Month: October 2016

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Monday, October 31, 2016 expelled 10 leaders from its party who had openly defected to the Jubilee Party.
Topping the expulsion list are former Secretary General and now Labour Party of Kenya leader Ababu Namwamba, Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, Mathare MP Steven Kariuki and nominated MP Isaac Mwaura.
Others include Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi,  Kwale Women Rep Zainab Chidzuga, MPs Samwel Arama, Masoud Mwahima, John Waluke and Viwandani MCA Samwel Nyangwara.
 
The decision follows a National Executive Council meeting on Sunday where the party members adopted the party’s disciplinary committee’s decision to de-register the leaders.
The party will now write to the Registrar of Political Parties on its decision paving way for the announcement of the seats held by the leaders to be declared vacant and subsequent by elections declared.
This will prove a hard task regarding that the general elections are barely 10 months away and there is no electoral team currently in place to oversee the by elections following the resignation of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners last month.
from key parliament committees in a move to discipline errant members who have decamped or openly declared their desire to work with the rival Jubilee Party.

“We are angry with Europe (because) it must finally meet its obligations,” both in terms of transferring migrants and in terms of helping implement an EU-Turkey deal, migration minister Yannis Mouzalas told the Ert1 public TV channel.
He was commenting as a group of 111 Syrian refugees left Greece for Finland, under a program of redistributing migrants across the EU to share the burden of Europe’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II.
“Today, a year after this program was launched,” Athens’ EU partners “have only taken charge of 5,000 refugees from Greece, while it promised to take in 33,000 of them” over the first year, and as many again between now and the end of 2017, he added.
Specifically he condemned the “sabotage” of the EU plan by the so-called Visegrad group of countries — Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — who are fiercely opposed to it, and against whom Athens is seeking EU sanctions.
The European Commission initially suggested that countries which fail to meet their obligations under the EU scheme could face financial penalties, but has not followed through on that warning.
Mouzalas blasted the lack of European support to implement the EU-Turkey deal, under which migrants who arrived in the Greek islands after March 20, including Syrian refugees, could be sent back to Turkey.
“The EU must support this agreement. It’s not a question of showing solidarity with Greece. It’s an obligation,” he said.
Under the deal, the EU promised to provide experts to help Greece organise the return of migrants in line with asylum rules. But these reinforcements “are absent,” he said.
Greek services are overwhelmed because most of the migrants have filed asylum requests in a bid to delay or block their return to Turkey, producing an “excessive concentration” in the Aegean islands, he said.
The presence of nearly 16,000 migrants there has prompted repeated spikes in tension, he said.
Athens wants to transfer some of these migrants to centres on the Greek mainland, but faces opposition from its EU partners who fear a mass resurgence of unregulated migrants heading north, he said.

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on Monday, October 31, 2016 expelled 10 leaders from its party who had openly defected to the Jubilee Party.
Topping the expulsion list are former Secretary General and now Labour Party of Kenya leader Ababu Namwamba, Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, Mathare MP Steven Kariuki and nominated MP Isaac Mwaura.
Others include Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi,  Kwale Women Rep Zainab Chidzuga, MPs Samwel Arama, Masoud Mwahima, John Waluke and Viwandani MCA Samwel Nyangwara.
 
The decision follows a National Executive Council meeting on Sunday where the party members adopted the party’s disciplinary committee’s decision to de-register the leaders.
The party will now write to the Registrar of Political Parties on its decision paving way for the announcement of the seats held by the leaders to be declared vacant and subsequent by elections declared.
This will prove a hard task regarding that the general elections are barely 10 months away and there is no electoral team currently in place to oversee the by elections following the resignation of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners last month.
from key parliament committees in a move to discipline errant members who have decamped or openly declared their desire to work with the rival Jubilee Party.

French demolition teams cleared the last shacks in the Calais “Jungle” on Monday, signalling the end of the notorious camp as concerns mount for thousands of migrants sleeping rough in Paris.
Squads of workers using diggers, tractors and cranes had torn down the final tents and makeshift migrant homes on the windswept stretch of northern coastline.
Sand, mud and piles of rubbish now mark the spot where thousands of migrants and refugees passed through as they tried to sneak into Britain, making the “Jungle” camp a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis.
Only a church and two small mosques have been spared destruction and they will be preserved only for as long as more than 1,000 unaccompanied teenagers are housed nearby in temporary containers.
The minors await news of their transfer to Britain or alternative housing in France, with their fate a source of enduring tension between London and Paris.
“They said there was going to be a bus today. When?” asked 18-year-old Mohammed from Sudan, as he rode a bike near where a street of shops had stood in the camp.
At its height the camp was home to more than 10,000 people, with the squalid conditions, crime and disruption to Calais’s crucial port and train link to Britain a source of anger and embarrassment in France.
Six months before elections, Socialist President Francois Hollande is on a drive to take migrants off the streets and transfer them to shelters around the country where they can seek asylum.
And he has promised that the “Jungle” will not be reborn in Calais. saying he understands that the city’s residents had endured a tense situation for a long time.
“I assure them that there will be no resettlement on the land… no one will be able to get back on it,” Hollande said in an interview to be published Tuesday in regional daily La Voix du Nord.
While the Calais camp is now demolished and thousands have been sent to lodgings elsewhere, the fate of the unaccompanied minors housed in containers near the site remains unresolved.
France has called on Britain, the intended final destination for most Jungle migrants, to do more. Since mid-October, Britain has taken in over 270 children and has promised to take in hundreds more.
While there appears to be fresh political will to tackle the migrant crisis in France, activists warn that a new camp in Calais could sprout up and that the country lacks sufficient capacity to house all those in need.
Concern is also mounting in Paris where the number of migrants sleeping rough in the northeastern Stalingrad area of the city has swelled since last week when the Calais evacuations began.
In a letter to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve that was made public Monday, the Socialist mayor of the city sounded the alarm over the “dramatic humanitarian and sanitary situation” in the northeast.
On Monday, workers in white overalls backed by a digger began clearing tents and mattresses from a street in the area, where around 2,000 migrants have been living under an overhead metro line.
Riot police with shields sealed off the area during the operation — a prelude to a bigger effort in the coming days to clear the camp, which is a long-standing magnet for the homeless in the capital.
“If they don’t give us shelter, why are they destroying our homes?” an Afghan said at the scene, declining to give his name.
Another said he had nothing left besides “my clothes, my shoes and my documents.”
The city is to open a migrant reception centre with capacity for 400 single men — a fraction of those seeking shelter — in the coming days.
Various squalid settlements have existed for decades around Calais, which is home to one of the country’s biggest ports and the Channel Tunnel rail link connecting France and Britain.
Major camps have been cleared there at least twice before, in 2002 and 2009.
From April 2015, the “Jungle” camp emerged as hundreds of thousands of people headed to Europe from the Middle East and Africa in the continent’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II.
The migrant arrivals in France were mainly Afghans, Iraqis, Eritreans and Sudanese, who would try to stow away on vehicles heading to Britain.

Moscow, an ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, has been staging bombing raids in Syria since September 2015.
Forty-eight percent of Russians were concerned that “heightened tensions in relations between Russia and the West could grow into World War III,” according to a poll conducted by independent pollster Levada Centre last week.
That figure was up from 29 percent in July this year.
Moscow’s air strikes have negatively affected the way Russia is perceived internationally, 32 percent said, up from 16 percent in November.
Nevertheless, 52 percent of Russians said they back Moscow’s air strikes, while 26 percent said they opposed them.
Asked whether Russia should continue “intervening in what is going on in Syria,” 49 percent said yes, while 28 percent said no.
Western powers and rights groups have accused Syrian and Russian forces of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country, particularly around the former economic powerhouse Aleppo, parts of which have been reduced to rubble.
Moscow announced on October 18 it was halting strikes on Aleppo in a moratorium that has so far lasted 14 days.

Kitutu Chache North MP and former Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka on Monday apologised to ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga as he rejoined the orange party.
Onyonka said.
Speaking during the party’s National Governing Council meeting at the Bomas of Kenya, the MP said that he saw it was best to stay in ODM and asked for forgiveness from both Raila and the party’s supporters.
Onyonka was last week chased away by an irate mob from a polling station during Nyacheki by-elections in Kisii County.
 
Onyonka had gone to witness the voting but a crowd told him off saying he was not an observer and accused him of trying to bribe voters by dishing out money.
Last year, Onyonko became one of the very first opposition MPs to reveal that he would defend his seat on a Jubilee ticket.
Despite not having been elected on an ODM ticket, he became assistant minister after Raila nominated him while forming the ‘half’ of cabinet in the Grand Coalition Government.

Rahab Mugure Nga’nga is a perfect example of a ‘strong’ woman; she has been in two relationships that lasted for two and three years respectively but she has still managed to keep her legs closed tightly together.
In an interview with the Standard; the 33-year-old commercial service manager revealed that she is still a virgin at 33 because of her religious belief and desire to please her God.
The 33 year virgin says that the man who will deflower her must walk her down the aisle first; Mugure still subscribes to the bullcrap that sex before marriage is a sin.
“I am a born again Christian and I do not want to offend God with sexual sin, sex outside the marriage bond is sin. I want to have sex, just like the next person, but because I haven’t before, it is not a distraction.” Mugure told the Standard.
 
Mugure further says she could end up adopting a child and being a virgin for life if she clocks 50 and no man still meets her conditions.
She revealed she had managed to steer clear of the temptation to spread legs by avoiding salacious materials.
[sic]

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff believes Nico Rosberg will relish the challenge of trying to clinch his maiden title triumph with a victory in next month?s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Rosberg has a 19 points lead with two races remaining after finishing second behind defending three-time world champion and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Sundays Mexican Grand Prix.
?For Nico, it is in his hands now and I think it?s easier for him in terms of handling the situation with a little less pressure. He has a clear goal and he has another race afterwards in Abu Dhabi.
?All the talking about ?you only need to finish second in order to make it? is over now. If he wins in Brazil, he wins the championship.
?So it is really interesting. It?s great for the fans, what?s happening now, and it is great for the championship.?
Wolff added that he felt that the 31-year-old German was coping well with the pressure of his position.
?It is one of his strongest points. In the race, he was quite under pressure from Max Verstappen when he was catching up and he managed that well.
?We have seen many races where Nico does this, honestly. He is good under pressure.
?I don?t know how difficult it is, but I can only guess that it is difficult to manage a situation where you only need to finish second and avoid a DNF (did not finish).
?He is doing a very good job.?

Arjen Robben is relishing his return to PSV Eindhoven, 14 years after his Champions League debut, with Bayern Munich hunting a win to take them closer to the knock-out stages.
Eindhoven host Bayern at PSV’s Philips Stadium on Tuesday.
Robben, 32, was outstanding in Bayern’s 3-1 win at Augsburg on Saturday as he netted and provided both assists for Robert Lewandowski’s goals in a win which kept the Bavarian giants two points clear in Germany’s top flight.
Robben joined Eindhoven as an 18-year-old, scoring 21 goals in 75 games for PSV, for whom he made his Champions League debut in October 2002.
Now, after 90 Champions League games and 14 years, which has seen him also play for Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern, Robben will make his first return to Holland for a European game.
“It’s going to be the first time since I started playing abroad that I will be playing a Champions League game in Holland, and then against my former club,” said the Dutch winger.
“I will simply enjoy the evening in Eindhoven and hopefully we’ll play well.
“We simply have to win and we still want to be first in the group.”
Pleasantries aside, Bayern will be all business and are eager to complete the double having beaten Eindhoven 4-1 in Munich a fortnight ago.
Thomas Mueller, Joshua Kimmich, Lewandowski and Robben all scored for the hosts while Luciano Narsingh netted PSV’s goal.
Bottom side Eindhoven need a victory to maintain their fading hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.
The Bavarian giants are smarting since their 1-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid in their second group game means they still lag three points behind their Spanish rivals.
Bayern will secure qualification to the last 16 if they beat PSV and Atletico avoid defeat at home to Rostov in the other Group D fixture.
PSV are bottom of the table and have not won any of their last five fixtures in the Champions League, including last season, and have failed to score in their last two home European fixtures.
Bayern have a ropey away record with just two wins on the road in their last 11 away Champions League matches with three draws and six defeats.
The Bavarian giants broke a three-match winless streak when they routed Eindhoven a fortnight ago and then earned back-to-back wins over Augsburg in the German Cup, then the league.
But chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says they must keep up the standards, especially with their showdown against Atletico looming in Munich on December 6.
“We’re not through yet, but we want to be first,” said the Bayern boss.
“So accordingly, we will have to play just as well in Eindhoven to get the three points.”
Bayern have both defender Javin Martinez and Franck Ribery out injured.

The common mwananchi rarely gets a chance to meet up with Government representatives who meet them at their levels and opens up to them a world of opportunities and unending chances.
And that’s where the Grand Team, a formidable crew that seeks to bring the Good News to the common Mwananchi down at the grassroots level is all about.
The Grand Team, headed by Nick Kayu seeks to inform the voters and the mwananchi of what his Government is doing for him and what it’s intending to keep doing.
In a series of County hall meetings, starting from Coast County and spending out to the rest of the country, the Grand Team will be moving to host forums that  involves the mwananchi in all matters Government in a bid to speed up service delivery and demystify the Government bureaucracy to the mwanchi.
Also, the Grand Team seeks to not only improve communication but also to reinforce and emphasize the government agenda to all.
Also, the team will consult with the mwananchi in a bid find solutions to problems dogging them as well as using the meetings to not only disseminate information in a simpler and easier way but also to allow the Wanainchi to discuss and debate what they feel should be done and improved.
As the link to the chain that binds the Government to the mwananchi, the Grand Team will also be tasked with ensuring that Kenya moves forward with peace
Also,the team will seek to highlight some of the biggest strengths Kenya has and also to shine a light on some of the groundbreaking successes and achievements of the current Government which include and are not limited to the Huduma Centre, mobile clinics, introduction of e-systems in the country which has been instrumental in running the day to day activities such as renewal of driving licenses and easy access to National IDs. Also, connectivity to the electricity grade, availability of water and access to free maternity.
The country has hosted major business investment summits, such as the Global Entrepreneurship summit which was graced by the U.S president Barrack Obama, which was a first for a sitting U.S president.
Through the Grand Team, the agenda of the common Mwananchi will not only be bettered but also properly communicated and thoroughly improved through communication and implementation of pertinent issues.
It’s time Kenyans sieved through the propaganda, the noise and the political witch hunt to see just what the Government has been busy doing and also, to learn more on what’s also possible and achievable under the tutelage and able leadership of the Jubilee administration.
All of this will be made possible and realized quick in all counties and all levels of society under the steermanship of the Grand Team.
 
 

Looking skinny, weak and tired, the sailors hugged their sobbing relatives at a ceremony in the capital Jakarta that came about a week after they were released, along with 22 other Asian captives following almost five years as hostages.
“We are still traumatised, we’re still afraid,” said one of the captives, 24-year-old Sudirman, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
“We don’t know what we are feeling right now. Even as we stand here, we can’t believe it. Is this a dream? This must be a miracle — thank you God.”
The crew, who also came from Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, were taken hostage after their fishing vessel was seized in March 2012 south of the Seychelles.
The Omani-flagged vessel, the Naham 3, was the last commercial ship seized at the height of Somalia’s piracy scourge, with its crew the second-longest held hostage by Somali pirates.
Sudirman said the Indonesians spent one and a half years on the boat before being taken ashore and held at a site in the wilderness.
He said the captives were usually only fed once a day with spoiled bread or rice and red beans, and half a litre of dirty water, leading them to suffer from constant diarrhoea.
Some days the hostages got nothing, forcing them to hunt for their own food in the form of rats and cats, he said, but added this could be dangerous.
“If we got caught our hands and feet would be tied up and we would be hung upside down, it hurt a lot,” he said.
Pirates initially took 29 crew hostage, but one person died during the hijacking, and two more died from illnesses — including an Indonesian — during their captivity.
The first major commercial vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2005 and the industry flourished in a country wracked by years of civil war and with few jobs and no central government.

It was created by designer extraordinaire, Elizabeth Nyambura, a lady who has been in and out of the fashion corridors for a while now. Nyambura known as Designa Wen n also Miss Kenya Congeniality, Nakuru County, operates Designa Wen Collections as a made-to-measure line where clients can have their dresses designed and stitched to suit all occasions.
The creativity of the designs and neatness of the work done cannot be compared to many in the market. Making its clients grow immensely on a daily basis. Due to the market demand, the brand has grown to include bridal gowns, occasion outfits, men suits, swim suits, various collections of shoes among many others.
Designa Wen recently ventured into the corporate market making it accessible to hire a gown from them.
They currently have a physical shop located at Diamond Exhibitions, next to the Bazaar on Moi Avenue, Nairobi, shop G18. Where they are eager to share a piece of themselves with all women and men in Kenya and the larger East African market aiming to have their clothes available to clients on their online shop: on , and .
 

To make an order or for business enquiries you can call/text/WhatsApp 0716377098

Germany coach Joachim Loew targeted a second World Cup triumph and European glory on Monday after extending his contract until 2020.
The 56-year-old, who took charge in 2006, has signed a two-year extension to lead Germany’s defence of the World Cup in Russia in 2018 and to the European Championships in 2020.
If Loew — a popular figure in Germany — stays in office until then his 14-year tenure would make him the joint second-longest serving Germany coach, equal to Helmut Schoen (1964-78).
Germany, under Loew, won a fourth World Cup in Brazil two years ago but lost to hosts France in the Euro 2016 semi-finals in July.
Germany have not won a European crown since 1996.
“We have visions and things that we want to tackle, so the time of the extension was just right,” Loew told a press conference in Frankfurt.
“The goal is, of course, to repeat our success story in Rio (World Cup) and we want to be European champions, which is a big goal of mine.
“When the head and the heart both say ‘yes’ at the same time, then there is not much to think about.”
Loew, who took charge of Germany after the 2006 World Cup following two years as assistant coach under Jurgen Klinsmann, will reportedly receive a pay rise to earn four million euros ($4.4m) per year.
Loew’s old deal is believed to have earned him an annual salary of around three million euros.
“I feel the same motivation as I did at the beginning of my term at the DFB (German FA) and I still feel their confidence,” he said.
“It’s simply great fun to work with this team and these players.
“We all have the same goal — to confirm the Brazil success at the World Cup in Russia.”
“Loew is the best coach that we in the DFB’s executive committee can imagine,” said German FA president Reinhard Grindel.
“We have the same goal — we want to defend our World Cup title in Russia and, after we were so close to it in France this year, we want to try to be Europe champions in 2020.”
Grindel added that Loew’s new deal was “reward” for the coach’s hard work, but the president wanted to get the contract signed before the German FA meets in Erfurt on Thursday and Friday.
Germany, top of their 2018 World Cup qualifying group with three straight wins, play minnows San Marino away in their next qualifier on November 11 before facing Italy four days later in a glamour friendly in Milan.
Loew, who coached VfB Stuttgart to the 1997 German Cup title, has ruled out a return to the Bundesliga once his Germany reign is over.
Under his stewardship, Germany have reached at least the semi-finals of either the World Cup or European championships for the last decade.
He is though prone to the occasional sideline gaffe, caught on camera, including picking his nose on numerous occasions and thrusting his hand into his trousers to scratch his genitals during a Euro 2016 game.
Sepp Herberger holds the 28-year record for a Germany coach, from 1936-64, during which time he led West Germany to their first World Cup title in 1954

Spain’s conservative leader Mariano Rajoy was sworn in Monday for a second term as prime minister, bringing a close to 10 months of political limbo.
“I swear to faithfully fulfil the obligations of prime minister and to show loyalty to the king,” Rajoy said with his hand on the Spanish constitution, at a ceremony attended by King Felipe VI and broadcast live on national television.
Rajoy, leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), is set to spend the next three days forming a new cabinet for his hard-won minority government.
A senior party source said he was staying tight-lipped about his cabinet picks, planning to notify ministers of their new jobs “a half-hour before”.
The comeback follows a victorious confidence vote in parliament on Saturday — only possible because Spain’s Socialists (PSOE) decided to abstain and not vote against him.
Still it is clear that Rajoy faces unprecedented opposition as Spain grapples with painful economic reforms and resurgent Catalan separatism.
When the PP ruled from 2011 to 2015, it enjoyed an absolute majority in parliament.
Now, it must govern with 137 of 350 MPs, meaning that it will have to negotiate with the upstart centrist Ciudadanos, Basque and Catalan nationalists, and the main opposition Socialists on every bill it seeks to pass.
Rajoy, 61, has been at the helm of a provisional government without full powers for nearly a year following inconclusive elections in December 2015 in which the PP lost its absolute majority, despite coming first.
New elections in June once again failed to produce a clear winner.
Rajoy is expected to name his new cabinet Thursday, with several ministers approaching retirement age set to depart, including Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, a controversial figure for his efforts to tighten the legal noose on Catalan separatists.
Defence Minister Pedro Morenes and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo could also lose their jobs.
Rajoy’s first daunting task after that will be to submit a budget to parliament for approval after a delay of several months — certain to be a headache given his lack of a parliamentary majority.
If Rajoy persuades enough MPs to back — or not oppose — his taxation and spending plans, he will still face scrutiny from the European Union which will want to know how Spain will reduce its structural deficit to below three percent of GDP for 2017.
But it may prove impossible for Rajoy to secure enough parliamentary support while meeting the terms laid down by Brussels.
To slash the deficit Rajoy will either have to cut spending by 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) — angering the left on whose support he may depend to get the budget passed — or hike taxes, which could in term anger businesses and jeopardise investment.
Spain has the second highest unemployment rate in the EU — second only to Greece — at 18.9 percent, which coupled with a pensions crisis threatens fragile growth.
Alongside the economy, Rajoy will be forced to grasp the thorny issue of Catalonia, Spain’s wealthy northeastern region where an independence movement has gathered pace since he first came to power in 2011.
Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont has vowed to press ahead with an independence referendum next year if Madrid refuses to negotiate.

Under-pressure Ferrari team chief Maurizio Arrivabene said he was surprised by Sebastian Vettel’s “unfair” penalty that relegated him to fifth in Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The Italian outfit’s principal said the decision, which cannot be appealed, was too harsh and unfair. He said Vettel?s podium had been “taken away by bureaucracy”.
Vettel was given a 10-seconds penalty by race stewards long after the race was over and after the four-time champion had celebrated on the podium with the victorious Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Vettel himself had only been promoted to third provisionally, replacing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, immediately after the race when the Dutch teenager was given a five seconds penalty.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull was classified third in the final result.
Vettel was penalised for moving under braking as he defended fourth place at Turn Four against Ricciardo in the penultimate lap of the tumultuous race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The pair banged wheels and Vettel retained his position.
The stewards investigated the incident and found that Vettel made an “abnormal change of direction” that was “potentially dangerous” and handed him the time penalty.
He was also given two penalty points on his licence.
“I?m surprised by the decision,” said Arrivabene.
“We gained a podium on the track and they removed it with their bureaucracy ? fantastic. When they give a five or ten-seconds penalty, you can’t appeal.
“You just have to listen to what they decide…?
He added: “It could have felt special? The whole team showed great stamina in staying united and focused in a difficult moment and our strategy made it possible to make good progress. Both drivers did a great job.
?Unfortunately, we were penalised by a decision which in my opinion is too harsh and somehow unfair.”
The decision confirmed that Ricciardo will finish third in the drivers championship while Ferrari now trail second-placed Red Bull by 62 points in the constructors? championship with two races remaining.
The stewards’ decision came just one race after the initiation of a clampdown on drivers moving under braking ? a tactic brought to notice by Verstappen.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: ?There has been so much debate about movement under brakes since Japan.
“A clear directive came out this weekend and a clear movement was made under brakes ? if it had been prior to this weekend, it would possibly have been ok, but the rules are clear.
“So we’ve had the slightly unusual scenario where Max finished third on the road, made it as far as the green room, only for Sebastian to go on the podium and take the plaudits and then for Daniel to be taking the trophy home!
“But I’m glad to see the stewards have made the right decision in the end.?

Janet Mbugua and Eddie chose to have the party a few days after Huru’s birth date so as to have their families gather together. Anyway the private birthday party went down at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
In a post shared by the news anchor she revealed that they adopted an orphaned elephant for their son from David Sheidrick’s Wildlife and Trust as his birthday gift.
 
“Some of you have asked me what we got #BabyHuru as a birthday gift? We adopted an elephant for him named Ambo, from the @dswt in Nairobi. I hope one day he understands the importance of #ElephantConservation #BabyHuruMilestones#BabyHuruTurns1#TheJourneyWithJanet.” She wrote
The Ndichu’s chose to do this are they are passionate about wildlife and it’s conservation. Statics show that the David Sheidrick’s wildlife has managed to save about 150 calfs that are orphaned after poachers kill their parents.
Baby Huru adopted a calf called Ambo and though he is too young to understand what this means, his parents will be providing the contributions needed by the wildlife trust on his behalf.
Anyway below are a few photos courtesy of the Ndichus.
 

Seven opposition Gambian parties closed ranks and chose a sole candidate to contest against long-serving incumbent Yahya Jammeh in presidential polls in December.
The candidate, Adama Barrow, was elected through primaries in a convention attended by 490 delegates.
The 51-year-old from the United Democratic Party, the country’s biggest opposition movement, got 308 of the 487 votes cast.
“We have put our differences aside for the interest of this country. Gambians are tired of 22 years of Yahya Jammeh?s misrule and will end it come December 1st when we go to the polls. We all have to put our hands together to save this country from destruction,” he said.
This is the biggest opposition alliance in the history of The Gambia, a former British colony.
Jammeh, 51, came to power in a 1994 coup, and has ruled The Gambia with an iron fist since.
His regime is also regularly accused by rights groups of arranging the forcible disappearance of opponents.
Before the nation’s last presidential vote in 2011, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Jammeh’s control of the media and intimidation of voters meant the election could not be free and fair.
The strongman took 73 percent of the vote.
The Gambia’s newly appointed Independent Electoral Commission has assured political parties the upcoming vote will not be rigged, despite fears that an opposition crackdown is already underway.

Mourners lit candles at a memorial service at the northwestern city’s Holy Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral and held a minute of silence at 7:14 am (0414 GMT), the exact time when the plane disappeared from the radar.
The central Saint Isaac’s Cathedral also tolled its bells 224 times, while a memorial concert was set to be held in the city later in the day.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill led prayers for the victims on Monday morning in Moscow.
The Airbus plane operated by airline Metrojet was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg carrying 217 passengers, most of them Russian tourists heading home, and 8 crew members when it crashed in the Sinai desert.
The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it smuggled a bomb onto the plane inside a soda can.
The commemorations in Russia came after Egypt on Sunday held a ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh with the Egyptian aviation minister and the Russian ambassador present.
The attack led to Russia halting all flights to Egypt, one of the most popular holiday destinations for its nationals. British holidaymakers also stopped visiting Sharm el-Sheikh, dealing a severe blow to Egypt’s tourism industry.
Russia has still not renewed flights to Egypt despite some official discussion. Pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported last week that this would not happen earlier than spring 2017, citing industry experts.
Last November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian investigators had found evidence of a bomb on board, and vowed to punish those responsible.
The country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said Monday that it is “taking every possible measure to identify and bring to justice those who are implicated to various degrees in the deaths of those onboard.”
On Sunday, in the town of Vsevolozhsk outside Saint Petersburg, relatives and the regional governor Alexander Drozdenko laid the foundation stone for a Garden of Memory which will include the names of all those killed and 224 specially planted trees.
Renowned conductor Valery Gergiev will lead Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky symphony orchestra at a concert in memory of the victims on November 5.

Lyon on Monday hit out at “despicable” social media reports that French international Mathieu Valbuena had died.
“Mathieu Valbuena is happily alive and well contrary to what those despicable individuals are spreading on Twitter,” the club said in their own Twitter retort.
The Ligue 1 club acted after after a number of social media posts claimed the 32-year-old died on Sunday, alongside a photograph of the player.
“Lyon are horrified at such disgraceful and inhuman acts,” they said.
Valbuena is currently sidelined with injury.
Capped 52 times by France, the former Marseille man has endured a nightmare 2016.
The playmaker was left out of the France squad for the European Championship as his form suffered after he was targeted in a sex-tape blackmail affair which led to international colleague Karim Benzema being charged.
He was stretchered off in tears with a dislocated shoulder in Lyon’s Ligue 1 defeat to Guingamp on October 24, five minutes after taking to the field.
Valbuena is just one of a number of sports and entertainment personalities to be targeted by false death reports. West Ham striker was falsely announced as dead on Twitter in August.

Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief Monday after successfully hosting England’s cricketers for a month-long series despite security fears, hoping their gripping battle would persuade other teams to follow suit.
The tour was plunged into doubt after five Islamist gunmen attacked a restaurant in Dhaka in July, killing 18 foreigners, with England’s limited overs captain Eoin Morgan among those who ultimately stayed at home.
But after being promised security measures more usually accorded to heads of state, the bulk of England’s players did agree to travel and played their part in a nail-biting contest that fluctuated wildly at times.
After Bangladesh pulled off a 108-run victory in the second and final Test in Dhaka on Sunday to level the series, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury beamed with joy.
“We’ve done everything possible to make the tour successful and it was a huge, a huge success,” Chowdhury told AFP.
“A sense of great comfort and relief is prevailing everywhere.”
The Bangladesh board, which has long struggled to persuade teams to travel to what is Test cricket’s newest nation, was dealt a major blow last year when Australia scrapped a planned tour at the last minute on safety grounds.
The BCB was wary that a major security incident involving England could condemn it to the same fate of Pakistan, which hasn’t hosted a major Test team since an attack on the Sri Lankan bus during a match in Lahore in 2009.
Nizamuddin said he hoped the Australian board — whose chief security officer Sean Carroll visited Bangladesh last week to witness the measures provided for England — would be persuaded that Bangladesh was a safe venue.
“It was a big challenge for us to host this event successfully on the field and off the field. And we think we have done that. We have been praised by the England cricket board, their players and officials,” Nizamuddin said.
“Given the circumstances there could not have been a better series on and off the field. It’s a clear message to the rest of the world that Bangladesh is an absolutely perfect venue for hosting any international event.”
The first of the two matches, which England narrowly won by 22 runs, was Bangladesh’s first Test in nearly 15 months.
While Australia’s refusal to tour partially explains the dearth of Tests, the bigger problem has been Bangladesh’s poor record since gaining Test match status 16 years ago.
Their victory in the second Test was only their eighth in 95 contests — and the first against a full-strength side from a major country.
Before the match, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim had pleaded for more teams to play Bangladesh, saying that the only way they would would improve would be if they could get more games under their belt.
It was a point echoed on Monday by Mohammad Ashraful, one of Rahim’s predecessors who just returned to domestic cricket after serving a three-year ban for match fixing.
“We need more Test matches to improve,” Ashraful told AFP, saying the series proved that Bangladesh could now compete against the best.
“I just hope our players will get this opportunity and they deserve it.”
Even though the defeat will have dented the mood in the England camp ahead of their eagerly-awaited tour of India, Bangladesh fans were swift to praise skipper Alastair Cook and his team for making the trip.
After watching a preceding ODI series from the sidelines, Cook flew back to Bangladesh for the first Test only days after the birth of his second child back in England.
Writing on Facebook, Bangladesh fan Rajib Hasan hailed Cook for agreeing to return to the fray even it meant he only had “his baby in his arms for a couple of minutes”.

A Chinese couple have been arrested following complaints by staff at a city restaurant that they were being assaulted while working for them.
The workers allege that the Chinese nationals, who own the Hang Di Yuan restaurant in Hurlingham, have repeatedly been abusing them physically.
They claim that they are denied food despite the fact that they work at a restaurant.
They workers also said that they are denied medical care in the case that they fall sick.
One of the employees who had her hair plucked out by one of the Chinese nationals, finally decided to report the matter at the Kilimani Police Station over the weekend.
Police responded to her distress call and proceeded to Hurlingham where they had a hard time with the Chinese woman who tried to resist arrest by refusing to be led out of the restaurant.
The couple were eventually arrested and spent the night at the Kilimani Police Station and are expected to be charged in court on Monday, October 31, 2016.
 
Last year, there was a public uproar from Kenyans after several journalists were barred from entering a Chinese restaurant in Kilimani which disallowed the “admission” of Africans admission after 5pm.
The Restaurant’s Managing Director later said that they had a policy that only allows residents to be accommodated at the hotel after 5pm as a security measure prompted after a recent robbery incident at the facility.

“Ducking away from this confrontation would be just as bad as arrogance and ignorance towards Chinese interests,” he wrote in Die Welt newspaper.
Tensions over trade are mounting between Berlin and Beijing in advance of the visit starting Tuesday, during which Gabriel is due to meet with Premier Li Keqiang.
Gabriel’s remarks follow a refusal at the weekend from Germany’s European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger to take back comments in which he called the Chinese “slitty eyed” and “chiselers” who were unfairly buying up leading German and EU high-tech firms while blocking deals in the other direction.
In his editorial, Gabriel pointed to China’s selling of subsidised steel abroad, a potential new quota system for electric cars, and Chinese acquisitions of German and European high-tech firms as causing concern in Berlin and across the EU.
Despite an agreement for Beijing to address steel overcapacity reached at September’s G20 meeting in Hangzhou, he argued, China continues to sell the metal at “dumping prices” on global markets in a “blatant infraction” of trade rules.
The European Commission had been forced to slap tariffs on some Chinese steel products in a “measure of last resort,” Gabriel added.
He also took aim at Chinese plans for a quota system for “new energy” vehicles, such as electric cars — which he said could see German car exporters’ edge in internal-combustion engines undermined — and high Chinese hurdles to inward investment by foreign firms that Gabriel argues show a lack of “reciprocity” from Beijing.
“If you want to invest in other parts of the world, you can’t block investment from those countries in your own,” he wrote.
However, Germany and the EU must “learn to distinguish cases where a state-controlled firm links acquiring technologies with geopolitical extension of power,” Gabriel wrote.
Chinese firms have spent a record amount snapping up German companies this year, at 11 billion euros ($12 billion) between January and October according to accountancy firm EY.
Gabriel was unable to block a Chinese buyer taking over renowned robotics firm Kuka, but Berlin has re-opened a probe into a takeover bid for microchip maker Aixtron.
US intelligence warned Berlin that Aixtron’s products could have military applications in China’s nuclear programme, business daily Handelsblatt reported last week.
China’s official Xinhua news agency accused Germany of “delusional ‘China threat’ paranoia” over the investigation.

“I swear to faithfully fulfil the obligations of prime minister and to show loyalty to the king,” Rajoy said with his hand on the Spanish constitution.
In a ceremony that was broadcast live on national television, the leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP) was then greeted by Felipe VI, who came to the throne in June 2014.
Rajoy is set to spend the next three days forming a new cabinet for his minority government, after a 10-month deadlock.
Still it was clear that he would be faced with unprecedented opposition as the country grapples with painful economic reforms and resurgent Catalan separatism.
When the PP ruled from 2011 to 2015, it enjoyed an absolute majority in parliament.
Now, it must govern with 137 of 350 MPs, meaning that it will have to negotiate with the upstart centrist Ciudadanos, Basque and Catalan nationalists, and the main opposition Socialists on every bill it seeks to pass.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli on Monday morning jetted into the country for the first time since he was sworn in in October last year.
President Magufuli was received by his host President Uhuru Kenyatta and was accorded full state honours including a 21-gun salute and a military Guard of Honour at State House Nairobi.

 
The two presidents are currently holding bi-lateral talks at State House on matters dealing in trade, immigration and education among others.
They are scheduled to hold a joint press conference shortly after.
More to follow…

The bodies of the 27-year-old mother and her seven and nine-year-old daughters were found inside a freezer in their apartment in the southern Danish town of Aabenraa after a concerned relative had not heard from them for days.
“Police went into the apartment and found the three bodies in a freezer,” local police said in a statement.
“The victim’s husband and the father of the two children was not in the apartment, and we are actively searching for him,” the statement added.
The Syrian family arrived in Denmark in 2015 and were granted refugee status.
The Scandinavian nation welcomed 21,000 migrants in 2015. The influx has significantly slowed since Denmark re-established border controls in early 2016.

Diamond and his crew touched down in Lilongwe, Malawi on Friday October 28 aboard a Kenya Airways plane.
 
The Tanzanian superstar was in Malawi to perform at the 6 edition of Sand Music Festival at Livingstone Beach. Jamaican singer Turbulence was also in Malawi for the same gig.
 
Diamond, who was the main act, was slated to perform from 12 at night on Saturday, but a heavy downpour ruined the stage and equipments forcing organizers to push his performance to 6am as they rushed to fix the mess.
 
Revelers who had flocked Livingstonia Beach refused to go home and decided to wait for Diamond for 5 long hours.
 
And when Diamond finally took to the stage, the crowd got electrified; they sang along him as he performed hits after hits.
 
The most striking moment came when the Tanzanian singer was performing ‘Nasema Nawe’; he invited local girls to the stage to dance with him. And they proved Malawian ladies could twerk like crazy.
 
Diamond left the stage at around 7:30am after dropping an exhilarating performance. He thanked Malawians for having to wait for him for 5 hours.

Italy’s most powerful earthquake in 36 years has left more than 15,000 people homeless, authorities said Monday as the scale of the damage done to irreplacable historic buildings became apparent.
Although Sunday’s 6.6-magnitude tremor did not result in any deaths, the third powerful quake in just over two months has left thousands of homes in ruins or structurally unsafe and emptied a string of villages and small towns across the country’s mountainous central regions.
The series of tremors, all followed by powerful aftershocks, proved the final straw for a number of important architectural landmarks, including the Abbey of Sant-Eutizio in Umbria.
With roots dating back to the 5th Century, the abbey is one of the oldest monastic sites in Italy and was celebrated for both its 12th Century Romanesque facade and its Renaissance belltower.
That rich history was reduced to a pile of ruins on Sunday and local priest Luciano Avenati has been left heartbroken.
“Perhaps we will rebuild but this place will never again be like it was,” he told AFP. “It is an unimaginable loss.
“This whole region is going to find it hard to recover and the generations to come will only know what it once was through pictures of the past.”
The majority of residents of the devastated communities have taken refuge with friends and family as they anxiously await a green light to return to their homes.
But the national civil protection agency said Monday it was providing assistance to 15,000 people affected by Sunday’s quake, which was so powerful it caused cracks in buildings in Rome, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from the epicentre near the Umbrian town of Norcia.
Some 4,000 people from the worst-hit area around Norcia have been sent to hotels on the Adriatic coast with another 500 taken by bus to the inland Lake Trasimeno.
More than 10,000 are being put up in converted sports halls and other temporary facilities, including tents, across Umbria and the neighbouring Marche region, the protection agency said.
A further 1,100 people are still in Adriatic coast hotels as a result of the August 24 Amatrice earthquake, which left nearly 300 dead.
Given the strength of Sunday’s new quake, experts said it was remarkable that it had not resulted in any more fatalities.
Other architectural gems destroyed included the 14th Century Basilica of St Benedict in Norcia and the 13th Century Civic Tower in Amatrice.
A belltower at the sanctuary of Santa Maria in Via in the medieval university town of Camerino was destroyed last week, despite extensive renovation and seismic protection work after a previous quake in 1997.
Schools in Rome were closed Monday for structural checks and there was traffic chaos in the east of the capital because of the closure of a key flyover for assessment by engineers.
A large crack appeared in the facade of one of Rome’s four principal papal churches, the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, and the Mazzini bridge over the river Tiber was also closed for checks.
The quake was Italy’s biggest since a 6.9-magnitude one struck the south of the country in 1980, leaving 3,000 people dead.
It has been followed by hundreds of powerful aftershocks feared to have further compromised the safety of buildings in the affected area.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was vowed that every damaged house will be rebuilt while Culture Minister Dario Frenceschini says every damaged fresco will be pieced back together.
But all that will carry a hefty bill and after the trauma of three major quakes in such quick succession, the future of the already sparsely populated affected areas looks bleak.
“At the moment I don’t see any possible future,” evacuated Norcia resident Antonella Ridolfi told AFP.
“Everything here will have to be rebuilt. There is nothing really solid left in the centre.
“We have always bounced back after other earthquakes but we’ve never had to deal with one as strong as this.”

Moldova’s presidential election is set to go to a second round, preliminary results showed Monday, after the leading pro-Russian candidate failed to secure an outright win in the ex-Soviet state.
Moldova went to the polls Sunday in its first popular presidential election since the 1990s, seen as a tug-of-war between supporters of closer relations with Russia and those seeking EU integration.
With nearly 100 percent of the ballots counted on Monday, pro-Moscow candidate Igor Dodon was well ahead on 48.23 percent, but fell short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off.
His main rival, the pro-European Maya Sandu, was on 38.42 percent. The other seven candidates trailed far behind, each garnering no more than six percent of the vote that saw just over 49 percent of voters cast their ballots.
The second round between Dodon and Sandu is expected to take place on November 13. The official first-round results are not expected until Wednesday.
“The main conclusion is that voters no longer believe in this government,” Dodon told a press conference after polls closed.
“Our victory is inevitable,” said the 41-year-old, who has vowed to restore cooperation with Moscow.
Moldova, a country of 3.5 million wedged between Ukraine and Romania, is the poorest in Europe and has struggled with a string of high-profile corruption scandals that have overshadowed the vote.
The presidential candidates presented diametrically opposed visions for Moldova’s future: calling for deeper ties and boosting trade with Moscow, or committing to a path toward Europe.
Voters leaned in opposite directions as well.
“We can’t be without Russia, that’s our export market,” said Igor Lopukhov, 66, a Russian-speaking pensioner who voted for Dodon, adding that could the regional giant could help provide cheap gas.
Forty-one percent of Moldova’s population live on less than $5 (4.6 euros) a day while the monthly average salary is $240, according to World Bank figures.
Many Moldovans make ends meet only through remittances sent by relatives working abroad, which make up nearly a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP).
“My daughter sends me money (for food) from Italy,” said 70-year-old Zinovia Ilonel, who also voted for Dodon. “She’s never coming home.”
Moldova last elected a president by popular vote in 1996, after which members of parliament chose the head of state due to a constitutional amendment from 2000.
A constitutional court decision earlier this year re-established the popular vote.
The central election commission in Moldova said voting was monitored by more than 3,200 Moldovan observers and 562 more from abroad.
Moldova has been rocked by protests and political turmoil since the mysterious disappearance of $1 billion from three banks last year, which undermined people’s support for the ruling pro-Western coalition.
A total of nine candidates took part in the ballot after ruling party candidate Marian Lupu withdrew from the race last week and endorsed Sandu.
Despite the geopolitical divisions, Sandu, who launched a new party this year called Action and Solidarity, tried to focus her campaign on fighting corruption.
“We should not be afraid, we must prove to the thieves and corrupt (officials) that there are more of us,” she said Sunday. “Together we must bring order to Moldova.”
EU officials have admitted that Europe has lost much of its appeal in the scandal-weary ex-Soviet republic as no successful reforms have been seen through, while east-west rhetoric is often used to gloss over deeper issues.
Some in Moldova seem to have lost faith in their nation entirely.
“We have to admit that the project called Republic of Moldova is bankrupt,” said Vasile Prodan, an activist supporting candidate Mihai Ghimpu of the Liberal Party, who calls for a union with neighbouring Romania.

The singer who recently collaborated with Avril Nyambura on has been making heading in the past few months and as far as I know, his career is slowly rising. He is among the top talented Bongo musicians in Kenya and his music is widely played in most local clubs.
Anyway, however interesting his new audio is, there is zero creativity in the video. He simply copy and pasted the video concept used by Tanzanian singer Snura in . He only got a few ladies to twerk in his video assuming most people would not notice this.
 
Susumila’s audio was well done, but the problem comes in when an he could not come up with a decent video concept that would push his music to a different level when competing with big shots in the game. We are yet to see him drop something catchy and sesnible.
 
In another news, the singer is said to have split from his wife months after welcoming their baby girl. Infidelity issues perhaps?
Anyway checkout the new video

Iraq launched an offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group two weeks ago. Here is what we know so far about the country’s biggest military operation in years:
Which Iraqi forces are involved?
Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service and Rapid Response Division — two of its most elite special forces units, are fighting in the Mosul area, as are the army, federal and local police, Kurdish regional peshmerga and pro-government paramilitary forces.
The Hashed al-Shaabi — an umbrella organisation for pro-government paramilitary forces that is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias but also includes Sunni tribesmen — largely remained on the sidelines in the early days of the operation, but has now also entered the fight.
Where are they attacking?
The Mosul operation opened with attacks from the north, east and south, but ground forces have yet to deploy on the western approach to the city — which is exposed to IS-held areas between it and Syria.
The Hashed al-Shaabi wants to change that, aiming to retake the town of Tal Afar west of Mosul and cut jihadist supply lines to Syria, but they are still fighting in areas south or southwest of the city for now.
How are the jihadists responding?
With brutality, as they have often done before.
The United Nations said it has received credible reports that IS executed more than 250 people in the Mosul area over two days last week, and has also seized tens of thousands of people for use as human shields.
The jihadists have repeatedly targeted attacking Iraqi troops with suicide car bombs, as well as employed artillery and small arms fire.
Outside of the Mosul area, IS has launched several diversionary attacks, including one in the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk that left dozens dead. The jihadists also struck in Rutba in western Iraq, and the Sinjar area in the country’s north.
There have been conflicting reports of IS movements during the battle, pointing to both withdrawals to neighbouring Syria and the deployment of reinforcements to Iraq.
The United States says the battle has taken a heavy toll on IS forces, with up to 900 killed in the first week and a half of the operation.
How are civilians affected?
As Iraqi forces approach, thousands of civilians have been fleeing IS-held areas to escape both jihadist rule and impending fighting.
The International Organization for Migration said Monday that 18,258 people have been displaced since the beginning of the operation, but that figure is expected to increase dramatically as Iraqi forces close in on Mosul.
According to the UN, up to one million people could be displaced by the battle for the city — a major problem given that existing, under-construction and planned camps can only house about half that number.
Displacement is especially difficult for rural farming communities, whose wealth lies in fields and livestock that they cannot take to camps.
The situation for displaced Iraqis will get even more difficult as winter rains and colder weather set in.

France on Monday formally ended a peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic, hailing it a success despite outbreaks of violence in its deeply troubled former colony.
The move came just hours after about 10 people were killed in clashes between armed groups Sunday in the restive Muslim PK5 neighbourhood of the capital Bangui, according to local sources.
The toll had yet to be confirmed by the 10,000-strong UN force MINUSCA, which will be alone after France’s departure in facing the militia groups terrorising civilians.
MINUSCA on Monday urged the government “to prioritise the fight against impunity.”
Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict in CAR erupted in 2013.
“The page has been turned,” French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a ceremony in Bangui attended by local officials and foreign diplomats, signalling the official end of the mission called Operation Sangaris.
Sangaris, launched in December 2013 to buttress 12,000 UN troops sent to stabilise the country, had some 2,500 troops at its peak.
“This does not mean the end of military relations between France and the Central African Republic,” Le Drian said earlier in a speech to the country’s parliament.
“The French army will indeed be less visible but it will be present, active and vigilant. We’re proud of Operation Sangaris, so it’s out of the question to allow the gains to be put at risk,” Le Drian told MPs fearful of increased violence.
“We will retain a capacity to intervene with… forces positioned in Africa,” he said.
Renewed killings have shaken the country of 4.5 million people, spearheaded by revenge attacks by rival Muslim and Christian militia groups.
Many Central Africans are worried to see the French troops go.
Le Drian on Monday held talks with the CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera, elected early this year once relative calm was restored, and also met officials in MINUSCA.
He vowed that a “tactical reserve force of 350 soldiers” would remain and they will be backed up by drones.
Earlier this month Le Drian told the French parliament that the Sangaris mission, backed by a UN mandate, had been “a success” which stopped mass killings and paved the way for presidential and legislative elections.
But prominent CAR politician and former presidential candidate Anicet Georges Dologuele challenged Le Drian’s optimism, stating that “Sangaris is pulling out far too early.”
“Our security forces are not ready to take over,” Dologuele said. “The UN forces are more and more overwhelmed.”
“It’s always too early,” Le Drian countered. “These responsibilities are above all your own.”
Two days before Le Drian’s arrival on Sunday, 25 people were killed in clashes in the centre of CAR, including six police officers. The government denounced the violence as a “Machiavellian plot designed by the enemies of peace”.
UN vice secretary general Jan Eliasson is also expected in Bangui from Tuesday for a two-day visit, MINUSCA said.
One of the world’s poorest countries, CAR has scarcely emerged from the chaos of civil war which erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of former president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by Muslim rebels from the Seleka coalition who installed their own leader.
Armed groups have flourished over the years given the weakness of the state. Among the main culprits are factions from the mostly Muslim former Seleka rebel force, and the Christian “anti-Balaka” (anti-machete) militias, a reference to the rebels who use machetes.
There are also vigilante groups made up of nomadic, predominantly Muslim Fulani herders, as well as others committing highway robbery.

Afghanistan is losing a multi-billion dollar war on drugs as it combats terrorism, a minister warned, denouncing a lack of political will and dwindling foreign aid to fight narcotics.
The comments from Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, deputy minister of interior for counter-narcotics, come after the UN last week reported a 10 percent jump in opium cultivation this year to the third-highest level in more than two decades.
High levels of cultivation meant the estimated opium production soared 43 percent to 4,800 tons, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said, underscoring a “worrying reversal” in efforts to combat the scourge of drugs.
“Three years ago 20 provinces were poppy-free. Now only 13 are poppy-free,” Ahmadi told AFP in a recent interview, citing UN data.
“The government is too busy fighting against terrorism and the Taliban and is losing the battle against drugs — but everything is interconnected.”
Pink-and-white poppy blooms, which in some areas grow within eyeshot of government buildings, help bankroll the Taliban’s nationwide insurgency and threaten the existence of the Afghan state.
International donors have splurged billions of dollars on counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan over the past decade, with little results.
Eradication efforts have collapsed in the face of ebbing foreign aid. A total of 355 hectares of poppy eradication was carried out this year, a 91 percent plunge from 2015.
Ahmadi said a big setback came in 2010 when a special Afghan unit of around 900 men, trained and equipped by Westerners to spur eradication efforts, was disbanded.
“Mafia groups, traffickers and other vested interests spread the propaganda that the group was not effective, impacting donor support,” Ahmadi said.
“It had cost nearly $50,000 to train each of those men.
“In the past we had a lot of support from donor countries for the elimination of poppy. But that has changed rapidly.”
Rising poppy cultivation is also spurring a growing crisis of drug addiction despite a costly US-led counter-narcotics programme.
The country has nearly three million drug addicts — from almost nothing under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime.
Officials have cited favourable weather conditions, rising insecurity and falling international donor support as the main reasons for the increase in cultivation in Afghanistan, the world’s leading producer of opium.
Ninety-five percent of poppy cultivation occurs in areas controlled by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, Ahmadi said.
But what hurts the most, Ahmadi says, is the lack of political will to fight drugs.
“We no longer have any support, not even our own budget within the ministry of interior to combat drugs,” he said, adding that he regularly faced political pressure on personnel appointments.

Graeme Cremer struck his maiden Test century but the Zimbabwe captain?s gritty knock could not prevent his side from closing day three of the first Test against Sri Lanka with a heavy deficit.
Cremer, who arrived at the crease in Harare with Zimbabwe 139 for six in reply to Sri Lanka?s 537 and facing the prospect of following on, hit 102 not out to drag the home side to 373 all out.
By the close of play on Monday, Sri Lanka had reached five without loss in their second innings to lead by 169.
Cremer?s previous highest score in Test cricket was 43, but he showed his batsmen what was possible with a bit of application as he batted for over four hours.
Zimbabwe?s collapse in the morning had owed more to a series of rash strokes than trying conditions or outstanding bowling.
They resumed on a promising 88 for one, but soon saw opener Tino Mawoyo pull a short ball from Suranga Lakmal straight to deep midwicket to depart for 45, and two overs later Hamilton Masakadza prodded forward to edge Lakmal to slip for 33.
Sean Williams then picked out the man in the deep with a careless sweep, before Craig Ervine and Malcolm Waller were trapped lbw by Dilruwan Perera.
At 139 for six Zimbabwe were in danger of being shot out, but Peter Moor?s counter-attacking knock changed the momentum of the innings.
His two early sixes forced the field back, while Cremer was content to provide dogged support from the other end.
“I think we bat quite well together because PJ plays some big shots and keeps the scoreboard ticking, and I know that I can block out a maiden if I need to and just get off strike,? said Cremer.
?So that helps me a lot, knowing there?s someone on the other end scoring.?
Moor went on to score a career-best 79 in a 132-run stand with Cremer which only ended when Lahiru Kumara produced a fearsome bouncer that Moor fended to slip.
Kumara went on to knock Cremer?s helmet off his head and rattle the Zimbabwe skipper, who was then fortunate to see a hook shot off Kumara dropped at deep backward square-leg with his score on 58.
Cremer went on to add 92 for the eighth wicket with Donald Tiripano as Zimbabwe?s tail continued to wag, but nearly ran out of partners on 99 when the ninth wicket went down.
Zimbabwe?s final batsman Chris Mpofu managed to hold off Rangana Herath to give Cremer his chance, and the 30-year-old duly went to three figures to cap an impressive feat for a batsman who averaged 10.75 prior to the Test.
?I hadn?t got 50 before in Test cricket and I don?t even have a five-for yet, so it was quite special,? said Cremer.
?When I got to 75, I started thinking, ?There?s a chance here.? Then I thought I might run out of partners. It was an awesome feeling to get that one run to get to a hundred.?

Faced with its most serious challenge yet, the Ethiopian regime, a crucial Western ally in the fight against terrorism, risks a deepening crisis if promised reforms do not come, researchers and analysts warn.
A nationwide state of emergency since October 9 combined with the mass arrest of more than 2,500 people has suppressed months of widespread and sometimes deadly anti-government protests.
On Monday state media reported that the majority of those rounded up had been released, but mobile internet and the social networks used to mobilise protesters remain blocked as the government seeks a decisive end to the unrest.
“Violence has been controlled,” government spokesman Getachew Reda said last week. “What we have is a more or less stable situation.”
The challenge to the government has been strongest in the Oromo and Amhara regions — which together account for over 60 percent of the population — and these areas are now in a siege-like state.
“The government wants to show its strength. The state of emergency has a psychological impact by increasing the feeling of fear and insecurity among the population,” said Rene Lefort, an independent Horn of Africa researcher.
But force alone will not solve the underlying problems and Lefort said he is “sceptical about the ability and willingness of the regime to open up” raising fears that in the absence of concessions to the protesters, the situation will worsen.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has offered to reform the winner-takes-all electoral system which has allowed his ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition to win every seat in parliament in the 2015 poll.
But even if reforms come, they will not take effect until the next election due in 2020, while a proposed government reshuffle has yet to be carried out.
Jean-Nicolas Bach, an Ethiopia specialist and director of Sudan’s Centre for Social, Legal and Economic Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ-Khartoum) said the EPRDF is committed to its own continuity and may not be capable of adequate change, citing its “hegemonic ambitions and authoritarian mode of government”.
“The goals of the EPRDF have always been clear: maintain power to take the country on the path of development. As for democracy, it will come when it comes,” Bach said.
The regime, led by former rebel commander and strongman Meles Zenawi from 1991 until his death in 2012, is credited with real economic progress that saw a decade of around 10 percent annual growth.
Infant mortality and malnutrition was halved over the same period, according to figures from the World Bank.
But development has been accompanied by a squeezing of political space, disregard for human rights and a growing outcry at alleged government corruption.
“We need to change the rules that give impunity to local officials and better checks on officials,” said Daniel Berhane, founder and editor of Horn Affairs, an online magazine.
He suggested that every “kebele”, or neighbourhood, hold meetings “to gather public grievances” at the grassroots level which can be relayed to central government “without any editing”.
Berhane said the EPRDF’s total victory in the May 2015 election left some feeling “disenfranchised”, especially in parts of the northern Amhara region and central-western Oromo region where the opposition had hoped to win seats and some power.
“Not surprisingly, these two areas are the epicentres of the protests,” he said.
The brutal repression of the protest movement — human rights organisations say several hundred have been killed by security forces — combined with lack of any political change triggered an explosion of violence in recent weeks, seriously undermining Ethiopia’s reputation as a stable country.
The image of foreign farms and business going up in flames after being set alight by protesters has put off investors.
“The protests have significantly undermined the ruling coalition and genuine stability will take years to recover,” said Emma Gordon, an analyst at Maplecroft Verisk, a risk management firm.
“Until then, further divestments, particularly by Western agribusiness firms, are likely to be announced.”
The most likely scenario, said Gordon, is a continuing weak but persistent challenge to government authority because, the “proposed reforms are unlikely to fully satisfy” opponents.
Protesters want “more sweeping concessions” to reduce the dominance of the minority Tigrayan leaders in the EPRDF and for security forces to be reined in.
But none of this is on the table — meaning, Gordon said, another eruption of protests is likely “in relation to military deployments or evidence of continued restrictions on the political opposition.”

A wide array of Iraqi and international forces are involved in the operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran the country’s second city in 2014.
These are the main forces battling the estimated 4,000-7,000 IS fighters in and around Mosul:
The CTS is an elite Iraqi special forces unit that has spearheaded assaults in most key battles against IS. It is fighting toward Mosul from the east.
The CTS’s interior ministry counterpart that has developed into a key assault force in Iraq’s war against IS. It is advancing on Mosul from the south.
The army has begun playing a more successful role in operations against the jihadists since it was revitalised by US-led training after several of its divisions collapsed during the IS offensive two years ago. Soldiers are fighting on the northern, eastern and southern approaches to Mosul.
Includes paramilitary federal police and provincial police forces. Many Iraqi police forces have played roles more akin to those of soldiers in the war against IS. They are operating on the southern front.
An umbrella organisation created in 2014, which includes a dizzying collection of paramilitary forces who vary widely in skill and in the degree to which they are actually under government control.
The main groups are Iranian-backed Shiite militias, including Ketaeb Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Badr. The Hashed has played a major role in the anti-IS fight in Iraq but forces within it have also carried out abuses.
It also includes Sunni tribal forces sometimes referred to as “tribal mobilisation” or “national mobilisation”.
Hashed forces aim to retake the town of Tal Afar to the west of Mosul and cut jihadist supply lines to Syria, but are fighting south and southwest of the city for now.
The peshmerga are the armed forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. They nominally answer to the federal government but in practice operate independently, battling IS along a long front in the country’s north.
Forces from Iran’s Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) are embedded in some peshmerga operations. It is separate from other Iranian Kurdish rebels groups that have also been active on the Iraqi side of the border such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). The Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) may also be involved in the Mosul operation.
Kurdish forces are operating north and east of Mosul.
A US-led international alliance is carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria, and providing training, arms and equipment to forces opposing the jihadists.
There are more than 7,500 coalition military personnel deployed in Iraq, over half of them from the United States.
Most are in advisory or training roles, but special forces soldiers who have fought the jihadists on the ground have been deployed and coalition forces near Mosul have also targeted IS with artillery.
Iranian forces have provided advice and other assistance, including funding for various militias fighting IS in Iraq.
Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards foreign operations wing, has been repeatedly pictured in Iraq during the war.
Deployed at a base near Mosul from which they have carried out artillery strikes against IS. Turkish troops are also present inside Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
The federal government has demanded their withdrawal, with the prime minister vowing that they will not take part in the operation to recapture Mosul, but Turkey has declined to do so.

Cord leader Raila Odinga toured Migori County on Tuesday October 25 to have a chat with ODM party delegates. He was hosted by Migori Governor H. E Okoth Obado as well as MPs Hon John Ndiege, Hon Junet Mohamed and Hon John K’Obado.
Kenyans reports that KTN reporter, Rashid Ronald, was forced by residents to join Raila on the podium while he was speaking.
Apparently Rashid had been sidelined when all aspirants eying ODM ticket for Kuria West parliamentary seat were given a chance to speak to the public. Rashid joined the Cord leader to the podium and shook his hands; Rao then lifted his hands as they waved to the crowd together.
 
Media reports that Raila openly endorsed Rashid Ronald for Kuria West parliamentary seat has caused dissension within ODM.
ODM hopeful for Kuria West seat, Matiko Bohoko, has dismissed claims that Raila endorsed Rashid for MP; he says the Cord leader didn’t utter any word to say the KTN reporter would be ODM candidate for Kuria West come 2017 elections.

Bohoko posted.

Iraqi forces advanced to within a few hundred metres of Mosul on Monday, moving within striking distance of a city they lost to the Islamic State group two years before.
Forces from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) faced mortar fire as they pushed from the Christian town of Bartalla towards Mosul’s eastern suburbs, AFP correspondents at the front said.
As an aircraft struck a suspected IS mortar position in the distance, a convoy of Humvees sprayed gunfire across the arid plain toward jihadist positions as they advanced.
Lieutenant Colonel Muntadhar Salem said the CTS had recaptured Bazwaya, one of two IS-held villages that had been standing between Iraqi forces and the eastern edges of Mosul.
“Tonight, if everything is secured, we will be 700 metres (yards) from Mosul,” Salem said.
For the officer and his men in the CTS’s “Mosul Regiment”, retaking Mosul is a matter of pride.
They were the last to retreat when IS took the city over on June 10, 2014 and they want to be the first back in.
The voice of Colonel Mustafa al-Obeidi came sputtering over the radio as his men advanced cautiously through Bazwaya, sidling along walls and scanning the empty streets with their rifles raised.
“They’re fleeing, the jihadists are fleeing into Mosul,” Obeidi said.
CTS forces also entered the second village, Gogjali, Staff Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, a senior CTS commander, told AFP by telephone.
He denied reports that Iraqi forces had entered the Al-Karama area inside Mosul, saying they were still about 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) away.
Backed by air and ground support from a US-led coalition, tens of thousands of Iraqi fighters are converging on Mosul on different fronts, in the country’s biggest military operation in years.
On the northern and eastern sides of Mosul, the extremist group’s last major bastion in Iraq, peshmerga forces from the autonomous Kurdish region recently took several villages and consolidated their positions.
To the south of the city, federal forces, backed by coalition artillery units stationed in the main staging base of Qayyarah, have been pushing north.
They have the most ground to cover and are still some distance from the southern limits of Mosul.
Paramilitary forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), an umbrella organisation dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militia, opened another front over the weekend.
They are not directly headed for Mosul, instead setting their sights on the town of Tal Afar to the west, with the aim of retaking it and cutting supply lines between Mosul and the Syrian border.
Their leadership says publicly that they do not intend to enter Mosul, which has an overwhelmingly Sunni population, but commanders on the ground say they want to fight inside the city.
The Hashed said Monday that they had retaken a series of villages and surrounded others as they advanced to the west, while Iraq’s Joint Operations Command announced the recapture of villages around the city.
The initial shaping phase of the operation, during which dozens of villages and several towns have already been retaken from IS, is still under way.
Once the initial phase is over, Iraqi forces are expected to besiege Mosul, try to open safe corridors for the million-plus civilians still believed to live there, and breach the city to take on die-hard jihadists in street battles.
Humanitarian organisations have been fighting against the clock to build up the capacity to handle an expected exodus from the city.
The United Nations says up to a million people could be displaced in the coming weeks.
More than 17,500 people have already fled their homes since the operation began, and the Norwegian Refugee Council said there were currently only 55,000 more places available in camps.
In the dozens of villages and towns scattered over territory retaken from IS over the past two weeks, civilians were very slowly returning to a life free from the “caliphate” IS declared in Mosul in 2014.
Qaraqosh, which was previously Iraq’s largest Christian town, saw its first mass in more than two years on Sunday.
“After two years and three months in exile, I just celebrated the Eucharist in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception the Islamic State wanted to destroy,” Yohanna Petros Mouche, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, said.
Most retaken areas were far from being habitable, however, with months of mine clearing and reconstruction needed before the bulk of the original population can return.
IS has been losing ground steadily in Iraq since 2015, and the outcome of the Mosul battle is in little doubt, but commanders have warned it could last months.

The Vice president wrote a heartfelt message to his wife as he expressed how proud he was to have a woman like her.
 
“My dear wife and best friend congratulations on your graduation with MA. You are God’s best gift to me and the kids.” He wrote.
It is no secret that women have had to overcome major obstacles to attend college, let alone graduate school. With all that, when women earn degrees, everyone benefits. Anyway, though he did not reveal which university his wife went to, close sources reveal that this amazing lady was schooling at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.
 
 
 
Rachel Ruto is the 2 lady of Kenya and has been supporting her husband since he gam his political journey. So far she has been advocating for women’s rights and women’s empowerment. She also runs a women organization, which has been helping women with table banking throughout Kenya.

South Africa’s top prosecutor on Monday dropped fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his co-accused, in a case that has exposed tensions in ruling ANC party and government.
The bombshell charges earlier this month had driven a wedge between rival camps in the ruling African National Congress, rattled the markets and led to a fall in the value of the rand.
“I have directed the summons to be withdrawn with immediate effect,” Shaun Abrahams told journalists, saying the charges against him would be difficult to prove.
The move came a day after Abrahams’ spokesman had rubbished a report saying the prosecutor had decided to drop the charges, describing it as “absolute hogwash”.
Gordhan, a respected ANC veteran, had been due to appear in court on Wednesday on charges dating back to 2010 over a colleague’s retirement package.
Announcing the decision, Abrahams said he did not believe Gordhan intended to break the law.
“I foresee difficulties to prove knowledge of unlawfulness,” he said.
Gordhan has claimed the charges were politically motivated, and won backing from several high-profile ANC politicians, the nation’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, numerous ministers and scores of business leaders.
His imminent prosecution had sparked investor fears that he would also be sacked, as the country reels from an economic downturn and declining business confidence.
Political analyst Judith February criticised the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision, saying it exposed the institution as being led by someone “who is clearly incompetent at best, and at worst, politically captured.”
“There will be a perception that the prosecuting authority is being used as a football in a game of state capture,” said February, an analyst with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
Gordhan has been a vocal opponent of corruption and excessive spending by President Jacob Zuma’s government, which has been hit by a series of graft scandals and slowing economic growth.
Abrahams rejected claims that the charges against Gordhan were politically motivated, saying he did not “pay regard to political considerations.”
Marches in support of Gordhan had been planned outside the court in Pretoria on Wednesday, with alliance partners of the ANC voicing their support for the embattled minister.
Last week, the ANC’s chief whip Jackson Mthembu lambasted Gordhan’s prosecution, saying the decision to use state institutions to fight political matters should force the entire ANC leadership to resign.
The ANC has welcomed the decision not to prosecute Gordhan, saying the charges would have had “a negative impact on the economy and created unnecessary speculation about the real motive.”
“The ANC always believed in the innocence of comrade Pravin Gordhan, hence our unwavering support,” a party statement said.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance said the charges were motivated by narrow political considerations, berating Abrahams for making “an embarrassing about-turn” that had left him with “egg on his face”.
The party called on Zuma to suspend Abrahams.
Gordhan, who had served as finance minister between 2009 and 2014, was re-appointed last December to calm panicked investors after Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days.
His reinstatement stabilised the markets and the local currency as he stressed his intention to rein in spending, tackle graft and reduce the budget deficit.
He has vowed to revive the economy that is forecast to grow just 0.4 percent, while also facing the risk that its credit rating be downgraded to junk status before year end.
Zuma had responded to Gordhan’s legal woes by saying he “was innocent until found guilty”.
The rand rallied to 13.54 against the dollar on news that the charges against him were being dropped, in its strongest showing in two months.
Gordhan had also faced a police investigation over an alleged illegal “spy unit” that targeted politicians during his time as head of the tax collection department between 1999 and 2009.

Growth in the eurozone remained stable at 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2016 as inflation rose to a 27-month high, official data showed on Monday.
The figured showed that the recovery in the 19-nation single currency area remained cautious amid fears about the fallout of Brexit and an emerging banking crisis.
Consumer prices, which entered deflationary territory last year, rose to 0.5 percent, the highest since June 2014.

Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande celebrated their record sixth title in a row with a 4-0 demolition of Shandong Luneng, but an expert warned their dominance risked dimming interest in the league.
Evergrande, led by former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose contract was extended after the team sealed the title with two games to spare, were crowned in a lavish ceremony in front of more than 42,000 fans at their Tianhe stadium after their final game on Sunday.
A raft of dazzling big money signings this year by top clubs in the Chinese Super League (CSL), such as Shanghai SIPG’s capture of Brazilian forward Hulk for a reported 55 million euro ($60 million), and Jiangsu Suning’s 50 million euro acquisition of his compatriot Alex Teixeira, put a spotlight on the tournament.
Average crowds over the season reached an all-time high of 24,171.
But Mark Dreyer, founder of China Sports Insider, a website monitoring sporting trends in the country, warned that Evergrande’s record-breaking run was bad for the league overall.
“It’s a definite worry that Evergrande are becoming too dominant, there’s numerous examples where if you have any league in which one club is dominant it becomes easy to dismiss,” he said.
Given the limits on the number of foreign players that clubs can have in their squad, other teams should concentrate on longer term development rather than signing big names to challenge Evergrande, he said.
“I’d like to see the focus shift to less glamorous areas like infrastructure, youth team and so on but that doesn’t get the headlines like signing (Graziano) Pelle does,” he explained, referencing Shandong Luneng’s capture of the Italian international striker in July.
Elsewhere in the CSL, Jiangsu Suning finished runners-up despite a 1-0 defeat away to Liaoning, and Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG finished third with a 3-1 victory over Hebei China Fortune, managed by former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini.
Shanghai Shenhua went down 1-0 away to Changchun Yatai but finished fourth, clinching the last available AFC Champions League spot for next season.
Changchun’s victory was their fourth in succession and saw them avoid relegation from the 16-team league at the expense of Hangzhou Greentown, who could only draw 2-2 with Yanbian Funde.
Greentown, who had Tim Cahill on their books before the Australian’s departure in July, ended their 10-year stay in the CSL to jeers and boos from the home fans, many of whom sobbed as the final whistle blew and news of Changchun’s victory broke.
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright were also relegated.

Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders went on trial Monday in a landmark case on hate speech as a high-security court heard how children had been scared by inflammatory calls that fewer Moroccans should live in the country.
As expected, the firebrand MP with the peroxide-blonde hair snubbed the court, leaving his defence lawyer to read out a statement to explain the no-show.
“It is a political process and I have decided not to be present. It’s my right as a politician to speak out if there is a problem in the Netherlands,” Wilders’ statement said. Prosecutors confirmed they would not demand that he appear.
Analysts say the highly-anticipated trial will test the boundaries of freedom of expression as general elections loom in March.
Three judges are hearing the case against Wilders, 53, on charges of insulting a racial group and inciting racial hatred after comments he made about Moroccans living in the Netherlands.
The trial focuses in part on a comment made at a March 2014 local government election rally, when Wilders asked supporters whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands”.
When the crowd shouted back “Fewer! Fewer!” a smiling Wilders answered: “We’re going to organise that.”
His 2014 statements were met with outrage including from the small but vocal Dutch Muslim community. An avalanche of 6,400 complaints followed.
The judges Monday laid out the case against Wilders including reading out complaints against him by a number of Dutch Moroccans and citizens.
“We are feeling discriminated against” and “our children are afraid,” some of the complaints read.
The children “wonder if they should go back to Morocco, especially when people shout fewer, fewer at them,” said one woman, in a statement read by Judge Elianne van Rens.
But there were other statements, highlighted by the defense, in which some plaintiffs said their relatives and the police had written the statements for them, and they did not know what they were signing.
Many statements were also taken at mosques in The Netherlands and seem to have been written along the same lines, the judges said.
In yet another twist, Wilders’ attorney, Geert-Jan Knoops, confirmed his client was counter-suing 40 Moroccan claimants — who are seeking 500 euros ($547) compensation from Wilders — for 1,150 euros each to help pay his legal fees.
The trial is being held at high-security courthouse at Schiphol, just outside Amsterdam. Wilders has round-the-clock protection and has been dubbed the country’s “most heavily-guarded man”.
A handful of supporters stood outside the courthouse Monday, one waving a banner saying: “Fewer morality knights, more patriots!”
It is the second such trial for Wilders who was acquitted on similar charges in 2011.
His statements in 2014 were also condemned in the Dutch parliament with parties shunning any cooperation with Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) despite its rising popularity, particularly among conservative Dutch voters.
But the Dutch firebrand has slammed the trial as a “travesty” aimed at silencing him ahead of the elections in which his PVV is running neck-and-neck in the polls with Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals.
And he has repeatedly vowed: “I have no regrets.”
Judges ruled earlier this month the trial should go ahead, saying politicians had “broad freedoms of expression” due to their office and therefore had “an important role to avoid feeding intolerance”.
The trial is due to last until November 25, and a verdict is expected by December 9, legal officials said.
If found guilty, Wilders could face a two-year jail term or a fine of over 20,000 euros, but experts believe it is more likely that as a first-time offender he would face a lesser fine or community service.
The hearing resumes Thursday with testimony by an expert witness, expected to testify on behalf of Wilders.

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Nigerian officials of sexually exploiting women and girls living in camps for victims of Boko Haram in the war-torn northeast.
HRW said in July it documented 43 cases of women and girls in seven ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, the epicentre of the seven-year Islamist insurgency, who had been abused by camp leaders, policemen, and soldiers.
“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at HRW.
“It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them,” she added.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement he was “worried and shocked” by the report and directed police to “immediately commence investigations into the issue.”
“The welfare of these most vulnerable of Nigerian citizens has been a priority of his government,” presidency spokesman Garba Shehu said, adding that the allegations raised by the HRW “are not being taken lightly.”
Four of the victims told HRW they were drugged and raped, while 37 were coerced into sex through false marriage promises and material and financial assistance.
“Many of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned if they became pregnant. They and their children have suffered discrimination, abuse, and stigmatisation from other camp residents,” the global rights body said.
HRW spoke to one 17-year-old girl who was raped and made pregnant by a policeman.
“One day he demanded to have sex with me,” she said. “I refused but he forced me. It happened just that one time, but soon I realised I was pregnant.
“When I informed him about my condition, he threatened to shoot and kill me if I told anyone else. So I was too afraid to report him.”
HRW said irregular supplies of food, clothing, medicine, and other essentials in camps were making the women vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
“In some cases, men used their positions of authority and gifts of desperately needed food or other items to have sex with women,” the report said.
Boko Haram has devastated northeast Nigeria in its quest to create an Islamist state, killing over 20,000 people and displacing 2.6 million from their homes.
But since 2009 when the insurgency started, the Nigerian military has also come under fire from international rights groups.
Amnesty International has alleged that the Nigerian military “committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in its response to Boko Haram”.
The rights group has also accused the military of deliberately shooting dead more than 350 Shiite Muslims in December 2015, as well as using “excessive force” against peaceful pro-Biafra protestors this year.

Australia’s pace spearhead Mitchell Starc said Monday he is ready to play in this week’s Test series-opener against South Africa even though he is still recovering from a nasty leg laceration.
Starc has been fighting to be fit to face the Proteas after a gruesome training accident in September resulted in a gash in his left leg that needed 30 stitches.
He made his comeback in the domestic Sheffield Shield competition last week, bowling 19 overs and fielding in the slips.
Starc insists he will be fit to take on the South Africans in the first Test starting Thursday despite the need to safeguard his bandaged left leg.
“Clean it every day, put a patch on it and away you go,” he told reporters in Perth, adding that he hoped a knee pad would allow him to slide and dive while fielding.
“It’s not bleeding, it’s healing nicely. Even if it does break open a little bit (more) it’s not going to play on my mind. My knee is structurally fine.”
Starc’s workloads will be monitored by Cricket Australia medical staff. The WACA ground curator Matt Page has vowed to leave more grass on the strip to try to avoid a repeat of last year’s attritional high-scoring draw against New Zealand.
Starc said he had not forgotten the “pretty disappointing” unresponsive WACA wicket in last year’s Test, when David Warner and Ross Taylor both posted double tons.
“That was the toughest wicket to bowl on. It was so hard and flat and didn’t have that pace you’d normally see at the WACA,” Starc said.
“I hope it’s a lot better and shows a little bit of the WACA of old, and hopefully a bit of an extra bounce and pace.”
Starc looms as an influential player in the three-Test series, having missed out on Australia’s record 5-0 one-day international series drubbing in South Africa earlier in October.
The left-armer has taken 115 wickets at 27.36 in his 28 Tests.