear what the man's condition was, AP reported.
The marches were among the biggest demonstrations against Martelly since he took office in 2011, and the crowd in the capital swelled as protesters passed each neighbourhood. Their complaints ranged from the cost of living to high levels of government corruption.
Protesters lit fiery barricades of discarded tires on one of the busiest streets as they called for Martelly's departure from office. Demonstrators also smashed car windows and tore down po

Pinda to lead Mvungi burial today in K’njaro

A member of the Constitutional Review Commission, Prof Mwesiga Baregu, pays his last respects to the slain Dr Sengondo

Nelson Mandela unable to speak

 
Johannesburg. Nelson Mandela’s conditions is still critical and the anti-apartheid icon is unable speak, using facial expressions to communicate as he receives intensive medical care at his home, in Johannesburg.