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WHAT UK NEWSPAPERS SAY - EXCHANGE RATE AGAINST THE POUND TODAY IS KSHS. 115.23

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Two buses packed with students have narrowly avoided plunging onto a motorway after sliding across ice and crashing though railings above the busy road. The front end of one coach was left dangling 20 feet above Interstate 5 in Seattle in the US for hours before a tow-truck was able to pull it back from the edge. "I grabbed the person next to me and prayed to God we didn't fly," said passenger Stephanie Jackson of Spanaway. The buses, carrying 80 students, were heading from Moses Lake in central Washington to a downtown Seattle bus terminal. Eleven of the teenagers were taken to Harborview Medical Centre with minor injuries from debris and flying glass. Two others suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

Hernia

What is a hernia?

A hernia is an abnormal protrusion of part of the intestines through a weak part of the abdomen, that is, part of the guts are poking through the abdominal wall. Normally, the front of the abdomen has several layers comprising of skin then fat then muscles and broad ligaments. Underneath all these lie the intestines (guts). If, for any reason, there is a weak point in the muscles or ligaments, part of the intestines push through. You can then feel a soft lump under the skin.

Where do they occur?

The most common site is in the groin as the groin is often the weakest point of the abdomen. However, hernias can be found sometimes at other sites eg. next to the navel (belly button) or under an old operation scar.

What are the symptoms?

Sometimes they are noticed after a strain, for example, lifting a heavy object. Sometimes they come on for no good reason and a small lump may be noticed, usually in the groin area. Usually, at first, the lump can be pushed back, but may pop out after straining again. Coughing is a common strain that brings them out. They are not usually painful, but many people feel an ache over a hernia. In time they might become bigger as the gap in their muscle or ligament tissue becomes larger. Sometimes in men they track down into the scrotum.

Are they serious?

Usually not. However, treatment to fix them is usually advised for 2 reasons:

They may gradually become bigger and more uncomfortable.
There is a small chance they might strangulate. A hernia strangulates when too much intestine has come through the gap in the muscle or ligament and then it becomes squeezed. This cuts off the blood supply to the portion of intestine in the hernia. This can lead to severe pain and some damage to the part of the intestines in the hernia. These strangulated hernias are uncommon and are usually dealt with by emergency surgery. However it is preferable to have the hernia fixed by routine rather than emergency surgery.

Fixing hernias

Hernias can be fixed by a small operation. It is one of the most common operations performed by surgeons. Most people only stay in hospital for a very short period of time (sometimes they are even done as day cases). Newer techniques mean that people tend to be off work for much shorter periods than in the past and even workers in heavy work can often be back in 2 weeks. The operation is usually successful. However, they can recur in a small number of people when a further operation may be advised.

High in the mountains of South Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

High in the mountains of South Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a Congolese miner caked in sweat and dust hacks at rock in search of precious minerals. Some of his fellow miners in the region look for coltan, a mineral used in the manufacture of mobile phones. Others search for gold. This man is using an iron stake and a simple shovel to dig for cassiterite, or raw tin. Much of the final product from the efforts of cassiterite miners like him ends up as the microscopically-thin layer of tin which lines metal food and drink cans. Tin does not corrode so it is safe for food packaging. That is why there may be a tiny bit of DR Congo on your table or in your cupboard today."We have to pay the rebels to work here," the digger we met said. "They force us to give them cash or the equivalent in minerals," he added, standing on the edge of his three-meter deep pit. The roof of the dangerous pit - more like a cave, really - was propped up by sawn tree trunks. But the hundreds of tonnes of rock they supported looked like they could collapse at any time. Many of the mines like these in eastern DR Congo - in North and South Kivu provinces - are controlled by ethnic Hutu rebels from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Fishermen in the Philippines have accidentally caught and then eaten one of the rarest sharks in the world, environmental group WWF has said. The megamouth shark is one of the most elusive species in the world - so rare that the one devoured by the fishermen was only the 41st ever to be spotted. The four-metre, half-tonne fish was accidentally snared by fishermen trawling for mackerel off the coast of Donsol. A WWF representative said the shark was butchered and its meat sautéed in coconut milk as a local delicacy, against the organisation's advice. Ironically, the coastal town of Donsol has earned a global reputation for marine conservation. Campaigners recently convinced the locals to stop butchering giant whale sharks which feed in nearby waters.

London, Thursday 9th April, 2009. Airlines are offering last-minute bargain flights as thousands of Londoners prepare to leave the capital for Easter. A surge of late bookings for Easter breaks in the last month means that more than two million people will pass through London's airports over the holiday period, leading to possible delays and long queues. Easter was set to be one of the busiest on record with many recession-hit families opting for British holidays, causing heavy rail and road traffic. But experts now warn that thousands are taking advantage of last-minute deals to head abroad despite the credit crunch.

Heathrow is expected to see one of its busiest days of the year so far with 200,000 travellers flying out today.

New York, Amsterdam and Dubai are among the top destinations for tourists. Virgin Atlantic is offering a return fare to New York for £249 while on terminala.co.uk, there are flights to Dubai for £316.

Amsterdam looks set to be one of the most popular city destinations this weekend with easyJet offering return flights for £160. Breaks outside the eurozone will also be popular. Return flights to Budapest with WizzAir are going for £190. A British Airports Authority spokesman said: "The number of flights is actually up on last year despite the economy and the weak pound." Frances Tuke, from the Association of British Travel Agents, said: "Despite the credit crunch, people are simply unwilling to give up their Easter holiday. They may well be much more discerning about where they go and how they spend their money when they are there, but they are going nonetheless." During the holiday weekend, nearly 300,000 people will leave from Heathrow. About 270,000 more will fly out from Gatwick, 200,000 from Stansted and 60,000 from Luton airport. Mark Tanzer, Abta chief executive, said: "It appears consumer confidence is rising, and people feel they have enough money in their pocket or just simply have had enough of worrying and have made the decision to go on holiday." Noel Josephides, director of the Association of Independent Tour Operators, said: "We are seeing a huge increase in the number of people opting for all-inclusive holidays." He added that foreign properties bought during the boom were now being let out at attractive rates to prevent them standing empty.

Rush: Gatwick was among the airports experiencing the busiest days of the year

"Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other. - Lewis B. Smedes - Forgive & Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve

Changes to the Certificate of Approval Scheme

Home Office, 09 April 2009

With effect from 9 April 2009 the UK Border Agency is suspending the fee for Certificate of Approval applications. This means that individuals making an application for a Certificate of Approval on or after this date will not be required to pay the fee. The fee has been suspended in order to comply with the House of Lords judgment in the case of Baiai v the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The UK Border Agency is carefully considering the implications for those who have already paid a fee and will shortly announce its policy in this respect.

Kikuyu Age Group

1953 - Rika ria "Komerera" - Meaning Hiding

London, Thursday 9th April, 2009. The Bank of England today stuck to its guns over its dramatic decision to print money to drag the UK out of recession. It voted to press on with its programme of quantitative easing in which it will pump £75 billion of new money into the economy by buying Government bonds and other assets. The monetary policy committee also left interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, bringing an end to six months of aggressive cuts which have seen rates tumble from 5% to record lows. But the City was far from impressed and urged the Bank to give a full public endorsement of the quantitative easing programme. Bank Governor Mervyn King was accused of undermining the process two weeks ago when he said the full £75 billion may not be spent. The Bank today said it has made “just over” £26 billion of asset purchases since launching the scheme last month and that it will “continue with the programme”. It said “it would take a further two months to complete that programme”. Richard McGuire, a fixed income strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said: “The Bank left rates on hold and, somewhat laconically, reaffirmed both the scale and the speed of the quantitative easing programme. “On the face of it, neutral for the market, but a disappointment to those expecting a more enthusiastic endorsement in the wake of King's earlier comments, which were perceived to have indicated a limited degree of momentum behind the project.”

On the spot: Governor Mervyn King was accused of undermining quantitative easing

Sean Maloney, a fixed income strategist at Nomura, said King's earlier comments “caused a lot of confusion and have significantly jeopardised the policy”. He said: “Greater clarity is all that's standing between quantitative easing being effective and falling short.” The Bank decided to start printing money after it ran out of room for further interest rate cuts. It initially drove down interest rates on Government bonds as planned but much of the early benefits have since evaporated. It is hoped the funds will be passed on to businesses and consumers to boost spending and stave off a period of deflation. However, there are concerns that if the Bank is too aggressive it will trigger a dangerous rise in inflation. Stuart Porteous, head of economics at RBS, said: “Is this the beginning of the end of the recession? While it looks like the first quarter may well be the worst of this downturn, any talk of recovery is premature. “The Bank has emptied both its barrels, and it will be some months before we can judge just how successful it has been.” Stephen Gifford, chief economist at Grant Thornton, said: “Today's decision is a welcome relief after all the unprecedented interventions of the last six months. “Such a pause for breath will provide some balance and calm in the economy, and could begin to halt the doom and gloom.” King last month made clear that there was little scope for further rate cuts after its six-month scramble to shore up the economy. The Bank is worried that further cuts could deter banks from lending and hit savers.

Britain's blundering anti-terrorism police chief Bob Quick quits

Britain's blundering anti-terrorism police chief Bob Quick quit today with a six-figure pension deal. The Met's Assistant Commissioner was forced to resign when he lost the confidence of the Home Secretary. Mr Quick expressed “deep regret” for revealing details of an operation to swoop on al Qaeda suspects when he was photographed carrying secret papers into a Downing Street meeting. His mistake meant police raids planned for 2am today had to be hurriedly carried out in public places, putting people at risk. At the age of 49 Mr Quick will walk away with an index-linked police pension worth £110,000 a year — or £85,000 a year plus a lump sum of about £520,000. He will also expect to find lucrative work advising both the private and public sectors on security which could give him an extra six-figure income. His expertise in counter-terror operations will make him a valuable consultant to the organisers of the 2012 London Olympics.

Pres Kibaki wishes Kenyans a cheerful Easter

Written By:PPS , Posted: Thu, Apr 09, 2009

President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday sent a message of goodwill to all Kenyans as the world prepares to commemorate the crucifixion and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The President urged Kenyans to utilize the Easter Weekend to reflect on the lessons of serving mankind and selflessness as illustrated by Jesus who endured the pain of crucifixion in order to save mankind from wickedness. The Head of State noted that the resurrection of Jesus Christ has for centuries been the enduring symbol of hope for all mankind. In his message the President said, "During the Easter Weekend, let us all remember those many Kenyans who are facing difficult circumstances. Let us reach out to them with a helping hand especially in the provision of food. As a government we are doing everything within our powers to ensure that Kenyans have access to food." The President urged everyone to uphold the spirit of unity as demonstrated by the formation of the Grand Coalition Government. President Kibaki reiterated that dialogue must be embraced in daily transactions and deliberations in order to foster unity, peace and understanding in the country. The President urged leaders to desist from holding divisive political rallies that plant seeds of disunity among Kenyans. He said that Kenyans must embrace one another and focus more on issues that unite them so that the country can effectively tackle the challenges it faces. The Head of State said, "I wish you a happy and peaceful Easter Weekend. During this period let us reflect on the teachings of Jesus Christ during his sermon on the Mount- Let your light shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do."

Hawkers in NCBD put on notice

Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa says the city council will not tolerate hawkers within the central business district. Majiwa who was speaking at the launch of new garbage trucks said the ban on hawking still stands and warned those creeping back that they will be dealt accordingly. The traders who have invaded the streets are among those displaced last month after Mwariro market on Ronal Ngala and the Globe roundabout were closed. Last year the government relocated hawkers from the central business districts to the multi million Muthurwa market in Nairobi in efforts to create a centralized place where they could sell their wares.

A case in which four police officers have been charged with robbery with violence has now been moved from Siakago to Embu law courts. Mbeere District Criminal Investigation Officer (DCIO) Jafred Mateche successfully applied for the case to be moved from Siakago over alleged interference. He said in a sworn in affidavit that there has been continuous lobbying for the trial to favour the accused. "Justice will not fairly be dispensed at the Siakago law court where the officers were serving," said Mateche. Jeremiah Masae, Jacob Nzuki, Boniface Kimani and Isaack Mutava are facing two robbery with violence charges allegedly committed on February 3. The charges states that while armed with pistols the suspects robbed Christopher Muchangi of Ksh 1,500 and another Ksh 13,000 from Joseph Muchina at Riandu in Mbeere district. However Mateche said he could not disclose the names of those lobbying for the case to be dismissed. The suspects' lawyer Lugard Mogusu however said the suspects were being punished hence the need for the law to protect them and urged the magistrate to reject the application.

His objections were dismissed by the magistrate who ruled that the case be moved to Embu Law courts. "It is in the interest of justice order that this case be heard by another magistrate within the jurisdiction," ruled the magistrate. The case will be mentioned at Embu law courts on Tuesday April 14 for further directions. Meanwhile three employees of Mbo-I-Kamiti Company were Thursday arraigned before the Kiambu principal Magistrate, Kevin Mweni charged with stealing a water pump from the company. George Kamau, Robert Ngugi and James Mburu denied stealing the pump worth 150,000 shillings. The accused face another count of handling stolen property. They were released on a cash bail of 60 thousand shillings each or an alternative bond of 200 thousand shillings and similar sureties. Separately two people were sentenced to three year jail terms after they were found guilty of stealing a cell phone, a camera and 33 thousand shillings in cash from former defense minister Njenga Karume. Principal magistrate Kevin Mweni sentenced Morris Mbithi and Shadrack Mwania after the prosecution proved the case against them.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 9 - The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) on Thursday renewed calls for fresh elections, following the continued wrangles of the country’s top leadership. NCCK’s General Secretary Canon Peter Karanja said President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have failed to institute reforms and deserve to be replaced alongside all the MPs.

3 feared dead as Msa building collapses

Written By:Asha Khamis , Posted: Thu, Apr 09, 2009

Three people are feared dead after a four storey building storey building under construction collapsed in Makupa, Mombasa on Thursday morning. Seven people were rescued and rushed to Coast General Hospital where they are receiving treatment. Eight others are still trapped in the building. According to eye witnesses about 17 labourers were working in the building when it caved in at 11.am. The police, Kenya navy, Kenya Red Cross and the Mombasa municipal council officers immediately rushed to the scene and are trying to rescue those trapped. The building is said to have housed a restaurant, a gymnasium and a garage on the floors that had already been completed. There are fears that the deathtoll could go up as more people are still trapped.

The legal tussle between Environment minister John Michuki and former Kabete member of parliament Paul Muite over fresh claims by the latter that the minister is behind a plan to silence him took another twist with Michuki threatening to double the legal suits against Muite. Michuki trashed Wednesday's claims by Muite that his life is in danger saying that the former legislator was seeking unwarranted sympathy from foreigners and to nurse his frustrations over his dwindling political career. Addressing a press conference, Michuki questioned Muite's passionate involvement in the standard group raid yet the company is not satisfied with his version of the story. The minister said the reason for the raid on standard group will remain confidential for security purposes. On Wednesday, Muite claimed that the dreaded Kwekwe squad had been instructed to kill him.

British police chief quits over terror blunder

Britain's top anti-terror police chief has tendered his resignation following a security blunder, London Mayor Boris Johnson said Thursday. Johnson told BBC radio he had accepted Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bob Quick's resignation with "great reluctance and sadness," after the blunder triggered premature anti-terror arrests Wednesday. "I have this morning with great reluctance and sadness... accepted Bob Quick's resignation as head of counter terrorism," he said, adding that Assistant Commissioner John Yates would take over from him. Quick was photographed Wednesday as he arrived at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office for talks on police reform with a sensitive document clearly visible. It contained details about a planned operation, including that there were 11 suspects -- 10 of them of Pakistani origin and in Britain on student visas, and one British born -- and where the raids would take place.

Police arrested 12 people in evening raids across northwest England, which media reports said had long been planned but were hastily rescheduled after it emerged the briefing notes detailing the operation were visible in the photo. Manchester police said several hundred officers were involved in the raids, which saw eight premises searched as part of an ongoing investigation that also reportedly involved the domestic intelligence agency MI5. The Times newspaper said there were plans to attack a nightclub and shopping centre complex in Manchester, and that the arrests were due to have taken place early Thursday. Britain has been on high security alert ever since the July 2005 attacks in London, which killed 56 people including four suicide bombers, and failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow in June 2007. The security threat remains on its second highest level, severe. MI5 chief Jonathan Evans said in January that Al-Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan still intended to mount attacks on Britain -- and had the capacity to do so.

Kibaki tells leaders to mind their language

Written By: PPS , Posted: Thu, Apr 09, 2009

President Mwai Kibaki has urged political leaders in the country to act as good role models for the youth and at all times remain conscious of the consequences of their conduct and utterances in public. President Kibaki made the remarks at State House, Nairobi Thursday during a colourful state concert by the Kenya National Drama Festival finalists. The President noted that despite his government's commitment to freedom of speech leaders must be fully aware of the full consequences of their pronouncements to the lives of the Kenyan people. The Head of State underscored that the country is bigger than any individual politician adding that everyone must strive to bequeath the youth an orderly and disciplined nation. The President said, "We have a duty to focus on the bigger picture of overcoming the great challenges of the moment including the provision of food for our people and the fight against extreme poverty." President Kibaki reiterated that he shall not be distracted from his commitment to lead Kenyans in building a prosperous nation adding that the obligation of the current leadership is to create opportunities for gainful employment to the many jobless youth. The Head of State urged the youth to take full advantage of programmes and investments the Government has made for them and for those admitted in various institutions of learning to uphold high standards of discipline in order to acquire vital skills needed to build a better Kenya. The President told students to desist from acts of lawlessness as a way of airing their grievances as recently witnessed in some institutions of higher learning.

"The violence witnessed recently in some institutions of higher learning where students destroyed property is unacceptable. I urge students to use proper channels of airing grievances as acts of lawlessness will be dealt with in accordance with the law," said the President. He at the same time directed managers of the institutions to establish clearly laid out channels of communication that would facilitate amicable and expeditious resolution institutional issues. President Kibaki said that his Government was keen to use locally available resources to ensure that every Kenyan is given an opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge to earn a decent livelihood. He allayed fears about the implementation of the Free Primary Education despite the delay in disbursement of funds in some parts of the country. The President said, " I wish to assure Kenyans that my Government remains committed to the success of the free primary and free secondary tuition programmes." With regard to the drama concerts, the Head of State said that they not only serve as a medium of instruction but also help a society to appreciate, develop, preserve and promote its diverse cultural values. He noted that drama also sharpens creativity among young people, boosts their ability to express their ideas as well as enhance communication in their daily lives. The President told educational institutions to keenly pursue development of artistic talents among the Kenyan youth and assured them of government's support in development of co-curricula activities. As a measure of government's commitment to development of co-curricula activities, President Kibaki said that his government had committed Shs 360 million to be spent on the activities from the zonal to national level during this financial year. The President observed, "I have no doubt that this sum of money has gone a long way in promoting such activities in our schools. Indeed, I am happy to note that 100,000 young people participated in this year's drama festival."

The Head of State also commended teachers, composers and the performers for their superior artistic presentations and urged them to strive to achieve even higher standards. In order to protect artists and enable them exploit their talents fully, the President reaffirmed that the government will ensure strict enforcement of the copyright laws in music and performing arts. The President further commended local media houses for promoting local artists and airing more local productions as opposed to foreign productions. On his part Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri said that the items presented by the students were an indication of the direction the country should take particularly with regard to national cohesion, eradication of tribalism, greed, hatred, and environmental degradation among other social ills illustrated by the concerts. The Education Minister thanked President Kibaki and his government for steadfast support to the education sector and commitment to the welfare of the youth and Kenyans at large. The Chairperson, Kenya National Drama Festivals, Dr Ezekiel Alembi termed the performances at State House Gardens a climax of the national event with many winners looking forward to entertaining the Head of State as the ultimate prize. Dr Alembi noted that the presentations have grown tremendously in terms of performers and quality which he termed as of international calibre and thanked the government for its unwavering support. Others who attended the State concert were Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, International Security Minister Prof George Saitoti, Public Health Minister Beth Mugo and Education Assistant Minister Prof Ayiecho Olweny among other senior government officials.

A US warship has arrived off the Somali coast where pirates have taken a US ship's captain hostage. The US-flagged Maersk Alabama was briefly hijacked by pirates on Wednesday but the crew of 20 Americans managed to retake control of the vessel and are trying to negotiate Captain Richard Phillips's release, second mate Ken Quinn said. Mr Quinn said the four pirates sank their own boat when they boarded the container ship, but the captain managed to talk them into getting off the freighter and into the ship's lifeboat with him. The crew then overpowered one of the pirates and sought to exchange him for the captain, Mr Quinn said. "We kept him for 12 hours. We tied him up," he said. The crew eventually released their captive to the other pirates, but the exchange did not work and the captain is still being held by the pirates on the lifeboat. Mr Quinn said they are now trying other ways to free Captain Phillips. "We are just trying to offer them whatever we can, food, but it is not working," he said. The Danish-owned freighter's operator, Maersk Line, said the US Navy destroyer Bainbridge had arrived on the scene. Spokesman BJ Talley said the company was in touch with its ship and is also talking with the navy.

But he declined comment on what action, if any, the navy might take. The boat in which the captain is being held is very near the Maersk Alabama, whose crew can see the navy destroyer and has been in contact with the navy. A spokesman for the company said no injuries had been reported for the rest of the crew left aboard. Maritime officials said the Maersk Alabama was carrying food aid for Somalia and Uganda from Djibouti to Mombasa, a Kenyan port, when it was seized far out in the Indian Ocean. The ship seizure, about 300 miles off Somalia, is the first time Somali pirates have seized US citizens. The seizure is the latest in a wave of pirate attacks. On Monday, gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend. In the first three months of 2009 just eight ships were hijacked in the strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea to Europe via the Suez Canal. Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage - often for weeks - and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms. Foreign navies sent warships to the area in response and reduced the number of successful attacks.

US hijack ship 'sails for Kenya'

The ship's owners say securing Capt Phillips release is their priority. The hijacked US ship freed by its crew has reportedly set sail for Kenya, but its captain remains adrift in a lifeboat held by pirates. Relatives of the US crew on board the Maersk Alabama cargo ship said it was sailing to Mombasa under armed guard. FBI experts are helping in negotiations and a US warship remains near the scene where pirates continue to hold Capt Richard Phillips hostage. The US crew retook the boat after a long struggle on Wednesday. Capt Phillips' relatives say they have been told he offered himself as a hostage to save his crew.

Could 19th Century plan stop piracy?

International efforts to thwart Somali piracy would appear to be floundering. Perhaps words from the 19th Century could offer a solution, writes the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds. If the navies of the world need some advice on ways to stop piracy off Somalia, they could look to Lord Palmerston, British Foreign Secretary in 1841. "Taking a wasps' nest... is more effective than catching the wasps one by one," he remarked. Palmerston, the great advocate of gunboat diplomacy, was speaking in support of a British naval officer,Joseph Denman. Denman had attacked and destroyed slave quarters on the West African coast and had been sued by the Spanish owners for damages. It was British policy to try to destroy the slave trade, but this sometimes ran into legal complications. The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that he "cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution... "[He] is of the opinion that the blockading of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be considered as sanctioned by the law of nations." Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy carried on with its anti-slavery operations.James Walvin notes in his book Black Ivory: "Between 1820 and 1870 the Royal Navy seized almost 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 slaves." With Somali piracy still threatening shipping, it sounds as if modern navies need a few Captain Joseph Denmans, or the like-minded American, Commodore Stephen Decatur. Sent to attack the Barbary pirates off North Africa in 1815, Decatur simply captured the flagship of the Algerian Bey [ruler] and forced a capitulation. When the Bey later tried to repudiate the agreement, the British and Dutch bombarded Algiers. No such action against the "wasps' nests" along the Somali coast is possible today, even though the UN Security Council has authorised the use of the "necessary means" to stop pirates on the high seas and hot pursuit into Somali territorial waters.

However, the resolutions that made these actions permissible (1838 and 1846) also contain restrictions. Everything has to be done in accordance with "international law" and this is interpreted as complying with the conditions of the International Law of the Sea Convention. This convention, in article 105, does permit the seizure of a pirate ship, but article 110 lays down that, in order to establish that a ship is indeed a pirate vessel, the warship - and it may only be a warship - has to send a boat to the suspected ship first and ask for its papers. This is hardly a recipe for a Denman - or Decatur-type action. Add to this legal restriction the relative lack of warships in the seas off Somalia - more than there were, but still insufficient - and the reluctance to tackle the pirates in their home bases, throw in the chaos in Somalia, where there is no effective government, and you have perfect conditions for piracy. Even if they are caught, they are simply handed over to Kenya whose legal system is not designed to deal with them. The German navy transported another batch of captured pirates to Kenya recently. But nobody knows how long they will be in custody there. And the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia issued a damning report last December in which it castigated ship owners for paying ransom. "Exorbitant ransom payments have fuelled the growth of [pirate] groups," it stated. The report also expressed concern about "the apparent complicity in pirate networks of Puntland administration officials at all levels." Puntland is a self-declared autonomous region of Somalia, right at the tip of the Horn of Africa. Since writing in December last year about the legal problems involved, I have had a lot of e-mails from people angry at the ineffectiveness of the measures taken so far and proposing their own solutions. These include:

Convoys. Already done in the case of aid ships going into Kenyan and Somali ports
Arming the crews. The crews might not want this, though in the latest case the American crew of cargo ship Maersk Alabama did fight back
Arming merchant ships with heavy guns. Ship owners might not want to risk an engagement at sea
luring pirates into attacking apparently unarmed ships which then declared themselves as warships. Would this be in "accordance with international law"?
Other ideas suggested would appeal to officers Denman and Decatur

Government keeps work restrictions for eastern Europeans

Home Office, 08 April 2009

Strict working restrictions for Eastern Europeans will not be scrapped, the Government announced today. The Worker Registration Scheme enables the Government to monitor the work A8 nationals do, and where in the country they do it - and so better plan for local services and ensure migration is working for the British labour market and the country as a whole. Maintaining the restrictions also means A8 nationals will not have full access to benefits until they have been working and paying tax for at least 12 consecutive months. The decision comes following independent, expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on the benefits of the scheme to the British labour market. Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said:

"Migration only works if it benefits the British people, and we are determined to make sure that is what happens.

"That is why I am delighted to announce that we are keeping in place restrictions which mean we can continue to count how many people are coming here, and which limit Eastern Europeans' access to benefits."

The number of Eastern Europeans coming here to work has fallen dramatically. In the three months to December last year there were 29,000 applications from workers from these countries - down from 53,000 in the same period in 2007. Nevertheless, the Government is determined to do everything it can to ensure migration is controlled and works for the country as a whole. According to Home Offce figures, the majority of workers coming from the A8 countries in 2008 were young - 78 per cent were aged between 18 and 34 - and only 11 per cent stated they had dependants living with them in the UK when they registered. Also today, the Government is delivering on its promise to be tougher on European criminals and remove those that cause harm to our communities. From today the deportation referral threshold for European criminals will be cut from 24 months imprisonment to 12 months for drugs, violent and sexual offences. This means these offenders will be automatically considered for deportation. Mr Woolas said:

"We are determined to remove people that harm our communities - wherever they are from. That is why we are making it easier to kick out European criminals and stop them from returning.

"In 2007 we removed over 500 European nationals. By reducing the threshold for deportation, we will ensure that we can remove even more."

Tough new powers to remove Europeans who are not exercising their Treaty Rights - by working, studying or by being self-sufficient - were also introduced today. This will mean that anyone from Europe who is not playing by the rules will not be allowed to stay.

London, Thursday 9th April, 2009. Around two million people will travel abroad this Easter with those staying at home facing a weekend of sunshine and showers. In contrast to last Easter, when travellers faced snow and bitterly cold weather, temperatures this year could reach 19C in parts of southern England over the weekend. Around 10 million drivers are set to take to the road over the holiday period, with tomorrow expected to be the busiest day for traffic and for airports. The Highways Agency has suspended some roadworks on English motorways and major roads but some remain in place. On the railways, passengers on a number of routes face service suspensions while a £55 million programme of engineering work goes ahead. P&O Ferries will carry 132,000 passengers on its Dover-Calais route from Good Friday to Easter Monday - an increase on the 98,000 figure last Easter. A total of 200,000 passengers will travel with the Channel Tunnel high-speed Eurostar train company in the period from tomorrow until Easter Tuesday. Most popular spots for those heading abroad include the Canary Islands, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. Long-haul destinations that are likely to see plenty of Britons include Florida and Cuba.

The RAC said today that 33% more people intended to take short trips by road this Easter than last Easter. Forecasting busy roads tomorrow and on Good Friday, the RAC added that all major routes were likely to be congested, with the heaviest traffic being on the M25, the MI and the M6. The AA said resorts such as Brighton and Bournemouth could be busy as well as historic cities such as Cambridge and Edinburgh. The Highways Agency said it had completed 37 sets of roadworks in time for Easter and that a further 51 sets would be suspended from 6am tomorrow until the end of Easter Monday, with 32 remaining in place. Those travelling by rail will have to contend with the closure of the West Coast Main Line between Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire and Rugby in the West Midlands from Easter Saturday until 12 noon on Easter Monday. Services in and out of London's Liverpool Street and Waterloo stations will also be disrupted by engineering work, although 64,000 train services will run over the holiday period (Thursday to Monday) which is around 5,000 more than last Easter. Tomorrow is set to be the busiest day for rail travel, with more than three-and-a-half million passengers making journeys. Winds from the south are likely to mean warm weather for the first part of the holiday, at least for southern England. Temperatures of 19C may be reached again on Easter Saturday where the pattern of sunshine and showers would persist, before cooler weather came in on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, with temperatures possibly as low as 8C to 9C along eastern coasts.

A man was rushed to hospital after telling doctors how his best friend bit his penis off in a row - and swallowed it. Horrified Marian Milczarek, 53, from Lesna in south west Poland, was attacked following a row with his friend - apparently over borrowing a trailer. 'He began hitting me with a chain and then pulled down my trousers and started biting. It was agony,' he said. Police and medics could find no trace of Marian's missing genitalia, and believe his attacker Wojciech Sowinski - now facing 10 years in jail - may have eaten it. 'If we'd had the other bit of his penis we could have sewn it back on,' said Dr Adam Domanasiewicz from the hospital in nearby Trzebnica, where Marian is recovering.

Equity spared blushes as CMA restores its licence

Equity Bank’s custodial license as a stock agent was temporarily suspended, only to be lifted before end of day Wedneday. This development has raised eyebrows over the growing rivalry and intense competition for commissions between commercial banks and stockbroker firms. The high drama begun when a terse statement circulated to all stockbroker central depository agents (CDAs), dated April 8, Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) Ltd mentioned that Equity Bank has been suspended as a CDA for a period of 14 days with effect from yesterday. CDSC had advised market players not to allocate any orders to CDS accounts held through Equity Bank. Efforts to obtain a comment from CDSC Chief Executive Rose Mambo on what informed this decision were fruitless with CDSC unwilling to comment. But in a hurriedly organised press conference hours later, Equity Bank announced its reinstatement of as a CDA. With more 400,000 CD accounts, or close to 50 per cent of all electronic accounts, Equity Bank’s entry into the stockbroking business has attracted the attention of rival players in the market. "The bank has been offering more competitive services, and this has attracted intense rivalry from the brokers, who are behind this arbitrary decision by CDSC to suspend our license," said Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi.

While it takes four working days to complete an ordinary transaction through stockbrokerage firms, Equity Bank has been crediting its customers’ accounts with the sales proceeds on the same day that the sales are done, giving the bank an edge over other players. While Equity Bank accused brokers of instigating the decision to suspend the bank’s agency license, officials at the Kenya Association of Stockbrokers (Kasib) and investment banks think otherwise. "Stockbrokers have a paltry shareholding at the CDSC, and are therefore unlikely to influence its decisions," said a Kasib official. Trouble begun between the bank and CDSC begun during the Safaricom IPO when the bank offered unsecured credit to customers. While CDSC insisted on ‘freezing of the shares’ during the sale, Equity bank decided to offered unsecured credit, thereby denying CDSC revenue. "We are being prevented from being innovative. This is a process dispute and we do not owe CDSC any money, said Dr Mwangi. Although Equity bank does not have a stockbroker’s license; it transacts business for its account holders through some eight stockbrokers. In a letter signed by Capital Markets Authority CEO Stella Kilonzo, the regulator cites Central Depository Act 2000, which gives it the right to approve the suspension procedure. This was not done. "We have taken this decision in the interest of investors and to preserve the integrity of the capital market," said Kilonzo in a statement. - The Standard.

Small but mighty: Romeo Dev, the world's smallest bodybuilder, poses in a truck on a visit to London this weekend. Weighting game: while he's no slouch with the dumbbells himself, Romeo can also double as a trainign weight and on right Romeo (2ft 9in) stands next to a model of Robert Wadlow, the tallest person who ever lived (8ft 11in). There is quite a height differece, you'll notice.

The bad blood between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga showed no signs of softening after their weekly meeting failed to kick off. And further doubts were cast on the weekly Cabinet meeting, which usually happens on Thursday. A statement from State House last evening, indicated the President would be at State House Gardens, Nairobi, this morning to watch performances by finalists at the just-concluded Kenya National Drama Festivals. Since the formation of the Coalition Government, Kibaki and Raila have met every Wednesday over the running of the coalition and plan for the weekly Cabinet meetings. Aides of the two principals said no such a meeting took place, yesterday although President Kibaki met several PNU ministers at Harambee House. They included Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Chirau Ali Mwakwere (Transport). Sources said Raila was working from his Treasury House office and did not contact Kibaki. "The PM has been working since morning and no meeting took place between him and the President," the source, who sought anonymity, confirmed.

The spat between the two came after the abortive coalition retreat at Kilaguni last weekend, and appears to draw them further apart, jeopardising Cabinet business. Raila claimed Kibaki was the greatest obstacle to reform and accused him of unleashing civil servants to undermine him and the coalition. But on his return from a regional meeting in Zambia on Tuesday, President Kibaki avoided commenting on the accusations, but said people should stop abusing others. The reopening of Parliament in two weeks will spell further trouble for the coalition, particularly PNU that has been rocked by the resignations of Justice Minister Martha Karua and Medical Services Assistant Minister Danson Mungatana. And Karua’s resignation continued to draw fire from both PNU and ODM, while Church and civil society asked Kibaki and Raila to get their act together. The Head of the Catholic Church John Cardinal Njue and his Anglican counterpart Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi urged the two to treat each other as equal partners. "They are equal partners in this Government and they should treat each other on equal basis," Njue told The Standard on the telephone. He added: "If the two do not come together and talk, this country could go up in smoke." He warned history would judge them harshly if they allowed the situation to degenerate, and dismissed calls for fresh elections, saying they would be disastrous. Archbishop Nzimbi told Raila to stop complaining in public about Kibaki because the President was his equal partner, whom he could meet any time. "The Prime Minister does not need an appointment to meet the President because they are equal partners in the coalition. Therefore, they should talk to move this country forward," he said. - The Standard.

A court has ordered the arrest of businesswoman Joyce Akinyi, two weeks after she returned from an Indian jail. Kibera Senior Resident Magistrate Cosmas Maundu issued the warrant after Ms Akinyi failed to appear in court to answer to charges. She is accused of creating disturbance at Deep West Resort club in Lang’ata, Nairobi, last Tuesday. It is alleged she assaulted her estranged husband Anthony Chinedu, calling him a drug dealer and throwing bottles of beer at him. Court prosecutor Joseph Musyoka requested for a mention of the case in two weeks, saying the file was forwarded to the AG for advice. The court heard that police could not trace Akinyi at her known residence. Chinedu is listed as the first witness in the case. Others are to be stated. The two have hogged headlines over love gone sour, which has culminated in battle over how to share family property. Akinyi spent six months in an Indian jail, where she was jailed alongside former Assistant Minister Raphael Wanjala. Meanwhile, a warrant issued for the arrest of Wanjala has been lifted. - VIDEO

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Change of Place Of Worship

LIVING FOUNTAIN MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL

Invite you to our new place of worship:

Dagenham Parish Hall, Exeter Road, Dagenham RM10 8TR.

Worship Times: Sundays 2:30pm- 5:30pm

Thursday Fellowship: 6pm-8pm at the Church Office

Home cell groups: Every last Tuesday of the month

Join us this Sunday for an uplifing Easter Sunday Service.

Visiting Minister: Pastor Mlagazia (Tanzania)

Contact: Pastor Leonard Muchiri -07984282749

Website: www.livingfountainministries.org

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President Kibaki appeared to reel from one headache to another when former Kabete MP Paul Muite declared he had written to the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, asking them to investigate and prosecute the President over extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. A day after he jetted back in the country from Zambia to find resignation letters from Justice Minister Martha Karua and Assistant Medical Services Minister Danson Mungatana — in addition to a basketful of complaints from the ODM side of the Grand Coalition — it appeared the President would get no reprieve just yet. And following Wednesday, Muite’s claims, the police ordered that the former Kabete MP records a statement at the CID headquarters in Nairobi to "put substance to his wild allegations". "Due to the seriousness of his allegations, Paul Muite is directed to come to CID headquarters on Kiambu Road on April 9 (today)," said Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe. Kiraithe dismissed Muite, who also fingered Environment minister John Michuki and Commissioner of Police Hussein Ali in his letter to the ICC, as among the "politically frustrated individuals" seeking to revive careers through "unorthodox means of seeking publicity." At a Press conference in Nairobi, Muite said his life was in danger. But Kiraithe was quick to dismiss the claim as false and politically motivated. - The Standard.

This two-wheeled vehicle could solve the problem of getting around in urban areas safely, quickly and cleanly. The electric Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility – Puma – beats congestion in cities and boasts zero emissions, according to makers General Motors and Segway. 'We're excited about doing more with less,' said Segway chief executive Jim Norrod. A prototype of the Puma – which runs on a lithium battery and can reach up to 56kph (35mph), was tested in New York.

The number of fake pound coins in circulation may be twice Royal Mint estimates, the BBC has learned. Official figures suggest around 2.5% - or one in 40 - are copies, but coin testing companies say it is one in 20. Andy Brown of Willings, a firm which makes machines to check coins for other businesses and organisations, says there could be 73 million fake coins. There have been calls for the Treasury to take a greater role in dealing with the problem. Mr Brown said car parking firms, vending machine operators, local councils and even banks have sent their coins to Willings to be checked. He said: "We would estimate that as many as 5% of coins we test are fakes. "We've been collating them for the past four months or so, and already have a collection of several hundred." The figures quoted by the Royal Mint were wide of the mark, he added. Former Queen's Assay Master Robert Matthews - a leading authority on fake coins - is also worried. He said: "The Mint is really trying to play down the problem and keep it as low-key as possible. "They've not produced any publicity material for banks etc to tell us how to differentiate between real and fake coins. "They don't want to undermine public confidence in the coins, you might get people refusing to take them." Although it says little in public, the Royal Mint is taking action - testing far more coins than before. It redoubled its efforts last September after the BBC revealed around one in 50 pound coins was fake. In the last quarter of 2008 the Mint removed 270,000 fake pound coins from circulation compared to 97,000 for the whole of the previous year. The problem is that finding the fakes is not in anyone's interests. As soon as a coin accepted in good faith is found to be counterfeit, it is immediately rendered worthless - and in addition attempting to pass it on is an offence. Mr Brown said: "Provided the coins are just being accepted and passed through the system nobody cares. It's only when people start rejecting the coins that people come to us."

A fake pound coin (right) alongside the real thing

Not surprisingly, it is local authorities and the post office, rather than private individuals or small businesses, who are working hardest to identify the fakes - even if that means taking a financial hit. The aim for those dealing with coin-operated machines is to find mechanisms that will reject even the best forgeries. Mr Brown said: "We've been working for the last six months to create a new data file for our machines to detect fake coins. "We can manage a 50-60% detection rate while the machines being used by the Royal Mint can only pick up around 30-40%." That means even when fake coins do pass through security checks at accredited cash centres, two thirds will come right back into circulation. Mr Brown believes the Royal Mint's official figures on the number of fake coins will continue to rise. "Their percentage will go up as they get better at detecting fakes," he said. Mr Matthews, meanwhile, says there is no regulation and thinks it is time the government took ownership of the problem. He said: "There's a whole raft of organisations who should have been tackling this who haven't been tackling it. "It's like a game of pass the parcel. In the final analysis it's the Treasury who should be dealing with this - and checking the work of the cash centres." And for the rest of us? Finding a fake coin can be done by hand - just check the rim inscription for authenticity, or check the Queen's head on one side and the pattern on the reverse line up. But given that fake coins are worthless, you will almost certainly be better off not even looking. - VIDEO

From Maasai land

Menyanyukie esajati oloilelee katukul

Even a small pice of the cow's shank is worth something.

"I Joseph Gatonye, solemnly declare....that I do".

A colourful wedding took place in London on Saturday 4th April, 2009 between Mr. Joseph Kuria (Josda) and Florence Wairimu. There ceremony took place at Calvary Charismatic Baptist Church, Barking, King Edwards Road, Barking and was followed in the afternoon by a reception at Civil Hall, in Grays, Essex. The ceremony in the church was officiated by Pastor Patrick Thuku of CCBC Swahili Service. - MORE PHOTOS

Kikuyu Age Group

1923 - Rika ria "Shiringi"

The year the Shillings were introduced in Kenya

More than 97% of all e-mails sent over the net are unwanted, according to a Microsoft security report. The e-mails are dominated by spam adverts for drugs, and general product pitches and often have malicious attachments. The report found that the global ratio of infected machines was 8.6 for every 1,000 uninfected machines. It also found that Office document attachments and PDF files were increasingly being targeted by hackers. Microsoft said people should not panic about the high levels of unwanted e-mail. Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy for Microsoft in the UK, told BBC News: "The good news is that the majority of that never hits your inbox although some will get through." Ed Gibson, chief cyber security advisor at Microsoft, said the rise in spam was due to traditional organised crime figures moving away from exploiting software vulnerabilities and "targeting the weak link that is you and me". "With higher capacity broadband and better OS (operating systems), and higher power computers it is easier now to send out billions of spams. Three or four years ago the capacity wasn't there."

LEFT: The Daily Express leads with health experts' concerns that "binge tanning" is fuelling a skin cancer crisis. CENTRE: Gordon Brown tells The Independent he wants a green recovery to begin with the mass introduction of electric cars. RIGHT: The Times calls yesterday "the bleakest day of the year" after the Royal Bank of Scotland announced further job cuts and the Government's stake in the bank rose to 70%.

Government keeps work restrictions for eastern Europeans

Home Office, 08 April 2009

Mr Woolas said:

"We are determined to remove people that harm our communities - wherever they are from. That is why we are making it easier to kick out European criminals and stop them from returning.

"In 2007 we removed over 500 European nationals. By reducing the threshold for deportation, we will ensure that we can remove even more." Tough new powers to remove Europeans who are not exercising their Treaty Rights - by working, studying or by being self-sufficient - were also introduced today. This will mean that anyone from Europe who is not playing by the rules will not be allowed to stay.

Somali pirates hijack Danish ship

Somali pirates have hijacked a Danish-owned container ship with a 21-strong American crew on board, officials say. The US-operated 17,000 tonne vessel, named as Maersk Alabama, was seized in the Indian Ocean about 400 miles (645 km) east of the capital, Mogadishu. The crew members are believed to be safe, the European Union's maritime security force said. It is the sixth seizure by pirates in recent days, including a British ship and Taiwanese ship taken this week. Before Wednesday's attack, pirates had boarded a British-owned ship, the Malaspina Castle, in an area heavily patrolled by a European Union taskforce. The taskforce, consisting of six ships and two planes, is among almost a dozen anti-piracy patrols in the area. But pirates managed to seize 15 ships last month - a large increase on the two taken in January and February. One expert believes the weather had a bigger impact on pirates than the patrols. Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said: "It was all down to the fact that the weather did not favour them. "And now the weather has improved, they're back in business again."

Tamil protesters besiege central London

Police were this afternoon locked in a tense stand-off with more than 2,000 Tamil protesters in Parliament Square. Hundreds of officers faced a waiting game with demonstrators more than 24 hours after they brought major disruption to central London by occupying Westminster Bridge. Senior officers had pledged to end the illegal protest but they were powerless to act in the face of the number of people on the streets. Six people were arrested — two of them for waving a flag of the Tamil Tigers, a banned terror organisation in the UK. Ten people were hurt in the protests. The Tamils are calling for an end to the civil war in Sri Lanka. At one stage yesterday 3,500 Tamils blocked the bridge. Some threatened to jump en masse into the Thames unless they could speak to Gordon Brown. Four RNLI lifeboats and police and fire rescue boats stood by ready to pull people from the water. Two men had to be rescued after jumping in. Police in riot gear began moving protesters from the bridge and penning them into Parliament Square. Several protesters complained of police violence as they were dragged away. Jaynani Paramsothy, 18, a student from East Ham, said: “We wanted to continue our protest in the road but they started kicking and hitting and pushing us to move. They gave us no warning that they wanted to move us. I saw an old woman get kicked by a policeman.” - MORE PHOTOS

Charged: ‘torture’ boys aged 10 and 11

London, Tuesday 7th April, 2009. two young brothers were today charged with the attempted murder of a nine-year-old boy and his 11-year-old uncle. The pair, aged 10 and 11, are accused of attacking and torturing the boys, who were found with serious injuries in Edlington, near Doncaster, on Saturday afternoon. The Crown Prosecution Service said that each brother would be charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of robbery. At Doncaster youth court this afternoon the pair showed little emotion as the charges were read to them. The older boy wore a red England shirt and his brother a grey Umbro T-shirt as they stood with three security officers. In a statement issued to police today, the parents of the injured 11-year-old boy said: “We would like to thank all the community for their help in finding our son and for all their continued support through what is a very traumatic time. We are hoping that our son will continue to recover from his ordeal.”

Police were called after the nine-year-old boy was found wandering, covered in blood. He told people where to find his 11-year-old uncle. They had been set upon in a “barbaric attack” in which they were slashed from “head to toe” with a knife, burned with a cigarette and beaten with bricks before the older boy was thrown into a ravine. He suffered serious head injuries and was left fighting for his life in hospital, while the younger boy needed surgery to a cut on his arm. Both were today still receiving treatment. Today attention turned to the social services department in Doncaster, which has been accused of having a poor record of caring for children at risk. Questions are being asked about the supervision of the alleged attackers. Known by social workers as the “Haringey of the North” — a reference to the council which failed to prevent the deaths of Victoria Climbié and Baby P — Doncaster has been described as “chaotic and dangerous” following the deaths of seven vulnerable young people. Although it cannot be directly blamed for the attack in Edlington, concerns have been raised over its history of “serious weaknesses” in providing care for vulnerable children.

The suspects had been placed with approved foster parents living less than a mile from their father's home and apparently had severe behavioural problems. Relatives of their alleged victims have accused the authority of not placing the brothers in more secure care. Saturday's attack began when the two boys were riding their bikes. They were set upon and ordered to hand over their mobile phones, money and trainers. When they refused they were tortured before the older victim was pushed 30 feet down a steep embankment. The younger boy, covered in blood, staggered to nearby homes to get help. It has today been revealed that a week earlier, Callam Flett, an 11-year-old choirboy, who went to the same beauty spot known as Brick Ponds, was allegedly beaten by the same boys. The attack was immediately reported to South Yorkshire police. Relatives of the two boys attacked at the weekend demanded to know why the authorities had not acted sooner. The aunt of the 11-year-old boy thrown into the ravine, said: “They knew what the two attackers were capable of, but they did nothing. “Social services should have taken them into more secure care and not just let them roam the streets. If he had been found just half an hour later my poor nephew would have died.” He was airlifted to Sheffield Children's Hospital where his condition improved yesterday from critical to stable. The younger boy was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

Fresh aftershocks have rattled earthquake-hit central Italy, killing at least one more person and hampering the search for survivors. The latest tremor struck at 0627 local time (0427 GMT) in L'Aquila, epicentre of Monday's 6.2-magnitude quake. The aftershocks brought down masonry from already damaged buildings and one tremor was felt as far away as Rome. As the desperate search for survivors continues, officials have raised the death toll from the quake to 250. Another 100 people are reported to be in a serious condition and some 20,000 people were made homeless.

Nairobi, Tuesday 7th April, 2009. President Mwai Kibaki has reassured Kenyans living in the Country and abroad that the new envisaged constitution would be citizen centered. President Kibaki noted that the few issues that had delayed the restart of the constitution review process had been dealt with, and had paved the way for the exercise to begin. The President was addressing Kenyans living in Zambia at the Kenya High Commission in Lusaka where he assured Kenyans living in the Diaspora that dual citizenship would be accorded priority. The Head of State encouraged Kenyans to continue expressing their views on the constitution they feel was best suited for the Country. President Kibaki reaffirmed the coalition Government's commitment to work together on issues of National importance for the benefit of all citizens. The President said majority of Kenyans people are participants in the ongoing National healing and reconciliation in the Country and would not be distracted by divisive politics. He said while the Government continued to support Kenyans in the Diaspora in their undertakings, they should not engage in unlawful activities but obey the laws of the host countries. The President noted that Kenya was a great beneficiary of regional integration being one of the leading Nations in total volume of trade in the EAC and COMESA. Economic integration had also enabled more Kenya Nationals to be in gainful employment due to the growing economic opportunities. The President called for harmonious co-existence of different communities and warned of dangers of tribalism in the Country and asked all Kenyans to live peacefully. The President at the same time called on Kenyans living abroad to be good ambassadors and promote the Country's image to market the tourist attractions. Earlier the President met with the President of the African development bank (ADB) Dr. Donald Kaberuka who paid him a courtesy call at his intercontinental Hotel residence. During the discussions, President Kibaki thanked the bank for financing various development projects in the Country noting that the bank was at the forefront in funding infrastructural projects that cut across Kenya and neighbouring Countries. Dr Kaberuka said that the ADB was giving priority to infrastructure projects that would support intra-Africa trade and promised continued support for Kenya . The talks were attended by Cabinet Ministers Moses Wetang'ula, Amos Kimunya and Assistant Minister Peter Munya among other senior Government officials.

Women may be better at sniffing out biologically relevant information from underarm sweat, a US study suggests. Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man. They speculate that a woman's highly attuned smell radar might help her select a mate. The study, by Philadelphia's Monell Center, appears in Flavour and Fragrance Journal. In the study, women and men rated the strength of underarm odours, both alone and in conjunction with various fragrances. The fragrances were selected to test their ability to block underarm odour through a method known as olfactory cross-adaptation.

GENEVA, Apr 7 - Swiss authorities have frozen bank accounts in Geneva in a major investigation into the multi-billion shilling Anglo Leasing scandal, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Neue Zurcher Zeitung said the probe into the Anglo Leasing scandal focused on about 885 million dollars of Kenyan state contracts, including for weapons and police helicopters

World's oldest person turns 115

Gertrude Baines, the world's oldest living person, has celebrated her 115th birthday with a big cake. She was also officially recognised as the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records. Ms Baines - who was born in 1894 in Shellman, Georgia - received a letter from US President Barack Obama, who took time out from his busy schedule to wish her a happy birthday. To put things in perspective, Ms Baines, whose father was the son of slaves, witnessed the invention of the automobile, the age of flight and was 18-years-old when the Titanic sank. The 115-year-old says she owes her "longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around". Ms Baines made the local news in November when she cast her ballot for Mr Obama in the presidential election, saying she backed him "because he's for the coloured". She said she never thought she would live to see a black man become president. Ms Baines' ascension to the top spot came after the death of a Portuguese woman, Maria de Jesus, who was also 115.

"Martha Karua was the only MAN in Kibaki's cabinet." - Misterseed forum contributor

MIGINGO, Kenya, Apr 7 - Nine Kenyan fishermen were arrested and detained on Monday by Ugandan forces on Migingo Island. The fishermen were arrested by Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) for 'fishing in their waters'. "Nine fishermen from our side were arrested and are being detained by Ugandan forces. We are trying our best to secure their release," Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe said.

Matatu strike bites Nairobi

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 7 – Thousands of Nairobi residents were stranded on Tuesday morning following a City-wide strike by matatu operators who grounded vehicles to protest alleged harassment by police. Public service vehicles on major routes on Jogoo road, Thika road, Ngong road and Waiyaki Way were not operating, forcing commuters from Kayole, Komarock, Umoja, Githurai, Uthiru, Kibera among others to walk to walk long distances. The strike, organised by the Matatu Drivers and Conductors Association, was meant to address numerous grievances ranging from extortion by Mungiki sect members and harassment by police and City council askaris. The association’s deputy secretary general Njuguna Kahenya told Capital News that they resolved to down their tools after the government failed to show concern for their plight. “We had given the government a notice of 21 days and they were to address our grievances before the expiry of the notice but they failed. We will not resume unless our conditions are met,” he said. In a letter dated March 17, and addressed to the Ministry of Transport Permanent Secretary, the association had threatened to mobilise their members to ground their vehicles beginning Tuesday morning.

In the letter, they accused the police of taking advantage of matatu crackdowns to extort money from innocent crew. “Our people (drivers and conductors) are being made to part with money any time they are arrested, and yet they are in most cases arrested because these policemen want money from them. We want our industry to be recognised and respected because we offer crucial services,” he said. “The government should streamline the sector to end victimisation by the police,” he added. Drivers and conductors who spoke to Capital News accused police of stopping them ‘even ten times a day’ to demand bribes. “As you are operating on your normal duties, police normally block the road, they enter into your vehicle and then they take you to the police station. You can not leave there unless you give them money,” one matatu driver stated. Affected commuters at the Globe Cinema bus terminus said that they had been inconvenienced by the strike and called on both the police and matatu operators to deliberate the issue. “They are hiking the fares and people like us cannot go to school now,” Daniel Kimathi, a student at a local college said. On Monday, a similar strike was staged by operators on route 44 to Githurai, prompting violent confrontations with the police who fired live ammunition and lobbed tear gas at some of them who were found stoning motorists at Githurai.

The Daily Star reports Jade Goody's family have hired minders to guard her grave and says a guest is selling their admission writsband on eBay and The Daily Express claims Members of Parliament have capped price rises in the restaurants and cafeterias of Westminster at a cost of £5m a year to the taxpayer.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 7 - The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was set to hold a National Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss its position in the Grand Coalition government. Party leader Raila Odinga told Capital News on Monday that the top organ would discuss ODM’s concerns and the way the Party of National Unity (PNU) was treating the National Accord. “We have our own position with regard to the running of this coalition; we are going to make a decision. I don’t want to pre-empt tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) discussions,” he said. He agreed that there were differences in the coalition which required the partners to discuss in view of finding a consensus. “Yes there will always be differences in a situation like this; it depends on the goodwill that exists. If there is none, of course the marriage cannot last, and if it cannot, then of course there are options,” he said. However he did not disclose what options the party would be considering.

London, Tuesday 7th April, 2009. At least two people have been killed in a shooting at a courthouse in Germany, according to police. The gunman is believed to have turned the gun on himself, said police spokesman Leonard Mayer. The shooter opened fire at the administrative court in the Bavarian town of Landshut, killing at least two people and wounding others in a hail of bullets. "The sniper is no longer on the move," Mr Mayer said. "The situation has calmed down." Another force spokesman, Thomas Ploessl, said the courthouse in Landshut, around 40 miles north east of Munich, had been evacuated. There is no immediate information on the identity of the gunman or a possible motive. The court employs 128 people including 34 judges, according to its website. Reports say an inheritance case was under way as the gunman opened fire. The incident comes just four weeks after a 17-year-old gunned down 15 people in the German town of Winnenden, in a bloodbath that revived an emotional debate over gun laws. The teenage killer shot himself when police tried to apprehend him.

Nairobi, Kenya, April 6 - A resident magistrate based at the Nairobi Law Courts was found murdered and his body dumped on the roadside in Embakasi on Monday morning. The body of Rogers Fundi was found lying outside a bar off North Airport Road. Police and witnesses said the body had bruises on the neck, and blood was oozing from the mouth. “It also had an injury that appeared like a stab wound on the chest,” Embakasi divisional Police chief David Bunei said. “It does not appear to us that he was killed here; there are no signs of struggle at all. He must have been killed elsewhere and his body dumped here,” Mr Bunei said. Family members, including his wife who works as an advocate in Kiambu and senior officials from the Judiciary broke down to tears when they saw his half-naked body.

One of Mr Fundi’s cousins told Capital News that they were alerted via a telephone call at about 9 am. “We were called and informed to go and identify the body at the scene, it appears people at scene knew him well because they had already identified him. I don’t know what happened to him,” one of his relatives said. His wife was overcome by emotions and could not talk to journalists. Another relative told Capital News that the late deceased had left behind two children. A police investigator said they were probing reports that the magistrate had not gone home since Saturday. “We are trying to establish more from his driver. He was with him for the better part of the weekend. We want him to tell us all his whereabouts prior to the murder,” the officer said. He said investigators were also seeking to establish the motive of the killers who dumped his body outside a bar that he frequented. “We understand this is a place he usually drinks (sic). Many people in bars around here know him well. We want to know if he was in this area on Sunday night and the people he was seen with,” the officer added.

From the Luoland

Chiem kiparo jodala

Eat while you think of those you've left in the rural home

There is satisfaction, pleasure in giving assistance to the poor.

Matatu crew protest Mungiki mess

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 6 - Police on Monday fired live ammunition and threw teargas canisters at matatu operators who were protesting alleged harassment by law enforcers and members of the outlawed Mungiki sect in Nairobi. The operators of route 44 to Githurai estate grounded their vehicles early Monday and vowed to resume work once they are assured of maximum protection from the government. The matatu strike was peaceful until 11am when police clashed with the protesters who were found stoning other motorists on Thika road. Dozens of the operators were arrested and taken to the Kasarani police station. Area divisional Police chief said those arrested would face charges of incitement to violence, creating disturbance among others. “We told them to remain peaceful throughout the demonstration but they turned violent and started throwing stones at innocent motorists, that is when we intervened to keep law and order,” he said.

He denied reports that his officers had been harassing the matatu operators. “Whenever they break the law, they know it well that our officers will arrest them. If this is what they are talking about, then they are wrong because we are mandated to maintain law and order,” he said. Mungiki Spokesman Njuguna Gitau defended his members against accusations of extortion and blamed the police for the mess. “We are the aggrieved because our members are being targeted. Police have been arresting any one at matatu stages; these include drivers and conductors who are branded Mungiki. This must stop,” he said. Mr Gitau said there were instances where some matatu operators are arrested more than five times and released. “They (police) are always at the stages, they keep taking our members and detaining them. None is released unless a bribe of between Sh500 and Sh1000 is given out,” he said. He cited five unnamed police officers of being notorious in the extortion ring. “We know them. They are usually busy collecting money in the name of fighting Mungiki at matatu stages,” he said. When reached for comment, Mr Ombati denied the claims and maintained his officers were justified in the crackdown. “They (Mungiki) can not be left to continue extorting motorists and harassing the people. The crackdown will continue,” he said.

A young family had a lucky escape when weather chaos sent eight-tonne boulders raining down on them. Jodie and Michael Johnston and children Tiffany, five, and Lukas, two, were driving through Springbrook in Queensland, Australia, on Sunday when the land slip hit, pushing their car close to a cliff edge. 'All of a sudden the whole side of the road came tumbling down,' said Mrs Johnston.

Martha Karua, Kenya’s Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister has resigned from the Grand Coalition Government. “I will continue to participate in nation building as a Member of Parliament and a leader," Ms Karua told a Press conference in Nairobi on Monday. “I will now be able to totally disagree with anything that is anti-reform,” she said. She made good her threat to quit only a day after declaring “enough is enough” after attending a church service at the Anglican Church in Nairobi. She has said that she decided to resign because of frustrations in discharging her duties. President Kibaki appointed five new High Court judges on Friday last week and promoted two others to the Court of Appeal. She said she was not aware of the President’s move. As the minister in charge of Justice, Ms Karua expected to be consulted before new judges were appointed. “If my hands are tied and the Judiciary continues to be used as a place where people sacked from parastatals are recycled, the agenda is forestalled and all reforms are annihilated, then I better leave and fights for the rights of ordinary mwananchi,” she said after the appointments. She becomes the first Kenyan minister to resign from the Grand Coalition Government. The Government, which brought together President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odiinga, was formed to help end post election violence following a disputed presidential election. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement said that its candidate, Raila Odinga, was denied victory through rigging and claimed it could not accept results of a stolen election. The violence that broke out left 1,133 people dead and a further 350,000 displaced. Ms Karua had accused the Judiciary of being lethargic and anti-reform and laid the blame on Chief Justice Evans Gicheru. She lashed out at the CJ accusing him of blocking judicial reforms in the country and called for his removal. However, President Kibaki has since expressed his confidence at the Chief Justice and dismissed a petition from the Law Society of Kenya calling for the CJ’s ouster. - Daily Nation.

Minister Martha Karua who resigned

I was frustrated, says Karua

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 - Martha Karua says she was forced to quit the government because of frustration from her colleagues who are opposed to reforms. The Gichugu MP who resigned on Monday as Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, said her fight against corruption had led to recent attacks against her by top politicians in the government. “I will now be able to totally disagree with anything that is anti-reform, corruption and lack of transparency in government,” said the no-nonsense lawmaker. She said her resignation letter had already been dispatched to President Mwai Kibaki, who is in Zambia attending a COMESA-EAC-SADC high-level conference. “My letter to the President is very brief. He is away... let him have the privilege of reading the letter first, but it doesn’t say much more than I have told you,” she told a news conference at the Justice Ministry’s offices at Co-operative House in Nairobi.

Her latest aggravation came up last week when President Kibaki appointed new judges without consulting her despite her push for an open and transparent process. The resignation also pre-empted a plot by back benchers in Parliament to censure her for allegedly “not doing enough to institute reforms.” She linked latest attacks against her by top politicians to her vicious fight against corruption in the country. “If I am to conduct a reform agenda and every time we talk reforms people in government feel I am stepping on their toes then they have forgotten what reforms are,” she had previously said on Sunday. Ms Karua had until Monday been holding fort at the crucial Justice docket as the country grapples with re-writing its constitution, reforming key institutions such as the judiciary, police force and dealing with the legal issues arising from a disputed presidential election and post-election violence. The Gichugu MP said she would now focus on matters of nation building and her 2012 presidential bid. Ms Karua was the President’s astute defender during formulation of the National Accord and was widely credited for putting forward a case that saw him retain majority control in the power sharing agreement with Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

But in recent months Kenya’s iron lady has been rubbing all sorts of people the wrong way, attacking everyone from Cabinet colleague’s like William Ruto (Agriculture) and Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) on corruption in their ministries; to the country’s Chief Justice Evan Gicheru in a no holds-barred scathing condemnation of the government she served. After declaring her interest in the Presidency last year, Ms Karua shrugged off criticism from the President urging her and others to desist from 2012 succession politics. She said her political agenda was not affecting her work as Justice Minister. It was at about the same time that she declared that her NARC Kenya party would not continue with its coalition membership in the President’s Party of National Unity. But lately it appeared Ms Karua’s sharp tongue which has previously earned her praise as a human rights monitor may have cut her. Though trouble may have been brewing for a while, it all started going wrong last month when legislators led by Kamukunji's Simon Mbugua said they would move a Motion of no confidence against her when Parliament resumes sittings, claiming that she has failed in her duties. They said she ought to take ‘political responsibility’ for the failures of the Judiciary. ‘Political Responsibility’, a term she coined when attacking Mr Ruto over a scandal in his ministry surrounding maize, was now being used against her.

PROFILE

Born in 1957 in Central Province’s Kirinyaga District, Martha Karua studied law at the University of Nairobi before enrolling at the Kenya School of Law in 1981. She worked as a Magistrate from 1981 to 1987 before going into private practice. Ms Karua rose from opposition politics in the early 1990s but took her no nonsense approach into Parliament and the Cabinet. An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Ms Karua was the first woman lawyer to be popularly elected to Parliament. She once made the headlines when she walked out on former President Daniel Moi during his tenure while he was addressing a crowd in her constituency. She has at one time served as Minister of Water Resources Management and Development. She has been involved in championing women’s rights and worked with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya) and the League of Kenya Women Voters. Ms Karua was among those who formed NARC that won the 2003 General Election and put President Kibaki. Anne Kiguta, Anthony Kagiri, George Munyori and Judie Kaberia contributed to this story.

Rescuers search the rubble from the Italian quake which flattened buildings in the L'Aquila area, reportedly killing 150 people and on right hundreds of injured survivors were taken to the local hospital, where doctors treated patients in the open air as only one operating theatre was functioning.

Kenyans hail 'heroic' Karua

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 - Former Justice Minister Martha Karua became an instant heroine to a cross section of Kenyans for her move to quit the government over frustrations in her reform agenda. The legal fraternity and the civil society hailed Ms Karua as a true leader. The Law Society of Kenya Vice Chairman James Mwamu praised the Gichugu legislator pointing out that she had managed to walk her talk. "It is very rare in Africa to find a Minister resigning as matter of principle," he told Capital News. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also joined the commendation urging Ms Karua to forge ahead in her fight for reforms in the country. "It is a good decision on her part because at some point in time, one must make very tough decisions if there is no sincerity on the part of the government to let people perform the tasks they have been appointed to do," ICJ Chairman Wilfred Nderitu said. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi told reporters that Ms Karua’s resignation was a sign that there were issues that needed urgent redress.

“She is raising issues that ought to be tackled. The worst thing that can happen is for the reform process to be derailed. It does not look for resignations to start taking place. I do not have details of Martha’s concerns but she may have some legitimate concerns which have made her feel that she should not sit as the Minister for Justice,” Mr Mudavadi said in response to queries from reporters. He went on to accuse some politicians within and outside the government of blocking consultations between President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. Lands Minister James Orengo on his part said: “We applaud Karua’s decision to resign. President Kibaki has lost a most worth ally.” The Jamia Mosque Committee in Nairobi also praised Ms Karua's move. Committee chairman Mohammed Osman Warfa termed her resignation "a bold act which attests to her sticking by the principles which she stands for." "She has demonstrated unique qualities which Kenyans have been yearning for a long time." Ms Karua made good her threat citing frustrations by a cartel in the office of the President that has been blocking her reform agenda. Coming at a time when coalition partners Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Party of National Unity (PNU) remained divided over the implementation of reforms the move came in a big blow to the government. Sociologist Ken Ouko expressed pessimism that the country would realise any reforms in the lifetime of the coalition government. "The government will more certainly survive its full term but you can be sure there will be no reforms," Dr Ouko said.

Dr Ouko's sentiments were echoed by Mr Mwamu who said Ms Karua's exit however was likely to frustrate the implementation of the much needed reforms in the country. "I am not very sure if she has tried and failed anybody else will succeed in these circumstances. Those forces she was complaining about in the office of the President are fairly strong, if they decide the next person is going to succeed am not sure they will." Mr Nderitu on his part said that the resignation 'should sound the alarm that all is not well in the grand coalition government'. "For the top leadership, this should be a wake up call. The events in the recent weeks are testimony enough, the Geneva meeting, the Kilaguni meeting and the resignation now." There has been evident crisis in the coalition government with a weekend meeting called to address the crisis failing to kick off due to disagreement over the agenda. ODM has continually blamed PNU of standing in the way of reforms essentially to maintain the status quo. Central Organisation for Trade Unions Secretary General Francis Atwoli in the spirit of the resignation urged other leaders in the coalition government to follow suit. "Karua is a highly respected politician. If you are in a company where you feel what you are trying to champion is hitting the walls, you do the most respected thing, and step aside. That is what she has done," he said. He however called for a re-organisation of the working of the Grand Coalition Government to forestall any such future resignations.

"Let us not have more resignations like Martha Karua's, let us stop creating a hostile political climate, Kenyans are not interested in who is who in the Government, we just want an environment where we can work for our development," he said. Most readers on the Capital News website also had nothing but accolades for Ms Karua. George Panther said: “Martha Karua... well done..Few can do this is ... At least you are the only leader who seem focused...you have been in govt 4 sometime and no one can point a finger at you on corruption...you the only leader not been fronted by Ethnic background.. We are behind you.” Another reader Jemmimah K. told Ms Karua: "You are the beacon of hope where hopelessness has reigned. You have earned your votes for 2012. A true Kenyan heroine. Martha Kudos and God's blessings. On his part, James Maina said: “Martha I’m proud of you we appreciate your hard work. We will be behind you. You have done a great job.” Separately, the Kenyan chapter of Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has also supported Martha Karua’s resignation terming it a bold move. Chairperson, Naomi Wagereka on Monday said the former Justice Minister had shown quality leadership that Kenyans had yearned for long. She said FIDA supported her not because she is a woman but because of the principles she stood for. “It has been said before by many leaders including Nelson Mandela, he once said that this is a course I am prepared to live for, fight for and even die for alone. So that’s what leaders are called upon to do, once in a while as a leader you have to stand on your principles, you have to defend them and if need be quit,” the FIDA Chairperson said.

“I think she is a principled leader and she is a challenge to the other leaders,” she added. Ms Wagereka called on other leaders who were criticising the coalition government from within to take an honourable stand and walk out. “As we have already seen what happened in Kilaguni, we have given them (leaders) a lot as Kenyans and placed our faith in them but they are not delivering, instead they are fighting about positions, about which agenda was supposed to have proceeded,” she said in reference to the botched coalition management meeting over the weekend. “We are very grateful for Martha because she has shown the right way to proceed; as a leader you need to take responsibility and if you are not able to work within a certain context you have to quit. Narc Kenya Deputy Vice Chairman Asman Kamama said: “This was the opportune time now for her to take that decision. As a party tried to prevent her from taking that decision but she said she was fed up with cartels that are preventing her from discharging her duties.” “If people are preventing you from doing your job what else do you have to do you will have to hang up your boots” “I am sure that there are ministers and assistant ministers who are going to hang up their boots. Just watch this space.” Vihiga MP Yusuf Chanzu also added his voice in support of Ms Karua saying she was betrayed: “She has been betrayed. She has fought for things or goodies which are now being enjoyed by others. That is the highest level of betrayal.”

A desperate search for survivors is on in and around the Italian city of L'Aquila after a quake killed at least 150 people, according to Italian media. Some 5,000 rescuers are picking through rubble in the walled medieval city and nearby towns and villages, some of them said to have been virtually destroyed. Tents are being put up in tennis courts and on football pitches to house some of the 30,000-40,000 homeless. The number of people injured has been put at 1,500. Italy's PM Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency in the region. Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament, told MPs: "Some towns in the area have been virtually destroyed in their entirety." Such is the damage in L'Aquila, where between 3,000 and 10,000 buildings were reportedly affected, that the city will be uninhabitable for some time, the BBC's David Willey reports. Surrounding villages were also hit hard:

In the village of Onna, 24 people were killed, according to the Italian news agency Ansa; the village of 250 was virtually deserted as survivors sought shelter
In Castelnuovo, a village of about 300 people, five deaths were confirmed

It has been reported that a major earthquake in the L'Aquila area was predicted by an Italian scientist several weeks ago. But a spokesman for the Italian Civil Protection Agency, Dr Agostino Miozzo, was adamant that this was not possible. - VIDEO

UK deficit 'more than predicted'

The UK's deficit is about 2.7% more than Chancellor Alistair Darling acknowledged in the pre-Budget report, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says. The government may have to find £39bn a year by the end of 2015/16, to plug the gap in its finances, the IFS predicted. Mr Darling, who will present his Budget on 22 April, has said the recession will be more severe than forecast. He and Gordon Brown are due to meet the Bank of England governor to discuss measures agreed at the G20 summit. In making its calculations the IFS assumed that the government would ultimately have to cover bank losses of £130bn, which have so far not been included in the government's calculations. The IFS says that to raise the £39bn without raising any taxes, there will need to be a five-year real freeze in total public spending. Alternatively, if the money was raised entirely through tax-raising measures, then families would face an average increase of £1,250 in taxes a year. The IFS predicts that taxes in Britain will have to rise by at least £20bn a year to cover record borrowing.

In the pre-Budget report Mr Darling announced £38bn of fiscal tightening, to be achieved mainly through a reduction of spending but also through higher taxes. Shadow chancellor George Osbourne told the BBC the Conservatives had not ruled out further tax rises although they would seek to avoid them. They would be looking for restraint on spending, he said. Last week, leaders of the world's largest economies reached a deal to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1.1 trillion (£681bn). Resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be tripled to $750bn; there will be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation; and about $250bn will go into boosting global trade. Downing Street said the prime minister was "clear that the consensus reached at the G20 last week will make a difference to the lives and to the aspirations of families and businesses in the UK". The meeting would "help to ensure that the new regulation and supervision agreed at the summit is effected in Britain so that people can have confidence in the banks, and that British companies can access the trade finance that is being made available", a spokeswoman said.

Somali pirates seize more vessels

Somali pirates have seized a British-owned cargo ship and a Taiwanese ship, maritime officials say, after capturing three other vessels over the weekend. The UK-owned Malaspina Castle was boarded in the Gulf of Aden, while the Taiwanese ship was seized near the Seychelles, according to reports. A French yacht, a Yemeni tugboat and a German ship were also captured in the pirate-plagued waterway at the weekend. The region is heavily patrolled by a growing international naval coalition. But correspondents say the pirates have been venturing further off coastal areas to evade the warships from more than a dozen nations patrolling the area in an attempt to deter the gangs. The 32,000-tonne Malaspina Castle, which was carrying a cargo of iron, was seized on Monday morning. The vessel, which flies a Panamanian flag, has a crew of 24 - from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Philippines. Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters news agency it is UK-owned but operated by Italians. The Taiwanese fishing boat, with a crew of 29, was hijacked 260km (160 miles) from the Seychelles. The French yacht, with four crew, was seized on Saturday off north-east Somalia. It was being sailed by the pirates towards the Somali Puntland coast, said Kenya-based non-governmental organisation Ecoterra International, which monitors piracy. The Yemeni tugboat was captured on Sunday, a day after the 20,000-tonne German container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, was seized. More than 130 pirates attacks, including close to 50 successful hijackings, were reported in 2008, threatening one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Somali 'ghost city' wracked by war

Years of conflict in Somalia have left large parts of the country in the hands of warlords while its capital, Mogadishu, is contested by Ethiopian-backed government forces and armed insurgents. The city has been abandoned by at least half of its residents. The BBC's World Affairs Correspondent, Mark Doyle, sent this report from a war zone few Western journalists dare to visit. The bombed-out buildings are shocking enough. There are street after ruined street of them in the centre of Mogadishu. Some have been reduced by shellfire to rubble. Others retain a building-like shape - the rough skeletons of once-ornate Italian colonial apartment blocks or shopping arcades.

A shipping union chief has called for tougher action against piracy after a British-owned vessel was seized by Somalians in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates, sailing in two small rowing boats, hijacked the 32,000-tonne bulk carrier Malaspina Castle on Monday morning. The Panamanian-flagged vessel, which was bound for China with a cargo of iron, had 24 people aboard from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and the Philippines. All were believed to be safe and the 183m-long vessel, built in 1981, was thought to be undamaged. Mark Dickinson, assistant general secretary of the UK ships' masters' union Nautilus, condemned the attack, which was the latest in a series of incidents involving Somali pirates. He said: "Over the last 10 years, most governments have not really done very much about this. More recently they have been motivated to act and there is an EU naval co-ordination force patrolling off the Gulf of Aden. "I'm not sure that this is going to be a long-term thing and I'm also worried that the pirates will start seizing ships well away from the areas being patrolled. "In Somalia, piracy is like a big, successful industry and the authorities there need to act. The pirates are treated like local heroes. People look up to them and girls want to marry them. They are seen by some locals as good people, but they are ruthless." Vessels in the Gulf of Aden area are urged to register with the The Horn of Africa maritime security centre website. This is run at Northwood, north-west London, by EU NavFor (Naval Force) which co-ordinates anti-piracy arrangements under the codename Operation Atalanta. An EU NavFor spokesman said: "We encourage vessels to register with us so they can arrange to move together through the Gulf of Aden area in group transit. They are not escorted in these transits by naval vessels but obviously there is safety in numbers. The British-owned vessel in today's incident was not in a group transit."

A Kenyan lady has passed away in the US. The Planning Committee regrets to announce the death of Mrs Phyllis Kamau that occurred on Saturday 4th April 2009 at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in San Bernadino, California. The late Phyllis Kamau is the mother of Josephine Kamau of Corona, California. Friends and relatives are meeting at Josephine's House as from Sunday, April 04, Tuesday, April 07, and Thursday, April 09 from 7:00 pm. Address: 13346 Wagon Creek Way, Corona, CA, 92880. There will be holding a Harambee (fundraiser) to raise funds to cover funeral expenses on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the KICC Church in San Bernardino, California. The Harambee event will begin at 4:00 pm. For more information please contact 951 742 1850.

Things are falling apart

Prime Minister Raila Odinga launched a vicious attack on President Kibaki over the slow pace of reforms even as Justice Minister Martha Karua gave the strongest hint that she would quit Government. Raila’s attack on the President — the first since the Coalition Government was formed a year ago — came only a day after a retreat by a committee of Cabinet ministers ended in disarray on Saturday. Raila warned that ODM could pull out if comprehensive reforms were not put in place. This happened even Karua said she could quit her Cabinet position if she was not given a free hand in running the affairs of her ministry. President Kibaki last week appointed seven judges without her knowledge. - MORE

If cyber cafÈs and other Information Technology (IT) installations are distinguishing features in big towns, then a small, dusty market has attained modern status. Isinya, in Kajiado District, has become the latest beneficiary of a project by Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), an organisation working to bring IT to rural villages. It aims to furnish residents with information to assist in local development. Last week, ALIN opened an Internet cafÈ and cultural centre to help residents access information to help them improve their lifestyles and their local economy. Maasai men and women can now walk from villages into the ALIN centre and surf (or be taught how to surf) the Internet, particularly an ALIN website. The centre, like 11 others, opens elsewhere in interior locations in the country, has seven Internet-connected computers. ALIN has launched a website with a range of information, covering all communities it aims to help. For instance, in Isinya, villagers will be connected to a site that features the pastoralist way of life of other Africans. The website has information on how such communities handle their pastoralist-related challenges and how they have diversified to other types of agriculture. - MORE

Mr Robert Agina, a teacher at Isinya Primary School, shows two Maasai women how to use the Internet.

UK Border Agency reaches full agency status and publishes

framework agreement and business plan

Home Office, 01 April 2009

The UK Border Agency, which was established as a shadow executive agency in April 2008, has today begun to operate as a full executive agency of the Home Office. The UK Border Agency's Framework Agreement, which describes how the Agency will be governed, and its Business Plan, which sets out the Agency's objectives for the next three years have also been published. Copies of these documents have been made available in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. The move to full executive agency status is an important milestone in the development of the Agency. It establishes a clear accountability framework within which the Chief Executive will have greater operational freedom to focus on delivering the Agency's services. At the same time, the Framework Agreement ensures that the Agency will continue to work closely with the wider Home Office and its key delivery partners, including HM Revenue & Customs, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the police. Later this year we hope, subject to the passage of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill, to complete the formal transfer of customs functions and staff from HM Revenue & Customs to the Agency. The Agency will secure our borders and control migration for the benefit of our country, and will play a vital role in the Government's work to protect the public from crime and terrorism and to protect the tax revenues that pay for public services.

Kenya's deportation of Somali asylum-seekers could break international law, the UN refugee agency says. It has lodged a formal complaint with Kenya's immigration minister. Human Rights Watch this week accused Kenyan police of extorting money from Somalis. At least 92 Somalis have been deported in the past week, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. A Kenyan government spokesman denied the accusations, saying that genuine refugees were not being deported. "Our concern is that despite bringing such cases to the attention of the government, no action has been taken," Mr Redmond said.US-based Human Rights Watch says that an average of 165 Somalis crossed into Kenya each day last year. It says there are now 260,000 Somalis in the Dadaab camp on the border. The group says police routinely demand bribes from those crossing the border and deport those unable to pay. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when the country descended into civil war and anarchy. Islamist insurgents control much of the south of the country. Moderate Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected Somalia's new president by MPs in January under a UN-brokered peace deal but the violence has continued. Last month, Kenya agreed to raise tax on behalf of the Somali authorities, to give it some badly needed revenue, by charging tax on good entering Somalia through Kenya.

Thatched House back by month end

The grass is now enough to thatch Thatched House. It is now opening at the end of this month of April 2009. The renovation of the most popular Kenyan joint in London is almost complete. The contractors have given the pub a new facelift - panting all the areas and they are working on the floor which is expected to completed within the next two weeks. Wiring for the music and other equipments is almost complete in readiness for the end month opening. More information coming soon.

Mutula Kilonzo and Noah Wekesa ejected from a failed meeting

Sharp political differences, suspicion and grandstanding and vested interests Saturday led to the collapse of a meeting of political bigwigs called to discuss the management of the Grand Coalition Government. Two Cabinet ministers — Mutula Kilonzo and Noah Wekesa — were ejected from the heated meeting before it ended in disarray after the ODM side complained that they should not have attended the exclusive forum in the first place. The coalition management team chaired by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga was unable to agree on the agenda of a meeting whose purpose was to agree on a timeline for reforms to be carried out in the second year of the political marriage. So sharp were the differences that the President and the Prime Minister addressed separate and divergent news conferences in Kilaguni and Nairobi at the end of what was supposed to have been a bonding retreat to promote cohesion in government and Kenya. - MORE

Free nyama choma CCBC Swahili Service, Greatfield Church, King Edwards Road, Barking, IG11 7TR on Saturday 11th April, 2009 as from 12.00 noon

Room for one more? A female cyclist bears a heavy load, carrying these polystyrene foam boxes for a ride through the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, in Guangdong Province and on right "Does it come with chips?" A huge shark weighing between two and three tonnes draws the crowds after appearing at a wholesale market in Fujian Province, China.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua has threatened to resign citing frustration in her reform agenda. Karua said she was consulting with her Nark Kenya party on whether she should continue with her ministerial duty. Addressing a Narc Kenya rally in Embu municipal stadium, Karua said her hands were tied and could not answer anything related to the Judiciary in parliament despite the department being in her docket. Karua said should her ministerial duties become a hindrance to her reform agenda, she was ready to resign. She urged president Kibaki to sack those who were standing in the way of reforms. The minister said hiring of judges should be done in a transparent manner and those appointed should be above reproach. The minister's threat comes three days after seven judges were appointed and sworn in without her knowledge. Karua dismissed the appointments saying some of the judges were picked on the basis of favouritism, cronyism and incompetence. Karua said " i will continue pointing out where things are not done properly and even if i quit i will continue serving my Gichugu constituents relentlessly". Karua said the radical surgery carried out to clean the judiciary only managed to sack a few people but did fight corruption in the Judiciary. The minister who did not mince her words said there was no political will to effect reforms accusing a few individuals close to the president of opposing reforms by victimizing those fighting for the implementation of the same. Minister for Gender Esther Murugi Mathenge who attended the meeting said they would mobilize women to use their numerical strength to vote for a woman president come 2012. Narc-K also faulted the minister for transport for re-appointing George Muhoho as the MD for the Kenya Airport's Authority.

Karua said she was consulting with her Nark Kenya party on whether she should continue with her ministerial duty.

The Grand Coalition Government is in tatters. Prime Minister Raila Odinga walked out on a meeting chaired by President Kibaki and refused to return when he sent for him. The Cabinet is mired in confusion. Kilaguni ministers’ retreat turned a fiasco. The fires of bitter rivalry between Kibaki and Raila, momentarily quenched by power sharing, have burst the seams. The Cabinet – the country’s highest decision making organ — is in a shambles and the two managers have left the bench to stand by their teams. The political antagonism and blame-game between Party of National Unity and Orange Democratic Movement is now boiling over the melting pot. And Kenya could soon be in limbo – unless decisive and resolute leadership stems the tide of rebellion in Cabinet and resolves the differences between the coalition’s two main blocs. - more

PNU blames ODM for failed talks

Written By:Irene Muchuma, Posted: Sun, Apr 05, 2009

The blame game over the non starter Kilaguni talks intensifies with the Party of national unity now throwing the ball back to its partner ODM. Addressing the media Sunday at a Nairobi hotel, several PNU leaders led by the vice president Kalonzo Musyoka accused ODM of attempting to force its agenda touching on the renegotiation of the power sharing deal which PNU failed to agree to as it did not benefit the public. PNU maintained that the retreat had been convened to address issues facing the country such as the current famine and drought. They expressed disappointment at the outcome of the meeting which they had hoped would set pace for crucial reforms in particular the constitutional review. The party is now urging ODM leaders to focus on development issues as opposed to politicking. Yesterday ODM leaders issued a report blaming PNU for the botched talks. The Kilaguni talks hit a snag on Saturday after coalition partners disagreed on the reform agenda. The two day retreat had been had been convened to promote unity within the grand coalition government with particular emphasis on the principle of collective responsibility. President Kibaki who spoke after the meeting down played the differences calling for further consultations in future meetings in order to expedite service delivery to Kenyans.

Pakistan's top judge called for a court hearing into the public flogging of a teenage girl by the Taleban was captured on video. The girl was held down and beaten by for allegedly having an affair and students demonstrating against a new education law in Santiago, Chile, took cover from a police water cannon.

The Clock is ticking and Je Unajivunia kuwa Mkenya?

Did you know that we are in April? And no, this is not one of the late April fools day joke. We are actually in April and on this month on the 18th, Kenyans will converge together to celebrate their own achievers. Did you know they are coming in large numbers, wewe ndio umebaki? Own achievers? Yes, we mean exactly that, But before you run amok with a major misunderstanding, we all know its not all Kenyan achievers who feature on that list. Perhaps those who were left are more than those who were nomintaed. And by the way, everyone is an achiever in his or her own way! Kwani, what did you expect? Did you forget it was all about nominations?

Why would you like to see the electoral commissioners for that? Why are you asking for international observers for such a small matter that can be handled successfully using the wisdom available locally? Why are you calling the United Nations for that matter and are you also suggesting that if the event doesn’t live up to your expectations, you will call the ICC? When are we going to stand up and be counted for doing positive things and making positive contribution rather than tearing it apart? Why are you not proud to be a Kenyan? Proud? Yes you ask – what does that mean? Why would I be? Sikiza, Wakenya wakisema wakalishe mbuzi, wanaenda! Wakisema wakule ngurie mbila bacon, they do it. Wakisema yale yale ya kule kule, wanarudi huko, huko! Wacha mambo mingi. Jivunia kuwa Mkenya. Nunua ticket before they are over. Meet Kenyans like yourself na tujenge nchi pamoja.

If you don’t, utabaki kule kule natukusahau!! Do you know that those who hate making history, history also hates them. History is not made by unecessary noise, it is made by goodwill and resolve to live for the best! This is just nominations and those who were nominated, were just nominated, end of story! By who? Do we need to go there? Whatever merits, criteria, relevance, vitality, integrity, issues, commotion, hulla ballo, going at it hammer and tongs—whatever, arguments and what have you, what matters more than you, me and all is the fact that Kenyans are coming together to focus on one objective. The date 8th April 2009.

Voting ends on the 10th April 2009. The place, by now you know, tickets- from 48 pounds the inflation rate down to only 40 pounds considering the credit crunch factor. Benefits, Utakule Ushipe in a Five Star Hotel! You meet, perhaps your destiny connections via networking, you will be entertained by the best in business and Please never ignore small things even an elephant was once small while in its mothers womb.

A floral arrangement depicting a jar of Marmite is placed outside FA Albin & Sons funeral directors during Jade Goody's funeral procession through Bermondsey in south-east London. Jade likened herself to the spread, saying people either loved her or hated her and a floral tribute on a car spells out 'Jade from Bermondsey' during Jade Goody's funeral procession Bermondsey in south-east London.

North Korea failed in its attempt to get a satellite into space after a rocket launch early on Sunday, US and South Korean officials say. Two stages of the rocket and its payload landed in the Pacific Ocean, a US military statement said. Hours earlier North Korea claimed the satellite had successfully been put into orbit and was transmitting data. The US, EU, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch, thought to be a cover for a long-range missile test. Two stages of the rocket and its payload landed in the Pacific Ocean, a US military statement said. Hours earlier North Korea claimed the satellite had successfully been put into orbit and was transmitting data. The US, EU, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch, thought to be a cover for a long-range missile test. US President Barack Obama urged Pyongyang to "refrain from further provocative actions". "North Korea broke the rules once more by testing a rocket that could be used for a long-range missile," Mr Obama told a crowd in the Czech capital, Prague. "This provocation underscores the need for action - not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons." Later a joint US-EU statement urged Pyongyang to abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and "policy of threats aimed at its neighbours". The launch "harms peace and stability in northeast Asia", the statement added. The Security Council approved a Japanese request for the emergency session. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul regard the launch as a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1718 adopted in October 2006, which bans North Korea from carrying out ballistic missile activity. However, both China and Russia have urged restraint in the international response.

Jacqui Smith has come out fighting in the wake of the disclosure that she claimed for two pay-per-view pornographic films on her House of Commons expenses, says the Sunday Telegraph and on right Alistair Darling has admitted he and his Treasury officials got it wrong over the severity of the recession and will be forced to tear up his economic predictions, says the Sunday Times.

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey say an ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place has shattered. Its collapse is thought to be the latest sign of global warming's impact on the planet. - VIDEO

President Kibaki leaves for Zambia

Written By:PPS , Posted: Sun, Apr 05, 2009

President Mwai Kibaki Sunday afternoon left the country for a three day official visit to Lusaka, Zambia, where he will attend the COMESA-EAC-SADC North-South Corridor High Level Conference. The Plane carrying the President and his entourage departed from Jomo Kenyatta International airport shortly after 3-pm. The President is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister who is also the Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Ministers Moses Wetangula, Amos Kimunya and Assistant Minister Peter Munya among other senior government officials The conference is expected to discuss ways of raising funds aimed at building infrastructure within the region covered by the three trading blocks. Lack of infrastructure has been cited as the biggest impediment to intra-Africa trade and social networking on the African continent. In his capacity as the current chair of COMESA President Kibaki is expected to highlight progress made in the region towards boosting infrastructure among COMESA countries. COMESA has already established the COMESA FUND that is the avenue through which the region is mobilizing funds to develop infrastructure. At the airport to see off the President were the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Amb. Francis Muthaura, Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga among other senior Government officials.

Double tragedy

The four-year-old grandson of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has drowned in a swimming pool at the family's home in Harare. The death of the child, Sean, comes less than a month after Mr Tsvangirai's wife Susan died in a car crash. The prime minister had been at a ministerial meeting in Victoria Falls at the time of the drowning, but left to be with his family. He had only recently returned to work after mourning his wife's death. Mr Tsvangirai was injured in the March crash that killed his wife of 31 years. Sean Tsvangirai was the son of the prime minister's second son, Garikai, who lives in Canada but had been in Harare since his mother's death.

A suspected gangster was on Sunday (05/04/09) morning lynched by members of the public in the city's Dagoretti estate. The suspect is said to be part of a seven man gang that has been terrorizing area residents. An operation by the area residents at a nearby coffee plantation sniffed the suspect in his late 20's out of his den. The irate residents beat the suspected thug to death before setting him on fire. His six accomplices however escaped the locals' dragnet. Two home made guns and a pair of administration police uniform were recovered from the slain suspect. Residents claim the gang had gained notoriety for terrorizing them.

Catholic faithful mark palm Sunday

Written By:Zipporah Njeri , Posted: Sun, Apr 05, 2009

Catholic faithful thronged churches on Sunday to mark Palm Sunday, the last Sunday before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the Holy family Basilica in Nairobi, the Father in Charge, Simon Peter Kamomoe who led the faithful in marking day urged leaders as they mark Easter celebrations this week to sacrifise their personal interests for the good of all Kenyans. Kamomoe further urged Kenyans to embrace love by shunning tribalism and also burying their political differences. Palm Sunday marks the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and is commemorated by lifting palms in a procession. On this day, christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

A Kenyan has passed away in USA. The late Marion Wambui Mungai passed on Tuesday March 31, 2009 at 1:42 P.M. in Marietta after a short illness where she was being treated for lung Cancer. Marion is a sister to Elizabeth W. Mungai of Marietta and mother to Melvin Mungai of Oklahoma. Friends, family and well-wishers will be meeting daily from 7pm-10pm at Elizabeth's residence. We will inform you of Burial and Funeral arrangements as they become available. Please remember the Mungai's in your prayers. Elizabeth's residence: 2106 Cumberland Creek Trl. Marietta, GA. 30008. Marion Wambui Mungai, 61, Marietta, died Tuesday. Funeral service: 10 a.m., Saturday, April 11, Kenya American Community Church, Marietta. West Cobb Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., Marietta. Viewing of the body and Memorial Service will be held on April 11, 2009 at West Cobb Funeral Home at 2480 Macland Rd SW, Marietta, GA 30064, at 10:00am, followed by the burial at Kennesaw Memorial Park, 130 Whitlock Avenue Nw, Marietta, GA 30064 (directly across from Marietta High School). For more information please contact Elizabeth 770.401.5291, Peter Mwaniki 770.402.6029, Jennifer Mungai 770.866.7759, Melvin Mungai 405.426.9082 or Njeri Mungai 404.435.6534.

The late Marion Wambui Mungai

New immigration fees from 6 April

Home Office, 03 April 2009

Following Parliamentary approval, the new immigration fees announced on 12 February 2009 will be introduced from Monday 6 April 2009 for all those applying to visit, work in or stay in the United Kingdom. Fees for studying in the United Kingdom under the new tier 4 of the points-based system came into force on 31 March 2009. The new fees are set out in the table that you can find on the right side of this page. Also on Monday 6 April 2009, we are revising a number of our application forms. If you are submitting an application on or after 6 April, please:

visit the relevant section of this website to check that you have the right form; and
make sure that you send us payment at the new fee level for your type of application.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL FEES

Fees table from 6 April 2009

Police seek information on murdered officer

Written By:Emmanuel Kola , Posted: Fri, Apr 03, 2009

The Police Department has offered a generous cash reward to anyone who can offer information regarding this week's brutal murder of a police officer and his son by suspected members of the proscribed Mungiki sect. In a press statement, Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe says the bodies of Chief Inspector Henry Lumumba Anunda and his son Josephat Omambia Anunda were found dumped in a coffee plantation along Kamiti Road in Nairobi on Wednesday. Until his murder, Anunda was stationed at CID headquarters. Kiraithe says investigations have so far established that the late Inspector was abducted on the night of March 31 after visiting his son, who was a student at United States International University and had been staying at the Roysambu area. Kiraithe says the two were murdered by suspected Mungiki gang members who viewed police presence in the area as a hindrance to their criminal activities. He says the gang robbed the two individuals of their car, money and personal effects including identification documents before killing them. "Police headquarters will offer a generous cash gift to any person who gives information leading to the recovery of any of the stolen items and the arrest of these dangerous criminals," Kiraithe said. On behalf of the Police Commissioner, Kiraithe sends a message of condolence to the family and friends of the deceased Inspector and his son.

"My father comes from Kenya, the United States of American should be able to help Kenya as much as possible but Kenya has to do with its own problem of corruption first." - US President Obama speaking in France

Warning of food price hike crisis in UK

London, Saturday 4th April, 2009. A crisis is unfolding in the UK as people in poverty struggle with rising food prices and the recession, the Save the Children charity has warned. It comes as new figures from The Grocer magazine show food prices rose by more than 18% over the last year. On Monday, the charity will launch a crisis grant scheme to help families. The government says it believes food prices have peaked and it is tackling child poverty through increased child benefits and child tax credits. Colette Marshall, of Save the Children, said: "We are facing a crisis. Benefits simply haven't been enough and with rising food costs it means that families cannot afford to give children proper decent food. "We think we are heading towards malnutrition here in the UK."She is calling on the government to meet its target of halving child poverty by 2010 by putting £3bn in the Budget. Penny Greenhough, a single mother of two young children, said the family was struggling on a food budget of £3 per head per day. "I am having to compromise on a daily basis on quality and quantity. I used to manage, but it's getting harder and harder," she told BBC News. "Once you get into the supermarket then you have got to start looking for the cheapest of everything, every type of commodity you want, whether it is soap powder, some meat or bread or anything else, it's always the cheapest variety," said pensioner Rita Young. "It's just not fair - we have to go for the cheapest of everything and it's just not doing us any good. Too much salt, too much fat, too much sugar, cheap cheap cheap just isn't good enough." Kate Green, of the Child Poverty Action Group, said that many families were buying less fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, and consuming more affordable tinned and packet food that was often higher in sugar, salt and fat.

Government efforts had lifted 600,000 children out of poverty in the last 10 years, but one in three still lived below the poverty line, she said. "Part of the problem is... many people have seen their prosperity improve over the last 10 years, so we have become a much more unequal country," she said. "That is very damaging for the people who just haven't kept up, and it really is quite wrong morally, and it's economically very stupid actually, not to make sure that we share the resources more equally and protect those who have least." According to The Grocer, a typical basket of 33 items of food cost £48 a year ago. That has now risen to £57.50. Seasonal produce has caused a small drop in monthly figures, but the cost of basic essentials remains high. James Ball, from the magazine, told the BBC: "It is the staples that have really gone up and that's tough for people who buy the cheapest food. "Rice costs double what it did last year, baked beans are up more than a third. Lots of everyday items cost a lot more than they used to." As the UK imports about 40% of its food, the weak pound has driven up prices. Unpredictable world harvests and a spike in oil prices last year have also played a part. However, as British produce comes into season, prices are expected to drop. Treasury minister Stephen Timms said a raft of benefits due to come in on Monday would help struggling families. "Extra help on child benefit, child tax credit, the state pension, and pension credits is going to assist children, families and older people who are feeling the pinch at the moment. "Of course we always look at the time of the budget to see if there is more that can be done but I think people will appreciate the help that is being provided."

A Kenyan man has passed away in the UK through a road accident on Wednesday 1st April, 2009 at about 5.00 p.m. Mr. Joseph Ruru Kamau and his polish passenger died after a collision on the A420 between Swindon and Oxford. A 32-year-old man (Kenyan) and a 43-year-old man, both from Swindon, died following the crash between Faringdon and Longcot, shortly before 6pm. Both were employees of BMW Oxford. The road was closed for several hours afterwards. David Staines, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police, said the accident involved a green Rover 214 travelling towards Swindon, which was in collision with a Toyota Auris. Mr Staines said the driver of the Rover and a passenger in the back seat of the Rover were pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver of the Toyota and the front seat passenger of the Rover received minor injuries. He was a brother to George Munyua Kamau of Swindon UK and a son of Mr & Mrs David Kamau Munyua of Juja Thika District Kenya. Friends and relatives are meeting daily from 6pm at George Munyua's residence, No 20 Corpse Avenue Swindon SN1 2PX, for funeral arrangements. Those wishing to help can do so through Halifax Bank, Swindon Branch, Account name: George Munyua Kamau, Account name: 01863074 and Sort Code 11-07-72. For more information please contact 07837835479 or 07790298860.

The late Joseph Ruru Kamau

New procedure for confirming non-acquisition of British citizenship

Home Office, 01 April 2009

If you are a national of a country that does not recognise dual nationality but you are resident in the United Kingdom, your country's government may require you to confirm that you have not become a British citizen before you can renew your national passport.

The UK Border Agency is introducing a new process and fee for requests to confirm the non-acquisition of British citizenship. These will apply to requests received on or after 6 April 2009.

If you need confirmation that you have not acquired British citizenship, you will need to apply using form NQ (PDF 94K opens in new window) and enclose the fee and payment slip from the fees leaflet (PDF 2.0M opens in new window).

You must complete both parts of form NQ, and provide the correct address to which we should provide confirmation. The completed form, fee and payment slip should be sent to:

Home Office
PO Box 306
Dept 101
LIVERPOOL
L2 0QN

Press laughs as Obama says G20 is no Bretton Woods [1944 financial conference], with Churchill and Roosevelt sitting in a room with a brandy. Obama says US remains largest economy by a considerable margin and most powerful military in the world; he says America can still lead in the world.

Nairobi, Friday 3rd April, 2009. Property worth thousands of shillings was lost Thursday after a building along Kijabe Street in Nairobi went up in flames. The early morning fire consumed an entire building housing several businesses including stationery items. There were conflicting reports as to what actually caused the fire as some claimed that a tear gas canister blew up causing the fire while others claims it was caused by a burning cigarette. The street was the scene of firce battles between the police and waste paper recyclers on Wednesday as the City Council moved in to evict them. Reports said one person was shot by police while another is claimed to have drowned as he attempted to escape through the Nairobi River. Firefighters from the City council had a rough time battling the fire that brought business along the busy street to a standstill. Elsewhere fire erupted at the prisons houses in Nairobi's Industrial area and razed down six housing units. Eyewitnesses suspect the fire was caused by a leaking gas cylinder in one of the warders house. Combined efforts from the city council fire brigade, the military and private companies helped put out the fire.

A diner must have regretted ignoring the advice of his mother who, at some time surely, warned him never to pick his teeth with nail scissors. Because when Kong Lin heard an after-dinner joke he roared with laughter - and swallowed the 10cm (4in) clippers which got wedged in his throat. To make matters worse, when the 27-year-old tried to cough them up, they cut in and got stuck deeper in his flesh. Mr Kong, from Putian in China, went to hospital - where he had surgery with a local anaesthetic to remove them. Luckily, he is not too cut up about it...

Govt in deal for cheap housing

Written By:Rosalia Opondo , Posted: Thu, Apr 02, 2009

The Housing finance company has signed a loan agreement worth five million dollars, an equivalent of 400 million shillings, with the UN Habitat to co-finance development and ownership of affordable housing. 100 households will benefit from phase one of the programme. UN Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said the project will invest in environmentally sound infrastructure and services for controlled settlements. Affordable housing remains an elusive dream for many because of the costs involved. As a result, the housing scene has witnessed the proliferation of slums within cities. This has prompted the United Nations Habitat, the government of Kenya and Housing Finance to come up with a practical solution to provide low cost housing. The government gave a 50 acre piece of land in Mavoko, and with building expertise from habitat, and mortgage and property finance expertise from Housing Finance, 100 low income households will benefit from a pilot project. The first phase lasts till 2011, after which the project will be replicated in other areas. The company's managing director Frank Ireri said the interest rates for the loans will be less than 10 percent.

The six-day, 240km (150 mile) Marathon des Sables is underway in Morocco's Sahara Desert. Competitors must carry all their food and supplies throughout the race. Remarkably, only one person has died in the competition which was founded in 1986.

House prices 'drop 1.9% in March'

UK house prices fell by 1.9% in March compared with the previous month, according to the Halifax. The lender - now part of Lloyds Banking Group - said that conditions in the housing market would remain tough for the rest of the year. The average UK home now costs £157,226, at least £30,000 less than a year ago. The figures failed to echo the slight rise in prices in March reported by the Nationwide, with the Halifax saying that consumer confidence was still low. The annual rate of decline eased slightly, with prices down 17.5% in March compared with a record drop of 17.7% in February. This annual figure is based on a three-month by three-month comparison. When comparing the average price from March compared with March 2008, the drop was 17.6%. "Conditions in the housing market are likely to be tough during the remainder of 2009 despite the improvements in affordability," said Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis. He said that rising unemployment, low consumer confidence and the squeeze on mortgage finance were all likely to exert "downward pressure" on the market over the coming months. The month-on-month change is in contrast to the "surprise bounce" of 0.9% in March reported by the Nationwide Building Society. But, on Thursday, the Nationwide warned against reading too much into its short-term price rise figure, saying that it was too early to suggest the bottom of the market had been reached.

The less volatile three-month on three-month measure by the Nationwide showed that the average UK property price dropped by 4.2% in the first three months of 2009 compared with the last quarter of 2008. This was actually more gloomy for homeowners than the Halifax's view, which suggested prices had fallen by 2.7% over the same period, a much smaller decrease than the 5% to 6% falls it recorded in each of the three previous quarters. Mr Ellis said that, based on more mortgages being approved by banks and building societies recently, there were "tentative signs that activity may be beginning to stabilise". Homes were more affordable now that at any time since early 2003, having been at its toughest in July 2007, and existing mortgage-holders were benefitting from falling interest rates. The amount that the average existing mortgage borrower was devoting to home loan repayments fell from a peak of 26.9% of household income in October 2008 to 22.6% in February 2009, he said. David Smith, senior partner at Dreweatt Neate estate agents, said: "The March Halifax figures are proof positive that you can't get carried away by a single set of figures from a single source. "There is an inherent volatility to house prices right now and because of this a sideways-moving market, with the odd spike up or down, remains the most likely course for the rest of 2009."

Audio slideshow: The art of camouflage. Appearance, it seems, is key to survival in the animal kingdom - with some species able to blend in perfectly with their surroundings, while others behave quite the contrary. Take a look with Professor Innes Cuthill from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. - VIDEO

Zimbabweans can get permits to stay legally in South Africa for six months, the authorities have announced. Some three million Zimbabweans are believed to have crossed the border to escape the economic collapse and human rights abuses at home. The permit gives migrants the right to work and get healthcare and education. An official said the permits would reduce the numbers claiming political asylum, which means they are not allowed to return home. "Most Zimbabweans are not asylum-seekers, they are economic migrants. So what they want to do is to come into the country do some work and go back home and take money back," said Home Affairs Director General of Immigration Services Jackie MacKay. "We also believe this special dispensation will result in foreign currency going into Zimbabwe and assist in building up that country," he said. The economic situation in Zimbabwe seems to be showing signs of improving, since long-time opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai joined a power-sharing government in February. Mr Mackay said the situation would be reviewed after six months.

London, Friday 3rd April, 2009. Leaders of the world's largest economies have reached an agreement to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1.1 trillion (£681bn). To help countries with troubled economies, the resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be tripled to $750bn. There will also be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation. And the G20 has committed about $250bn to boost global trade. US President Barack Obama said the summit could mark a "turning point" in the pursuit of economic recovery and made progress in reforming a "failed regulatory system". "By any measure the London summit was historic. "It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face and because of the timeliness and the magnitude of our response," he said. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was "no quick fix" for the world economy but there was a commitment to do whatever was necessary. "This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery," Mr Brown said. Another G20 meeting will be held in New York in September to check on progress, the BBC has learned. The deal was announced shortly before the European stock markets closed and gave leading indexes a significant boost. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended 4.3% higher. In Paris, the Cac 40 jumped 5.4% and in Frankfurt, the Dax rose 6%.

NEW FUNDING PLEDGES

$500bn for the IMF to lend to struggling economies

$250bn to boost world trade

$250bn for a new IMF "overdraft facility" countries can draw on

$100bn that international development banks can lend to poorest countries

IMF will raise $6bn from selling gold reserves to increase lending for the poorest countries

Source: BBC

The G20 summit leaders, including US President Barack Obama, met in London in an attempt to come up with a comprehensive plan to fight the recession gripping the global economy but a day of mostly peaceful protest had a more violent edge towards early evening as heavily-protected police clashed with protesters.

A 22-year-old Kenyan dropped dead in US

A Kenyan man has passed away in Boston, USA. The deceased the late Philip Gichuki Muturi, 22 dropped dead as soon as he arrived at his two month old, first ever job in the USA on Tuesday 31st March, 2009. The incident happened at around 10 am in Poughkeepsie, near Hyde Park, New York. The late Muturi arrived in the USA last year and was a student at the Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He was living with his sister Ruth Muturi and her husband, Cyrus Waiguru Kiringi and their two and a half year old daughter. The late young man had just found a job at the Anderson School, a specialized school taking care of people with mental disabilities. “It was his day off from school and he went for one hour training on Crisis Intervention at his new job”, said Mr. Mungai. According to Mr. Mungai, his friend had just entered the training room when he said "hi" to one friend and then collapsed. “The school trainers immediately started performing CPR and AED on Philip and everything else as they called up Emergency help”. He said that paramedics arrived minutes later and took the young man to the Vassar Hospital in the same city where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The deceased hails from Githurai, near Nairobi, Kenya. Those wishing to help the family can do so through Bank of America, Account Name: Cyrus waiguru, Account # : 483022965245, Routing # : 021000322, For more information contact the family at 19 Fairview Ave Ext, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. Contact information Cyrus and Ruth; (845) 473 8709 or (845) 238 1725 or Moses Machua (845) 489 5679.

The late Phillip Gichuki Muturi

The Kenya Government will spend Sh7 billion on this year’s national census. More than Sh4 billion will go to over 130,000 enumerators who will be hired to conduct the exercise between August 24 and 25. The Director-General of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Anthony Kilele said yesterday he will recruit 100,000 enumerators, 20,000 supervisors and 10,000 senior supervisors to conduct "the largest ever exercise carried by the Government". "We know this exercise is bound to be politicised because it is about numbers and politics is about numbers, but we intend to run a purely professional exercise," said Mr Kilele. And for the first time, Kenyans living abroad will be counted, but through their relatives who will be expected to provide information about them. This year’s Population and Housing Census will use advanced technology like digital cartographic mapping, Global Positioning Systems and satellite Images to determine the location of people. The latest software will also be used to process and present the data in "record time". The results are expected early December. Kilele was speaking at a workshop in Nairobi to brief DCs and DOs in the province about the exercise. Briefing sessions for the other seven provinces are complete. - The Standard.

President Kibaki appeared to pull the rug from under the feet of Justice Minister Martha Karua, who said she was not aware of the appointment of the seven judges sworn-in Thursday 2nd April, 2009. - The Standard.

RICHMOND, VA, MARCH 25, 2009 – A young Kenyan lady was shot dead by her American husband in Virginia last week on Thursday. The victim, Caroline Gathigia Kaaria, was shot dead in her house by her African American husband, who then turned the gun to himself, killing himself on the spot as well. “Police found the bodies of both a husband and wife in the bedroom in their apartment in Richmond in what appeared to be a homicide case”, said Mr. Michael Kiprotich, a long time friend to the late Caroline in a telephone interview with ajabuAfrica.com. According to Ms. Susan Kioko, a former room mate to the late Caroline, she got alarmed on Thursday last week when Caroline did not return her phone calls all night yet they had an important appointment to attend the next morning. “I then called her work place and I was told that Caroline did not show up at work either, so I decided to drive over to their house and check on her”.

Upon arriving at the victim’s house, Susan saw Caroline and her husbands cars parked outside but nobody would answer the door bell after she persistently rang. “I therefore decided to call the police who arrived soon after and broke the door into the house only to find the two bodies in the bedroom”, said Susan. “According to the police, there were no signs of forced entry into the house”, said Mr. Kiprotich . “I am in deep shock as Caroline was like a sister to me, “I have know her for a long time since we were in working together at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kenya.”, he added. Investigations into the horrible deaths are still going on as Kenyans embark on fund raising for money to repatriate the body back home. “Every penny is helpful, so we are asking Kenyans to deposit any amount into the provided Bank account. In this situation, even five dollars counts a lot”, Mr. Kiprotich pleaded with the community. Caroline was a registered nurse and has worked in the medical field for many years. She was a daughter to Mr. Eustace Kaaria of Camp Kenya, and Mrs. Jennifer Kaaria of the President and Cabinet Affairs Office, Kenya.Her mother and her brother, Mr. Nicholas Kiambi arrived in the USA on Friday to help in the arrangements to transport the body of their beloved back to Kenya for burial.

A man of 47 who died during G20 riots in the City was not a protester but became penned in by police, it emerged. Ian Tomlinson was thought to be on his way home after work when he became 'kettled at the Bank of England' with hundreds of others, said protest organiser Marina Pepper. He reportedly suffered a heart attack and collapsed near Cornhill at 7.30pm during Wednesday's unrest. Police said they were pelted with bottles by protesters as they tried to reach him and give him first aid. But other witnesses have said demonstrators alerted officers to the emergency and allowed them to carry him back to their lines. Mr Tomlinson helped out at a newsagent near Monument Tube station and was a quiet, harmless man who liked to sit and chat, said friends.

A Kenyan man shot dead in an office block in USA

Wednesday 25th March, 2009 - Before he pulled the trigger, Lonnie Glasco had a chilling announcement. “Nobody's going to leave,” he told co-workers in a lounge at a downtown San Diego bus-maintenance depot. Then Glasco, a veteran Metropolitan Transit System mechanic, went outside in the early morning darkness and gunned down two employees before police fatally shot him in the parking lot. Glasco, 47, had suffered some losses in recent years – first his marriage, then the house near Alpine that he saw as an escape from urban aggravation – but police yesterday were still unraveling why he turned violent after working at the agency for 29 years, his entire adult life. He shot Benjamin Mwangi, 37, a maintenance foreman, who died at the scene, and Michael Stevenson, 55, a mechanic, who was taken to University of California San Diego Medical Center. Stevenson was placed on life-support and died at 3 p.m., the Medical Examiner's Office said.

The late Benjamin Mwangi

Glasco, a revenue technician who serviced fare boxes, had just finished a 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift at the facility at Imperial Avenue and 16th Street in East Village when the shootings occurred. After he left the employee lounge, witnesses heard two shots. Then, moments later, more shots. The employees ran. Police were called and found Glasco in the parking lot. He still had the gun in his hand. Officers ordered him to drop it. Glasco made a call on his cell phone, then pointed the gun at the officers, police said. Three of them opened fire, and Glasco was killed. Mwangi had worked for MTS since 2007, after a job with National City Transit. He also owned Mwangi Smog Test in Spring Valley, where his sole employee called him “a good guy, a good father.” “He was always a real cool guy with me,” said Diego Delgado, who added that Mwangi hired him because it was too exhausting working the graveyard shift at MTS while running the smog test shop. “He'd even give me bonuses for doing stuff around here. I'm in shock.” Mwangi grew up in Muranga in south-central Kenya, his family said. He moved to the United States about 13 years ago, and met and married his wife, Mary-Spring, three years later. The couple, parents to daughter Kozette, 8, and Mary-Spring's daughter, Kylie, 17, had planned to renew their marriage vows on their 10th anniversary, April 24. A family friend, Diane Moses, called Benjamin Mwangi “kind, caring and willing to help you out in time of need.” Stevenson was found in an MTS office near the service bays. He was from San Diego and had been with the transit agency for 31 years.

Leaders of the world's largest economies reach an agreement on how to tackle the global financial crisis as protesters follow them closely

SAN YSIDRO – Thursday 2nd April, 2009. A 16-year-old girl posing as a construction worker was arrested Thursday morning after Border Patrol agents discovered 13 illegal immigrants crammed into the pickup she was driving, authorities said. The truck was disguised as a vehicle from Kiewit Corp., a large construction and mining company based in Omaha, Neb., that is building a secondary border fence west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the Border Patrol said. Agents spotted the pickup about 6 a.m. near Smuggler's Gulch as they saw four people running toward Mexico. The driver sped away as officers approached, but later stopped near Monument Road and Hollister Street. The girl, a U.S. citizen, and a male passenger were both wearing yellow hard hats and reflective safety vests, officials said. Another man was trying to hide in the front cab, and three women and eight men were found crammed into a modified compartment in the bed of the truck. All are Mexican nationals. Agents said that it was not the first time that smugglers have used Kiewit Corp. as a cover. A similar scheme was uncovered in August when 11 illegal immigrants were found inside another impostor pickup.

President Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt, who was ordered to be deported five years ago, can now stay in the United States legally until next year, when she will make a new asylum bid, a judge ruled on Wednesday. The issue of Zeituni Onyango's immigration status flared three days before Mr Obama was elected the US's first African-American president on 4 November. Ms Onyango, 56, whom Mr Obama calls "Auntie Zeituni" in one of his memoirs, has been living in a public housing complex in Boston. A spokesman for her lawyer, Margaret Wong, said: "The decision as to Ms Onyango's request to stay permanently in the US will be made during a second hearing." The hearing was set for 4 February, 2010. Ms Onyango first visited the US in 1975 at the age of 23 and has since travelled between there and Kenya several times, her lawyer's spokesman said. In 2001, she received a US social security card after proving she was in the US legally and the following year she sought political asylum due to violence in Kenya. In 2002, Onyango applied for public housing in Boston and also requested political asylum from violence in Kenya. She was ordered deported in 2004, the year a federal judge denied her asylum application, but remained in the country. The Times of London, basing its research on Obama's book "Dreams From My Father," tracked Onyango down in Massachusetts shortly before the 2008 election. Obama said he had been unaware Onyango was living in the country illegally. A federal immigration judge rejected her asylum request in 2004, ordering her to leave the country. She remained in Boston.

President Mwai Kibaki presents a gift to the visiting Burundi President H.E Pierre Nkurunziza before witnessing the signing of bilateral agreement at State House Nairobi on Wednesday 1st April, 2009

Ms Mercy Njoroge from London Hayes has lost her Mother Mrs Millicent Kabura Mwangi and other five members of the family in the accident on Saturday 28th March, 2009. Six family members died when their car collided with a school bus in Murang'a East District, Kenya. According to eyewitnesses, 17 students from Kangema and Kianderi Secondary Schools in Murang'a were injured during crash between their school bus and the car on Saturday evening. The mother of Mercy and the other relatives who died were coming from a dowry negotiations ceremony and had almost reached their home in Mukangu Village in Kiharu Division when the accident occurred.

The late Mercy Njoroge's mum the late Mrs Millicent Kabura Mwangi

The Mwangi`s family regrets to announce the death of our beloved mother Millicent Kabura Mwangi of Gathabara Village, Withaga Location, Muranga district which occurred on 29-03-2009 through a road accident on Kahuhia-Muranga Road. She was the late wife of the late Mr. Geoffrey Mwangi ( Gichabaa). Mother to Mr Kent Kamotho (Southall UK), James Kimani (Ministry of Commerce Thika), Wanjiru (Nyahururu), Danson Macharia (Belgium), Mercy Mwangi (Hayes UK), and Kiragu (Bahati). Mother in-law to Mary Kamotho (UK), Jola Macharia (Belgium), Peter Njoroge (Hayes UK) and Mary Wanjiru (Mukangu). Grand mother to Milicent Kabura (UK), Chege Kimani (Kenyatta Uni), Gacibi (Dubai), Nunu (UK) and Kabura Danson (Belgium) among others.

Friends and relatives in UK are meeting daily until Friday from 6pm at 144 Cranford Drive, Hayes Middlesex, UB3 4LF. The burial ceremony will be held on Tuesday the 7th April at her Home Gathabara Village, Mukangu Sub-location, Muranga district. Kenya. Any Financial contributions can be deposited at Barclays Bank S/C 20-42-76, A/C 20358177 Account Name P.K Njoroge. Contact No 07817390149. Contact Maina 07939073191 or Viginian Ngari 07877299600.

President Obama in East London

US President Obama is East London today (Excel) for the G20 meeting (2nd April 2009) and was greeted by Gordon Brown in the east London exhibition centre when he arrived

Surprise increase in house prices in UK

House prices rose for the first time in 16 months during March as buyers continued to return to the market, figures showed. The cost of a home in the UK increased by 0.9% during the month, pushing average values back up above the £150,000 threshold to £150,946, according to Nationwide. The surprise increase also led to a reduction in the annual rate at which house prices are falling, with this easing from a record 17.6% in February to 15.7% in March. But the group cautioned against reading too much into the monthly price rise, saying that it was "far too soon" to see it as evidence that the trough in the market had been reached. Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "The Bank of England has already taken strong measures to ease the tensions in economic and financial markets by cutting rates and commencing quantitative easing. However it will take time for these to work through into the housing market before we can expect a sustained recovery in house prices."

The figures add to the recent positive news on the housing market, coming just days after the Bank of England said the number of mortgages approved for house purchase jumped by 19% during February. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors also said that interest from potential buyers rose for the fourth month in a row during February, while property intelligence group Hometrack reported a slowing in the rate of house price falls during March alongside a rise in sales. Economists have greeted the recent run of good news cautiously, warning that, although the housing market may have turned a corner, a sustained recovery in prices was still likely to be some way off with the economy in recession and unemployment rising. Ms Earley said: "It is still too soon to say that this will be the beginning of sustained house price rises and a reflection of a wholesale return of confidence to the market." She added that the current upturn in activity was likely to reflect the return of buyers who had delayed purchasing a home during the worst of the financial turbulence at the end of last year.

10 dietary tips from those aged 100+

Britain's oldest woman Florence Baldwin, who turns 113 on Tuesday, puts her longevity down to a daily fried egg sandwich. It's one of many dietary tips from those who have reached three figures. Everyone wants to live to a ripe old age - and it doesn't take a dietary expert to know that eating healthily does that ambition no harm. But ask anyone who has actually reached the magic 100 how they got there, and their dietary tips don't always square with the official advice. So we asked Dr Elisabeth Weichselbaum, of the British Nutrition Foundation, to cast an eye over a selection of centenarians' staples.

1. HERRING AND ORANGE JUICE
Dutch woman Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who lived to the ripe old age of 115, swore her longevity was down to a daily dose of herring and a glass of orange juice. Herring is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids, "which are really good for your heart and the whole cardiovascular system," says Dr Weichselbaum. "And that can help you avoid heart attacks for a long time." "Orange juice - if you only drink a glass a day - provides you with Vitamin C and a lot of antioxidants."

2. VEGETABLES
The traditional mealtime exhortation to "eat your greens" has the ultimate champion - "120-year-old" Israeli Arab Mariam Amash, who has allegedly notched up six score years thanks to lots of vegetables. No admonishment from Dr Weichselbaum, who says: "Green vegetables provide you a lot of important vitamins and minerals like iron and carotene and dietary fibre, and vegetables reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Make sure you eat a full range of coloured vegetables in a balanced diet."

3. CUSTARD CAKES
One out of left-field by Japanese centenarian Mitoyo Kawate, who ascribed some of her 114 years to a regular intake of custard cakes. Japanese custard's health-giving qualities (we're basically talking a straight-up-and-down recipe of sugar, water, butter and vanilla extract) do not figure prominently in the world's good eating guides. An oversight? The brow of Dr Weichselbaum furrows: "It depends on how many she'd eaten. It's probably not the custard cakes that made her live so long, but if it was as part of a balanced diet then there's no need to cut out the sweets." Mrs Kawate, it appears, has gone to her grave giving custard the credit for all the hard work green tea and sashimi were doing.

4. ALCOHOL
There's no shortage of volunteers happy to lay the secret of a long life on the odd tipple. Lucy d'Abreu, for instance, who passed away in Scotland aged 113, believed it was her "customary sun-downer of brandy and dry ginger ale" that helped her avoid an early death. According to Dr Weichselbaum, alcohol in moderation "has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease but it can increase the risk of some forms of cancer." Perhaps it was the ginger ale...

5. SAUSAGE IN BREAD
Rural Ukrainian Hryhoriy Nestor's greatest extravagance was a slice of sausage in a bread roll - he ate a simple diet of home-made food like cabbage and sausage and warm potato and herring. He never married and led an active life on his farm in the west of Ukraine to the last. Dr Weichselbaum is resistant to the suggestion of sausage as a lifesaver. "I would say eat processed meat in moderation - eat sausages in moderation in a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables."

6. BREAD, DRIPPING, SALT
Yorkshirewoman Ada Mason's longevity tip is a one-woman two-fingered salute to the healthy-eating brigade. She lived to 111 thanks to "eating bread and dripping every day - lots of it with lots of salt on," according to her grand-daughter. "In this case I'd say if she ate a lot of this she managed to become 111 despite the dripping and salt," exclaims Dr Weichselbaum. "Dripping is not only pure fat but high in saturated fats which raises the risks of heart disease, and the lots of salt leads to high blood pressure which is also a heart disease risk."

7. PORRIDGE
The traditional Scottish breakfast has many a cheerleader in the healthy eating camp, and Scot Annie Knight was no stranger to an oat-based start to the day - she claimed it helped her reach the age of 111. "Food like this should make up a third of our diet," says Dr Weichselbaum. "Porridge is a great source of fibre - and if you have it with milk it's a great source of calcium too."

8. BOILED RICE AND CHICKEN
No booze for retired silkworm breeder Yukichi Chuganji, who lasted until the respectable age of 114 despite an aversion to vegetables. Meat and milk were on the list, but his favoured dish was boiled rice with pieces of chicken. "Rice is a great source of starch, and if it's wholemeal rice it's a very good source of fibre, vitamins and minerals," says Dr Weichselbaum. But she adds: "It is important to have a variety of vegetables in your diet." That's you told, Mr Chuganji.

9. COTTAGE CHEESE
Sakhan Dosova is, Kazakhstani authorities say, the world's oldest woman. She has allegedly just turned 130 - a good 16 years older than the next-oldest person on the list. She stays away from sweets and instead is partial to cottage cheese. "Cottage cheese is a good source of calcium, which is great for your bones and teeth," says Dr Weichselbaum. "Its fat content is relatively low compared to other cheeses - it contains about half of the fat you find in cheddar cheese. I can't really comment on bacterial strains they may have used in this region."

10. DONKEY MILK
You might have a to wait a while to find this in the aisle of your local Tesco, but apparently Ecuadorian Maria Esther de Capovilla's age of 116 was down to her regularly drinking the milk from the family donkey as a child. Cue the sound of heads being scratched at the British Nutrition Foundation... "I can't really comment on this," Dr Weichselbaum admits.

• But how crucial is diet to a long life? Experts agree that the food you eat can only go so far in affecting your life span. Dr Aubrey de Grey, whose Methuselah Foundation is funding research into regenerative medicine for aging through stem cell and gene therapy research, cautions against adopting the centenarian diet plan wholesale. "My favourite answer is one given by the person who has lived the longest, Jeanne Louise Calment. She was asked what's your secret every year for years from a million journalists. When she was 120 she said it was because she gave up smoking - when she was 117! "The problem is we don't really know. There are things we know shorten your life, such as smoking and if you're overweight." The average number of people dying at, for instance, the age of 85, is less today than it was 20 or 30 years ago. But people now living to a grand old age - 100 years and over - are doing so thanks to things in early life, such as their mother's good nutrition when carrying them and lack of stress in very early life, says Dr de Grey. It's these early factors which are likely to have the most dramatic effect, rather than popping supplements and cod liver oil, he says. Good food and exercise only build on the start we get in life. And even if it may not be as important as what happened very early on, Dr de Grey says, the members of this long-lived club also seem to share another trait. "If there's one thing we can say about centenarians, it's that nothing bothers them."

London, Thursday 2nd April, 2009. The Queen enjoyed a joke with US President Barack Obama as she welcomed him to Buckingham Palace for a much anticipated first meeting. The historic encounter between the monarch and the American leader happened ahead of a reception at the palace for the G20 politicians and heads of world organisations. The Queen, 82, and Mr Obama, 47, were joined by their spouses the Duke of Edinburgh, 87, and Michelle Obama, 45, for private talks. Mr Obama and wife Michelle arrived at the palace in their chauffeur-driven car - known as The Beast - and looked relaxed as they were greeted on the steps of the Garden Entrance by the Master of the Household Air Vice-Marshal David Walker. Meeting her visitors inside the palace, the Queen smiled warmly as she shook hands with Mrs Obama while their husbands looked on. The foursome chatted briefly in front of photographers, who were allowed to record the initial moments of the meeting. Mr Obama told the Queen: "Thank you so much for having us." Addressing the Duke, he said: "It's a wonderful honour." A Palace spokesman said the Obamas presented the Queen with a personalised iPod containing a video of her visit to Virginia, Washington, in 2007. In return, the royal couple gave them a silver-framed, signed photograph of themselves.

US President Obama being welcomed at the Bakingham Palace by the Queen and on right the Queen hosts a reception for G20 leaders at Buckingham Palace ahead of a Downing Street dinner cooked by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

A Kenya man joins the American film industry

Mr. Edi Mue Gathegi - CLICK HERE FOR ONE OF THE FILMS

Edi Mue Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for his appearances as recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole ("Big Love") in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone and as Laurent in the 2008 film Twilight.

Though born in Nairobi, Kenya, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California. As an undeclared undergraduate at University of California, Santa Barbara, he was interested in playing basketball until he injured his knee; he took up an acting class as an "easy course" because he was "depressed" and discovered a love for acting.[2] Afterwards, he attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for a graduate school acting program.[2] Gathegi's career began in theatre,[3] and his stage credits include Two Trains Running at the Old Globe Theatre, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cyrano de Bergerac, among others.

Gathegi's first professional role was the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film Crank. Though he had originally auditioned for the role of Kaylo, the producers gave the role to Efren Ramirez and instead offered Gathegi an appearance as the Haitian Cabbie. He was dubious at first about performing a Haitian accent, but was coached by his Haitian friend.In 2007, after guest-starring on Lincoln Heights and Veronica Mars, Gathegi went on to star as Bodie in Death Sentence, Darudi in The Fifth Patient and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone. He later had a recurring role as Mormon Dr. Jeffrey Cole on the television medical drama House, and guest-starred on CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life on Mars in 2008 before being cast as Laurent in Twilight. When Gathegi first auditioned for the 2008 film, adapted from the same-titled first book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, he had not heard of the series and was not aware that his character was a vampire.[4] He now has read the whole series and calls himself a "hardcore" fan.

Gathegi appeared as Deputy Martin in 2009's My Bloody Valentine]He plans to star in a spring Broadway production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone and is also in negotiations to return to his role as Laurent in Twilight sequel New Moon.

Heavy security as Obama arrives in London

Barack Obama has touched down on British soil for the first time as US president. The leader of the free world flew into Stansted airport and a swarm of tight security ahead of the G20 summit. He was met by chancellor Alistair Darling and quickly whisked away by helicopter to the US ambassador's residence in Regent's Park, where armed guards were patrolling the newly reinforced perimeter fence. Police officers were also stationed at regular intervals around Winfield House and all roads towards it were shut to traffic. But that didn't stop a small crowd gathering outside. 'We are here because we are so relieved that there is now a breath of progressive wind blowing over from the United States,' said architect Benedict Looney, from Peckham, south-east London. The operation to police the G20 summit and protests is costing the taxpayer £7.2million. The summit itself will cost £21million.

London, Thursday 2nd April, 2009. Violent protesters who attacked police and stormed a bank will be tracked down and prosecuted, Scotland Yard has said. The Metropolitan Police said officers faced "high levels of violence" in isolated incidents throughout the day. On Wednesday night police continued to clash with some protesters outside the Bank of England. The Met said there had been a total of 36 arrests linked to the protests, including four on Tuesday night, and others involved in violence should expect a "knock on the door". Two people were held for aggravated burglary, and another for arson, over the raid on the RBS building. Others were held for public order offences, threatening behaviour, possession of drugs, violent disorder and blocking a road. Eleven people were arrested this morning after police uniforms were found in the back of an armoured vehicle. Investigations are already under way after masked anarchists smashed their way into the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch in the City of London. The angry mob trashed equipment, daubed graffiti on the walls and threw a chair through a window after more than 4,000 demonstrators, most of them peaceful, gathered near the Bank of England to demand action from world leaders. Ugly scenes continued on Wednesday night as Metropolitan Police Commander Simon O'Brien said small pockets of criminals were responsible for the outbreaks of trouble and would be tracked down. But he added that the vast majority of participants were good-humoured. Speaking at New Scotland Yard, the senior officer, who is a member of the command team for the G20 security operation, said some of the apparent ringleaders were followed by helicopter as they left flashpoints. He said there were some people in the crowd were "determined to hijack" the protests and "wanted to get involved in a violent protest and not lawful protest". Mr O'Brien also warned that there may be more violence on Thursday as the focus of the protests moves to the summit itself at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands.

"I regret big time that I married a Kenyan"

Joyce Akinyi sneers at her estranged husband Anthony Chinedu during a standoff at Deepwest Club in Nairobi on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. The resort was closed down after Akinyi arrived from India where she had been arrested for about five months and on right Chinedu sat in a quiet corner watching the unfolding drama. - VIDEO

Two people were shot along Nairobi's Globe Cinema roundabout on Wednesday as waste recyclers engaged police in running battles. Another man is said to have drowned in the Nairobi River while fleeing from the police. A brawl ensued when the police, who were ordered to evict the collectors, threw tear-gas canisters at them. The collectors responded with stones and the police shot at them. The victims were taken to hospital. They claim they were not given any notice to vacate the area in an operation to clean the Nairobi River. The confrontation got out of control bringing traffic to a standstill. “Where do we go if our garbage is hauled away?” one of them asked. The collectors sell the used papers to industries to recycle them. Industries buy the garbage at Sh5 a kilo providing a living for the people. “It is not the council, but the garbage heap need to be eradicated,” said Mr W.N. Marube, the spokesperson of the council. Recently, police officers went to evict mechanics who operate from the same area. The Jamia Mosque Committee has since clarified that the piece of land in belongs to them. - Daily Nation.

Some protesters got on to the roof of the Bank of England, while windows were broken at a nearby branch of RBS and on right a man claiming to be injured confronts police as they attempt to subdue the crowds near the Bank of England.

London, Wednesday 1st April, 2009. A violent mob has targeted a Royal Bank of Scotland building in the City of London as the G20 protests spiralled into violence. Windows were smashed and a group of demonstrators - their faces covered by bandanas - entered the building near the Bank of England. Around the branch, which is believed to be empty, hundreds of demonstrators charged police lines as officers hit back with baton charges. A group of 4,000 were penned in by officers who cordoned off surrounding streets amid what Scotland Yard called "increasing levels of violence". At least one officer was injured as RBS became a flashpoint for what had been peaceful protests. At around 2pm a line of police - backed up by a line of mounted officers - began to slowly attempt to move protesters back down Bartholomew Lane and into Threadneedle Street. Demonstrators continued to hurl missiles at broken windows at the RBS and attempted to break down a door. Police in riot gear could be seen inside the building, filming the demonstrators. Scotland Yard said 19 arrests were made during Wednesday's G20 protests. Eleven people were arrested in the morning after officers found police uniforms in the back of an armoured vehicle parked in the City of London. Other arrests were for violent disorder, threatening behaviour, indecency, and one for possessing class A drugs. A further four people were arrested on Tuesday - three for carrying knives and one for assault.

Violence flared as thousands of G20 protesters besieged the Bank of England and brought the City to a standstill. There were skirmishes as police tried to prevent four separate marches converging at the Bank and demonstrators hurled missiles, including fruit and paint bombs, at the lines of officers. At least one officer was seen with blood pouring from a cut on his forehead. Chants of "f**k the police" and "our street" were heard as police reinforcements were drafted in. Anarchists surged towards the officers shouting "let's get the bastards". A couple of protesters, who had been hit on the head with batons, screamed "these are our streets" and urged the crowd forward.

Tens of thousands of protesters will descend on central London today ahead of tomorrow's G20 summit, causing widespread disruption in the capital. Coaches will bring demonstrators from all over the UK to four separate "carnival parades" that will culminate outside the Bank of England. The protests could cause chaos on London's transport network and many non-essential workers have been advised to stay at home. Pinstriped suits and pink silk ties will be dumped in favour of hoodies and jeans, as City workers try not to draw attention to themselves. But some defiant bankers plan to wear bowler hats and carry canes. They have been warned to expect potentially aggressive confrontations with some protesters.

The G-20 Meltdown website says the focus will be on "thrusting into the very belly of the beast: The Bank of England". It adds: "Their tax-dodging, bonus-guzzling, pension-pinching, unregulated free market world's in meltdown." The four parades organised by the Meltdown group will leave four London stations: Moorgate, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, and Cannon Street. The marches are meant to represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - against war, climate chaos, financial crimes and land enclosures. Among the groups campaigning is the Camp for Climate Action which will stage a flashmob style camp in London's Square Mile. Co-ordinated by text message, thousands of protesters will arrive outside the European Climate Exchange at 12.30pm, equipped with tents, flasks and compost toilets. Social networking sites Facebook and Twitter have been used extensively to plan routes and campaigns, and updates will continue to be posted throughout the day. Vice-president of the CND Bruce Kent told Sky News the demonstrations could make a real difference. "They will realise that there is a popular demand, the whole green movement is a new thing on the world agenda and that's come out of protests," he said.

"They will look and see millions of people concerned and that will push them into some kind of constructive action." The Metropolitan Police have organised one of the biggest operations of recent times to protect the G20 leaders and make sure demonstrations do not get out of hand. Officers claim to have intelligence on potential outbreaks of violence and have warned that "very innovative and clever people" are involved in the demos. They will have access to images from 3,000 CCTV cameras for Operation Glencoe, monitored from an office in Lambeth, South London. But former London mayor Ken Livingstone told Sky News he does not anticipate widespread rioting. "If you're an ordinary Londoner trying to get to work it's a nightmare," he said. "There's always a danger that a small amount of violent people will try and hijack this for their own ends. "I really hope we aren't going to have any of that. We haven't really seen any violence since the May Day protests in 2001." More than 20,000 people joined demonstrations in London at the weekend, which passed largely without incident. Five people were arrested earlier this week in Plymouth in connection with a suspected plot to use simple firework-style explosives to disrupt the G20 summit. Their weapons were described by Devon and Cornwall Police as "not major" and "probably not even lethal".

Who Is In The G20?

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Canada

China

France

Germany

India

Italy

Indonesia

Japan

Mexico

Russia

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

US President Barack Obama stresses the "sense of urgency" needed to confront the global economic crisis, as protesters gather in the City of London and Groups under the G20 Meltdown banner marched from Tube stations to the Bank urging those who had lost their homes, jobs, savings or pensions to join them in following four "horsemen of the apocalypse".

A mother from hell - READ MORE

Tough new rules target bogus colleges and education cheats

Home Office, 31 March 2009

A strict new system to crack down on bogus colleges and fraudulent applications from foreign students has so far screened out almost a quarter of applications from independent schools, colleges and universities, the Government revealed today. Institutions have to register with the UK Border Agency before they are allowed to sponsor international students to come here under the student tier (tier 4) of Britain's tough new points-based system. More than 2,100 universities, independent schools and colleges have applied to accept international students. Each institution has been assessed or visited by UK Border Agency officers as part of the vetting process. Already around 460 institutions that don't make the grade have not been accepted.

Foreign students play a huge part in the United Kingdom's cultural and economic wealth and they help make the United Kingdom's education sector one of the finest in the world. Last year tuition fees from international students totalled £2.5 billion - the tier 4 rules ensure that institutions who benefit from having international students on their books take responsibility for ensuring students arriving from outside Europe comply with the conditions of their leave to be in the United Kingdom. Before reaching the United Kingdom, students need to prove they have a place at a licensed education provider, that they can financially support themselves, and must provide their fingerprints to the UK Border Agency. The Government is determined that the new route benefits talented, legitimate students making the most of Britain's world-leading educational institutions.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

"These new measures make sure people who come here to study - and the people who teach them - play by the rules.
"This new tier of the points based system allows us to know exactly who is coming to the UK to study and crack down on bogus colleges. "I have made it clear that I will not tolerate either the fraudulent applicants trying to abuse Britain's immigration rules, or the dodgy colleges that facilitate them. However Britain will always welcome legitimate students who are coming here to receive a first-rate education."

Professor Mary Ritter, Pro Rector, International Affairs at Imperial College London said:

"International students play a big part in making Imperial the dynamic and exciting place it is, and we feel very fortunate that so many motivated, highly talented people from around the world want to pursue their studies here. "It's vital that, while taking appropriate border control measures, we don't make it difficult for these students to come to the UK. For that reason we are very pleased that the Government has decided to extend the maximum length of the Tier 4 visa from the planned four years to cover the complete duration of a student's course. This will be particularly helpful for medical students. "We also welcome moves to make the system simpler for institutions and students."

The UK Border Agency has been working closely with the education sector to ensure the system works for both institutions and students alike. Following consultation, students must show they have the money to support themselves for nine months - this is lower than the 12 months originally proposed for this tier. The UK Border Agency website contains advice for educational institutions and advice for students who want to study in the UK under tier 4. Today also sees a raft of other immigration controls come into force to ensure immigration is managed for the benefit of Britain. Today the UK Border Agency will:

introduce wider new categories of foreign nationals required to apply for an identity card containing their facial image and fingerprints. Identity cards will securely lock foreign nationals into one identity and help businesses crack down on illegal working;
be even more selective through the points-based system for foreign workers by ensuring that employers must have advertised skilled jobs for two weeks in a Jobcentre Plus before they can offer it to a foreign worker, and raising the bar for highly skilled migrants through Tier 1. This shows that in these difficult times the bar has been raised for highly skilled migrants; and
start increasing visa fees to provide a pot of cash which will go towards the Migration Impact Fund. The Government confirmed earlier this month that this fund, worth £70 million over two years, will be implemented to help deal with the impacts of migration on a local level. This money will be made available to local service providers across the country, including police, schools and hospitals.

Thousands of anti-capitalist and climate change protesters are taking part in a series of demonstrations in London to coincide with the G20 summit. There were minor skirmishes between police and demonstrators outside the Bank of England amid a huge security operation in the City of London. Anti-war groups are due to gather near the US Embassy and in Trafalgar Square. Protests have been lawful but 11 people have been arrested after being stopped in an armoured personnel carrier. Hundreds from protest groups under the G20 Meltdown banner marched from Tube stations to the Bank urging those who had lost their homes, jobs, savings or pensions to join them in following four "horsemen of the apocalypse" to "lay siege" to financial institutions. Crowds were chanting "one solution revolution" and "climate, justice, peace". Among them were groups of masked protesters from other European countries. Police estimate there are about 3,000 demonstrators in the City and they are "not surprised" by the numbers. They say plans for the protests have been "unprecedented" and 5,000 officers are on the capital's streets. Hundreds of Climate Camp protesters - behind direct action protests at Heathrow Airport and power stations in North Yorkshire and Kent - also pitched tents in the City's Bishopsgate in protest against carbon markets. Many City workers have dressed in casual clothes after banks and other institutions warned they may be targeted by protesters.

The BBC's Ben Brown said protesters in the City were chanting "storm the banks" and handing out leaflets saying "hang the bankers". But at 1230 GMT he said the event had been peaceful and there was a "festival" atmosphere. Correspondent Dominic Casciani said there were some minor skirmishes with police after about two dozen men - clad in black with their faces covered - charged a cordon opposite the Bank. Protester Daniel Blinkhorn, from Brighton, was among those marching from London Bridge station to the Bank. He said the G20 leaders had a "real opportunity to green the global economy". Housing association worker Tony Streeter told the BBC: "I'm here because I think people are angry about what's going on in the world there's too much greed." Four people have been charged after officers were alerted to a group trying to break into a building in the Holborn area of central London on Tuesday, police said. Earlier in the City police stopped and questioned demonstrators travelling in an armoured vehicle dressed in helmets and overalls. Police say 11 people have been arrested so far on suspicion of possessing police uniforms and for road traffic offences. Six police forces are part of the £7.5m security plan, led by London's Met. But Scotland Yard, which has been monitoring the internet, is concerned the demonstrations may be "hijacked" by people intent on using violence. A number of coalitions - mainstream and more militant - have formed to co-ordinate action. They are campaigning on subjects, from poverty, inequality and jobs to war, climate change and capitalism. The Stop the War coalition will later march from the US Embassy to Trafalgar Square.

Noisy protesters have converged on the Bank of England. Scotland Yard said 11 people had been arrested for being in possession of police uniforms. US President Barack Obama arrives at Downing Street for a meeting with Gordon Brown ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders and police have said they intend to use powers under the Public Order Act, rather than anti-terrorism laws, at the events. - VIDEO

Implementation dates of new visa regimes for nationals of Bolivia,

Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Venezuela

Home Office, 01 April 2009

Today the Government announced the start dates of the United Kingdom's new short stay visitor visa requirements for the above countries. Travellers from these countries who are transiting the United Kingdom on route to other countries will also need a transit visa. Visa regimes for Bolivian and Venezuelan nationals will begin on Monday 18 May 2009. Venezuelan nationals holding valid biometric passports containing an electronic chip will be exempt from the visa requirement. At the same time we will also be clarifying how the visa exemption for Taiwan passport holders works - that it only applies to those with full residency rights in Taiwan. The temporary visa exemption for South African visitors with a previous travel history to the United Kingdom which began on 3 March will cease at midnight on 30 June 2009. From Wednesday 1 July 2009 all South African visitors will require a visa, as will visitors from Lesotho and Swaziland.

London, Wednesday 1st April, 2009. A Helicopter ditches in North Sea. A helicopter has ditched in the North Sea. About 16 people were believed to be on board the Bond Super Puma and Aberdeen Coastguard said a major rescue operation was under way. The incident happened about 35 miles east of Crimond in Aberdeenshire at about 1400 BST. The operation includes two RAF rescue helicopters and a Nimrod, as well as two lifeboats. Fishing boats are also in the area. The crash comes less than two months after a helicopter with 18 people on board ditched in the Etap field 125 miles east of Aberdeen. All those on board the Super Puma survived the crash on 18 February.

10 stories that could be April Fools... but aren't

It's the day when some news stories are a little bit "out there", when jokers spring traps to make fools of the rest of us. But not every weird report is an April Fool. Here is a round-up of some of the day's seemingly hoax news stories which are actually true.

1. PE in schools is embracing yoga, martial arts and cheerleading because pupils don't like being outside in the rain. Some schools are also putting on Krypton Factor-style problem solving for pupils more interested in maths than sports, according to a report by Ofsted.

2. Porsche has announced a four-fold rise in profits, recession or no recession. The German car maker bucked the bad news coming out of the industry through its lucrative stake in Volkswagen, and despite selling 27% fewer cars.

3. Pubs are telling expectant mothers when they've had enough to drink. A pregnant woman was thrown out of a pub for ordering an alcoholic drink. Caroline Williams, on a night out in Hove, had drunk one pint of beer but was refused another half-pint. The brewery has apologised and is investigating.

4. Glamour model Jordan will run the London Marathon. She hopes to raise £250,000 for charities NSPCC and Vision.

5. Alan Shearer is manager of Newcastle United. Despite repeatedly being linked with the post in the past and resisting the temptation to leave the BBC's Match of the Day comfy sofa, the Toon footballing hero finally returns. But if Kevin Keegan was touted as the new Messiah, it's not clear what further superlatives can be used to describe the coming of the city's prodigal son.

6. The lottery tells jackpot winners by e-mail. Lottery winnerGraham Forrest found out he had won £2.7m when he opened an e-mail sent to him at work. When the message from the National Lottery said it had some "exciting news" for him, Mr Forrest from Cumbria thought he had won £10. He rang his wife but at first she refused to believe him.

7. A man has won £400,000 in compensation after cutting his finger. Police mechanic Alexander Darg was checking an air bag fault in a police car when he accidentally slid his hand across a knife that had been left behind. He told the court he had been terrified of contracting the HIV virus.

8. Miss Universe says Guantanamo Bay is a "relaxing place, so calm and beautiful", after a five-day trip there. Dayana Mendoza, a model from Venezuela, visited the US base in Cuba as a morale-booster for troops and blogged about the experience.

9. A "magic torch" detects drug use. The torch, costing only £40, works when it is shone in the face of night clubbers. It uses UV light to detect the tiniest traces of cocaine or amphetamine on nasal hair and police in Blackburn are using it to stop drug users from entering clubs.

10. The White House is comparing the UK to Oregon. A briefing booklet accompanying Barack Obama on his European tour equates each country to a US state - Germany to Montana, the Czech Republic to Virginia and so on.

London, Tuesday 31st March, 2009. More than 300 African migrants are feared dead after their boats sank off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. A few bodies have washed ashore after at least one and possibly three boats capsized in very high winds. Libyan officials say 21 people are confirmed dead and about 20 rescued. The IOM says the death toll could be as high as 500 and it has reports of many migrant boats leaving Libya in the past two days. Italy is to start joint sea patrols in May with Libya, aimed at stopping the heavy influx of illegal migrants. According to IOM figures, at least 33,000 people crossed from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2008 alone. "Libyan authorities have confirmed the shipwrecks and our diplomatic sources in Tripoli are talking about 300 people missing," said IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy. "It seems the three boats were overloaded and sank in storm-strength winds," he added. The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says among the dead was an African woman found lifelessly clutching an infant to her bosom, according to Libyan media reports. One vessel carrying more than 250 people reportedly ran into difficulty shortly after setting off on Sunday from Sidi Bilal, near Libya's capital, Tripoli. Egypt's foreign ministry said the boat had sunk some 30km (19 miles) off the Libyan coast after getting holed in the hull.

Migrants from all over Africa come to Libya to journey on to Europe

"Libyan search and rescue operations led to the recovery of the bodies of those who drowned as a result of the accident, among them the bodies of 10 Egyptians," said official Ahmed Rizk. Laurence Hart, of the IOM in Tripoli, said he feared as many as 500 migrants could be lost. "There is still a slim chance that some of these people are going to be rescued but the casualties are going to be high of course," he told BBC World TV. The nationalities of the migrants are reported to have included Egyptians, Tunisians and Palestinians. On Monday, 350 illegal migrants in a fourth boat were reportedly rescued by an Italian tanker near Libya after running into trouble. Hundreds of migrants have died in the last few months crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Europe, and the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen. They are at the mercy of unscrupulous smugglers, unseaworthy vessels and the elements but many take these risks for the lure of a better life. The smuggling season normally stops in October, and resumes again in April. But the IOM says there has been no lull this year and the smuggling boats have been sailing right through the winter.

French designer JC de Castelbajac showed off his Muppet-inspired designs not long ago during Paris Fashion Week and now he has taken his colourful collection to Moscow for the runway at Russian Fashion Week. A retro catwalk made an eye-catching show during French fashion designer JC de Castelbajac's collection in Russian Fashion Week. Young Michael Jackson makes it onto the catwalk - well his photo did. He was printed onto JC de Castelbajac's couture dress for his show in Moscow.

New immigration applicants to get identity cards for foreign nationals

Home Office, 27 March 2009

Yesterday Parliament approved regulations allowing the UK Border Agency to expand the identity cards scheme from 31 March to several categories of immigration applicants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). In November we introduced the first identity cards for spouses or partners and students given permission to extend their leave. From 31 March migrants granted an extension in the following categories will also get an identity card:

academic visitors granted leave for more than six months;
visitors for private medical treatment;
domestic workers in a private household;
United Kingdom ancestry;
retired persons of independent means;
sole representatives;
dependants where applicable and when applying at the same time; and those applying for a transfer of conditions

On 31 March the old student immigration categories will also be replaced by the new child student and adult student categories of the points-based system. Anyone applying to extend their stay in the United Kingdom in these new categories will also have to give their biometrics. This includes Postgraduate doctors and dentists who will have to apply in the new adult student category. For more information and a table listing the categories affected please see identity cards for foreign nationals. Those applying for a transfer of conditions into a passport or other document will receive a card if successful, regardless of whether their category has been rolled out, meaning that any foreign national with limited permission to stay might hold a card as evidence of their right to be in the United Kingdom. As the numbers of foreign nationals required to give their biometrics (fingerprints and photograph) increases, we are working to increase the number of biometric enrolment centres. There are currently seven offices around the United Kingdom - Croydon, Sheffield, Liverpool, Solihull, Cardiff, Glasgow and Armagh in Northern Ireland. Over the next three years our plans are to provide identity cards to all non EEA nationals extending their permission to stay in the United Kingdom and those coming into the United Kingdom on visas for more than six months. By the end of 2014/15 about 90 per cent of all non EEA nationals will have been issued with a card. ID cards will replace the stamps, stickers and other immigration status documents, enabling those here legally to prove it more easily and giving employers, sponsors and public service providers a simple, more secure way to prove a person's immigration status and eligibility to work, study or access benefits in the United Kingdom.

US President Barack Obama is on his way to Britain to attend the G20 summit in London. It is his first major trip abroad since taking office in January. After the G20 talks he will travel to the French-German border for a NATO summit. He and his wife Michelle will then head for the Czech Republic and Turkey. President Obama is certain to receive a warm personal welcome in Europe. But analysts say he will almost certainly meet resistance over his plans to revive the embattled world economy. European leaders are also unlikely to heed his calls to send more troops to Afghanistan. "He's obviously got a lot of charisma and it's his first big meeting," said former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson. "I think people tend to be very polite in these situations but there could also be a level of awkwardness there."

Important changes to the Knowledge of Life

requirement for settlement applications

Home Office, 19 March 2009

Applications for settlement, in certain categories require the applicant to demonstrate that the Knowledge of Life in the UK (KOL) requirement has been met, before settlement can be granted. Currently settlement applications that meet all the relevant requirements except KOL are automatically considered for a grant of limited leave in the same category. The difference in the fee between the settlement application and the cost of an extension of stay is refunded.

From 31 March 2009 this arrangement will be coming to an end. Settlement applications submitted on or after this date in categories requiring KOL that do not meet this condition will be refused. Applicants will not have their fee refunded. People will still be able to extend their stay if they do not meet the KOL requirement when their leave comes to an end. However, from 31 March 2009 they will need to ensure that they apply specifically for limited leave on the relevant form, rather than submitting a settlement application.

New rules for skilled and highly skilled migrant workers

Home Office, 18 March 2009

The Immigration Rules covering highly skilled migrant workers will change on 31 March 2009, raising the academic and financial requirements of two categories in Tier 1 of the points-based system. At the same time, the resident labour market test will be strengthened to ensure that skilled jobs are advertised within the United Kingdom before they can be offered to migrant workers. Both changes are in line with the Home Secretary's announcement on 22 February of new measures to "raise the bar" for foreign workers wishing to work in the United Kingdom.

Changes to Tier 1 of the points-based system for highly skilled workers

Changes for the T1 (General) and T1 (Post-Study Work) categories will come into effect for all applications submitted on or after 31 March 2009. The Tier 1 (General) changes will apply to migrants who are applying for permission to enter the United Kingdom in this category for the first time, or who are applying to switch into the Tier 1 (General) category from another category. Anyone applying for an extension of their permission to stay under Tier 1 (General) will not be affected by the changes. The earnings multiplier for overseas earnings will still apply for initial applications only. There has never been a provision for overseas earnings to be multiplied at extension stage. The changes to the Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) category mean that applicants will not be awarded points for Postgraduate Diplomas or Postgraduate Certificates other than Postgraduate Certificates in Education. The UK Border Agency has published revised guidance for Tier 1 (General) and Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) applications - see the links on the right side of this page. This guidance is for applications sent to us on or after 31 March - if you want to apply on or before 30 March, you should continue to use the current guidance.

Changes to the resident labour market test

The resident labour market test prevents employers from offering skilled jobs to migrant workers without first advertising them to workers who are already settled here. From 31 March 2009, an employer wishing to sponsor a migrant to do a job under Tier 2 (General) will not pass the test unless the job has been

advertised to settled workers in Jobcentre plus; and
advertised using one other method permitted by the relevant code of practice.

Full details are provided in the revised guidance for sponsor applications.

Hundreds of anarchists plan to storm City banks in a series of co-ordinated attacks after avoiding police detection by masquerading as peaceful protesters in legitimate G20 marches, the Evening Standard has learned. The plans were revealed to anarchist leaders representing 200 members from across Europe at a meeting - attended by the Standard - at an east London squat last night. At the meeting, held in a three-storey squat called the rampArt in Whitechapel, anarchists discussed plans to "swoop" on the area in "swarms of two or three" and break through police lines by any means necessary. Groups who attended the meeting include the Whitechapel Anarchist Group, Class War and the Wombles.

New arrangements for partners

Home Office, 13 March 2009

As part of its work to protect people against forced marriage and help newcomers integrate rapidly into British life, the UK Border Agency is changing the rules for marriage visas. An overseas national who is subject to immigration control can apply for permission to enter or remain in the United Kingdom as the husband, wife, civil partner, fiancé(e), proposed civil partner or unmarried/same-sex partner of someone who is settled or applying for settlement in the United Kingdom. This permission is generally known as a 'marriage visa', but it also covers partners who are not married. In December 2007 we published two consultation documents proposing new arrangements for marriage visas:

Marriage to partners from overseas - this asked for views on proposed changes to the arrangements covering marriage visas and applications for permanent residence, and on how to ensure that we protect people at risk of being forced to marry a partner from overseas.
Marriage visas: pre-entry English requirement for spouses - this asked for views on whether people entering the UK on a marriage visa should have to demonstrate some knowledge of English before they arrive in the United Kingdom

The Government responded to the two consultations in July 2008, in a document called Marriage visas: The way forward (PDF 1.9M opens in a new window). In line with this document, on 27 November 2008 we increased the minimum age for marriage visas from 18 to 21 years. This means you cannot sponsor or be sponsored as a husband, wife, civil partner, fiancé(e), prospective civil partner or unmarried/same-sex partner until you are 21 years old. The aim of this change was to protect young people from being forced into relationships they do not want, at a time in their lives when they could be establishing a degree of independence as adults through further education or through work. Following on from this, a Code of practice (PDF 48K opens in a new window) was published on 6 March 2009, setting out how we will deal with an application for a marriage visa or permission to remain in the United Kingdom as a husband or wife if someone is identified as vulnerable to a forced marriage.

The Code is primarily aimed at both entry clearance officers overseas and caseworking teams in the United Kingdom. It was completed following extensive consultation across UK Border Agency, and with the Government's Forced Marriage Unit. The Code will give greater certainty to victims of forced marriage that the UK Border Agency has an effective system in place to deal with forced marriage. It will also ensure that cases are dealt with consistently and appropriate support is offered to victims. It is the most comprehensive staff guidance that the UK Border Agency has produced on forced marriage. 'Marriage visas: The way forward' also included several other proposals, including :

"We will require those seeking spouse visas to enter into an agreement to learn English as part of the visa application process and, once they have arrived in the UK, to show that they have fulfilled this commitment.

"We will set a medium-term goal of introducing a pre-entry English test for marriage visa applicants.

"We will seek to revoke indefinite leave to remain rendering the individual liable to expulsion where there has been abuse of the marriage route.

"We will introduce a requirement for British citizens and permanent residents who are seeking to sponsor a spouse to come to the UK to first declare their intention before leaving the UK and marrying abroad.

We will publish details of these proposals as they are developed.

As the economic crisis hits people from all walks of life, a French pole vaulting champion has done the obvious thing to highlight his quest for a new sponsorship deal - he ran naked through the streets of Paris, holding his pole aloft, and posted the video on the internet. Romain Mesnil, who won a silver medal at the 2007 Athletics World Championships in Osaka, used to be sponsored by Nike - but says his contract expired last year and was not renewed. 'It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons. It's the crisis,' he wrote on his website.

Kenya University has been closed indefinitely following nightlong student riots where they burned hostels and property of unknown value. Police have moved in to put out the fire in the computer centre, students union offices and hostels. The visiting Australian Governor General, Ms Quentin Bryce was exposed to the shame of student unrest. She was scheduled to visit the campus but the function was moved to a Nairobi Hotel. The Prime Minister’s wife Ida Ondinga condemned the striking students for burning down facilities. “The vice chancellor who was to be the hostess of this very important function was unavailable due to the chaos at the university. This is not a pleasant situation and I appeal to the students and youth all over the country to shun violence,” she said. A visibly angry Ida added: “Thousands of young people are in school working hard to join these institutions. When you turn around and destroy these facilities, what are you thinking? Forty-five students who were arrested last night have been charged. They appeared before the Thika Principal Magistrate Mr Anthony Kaniaru and denied burning a hostel at the University’s Ruiru campus. They were released on Sh100,000 surety bond with an option of a Sh20,000 cash bail. The case will be heard†on May 29. The institution opened on Friday after a two-week closure when students blocked the busy Nairobi-Thika highway and stoned motorists to protest the administration’s requirement that all students clear fees before sitting exams. A circular posted on notice boards as early as 5:00am today notified students to vacate by 7:00am. The university has since summoned 35 students to the disciplinary committee over similar riots a fortnight ago. Those found guilty face suspension of up to five years. The former chairperson of the now dissolved Kenyatta University Students Association (Kusa), Mr Fred Kimaru, said students would not relent. Kimaru said students were seeking a court order to stop university exams that were scheduled for Monday. "The lecturers had not even finished the syllabus and students had no time to revise," he said. But the Vice Chancellor Prof Olive Mugenda said only a few students had failed to register and pay fees on time as per university rules. "We cannot allow a few students to disrupt others who are ready to do the exams," she said.- Standard

Geneva 31 March 2009 - I am glad to welcome you to Geneva and to this lessons learned meeting on the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation process. A very warm Karibu sana [big welcome] to all. Almost all of us in this room were, one way or another, part of the efforts to resolve peacefully the crisis that engulfed Kenya following the December 2007 elections. Some were more directly involved in the actual negotiations than others. Some are now more involved in hands-on implementation of the agreements, while others are keen observers and advocates of the process. But all of us -- the mediators, the international community, political parties, civil society, religious leaders, the media, and the business community -- played our part. The credit for the success of the mediation process, or any deficiencies therein, belong to all of us. We are all united in Kenya's peace-building endeavour. In our joint effort to bring lasting peace and security to Kenya, we are bound together -- like members of an extended family, whether we like it or not! That is why my colleagues and I at the Kofi Annan Foundation thought it would be productive, one year on, to come together, take stock of the achievements and shortcomings, and draw lessons that may be used elsewhere in similar situations. Clearly, we also hope that the lessons might help our Kenyan friends overcome the current challenges confronting them in the implementation of their reform agenda. I obviously do not want to pre-empt our discussions. But I would like to offer a few personal reflections to help set the scene. Last January, when I received a call from President Kufuor of Ghana, then Chairman of the African Union, asking me, on behalf of the African Union , to help mediate the crisis in Kenya, I knew the task was not going to be easy, but also recognized its crucial importance. Kenya was a beacon of hope for Africa. It had been a relatively stable country, with a modestly growing economy and expanding middle class. Kenya is important both politically and economically to the East and Central African region. Any prolonged instability would impact negatively on the entire sub-region. It was, therefore, vital that action be taken urgently to help resolve the crisis. Africa and rest of the the international community could not stand idly by and see Kenya collapse This was recognized when a stream of visitors very quickly arrived in Nairobi, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Museveni, and former Heads of State who are members of the African Leaders Forum: Presidents Chissano, Kaunda, Mkapa, and Masire. President Kufuor and I quickly spoke to President Mkapa and, Graca Machel to ask if they would join me as members of a Panel of Eminent African Personalities to assist in the mediation. With a great sense of urgency, as Kenya was burning and its citizens were being killed, the three of us agreed to help.We also quickly decided on the way forward. We recognized that strong and coordinated international support from the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and others was needed right from the start. It was important, too, that the international community acted in unison and spoke with one voice. We also needed to ensure that Kenyan stakeholders, such as civil society organizations and the media, were given an effective voice in the mediation process. We sought their views and listened to their concerns, which helped us to draw up the agenda for the negotiations. And to ensure public support and confidence in the process, we published all agreements reached by the parties and were determined to be as transparent as possible. The effective external response proves that the responsibility to protect can work. But whatever positive role was played by the international community, the cessation of violence was a great achievement on the part of the Kenyan political leadership and the people of Kenya. Kenyans should be very proud for having brought the country back from the brink of disaster. If the parties had not agreed to enter into negotiations at an early stage and made concessions because they understood what was at stake, the ethnic dimension of the violence could have made things worse.

Kenya was bleeding and the people wanted peace. The KNDR process was in effect a roadmap for 2012 and beyond. The achievements of 2008 were only a beginning. Some progress has been achieved – the constitutional review process is up and running, and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission will soon be established. But most of the hard work remains to be done. This was, of course, known from the beginning. So what explains the frustrations, the cynicism, and the growing disillusionment of ordinary Kenyans now? I believe this disappointment and anger stems partly from the fact that everyone understands what needs to be done to move the country forward. So the average person finds it difficult to comprehend why those changes, some of them very fundamental, are not taking place at a faster pace. But the widespread disillusionment can also be explained by the fact that ordinary Kenyans do not feel they are part of the reform process. The need for greater engagement with civil society by politicians and greater efforts at sharing accurate information on the state of progress on reform are probably - and I would say hopefully – some of the lessons we may end up with tomorrow. These are fundamental lessons, not just for Kenya but for any post-conflict situations. In Kenya, the parties have already agreed on a blueprint for building a more equitable, prosperous and just society. That blueprint is found in the reform package agreed under Agenda Item Four of the National Dialogue. Many of those reforms were previously identified as crucial by the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism in 2006 – one year before the eruption of the crisis. And the Agenda Item Four reforms are themselves compatible with the Medium-Term Plan of Vision 2030 – the Kenyan Government's wider blueprint for developing Kenya into a middle-income country. As I indicated earlier, there is no disagreement on what needs to be done. All that is lacking is effective action. So ordinary Kenyans interpret the slow pace of reform as lack of political will on the part of their leaders. They see it, rightly or wrongly, as proof that the political elite are putting their own partisan interests above the interest of the nation as a whole. Kenya is at a crossroads. The time to act is now. And many of the people who need to undertake the required actions are right here in this room.

In some ways, negotiating and signing a peace agreement is the easy part. Implementation is much more complex and much more difficult. An agreement, no matter how beautiful its text, is merely a piece of paper until it is actually implemented faithfully, in both letter and spirit. Having said that, let me make the purpose of this meeting crystal clear. We are not here to renegotiate the Kenya National Accord. Neither are we here to replicate the Kenyan political battlefield in Geneva. We are here as I said at the beginning – to look back at the process we went through together, take stock of the implementation of the Accord and learn lessons that can be used in other places in the world that may be in similar situations such Kenya a year ago. In closing, I'd like to express my appreciation to all the donor countries and institutions that have supported the mediation process and continue to do so, and particularly to the Norwegian government which has also generously supported this meeting.

ODM will shoot down a planned censure Motion against Justice Minister Martha Karua. Party Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo yesterday said he would mobilise ODM MPs against the Motion. "Karua is clean. Let them (proponents of the Motion) come with their numbers and we shall meet in Parliament," said Mr Midiwo. Last week, some MPs from Central and Rift Valley provinces vowed to censure Ms Karua, accusing the Gichugu MP of failing to reform the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and the Judiciary. At the weekend, Midiwo said ODM shared sentiments that Chief Justice Evan Gicheru should quit for nonperformance of the Judiciary. "The wind is still blowing and it will definitely sweep away the AG, who was present when (President) Kibaki was hurriedly sworn-in despite anomalies in the presidential poll," said Midiwo. Midiwo spoke at a fundraiser in aid of Mindhine Youth Polytechnic Siaya District, which was also attended by Standard Group Technical and Operations Director John Opiyo. They helped raise more than Sh700,000. Meanwhile, Karua has vowed not to abandon her presidential ambitions even if she loses her ministerial slot through a censure Motion. The minister said those targeting her were out to divert her attention from the presidency. "Whether I am a minister or not, my dream to gun for the presidency still stands" she said. Elsewhere, women lawyers promised to rally behind the Justice minister against the planned Motion. Speaking after the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida) annual general meeting in Nairobi, members said the censure was driven by ill motives. "The Motion is destructive and we sense malice on the part of those propping it. We, as women and citizens of this country, will not sit and watch," Ms Naomi Wagereka, the Fida chair, said. Wagereka said Karua had not breached any constitutional provisions. - Standard

Former Assistant Minister MP Raphael Wanjala jetted back into the country after six months in an Indian jail.And the former Budalang’i MP said he was happy to be back home. Yesterday Wanjala arrived alone, leaving behind his girlfriend and businesswoman Joyce Akinyi in Entebe, Uganda. But he said she was to arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) last night. “I am very happy to be back home. I have learnt many things out there and I will share with you later," he said. Dressed in a cream suit, a gold neck chain and black shoes, the excited former legislator arrived at JKIA at around 4pm. A handful of supporters welcomed him and escorted him to his car. The crowd mobbed him as he stepped out of the lounge with some hugging and kissing him. Others encouraged photographers to take his pictures and publish them. He told journalists his experience outside Kenya was bad, adding he felt unwell. "Home is best and I am happy because I am here. I am feeling unwell may be because of change of weather," he said. Mr Wanjala said Akinyi remained in Entebbe because her flight had been delayed and would travel by road. He, however, did not want to discuss much on their relationship, as he rolled up his car window and sped off.There was anxiety at the airport as journalists waited for their arrival. The two left India on Saturday and landed in Entebbe, where they spent the night before connecting to Nairobi. And even as he arrived, Wanjala will be headed to the courts where he faces a criminal offence.

A warrant of arrest has been issued against him, but police did not arrest him. It is also not clear under which circumstances the two were allowed to leave India, where they were arrested in October with undeclared Sh7.5 million. They had left Kenya through Uganda and entered India from Dubai, carrying the money in US dollars. The two were held at Tihar Prison as New Delhi revenue intelligence investigated any link between the cash and illegal business. They were, however, released on Sh600,000 bail each, following intervention by Kenyan authorities. But they also needed more than Sh240,000 legal fee, and Wanjala’s family made efforts to raise the money. According to Indian laws, more than Sh375,000 must be declared on entry and certificate issued. In Nairobi, a criminal trial awaits Wanjala for allegedly assaulting a journalist. The case pending has been adjourned several times. And Akinyi has a divorce suit pending in court between her and her Nigerian husband Anthony Chinedu. The two have a legal battle over multi-million shilling estate and the custody of their children. On Saturday, curious Kenyans who turned up at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to get a glimpse of the two got a rude shock when the couple failed to show up. Hordes of journalists, their cameras ready for action to capture the dramatic arrival, waited with bated breath at the International Arrivals terminal when the Emirates plane from Dubai that was reportedly carrying the couple touched down at 3.50pm. But hope for great photos faded when minutes turned into an hour without any trace of the couple and word filtered in that Wanjala and his sweetheart could have avoided coming through Nairobi. - Standard

Barack Obama has warned that public anger over bankers' pay could prevent him from providing further help to the troubled financial industry. Speaking ahead of the G20 summit in London this week, the US president gave a clear signal that he will not tolerate excessive bonuses and 'rewards for failure', at a time when his administration is propping up the sector. "At a time when everybody is needing to sacrifice, there has to be a similar sense of sacrifice on the part of those that helped to precipitate this crisis," Obama told the Financial Times. The anger over bankers' pay hit new levels just over a week ago when the US House of Representatives voted for a 90% tax on bonuses paid to senior staff at failed insurer AIG. In the UK, there are expected to be widespread protests against bankers during the G20 meeting, following the vandalism attack on Sir Fred Goodwin's home. Goodwin's £709,000 annual pension has become one of the symbols of the crisis, and shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland are expected to vote against the payoff later this week. Faced with such clear signs of public disdain, Obama argued it was vital that the banks show restraint at time when his administration is pushing through a $1tn bailout package. "If voters perceive it is a one-way street, that we are just pouring more and more money into institutions and seeing no return other than avoiding catastrophe, then it is harder to make an argument for further intervention," he said. Obama also said it was vital that world leaders at the G20 meeting delivered "a strong message of unity in the face of crisis". But it is far from clear that Gordon Brown will succeed in delivering a "global new deal" to drag the world away from a long, damaging downturn. A draft version of the final communique, leaked over the weekend, appeared to show that the UK was pushing for a $2tn package - but German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has already downplayed expectations of a major deal at the summit.

Remember the joke that goes: What do you call a one-eyed dinosaur? A do-you-think-he-saurus. Unfortunately for 14 sozzled students, a sharp-eyed policeman did as they tried to make off with a model dinosaur. The students, out celebrating the end of their course, spied a museum's 6.1m (20ft) long, 3.5m (10ft) high triceratops model and hauled it over some iron railings intent on depositing it on a roundabout.

The UK economy shrank even more than expected in the last three months of 2008, revised official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy shrank by 1.6% compared to the third quarter. That was the biggest fall in GDP (gross domestic product) since 1980 and more than an earlier 1.5% estimate. The figures have also revealed a large jump in the proportion of household income that is being saved, producing the highest "savings ratio" since 2006. The savings ratio surged from a negative number in the first quarter of 2008 to almost 5% by the end of the year, as people put aside money for hard times. The jump was particularly strong in the last three months of the year. "On the face of it this rise is good news - it means that a large portion of the necessary rebalancing of the economy away from spending and towards saving has occurred already," said George Buckley, an economist at Deutsche Bank. Household behaviour has clearly been changing. A regular survey carried out by National Savings & Investments (NS&I) showed that people are now saving an average of £90 a month, up from £87 a month during 2008. The savings ratio has also been boosted by people borrowing less, with a slump last year in new mortgages, and consumers reining in their spending on credit cards and other types of borrowing. A series of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England in the past year, taking rates to a record low, has dramatically lowered the cost of some mortgages. "Income from falling mortgage interest payments may particularly being saved," suggested Vicky Redwood, UK economist at the consultancy Capital Economics. For the year as a whole, the UK economy grew 0.7%, which was unrevised. The GDP growth rate has fallen sharply from 2007, when the UK grew at 3%. Analysts are expecting the UK economy to shrink in 2009 as whole. Household expenditure fell by 1%, and all the major sectors of the economy contracted. The main reason for the weaker growth was a slump in output of the construction sector. It fell 4.9% over the quarter, revised down from the initial estimate of 1.1%.

UK unemployment has risen above two million for the first time since 1997, official figures have shown. During the three months to January, the number of people unemployed totalled 2.03 million, up by 165,000, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS). For February, the number of people getting jobseeker's allowance added a record 138,400 to reach 1.39 million. There are now 10 jobseekers for every vacancy advertised in UK jobcentres, the TUC claimed earlier this week. The ONS added that the unemployment rate jumped to 6.5% between November and January. Unemployment is rising as the first recession in the UK since 1991 continues to bite. Many economists now predict it will go above three million next year. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Commons it was a "matter of personal regret" for him that people were losing their jobs. "That is why we'll do everything we can to help people get back to work," he said. Mr Brown added that rising unemployment was a global problem which remained higher in many other countries. Conservative leader David Cameron countered that the Labour government was to blame for the rise in unemployment."You've led us to this point without the hint of an apology and the British people will never forget it," he said. "This is another milestone in the return of mass unemployment to the UK, and it will get worse before it gets better as unemployment always persists even after a recovery starts," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

Turning his attention to next month's G20 meeting in London, Mr Barber added that it was now imperative that world leaders work together to help stimulate the global economy. David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said the government should now "seriously consider" temporary wage subsidies. The ONS figures showed that it is the private sector that is seeing the rise in unemployment. They showed that in December 2008, the number of people in private sector employment was 23.6 million, down 13,000 from September 2008. Over the same period, the number of people with public sector jobs rose 15,000 to 5.78 million. The ONS added that average earnings, including bonuses, rose only 1.8% in the year to January, the lowest annual rise since records began in 1991. Separate reports by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and CBI have both predicted that UK unemployment will rise above three million in 2010. The BCC said the UK economy had worsened "significantly" so far in 2009, and said unemployment will hit 3.2 million next year, slightly more than 10% of the workforce. Alan Tomlinson, an accountant who guides firms through insolvency, said he had "never been so busy". "Companies of all sizes and in all sectors are folding by the day, putting more and more people out of a job," he said. "The CBI's prediction, last month, that unemployment will peak at just over three million in the second quarter of 2010 could prove to be wildly optimistic."

The security operation at this week's G20 summit was thrown into chaos last night when it emerged that the entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling. The Department for Transport (DfT) has ruled that Westminster council's mobile road cameras - a third of the authority's CCTV network - "do not fully meet the resolution standards required" and must be switched off by midnight tomorrow. The blackout begins on the eve of the summit, when world leaders arrive in the capital and protesters take to the streets. The council only discovered last week that images from its newly installed £15m traffic cameras do not meet the quality required under the Traffic Management Act, which comes into force on 1 April. In an urgently drafted letter seen by the Guardian and hand-delivered to the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, on Friday, the council warns its entire network of wireless cameras will need to be shut down unless the minister finds a way to give special dispensation. "This would have a serious impact on our ability to manage our road network safely, as well as impeding our community protection efforts," the letter states. It adds: "We are seeking authorisation from DfT as a matter of urgency to enable Westminster to continue using its digital CCTV network."

The 60 cameras in question use the latest digital technology and transmit images using Wi-Fi. While they are primarily for traffic enforcement, according to the council the cameras are "an essential additional tool" to tackle crime and disorder, and have been fixed to strategic locations across the capital ahead of the summit. The 24-hour live footage from the cameras, which monitor roads around the West End, Belgravia, Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and London's main bridges, is also accessible to police and the intelligence services. A further 160 "permanent" CCTV cameras run by the authority are unaffected. However, security officials believe a shutdown of the mobile road cameras could hamper the G20 security operation, which will require police to secure the safe passage of dozens of motorcades carrying delegations VIP diplomats and leaders. "Frankly, it couldn't have come at a worse time," a source said. "These are not just parking enforcement cameras, they're for public order and we've got the G20 world leaders coming. This is a complete disaster."Under the legislation, traffic cameras must be capable of recording at 720 x 576 pixels, an analogue broadcast standard. Westminster's wireless network of road cameras, introduced last year, is the only fully digital traffic enforcement system operating in the UK, and is regarded as one of the most advanced in the world. But its picture quality is only 704 x 576 pixels. The DfT's enforcement branch, the Vehicle Certification Agency, has ruled it does not comply with the law. DfT lawyers were last night frantically exploring a way to exempt Westminster from the legislation. A department statement said: "To ensure local authorities have a fair and transparent way of detecting unlawful drivers, any recording device must meet minimum requirements. "The council last night confirmed that - barring an 11th-hour U-turn - it would have to switch off the network tomorrow to comply with the act. Danny Chalkley, the council's cabinet member for environment and transport, said in a statement: "The DfT's position is ludicrous and stuck in the dark ages. "[This] could result in millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being needed to replace the current cameras, all because of a tiny difference in image resolution on the TV screen."

Tens of thousands of people have marched through London demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs, ahead of next week's G20 summit. The Put People First alliance of 150 charities and unions walked from Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally. Speakers called on G20 leaders to pursue a new kind of global justice. Police estimate 35,000 marchers took part in the event. Its organisers say people wanted the chance to air their views peacefully. Protesters described a "carnival-like atmosphere" with brass bands, piercing whistles and stereos blasting music as the slow-paced procession weaved through the streets. Police said one man was arrested during the march for being drunk and disorderly. Unite union, general secretary Derek Simpson said: "I think it's an important message but whether it will get through to the people meeting in London I don't know. Anyone who sees the numbers on this march should realise how important it is." Families with children in pushchairs were among those marching along the 4.2-mile route under banners with slogans including 'capitalists - you are the crisis' and 'justice for the world's poor'. As protesters passed the heavily-policed gates of Downing Street, there were chants and jeers with one person shouting "enjoy the overtime". BBC News reporter Mario Cacciottolo said people were clearly angry, but the atmosphere was not tense. Milton McKenzie, 73, from Essex, told him: "How the hell can we have a situation here in Britain where we have people out of work and the bankers just cream it off and are helped by the government." Italian trade unionist Nicoli Nicolosi, who had travelled from Rome, said: "We are here to try and make a better world and protest against the G20." Glen Tarman, chairman of the Put People First co-ordination team, said: "An exciting alliance has been born today.

We will keep up the pressure on world leaders and the UK government to address our demands and put people first." TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he wanted to see G20 leaders agree a plan of action to deal with the financial downturn. "Where I hope we will see a consensus emerge is in the recognition that unless they act together, then the problems are only going to get worse. "This, unlike any other recession, is a recession right across the world." The Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said it was important for the G20 to make commitments on helping the environment as well as the economy. "There are some people who will say you can either tackle the economic crisis or the climate crisis. "But the truth is that both come together with this idea of a Green New Deal, of investing in the jobs of the future, which are going to be in the green industries of the future." The director of the the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, said governments have caused the economic crisis. "The world market economy is actually a very moral system that raised a billion people out of poverty in the last 10 years," he said. A huge security operation is under way in the run-up to the G20 summit, at which world leaders will discuss the global financial crisis and other issues. There have been fears that banks and other financial institutions could be the focus for violent protests. Commander Simon O'Brien, one of the senior command team in charge of policing security, said: "It's fair to say that this [the march] is one of the largest, one of the most challenging and one of the most complicated operations we have delivered. "G20 is attracting a significant amount of interest from protest groups. There is an almost unprecedented level of activity going on. Saturday's march will be followed by a series of protests on Wednesday and Thursday by a variety of coalitions and groups campaigning on a range of subjects, from poverty, inequality and jobs to war, climate change and capitalism.

ODM has laid plans to penetrate the Ukambani political terrain ahead of the 2012 General Election in moves that have sent ODM-Kenya into a state of panic. Ukambani is the political bedrock of ODM-Kenya. The party locked out other competitors in the 2007 elections by taking the majority parliamentary and civic seats. Only Water Minister Charity Ngilu, Assistant Ministers Harun Mwau, Wavinya Ndeti and Kitui West MP Charles Nyamai conquered the ODM-Kenya "wiper wave". But new political realignments are threatening the dominance of ODM-Kenya in Kamba politics, with the silent scheming being spearheaded by a group of well-oiled professionals and politicians from the region who want to break what they have branded as Kalonzo’s "strangulation". ODM, the party associated with the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has opened branches in several constituencies and has begun recruiting members. Raila’s entry point into Ukambani is Water Minister Charity Ngilu who only last week told off critics of the PM during a public rally in Kitui. ODM Ukambani regional co-ordinator and Kangundo branch chairman Titus Kalokisaysthe move to popularise the party was aimed at offering alternative and focused leadership. "We want to end the culture of regional political chiefs and who have contributed to the retrogressive politics in Ukambani," says Kaloki. Other ODM branches set to be opened in coming weeks include Kibwezi, Kathiani, Machakos Town, Yatta, Kitui and Masinga, Kathiani party branch chairman Franklin Makola says time to end ODM-Kenya’s grip on local politics has come. Already, seven former MPs have shown their interest in supporting the ODM initiative.

Former Masinga MP Ronald Kiluta says any initiative that will offer the region fresh leadership was most welcome. "We should support parties that have ideologies and not regional outfits that belong to one tribe," says Kiluta. Party patronageThe former Assistant Minister believes he lost his seat due to party patronage since he did not support Kalonzo. "Our people should stop electing leaders on the basis of their parties, but should focus on the abilities of the individuals seeking political seats," says Kiluta. Another nightmare is the resurgence of political hostility between Kalonzo and Ngilu. Barely a year after the two Ukambani political heavyweights pledged to work together, the truce seems to have collapsed. During the opening of an Equity Bank branch in Kitui Town, the fickle political truce bubble burst when two MPs allied to Kalonzo openly attacked Prime Minister Raila Odinga forcing Ngilu to come to his rescue. Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama and his Kibwezi counterpart Philip Kaloki got tongue lashing from the Water Minister for their remarks on the PM. Muthama said Prime Minister Raila Odinga had made a mistake in endorsing a protest by university students, adding it was a threat by investors. "I am also an investor and what happened when the students became unruly was not good. Raila is squarely to blame," said Muthama. But Ngilu said Kamba MPs allied to Kalonzo should leave Raila alone and serve the agenda of those who elected them. "Raila is a reformist and cannot be equated with any of them. I will never allow anyone to speak ill of him in my presence," says Ngilu. She adds some of the Kamba MPs who are first timers in Parliament were pretending to know more by attacking the PM whom he described as a liberation hero. “Raila fought for the second liberation of this country when many of those attacking him now were serving the repressive Kanu regime. They have no moral authority to speak on democracy," said Ngilu. Ngilu further said many of the MPs attacking Raila got to Parliament by hanging on Kalonzo’s coat tails in the last elections. He told them to prove they can stand on their alone. "Kalonzo does not know anything about development and certainly he is part of the problem in the Coalition Government," says Ngilu. But Philip Kaloki says he will continue supporting Kalonzo despite the perception within political circles he was acting as one of the VP’s "political dogs of war". "I speak my mind on issues and do not need to be a sycophant. I support Kalonzo by choice," said Kaloki. All this comes at a time central Kenya’s Kalonzo allies seem to be courting the Rift Valley. – East Standard

Fifteen Kenyan human rights activists have either gone into hiding or fled the country following a government crackdown on those who have implicated police in killings, claims a local rights organisation. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said on Friday those who interacted with the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Prof Philip Alston, during his investigations have either received threatening phone calls or short text messages. But police denied receiving any reports of death threats from the rights organisation. Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai joined KNCHR vice-chairperson Hassan Omar Hassan in condemning the alleged campaign to intimidate human rights defenders in the country. They also called on the government to guarantee the safety of all Kenyans. “Kenyans should resist a campaign to silence and intimidate human rights activists, especially those who condemn extrajudicial killings,” said Prof Maathai. According to Mr Hassan, the vice chairman the commission had been forced to flee after police visited their offices, demanding to see the officer. “The threat on their lives is real. Some have tried to seek asylum or fled for their safety elsewhere,” he added. Efforts to seek assistance from mobile telephone operators to establish the source of the anonymous threats proved futile, he said. The users acquired the phones and SIM cards and discarded them soon after use, Mr Hassan said. He said some activists reported the threats to officers at Nairobi's Parklands Police Station but declined to disclose the names of those affected, arguing that doing so would further compromise their security. Among those said to have gone into hiding are three university students who were close to activist Paul Oulo, who was killed recently alongside Oscar King’ara, his boss at Oscar Foundation, Prof Maathai said. “Our country has a deep-rooted culture of impunity brought about by criminality that is committed by men in uniform and which goes unpunished. Our justice system has failed,” Prof Maathai said. Prof Alston, in his preliminary findings last month, indicted the security forces for executing suspected Mungiki members and other groups such as the Sabaot Land Defence Force in Mt Elgon. This verdict was, however, dismissed by the police and the military. Mr King’ara and Mr Oulo were killed early this month in circumstances described by human rights groups as executions. Mr Hassan said they would lobby for the implementation of Prof Alston’s report once it is formally presented later this month.

The agreement signed between the Kenya Airports Authority and Qatari investors to build a five-star hotel and five office blocks at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport grants liberal privileges to the investors but little in terms of benefits and earnings to Kenya. According to the fine print of a confidential Cabinet paper seen by the Sunday Nation, the KAA will only be entitled, during the first five years of the operations of the hotel, to a concession fee of five per cent calculated on the gross turnover of the business. The fee increases to 10 per cent after five years and must be renegotiated in the 15th year. The only other fee KAA is entitled to under the agreement is $1,000 a year, which will be paid by the companies renting space in both the five-tower office complex and the multiple exhibition centres — and a Sh10 million annual rent. In exchange for this, the agreement grants the investors from the wealthy Gulf state a massive 90 acres of land strategically located within the airport area. In addition, the Qataris have the right to exclusively own and manage the complex they will be putting up at the airport for an uninterrupted period of 80 years. The complex will include a 450-bed five-star hotel, a five-tower office complex, exhibition and convention centres — and large warehouses. The Sunday Nation has learnt that since the Cabinet approved the deal in February last year, the Qataris have revised their offer to include an additional four-star hotel (300 rooms) and a “five-star “250-bed hospital — all to be constructed within the airport area. Whether the Qataris will complete this massive project in three years as they have pledged remains to be seen. The agreement is silent on whether the businessmen have the right to sell some of the airport land during the 80-year period in which they will own it. In fancy jargon, the deal signed with the Qataris is known as a BOT (buy-operate- and transfer ), an arrangement by which a country invites foreign investors to use their own money to develop a property and in return receive rights to own and operate the assets for a specified number of years during which the investors pay a concession fee. In this case, ownership of the airport property would revert to KAA after 80 years. Touted as the single largest foreign direct deal in Kenya in decades, the manner in which it was negotiated is raising eyebrows, with critics asking how the Qataris managed get the government to commit to such a lopsided deal. Clearly, the Qataris are no ordinary investors. – Daily Nation

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - MARCH 2009

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? FEBRUARY 2009 - PART ONE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? FEBRUARY 2009 - TWO

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? FEBRUARY 2009 - THREE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - JANUARY 2009 - ONE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - JANUARY 2009 - TWO

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - DECEMBER, 2008 ONE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - DECEMBER TWO, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - NOVEMBER ONE, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - OCTOBER, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - SEPTEMBER 2008