Barack Obama Tells Newtown Residents: "You Are Not Alone" - YouTube: ""
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Monday, December 17, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
South Africa labor strikes, unrest expand to farms - CBS News
RUSTENBURG, South Africa — Down a two-lane road, where slag heaps tower and miners' shack homes crowd against each other, the labor unrest now gripping South Africa first caught fire.
Mining companies here outside of Rustenburg, a city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, saw workers walk off the job and continue to demand higher wages, even after violence during six weeks of strikes and a mass police shooting at one mine killed 46 people. The strikes recently spread to agriculture, South Africa's other major economic engine, as day laborers burned farms and fought with police Wednesday in violence that left at least one person dead and five others injured.
The unrest has shaken South Africa, a nation now free from apartheid-era laws, but not of its legacy of economic disparities between whites and blacks. And though the grip of the strikes appear to have loosened, the damage done to South Africa's anemic economy could last even longer.
"Even if I can take you to my house, my fridge is empty," said Gaddafi Mdoda, a labor organizer outside a shuttered mine shaft owned by Anglo American Platinum Ltd. "It's hard to survive."
The unrest began in August at the Lonmin PLC Marikana platinum mine, only a few miles down the road from Anglo American Platinum. Violence between miners and guards killed 12 people, while police later opened fire on miners and killed 34 of them. An investigation into that shooting continues.
The nation recoiled at the killings, while Lonmin ultimately gave workers raises of up to 22 percent. Those raises, as well as shock at the killings, caused other workers at mines down this road to walk off the job.
Mining drives the economy of South Africa, which remains one of the world's dominant producers of platinum, gold and chromium. Since the strikes began, world platinum prices have risen about $200 an ounce to almost $1,600 as of Wednesday trading. In September, President Jacob Zuma said the strikes already had cost the nation about 4.5 billion rand (nearly $563 million).
Yet black miners long have faced low salaries and poor living conditions in shantytowns often beset by alcoholism, drug abuse and prostitution.
The same goes for salaries of day laborers working in agriculture in South Africa, another major part of the nation's economy. The minimum wage for a farm worker is just about 70 rand ($8) and the top wage typically earned is just slightly more than that. Over the last few days, workers have said they want the minimum wage to rise to 150 rand ($17) a day.
Wednesday, their protest turned violent as workers set fire to some farms, overturned a police truck and confronted officers in riot gear in the country's Western Cape. The police fired tear gas to drive away protesters, as the sounds of gunshots could be heard in local television footage.
One man was killed in the violence "as a result of police action," police Lt. Col. Andre Traut told the South African Press Association. At least five other people were injured.
Traut declined to discuss casualty figures when reached Wednesday night by The Associated Press.
"Police officers are deployed to affected areas to maintain law and order," he said.
Government and union officials later said that a deal had been put before farm laborers, but it was unclear if they accepted. Most of the laborers work in vineyards supporting South Africa's wine industry, the world's eighth largest overall producer.
Unrest also has continued at the mines. Police said they arrested 37 mineworkers Tuesday near an Xstrata PLC mine after miners threw stones at cars and burned tires. Authorities also said they found the body Tuesday of a miner from Mozambique killed near the Anglo American Platinum mines.
At Anglo American Platinum, also known as Amplats, workers began their strike more than eight weeks ago. The company fired 12,000 workers and then reinstated them, though the miners still have not returned to work. In a statement Wednesday to investors, the world's largest platinum producer said its year-end earnings "will decrease by more than 20 percent" compared to last year. It blamed the strikes in part for the losses.
The unrest has, however, showed signs of easing in recent days. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the world's third largest gold bullion producer, said in a statement Wednesday that its Mponeng mine in South Africa had returned to normal operations after earlier violence there.
Striking workers at Amplats faced a deadline Wednesday to return to work, but shafts remained empty. Workers gathered under umbrellas early that morning near two mine shafts to listen to their leaders describe a wage offer involving a one-time 4,500 rand ($500) payment, as well as either a monthly pretax allowance of 600 rand ($70) or a pretax salary increase of 400 rand ($45). Workers had asked for 16,000 rand (about $1,800) in monthly pay.
It remained unclear if the deal would be accepted, though many acknowledged that the weeks of striking had begun to take a toll.
"We'll look for the percentage of the majority," Mdoda, the labor organizer, said. "If the other shafts, maybe the four of them they are saying we are taking the offer, the three must withdraw and join the others just because if you can't beat them you must join them."
Mining companies here outside of Rustenburg, a city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, saw workers walk off the job and continue to demand higher wages, even after violence during six weeks of strikes and a mass police shooting at one mine killed 46 people. The strikes recently spread to agriculture, South Africa's other major economic engine, as day laborers burned farms and fought with police Wednesday in violence that left at least one person dead and five others injured.
The unrest has shaken South Africa, a nation now free from apartheid-era laws, but not of its legacy of economic disparities between whites and blacks. And though the grip of the strikes appear to have loosened, the damage done to South Africa's anemic economy could last even longer.
"Even if I can take you to my house, my fridge is empty," said Gaddafi Mdoda, a labor organizer outside a shuttered mine shaft owned by Anglo American Platinum Ltd. "It's hard to survive."
The unrest began in August at the Lonmin PLC Marikana platinum mine, only a few miles down the road from Anglo American Platinum. Violence between miners and guards killed 12 people, while police later opened fire on miners and killed 34 of them. An investigation into that shooting continues.
The nation recoiled at the killings, while Lonmin ultimately gave workers raises of up to 22 percent. Those raises, as well as shock at the killings, caused other workers at mines down this road to walk off the job.
Mining drives the economy of South Africa, which remains one of the world's dominant producers of platinum, gold and chromium. Since the strikes began, world platinum prices have risen about $200 an ounce to almost $1,600 as of Wednesday trading. In September, President Jacob Zuma said the strikes already had cost the nation about 4.5 billion rand (nearly $563 million).
Yet black miners long have faced low salaries and poor living conditions in shantytowns often beset by alcoholism, drug abuse and prostitution.
The same goes for salaries of day laborers working in agriculture in South Africa, another major part of the nation's economy. The minimum wage for a farm worker is just about 70 rand ($8) and the top wage typically earned is just slightly more than that. Over the last few days, workers have said they want the minimum wage to rise to 150 rand ($17) a day.
Wednesday, their protest turned violent as workers set fire to some farms, overturned a police truck and confronted officers in riot gear in the country's Western Cape. The police fired tear gas to drive away protesters, as the sounds of gunshots could be heard in local television footage.
One man was killed in the violence "as a result of police action," police Lt. Col. Andre Traut told the South African Press Association. At least five other people were injured.
Traut declined to discuss casualty figures when reached Wednesday night by The Associated Press.
"Police officers are deployed to affected areas to maintain law and order," he said.
Government and union officials later said that a deal had been put before farm laborers, but it was unclear if they accepted. Most of the laborers work in vineyards supporting South Africa's wine industry, the world's eighth largest overall producer.
Unrest also has continued at the mines. Police said they arrested 37 mineworkers Tuesday near an Xstrata PLC mine after miners threw stones at cars and burned tires. Authorities also said they found the body Tuesday of a miner from Mozambique killed near the Anglo American Platinum mines.
At Anglo American Platinum, also known as Amplats, workers began their strike more than eight weeks ago. The company fired 12,000 workers and then reinstated them, though the miners still have not returned to work. In a statement Wednesday to investors, the world's largest platinum producer said its year-end earnings "will decrease by more than 20 percent" compared to last year. It blamed the strikes in part for the losses.
The unrest has, however, showed signs of easing in recent days. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the world's third largest gold bullion producer, said in a statement Wednesday that its Mponeng mine in South Africa had returned to normal operations after earlier violence there.
Striking workers at Amplats faced a deadline Wednesday to return to work, but shafts remained empty. Workers gathered under umbrellas early that morning near two mine shafts to listen to their leaders describe a wage offer involving a one-time 4,500 rand ($500) payment, as well as either a monthly pretax allowance of 600 rand ($70) or a pretax salary increase of 400 rand ($45). Workers had asked for 16,000 rand (about $1,800) in monthly pay.
It remained unclear if the deal would be accepted, though many acknowledged that the weeks of striking had begun to take a toll.
"We'll look for the percentage of the majority," Mdoda, the labor organizer, said. "If the other shafts, maybe the four of them they are saying we are taking the offer, the three must withdraw and join the others just because if you can't beat them you must join them."
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
West African bloc agrees on N. Mali troops - CBS News
West African bloc agrees on N. Mali troops
General picture of an ECOWAS Summit gathering west African leaders to plot a military strategy on northern Mali on November 11, 2012, in Abuja, Nigeria. / GETTY IMAGES
LAGOS, NIGERIAWest African nations on Sunday agreed to send some 3,000 troops to help the country of Mali wrest back control of its northern half, which was seized by al Qaeda-linked fighters more than six months ago, according to an official involved in the discussions, and a statement read on Nigerian state television.
The decision came late Sunday at the end of an emergency summit in Nigeria's capital of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS. They were joined by military experts from the United Nations, Europe as well as ministers from Algeria, Mali's neighbor to the north which has previously been against the military intervention. The plan needs final approval from the U.N. Security Council before it can be carried out.
An official involved in the negotiations said by telephone shortly after the meeting that the nations in West Africa are now unanimous in their decision to go forward with the military operation. He said that they will attempt one more round of negotiations with representatives of the Islamists controlling northern Mali, before moving ahead with the intervention.
"We have agreed that 3,300 troops will be sent from West Africa. In addition, around 5,000 Malian troops will also be involved. If there is no agreement in the talks, we will move in," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The official said that the largest number of troops will come from Nigeria, which has agreed to send 600 to 700 soldiers, he said. Niger is expected to contribute around 500. And the remaining troops will come from the other 13 nations in the 15-nation ECOWAS bloc. Air power, he said, will be provided by either France or the United States.
Both France and the U.S. have said that the will provide technical and logistical support to the intervention, provided that it is first approved by the United Nations.
- Northern Mali Islamists in peace talks
- Mali militants recruit, pay for child soldiers
- U.S.: Military action needed against Mali Islamists
Mutinous soldiers overthrew Mali's democratically elected president in March, creating a power vacuum that paved the way for Islamists to grab the north, an area the size of France. In the more than six months since then, the Islamic extremists have imposed a strict form of Shariah law. Music of all kinds has been banned, and people are not even allowed to have a ring tone on their phones, unless it's one based on Quranic recitations. Women have been flogged for failing to cover themselves. And in all three of the major towns in the north, residents have been forced to watch thieves getting their hands hacked off.
The United Nations is expected to meet later this month to review the military plan. Security analysts and diplomats say that even if the deployment of troops to north Mali is approved by the U.N. it could take months to implement.
The official who spoke privately disagrees.
"As soon as they say it's OK, it won't take 24 hours for us to go. If the U.N. says go, we will move in immediately. They (the troops from ECOWAS) will be targeting the hardcore Islamists. Not the Malian nationals — but the foreigners," he said.
In recent weeks, representatives of Ansar Dine, one of the Islamic factions operating in the north, have sent delegations to Burkina Faso and to Algeria in an effort to negotiate a solution in order to avoid a military intervention. Ansar Dine is believed to be made-up mostly of Malian fighters, whereas the two other groups are said to be primarily composed of foreign fighters, some allegedly from as far afield as Pakistan. Mediators are hoping to weaken the Islamic rebel front by peeling off the more moderate members.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Ethiopia Presents New Islamic Council
Map of Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA — The Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Council has presented their newly elected executive members. Many Ethiopian Muslims demonstrated against the election process of the Islamic Council for the past 10 months.
The Islamic Affairs Council presented 11 newly elected executive members in Addis Ababa, as the last round of elections ended Sunday. The members then chose Sheikh Kiyar Mohamed Aman as their chairperson. He addressed the rfit in the Ethiopian-Muslim community.
He says the council will do its best to deal with divisions in the Islamic community.
The formation of the Islamic Affairs Council follows months of demonstrations that ended in several clashes with the police and the arrest of more than 100 protesters, including nine prominent Muslim leaders. Those involved in the protests felt the government was trying to fix the council-election outcome and advocate a more liberal Islamic thought, known as Al-Abash.
Mohammed Rashid, technical advisor at the Islamic Affairs Council, says that since the new Islamic Affairs Council has been established, they are looking into ways of uniting the Ethiopian-Muslim community again.
“The newly elected executive members and the newly established Ethiopian Islamic Council institution will have a public representation that will address the question of the Ethiopian Muslims," said Rashid. "And, the next step is to sit down and to analyze the past and the current situation and to define a feasible strategy that will create a peaceful and a stable situation among the Muslim community.”
Muslims involved with leading the demonstrations say they do not want to comment on the outcome of the election at this point. Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged last week with plotting acts of terrorism, following their involvement with the demonstrations in July.
Human-rights organization Amnesty International has condemned the government’s response to the demonstrations, saying most of those arrested and charged appear to have been targeted solely because of their participation in a peaceful protest movement.
The Islamic Affairs Council presented 11 newly elected executive members in Addis Ababa, as the last round of elections ended Sunday. The members then chose Sheikh Kiyar Mohamed Aman as their chairperson. He addressed the rfit in the Ethiopian-Muslim community.
He says the council will do its best to deal with divisions in the Islamic community.
The formation of the Islamic Affairs Council follows months of demonstrations that ended in several clashes with the police and the arrest of more than 100 protesters, including nine prominent Muslim leaders. Those involved in the protests felt the government was trying to fix the council-election outcome and advocate a more liberal Islamic thought, known as Al-Abash.
Mohammed Rashid, technical advisor at the Islamic Affairs Council, says that since the new Islamic Affairs Council has been established, they are looking into ways of uniting the Ethiopian-Muslim community again.
“The newly elected executive members and the newly established Ethiopian Islamic Council institution will have a public representation that will address the question of the Ethiopian Muslims," said Rashid. "And, the next step is to sit down and to analyze the past and the current situation and to define a feasible strategy that will create a peaceful and a stable situation among the Muslim community.”
Muslims involved with leading the demonstrations say they do not want to comment on the outcome of the election at this point. Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged last week with plotting acts of terrorism, following their involvement with the demonstrations in July.
Human-rights organization Amnesty International has condemned the government’s response to the demonstrations, saying most of those arrested and charged appear to have been targeted solely because of their participation in a peaceful protest movement.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Ethiopian Minister's Wife Accused of Using Saudi Cash in Unrest
Ethiopian Minister's Wife Accused of Using Saudi Cash in Unrest
By William Davison
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian authorities charged a minister’s wife with terrorism for using money from the Saudi Arabian Embassy to pay for Islamic protests against the government, defense lawyer Temam Ababulgu said.
By William Davison
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian authorities charged a minister’s wife with terrorism for using money from the Saudi Arabian Embassy to pay for Islamic protests against the government, defense lawyer Temam Ababulgu said.
Habiba Mohammed, wife of Civil Service Minister Junedin Sado, was among 29 people charged with terrorism offenses in an Ethiopian court yesterday, Temam said yesterday in an interview outside the court in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Nine members of a 17-person committee formed to dispute the government’s control of the Islamic council, which has led the demonstrations, were also among the 29 charged under a 2009 terrorism law the U.S. and United Nations have criticized as too broad. Habiba was charged with belonging to and aiding a terrorist organization, Temam said.
Muslims in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, have been holding protests at mosques for more than a year against government control of an Islamic council, some of which turned violent. The government accuses the group of being led by extremists who want to convert the secular nation into an Islamic state.
A call today to the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa was not answered. State Minister of Communications Shimeles Kemal did not immediately answer two calls to his office today.
The defendants will answer the charges at the next hearing, scheduled for Nov. 22, Temam said.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Suspected Al Shabaab terrorists in Kenya linked to Obama family - National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com
President Obama with his grandmother Sarah during his visit to Kenya. While Barack professes to be a Christian, Grandma Sarah is a devout Wahabbi Muslim.
Credits:
NewswithViews
Kenyan police officers continued their anti-terrorism operations on Sunday when they killed or arrested suspected members of a Somalia-based Islamist group, one of whom lived in the same western Kenya location as some family members of President BarackObama who are alleged Muslim Wahhabists, according to sources.
A suspect, Omar Faraj, who was allegedly involved in Wednesday's bombings that killed a police officer and two other suspected members of the Somalia-based al-Qaeda-affiliate, Al Shabaab, was killed by police officers who raided the suspect's home in Mombasa, Kenya, on Sunday morning, an Israeli police and counterterrorism source informed the Law Enforcement Examiner.
The source stated that the 29-year-old Faraj had been kept under close surveillance by a team of detectives from the police department's anti-terrorism bureau in Nairobi. Police were fearful that there would be retaliation from either Somali or Kenyan Muslims who dominate parts of Kenya.
The police also arrested a terrorism suspect in a nearby village on the Kenyan coast and confiscated several firearms and hand-grenades during their search for contraband.
The police identified that suspect as Titus Nyabiswa, 26, who had converted to Islam in the western part of that African country. Surprisingly, members of President Barack Obama's family are Muslims living in western Kenya, but the White House and the Obama national security team have been silent regarding al-Qaeda activity in the president's ancestral home, according to the Law Enforcement Examiner source.
Nyabiswa reportedly possessed several bomb detonators when he was arrested by highway patrol officers manning a police road block and he was handed over to the anti-terrorism police unit.
Police say the suspect and his accomplices were planning to carry out an attack in Kenya's second-largest city of Mombasa that has been the target of several grenade attacks in the past year.
It was considered a major breakthrough in the war against terrorism in Kenya amid reports of planned terror attacks since the liberation of Somalia port of Kismayo by Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF), said the Israeli source who specializes in North African terrorist groups.
It's widely known that hundreds of Kenyan youths and foreigners who had joined Al Shabaab, an ally of al-Qaeda, secretly entered Kenya in order to carryout terrorist attacks on Christian churches and public assembly facilities in Nairobi and Mombasa.
According to best-selling author Ed Klein in a World Net Daily news story, since his inauguration, President Obama’s family in Kenya has been on a mission to use the Obama name to transform Kenya from the nation’s current Christian majority to an Islamic majority that will spread Islamic law, or Shariah, through the country.
Klein's article claims the Kenyan Obama family members are devout fundamentalist Muslims known as Wahhabists, although there are no reports of membership in the al-Qaeda-affiliate Al Shabaab. Wahhabism originated in Saudi Arabia and is considered extremist by many Muslims.
Ethiopia charges 29 Muslims under anti-terror law - AFP:
ADDIS ABABA — Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of "terrorism", the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of "intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause" by force and the "planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts."
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.
Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community's main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.
Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with "rendering support" to terrorism.
The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.
Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.
According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia's 83 million people are Muslim.
Ethiopia's constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.
This month, Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Ethiopia charges 29 Muslims under anti-terror law
Ethiopia charges 29 Muslims under anti-terror law
Monday, 29 October 2012
Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of “terrorism”, the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.”
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.
Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community’s main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.
Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with "rendering support" to terrorism.
The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.
Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.
According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 83 million people are Muslim.
Ethiopia’s constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.
This month, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
According to court documents, the group is accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.”
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.
Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community’s main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.
Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with "rendering support" to terrorism.
The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.
Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.
According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 83 million people are Muslim.
Ethiopia’s constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.
This month, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
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