Month: October 2016

The visit, kicking off in Rwanda and set to take in Tanzania and Ethiopia, also aims to forge diplomatic and economic ties with a region largely ignored by the north African country up until now.
“We have never had any presence, neither diplomatic nor economic, nor cultural, nor historic, with east Africa,” a high-ranking member of the king’s delegation told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Aside from west and central Africa we must open up to east Africa and that is what is under way. The context of Morocco’s return to the African Union is there too of course, and these are important countries in the AU.”
In Rwanda, Mohammed met with President Paul Kagame and signed 19 bilateral agreements, mostly in the economic sector. It was not clear exactly when he would leave for Tanzania.
Rabat officially requested to rejoin the AU in September, 32 years after quitting the bloc in protest at its decision to accept Western Sahara as a member.
Morocco has occupied the sparsely populated Western Sahara area since 1975 in a move that was not recognised by the international community.
It maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom even though local Sahrawi people have long campaigned for the right to self-determination.
In 1991, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Moroccan troops and Sahrawi rebels of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front but a promised referendum to settle the status of the desert territory is yet to materialise.
The tour of east Africa “is also a way to get closer to countries which historically had positions which were hostile to Morocco’s interests”, said the Moroccan source, adding that the region had been considered an ally of Algeria.
The Moroccan monarch in July said his nation’s decision to return to the AU did not mean it was changing its stance on Western Sahara.
Rabat’s membership bid must be approved by a vote of the AU Commission in order to be accepted.

Speaking at the presidential villa in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja, Buhari addressed the girls and their families saying “we shall redouble efforts to ensure that we fulfil our pledge of bringing the remaining girls back home”.
Buhari said that he hoped the girls would go on to complete their education after their ordeal at the hands of Boko Haram, whose name in the Hausa language spoken across northern Nigeria means “Western education is sin”.
“Obviously it is not too late for the girls to go back to school and continue the pursuit of their studies,” Buhari said to the girls, who were clad in new, brightly coloured dresses and head wraps.
“These dear daughters of ours have seen the worst that the world has to offer. It is now time for them to experience the best that the world can do for them.”
The 21 girls were part of a group of over two hundred schoolgirls kidnapped from the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014.
They were released last week following negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss government.
On Sunday, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said that the government was hoping to secure the release of 83 other girls believed to be from Chibok being held by a different Boko Haram faction.
The release of the 21 Chibok girls is a triumph for President Buhari, who was voted into power on a platform vowing to stamp out corruption and crush Boko Haram.
But Boko Haram still poses a threat to the war-torn region, launching sporadic raids on remote villages in Nigeria and deadly attacks on soldiers in neighbouring Chad and Niger.

Thirteen Polish supporters of Legia Warsaw were being held Wednesday following clashes with police before the football club’s Champions League game against Real Madrid, police said.
Among them is the leader of an ultra group, a police spokeswoman said, without giving further details.
The clashes started as fans arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital on Tuesday evening before kick-off for the Group F game, which Real Madrid won 5-1.
Some fans hurled objects, including glass bottles and flares, at police, threatening journalists who recorded the skirmishes which lasted half an hour before order was restored.
Five Polish fans and two police officers were treated for minor injuries in the clashes.
The 13 detainees are accused of robbery with violence and intimidation, inflicting damages and injuries, and public disorder.
Among them are three people suspected of having attacked waitresses in a bar in the Latina district of Madrid hours before kick-off, stealing the mobile phone of one woman and attempting to rob cash from the till, police said.
The game had been classed as a high-risk fixture by the Spanish authorities, who deployed 2,000 officers in Madrid.
UEFA has already ordered the return match between the sides in two weeks’ time be played behind closed doors due to violence and racist abuse in Legia’s opening 6-0 defeat in Group F to Borussia Dortmund last month.

There had been previous indications that Matthew triggered a surge in new cases but conclusively testing samples had been difficult in the aftermath of the storm, WHO’s representative in Haiti, Jean-Luc Poncelet told reporters in Geneva.
With the testing system operational again, health officials have confirmed “the majority of suspected cases,” Poncelet said.
Citing ministry of health figures, he said 773 cases had been registered between October 9 and 15.
The UN has previously announced it was sending a million cholera vaccines to the impoverished Caribbean nation to try to control the epidemic.
Since Haiti was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, around 10,000 people have died of cholera. The number of active cases surged to 300,000 in 2011, but had been brought below 30,000 in recent years.
Before Hurricane Matthew struck in the first week of October, more than 28,000 cases of cholera had been recorded this year.

Israel has turned down a request to transfer to the occupied West Bank graves of Palestinian leaders buried in Syria where their tombs are threatened by jihadists, officials said Wednesday.
The Palestinians have sought to transfer the bodies after Islamic State (IS) group jihadists started to smash gravestones in the embattled Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk on the outskirts of Damascus.
“We presented a request to the Israelis to allow us to move the bodies of three Palestinian leaders from a cemetery in the Yarmuk camp close to Damascus to Palestine,” Palestinian minister Hussein al-Sheikh told AFP.
They were informed on Monday that the request was rejected, he said, confirming a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Israel’s defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories confirmed they had received a request but turned it down, without providing further details.
Among the bodies the Palestinians wanted to remove was that of Khalil al-Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, who was assassinated by Israeli commandos in Tunisia in 1988, as well as another senior PLO figure, Saad Sayil.
IS destroyed gravestones in the cemetery on Sunday, according to the head of political affairs at the Syrian branch of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Anwar Abdel Hadi.
“Daesh smashed gravestones in the ‘Martyrs’ Cemetery’ in Yarmuk,” charging they were non-believers, he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group whose fighters control most of the camp.

Blockbusting wing Julian “the Bus” Savea returns to the New Zealand line-up in one of only three changes for Saturday’s world record bid when they play Australia in Auckland.
Savea takes over from Waisake Naholo on the left wing with the other changes to the side that crushed South Africa two weeks ago coming on the bench with the recall of Aaron Cruden and Malakai Fekitoa.
Victory for the All Blacks will give them a record 18th consecutive win, eclipsing the current record for a top tier nation of 17 which they currently share with the Springboks and two previous New Zealand squads.
It is a “hugely-anticipated Test,” coach Steve Hansen said when announcing the line up early Thursday.
The All Blacks went through the recently completed Rugby Championship unbeaten and thrashed the Wallabies in both the home and away matches of that series but Hansen is expecting a more formidable opposition this time.
“Australia will be coming here with a lot more confidence than when we played earlier in the season,” he said.
“They’ve made some significant changes to their game and would like nothing better to end their Southern Hemisphere Test season with a win.
“They’ve said they are keen to bring it on, and have outlined their intentions, so the stage is set for another huge trans-Tasman battle.”
Savea, with an impressive 43 tries from 48 Tests, has shown inconsistent form this year, but Hansen indicated he was refreshed after not being required in South Africa.
His recall leaves no room for Naholo in the squad with the only back replacements being Cruden, who has recovered from the groin injury that sidelined him in recent months, Fekitoa and scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow.
TJ Perenara keeps the starting scrum-half role in place of Aaron Smith who misses a second consecutive Test in the wake of his toilet tryst scandal when he was seen entering a disabled toilet cubicle with a woman at busy airport.
Smith was stood down for the South Africa Test and has voluntarily withdrawn from this match.
In the forwards, there is no lock replacement and Matt Todd remains the starting openside flanker role for the expected crucial battle with David Pocock, with Ardie Savea to be used as an impact player off the bench.
While the All Blacks have won their last 17 Tests, which include beating the Wallabies in the World Cup final last year, the Australians have won three of their last nine outings.
The Wallabies have a dismal record at Auckland’s Eden Park where they last won a 1986 victory and have since lost 16 times to the All Blacks.
New Zealand (15-1)
Ben Smith; Israel Dagg, Anton Lienert-Brown, Ryan Crotty, Julian Savea; Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara; Kieran Read (capt), Matt Todd, Jerome Kaino; Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick; Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Joe Moody
Replacements: Codie Taylor, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Liam Squire, Ardie Savea, Tawera Kerr-barlow, Aaron Cruden, Malakai Fekitoa

Russia unveiled a new state-financed Orthodox cathedral complex in a prime position near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Wednesday without the intended guest of honour, President Vladimir Putin.
He cancelled his trip last week after French President Francois Hollande said Russia’s bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.
In a statement from Moscow, Putin said the more than 100-million euro ($110 million) complex, built around the cathedral which has five golden domes, was a “visible testament to the cultural and human ties between France and Russia”.
The theme was taken up by speakers at the low-key event on Wednesday, where Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky overlooked current tensions to say the project was “testament to the solidity of our bilateral relations.”
The Saint-Trinite cathedral, which will be consecrated by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church in December, sits on a prime location by the river Seine and is a striking illustration of Kremlin support for its national church.
It has raised eyebrows not only because its five giant cupolas covered with 90,000 sheets of gold leaf rise up in front of the Eiffel Tower when viewed from the surrounding area.
The project has also reportedly sparked concerns among France’s intelligence agencies because of its proximity to nearby government buildings, including the foreign ministry just a short walk along the Seine.
Putin has given it strong political and financial backing, acknowledging it was “very difficult” to realise but thanking France for its “continuous support”.
The Russian president has developed close bonds with the powerful Russian Orthodox church, whose patriarch Kirill has backed him personally and his policies such as military intervention in Syria.
“We thank President Putin in particular. Without his personal commitment, it would never have happened,” said bishop Antoine from the town of Bogorodsk, who was representing patriarch Kirill at the ceremony.
Only the cultural centre was officially opened on Wednesday, but journalists were allowed inside the cathedral for the first time ahead of its consecration on December 4.
The growing Orthodox community in France, swelled by immigration from Russia as well as the Middle East and the Balkans, is not united behind the new cathedral, which will only be fully completed in 2017.
Antoine Arjakovsky, an Orthodox historian in Paris, commented on the “strange and problematic ambiguity” of the project, financed by a theoretically secular Russian state.
Speaking to AFP, he said it “mixes religion and politics a stone’s throw from the Elysee (presidential palace) and the foreign ministry”.
Paris already has an Orthodox cathedral, the Saint Alexandre Nevsky built by the Russian community in 1861, but it is aligned with a different branch of Orthodoxy based in Istanbul.
Until 1931, it was aligned with Moscow but has since refused to return, seeing the Russian church as more socially conservative and politicised.
“You could link this project to pastoral needs, but it also likely a desire by Russia to open a cultural and religious showpiece in Paris beyond its embassy,” writer and Orthodox priest Christophe Levalois told AFP.
As well as opening at a difficult time in Franco-Russian relations, the striking new place of worship was unveiled as France engages in a feverish debate about the role of religion in public life after a string of attacks by Islamic extremists.
Last week, Hollande was quoted in a book as saying there was a “problem with Islam” in France because it required holy sites and recognition.
“It’s not Islam that poses a problem in the sense of its being a religion that is dangerous in itself, but because it wants to assert itself as a religion in the republic,” he was quoted as saying in: “Un president ne devrait pas dire ca” (“A president shouldn’t say this”).

Denmark’s anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DPP) was reeling Wednesday from a string of EU expenses scandals, including a trip to Brussels when European institutions were closed.
Morten Messerschmidt, a European lawmaker and one of the country’s most ardent eurosceptics, was kicked off the populist party’s top leadership late Tuesday after the DPP agreed to pay back 500,000 kroner (67,000 euros, $74,000) of EU funds.
“It’s sloppiness at a very high level,” party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl told public broadcaster DR.
The money had been used to cover expenses for two EU conferences that appeared to be indistinguishable from the party’s regular summer meetings, as well as an educational trip to Brussels for campaign workers during a public holiday when EU institutions were closed.
Cash had also been spent on media training and an advertising campaign.
Messerschmidt told broadcaster TV 2 News that he “completely rejects that there has been a deliberate attempt to cheat.”
The expenses scandal is a sharp blow to the outspoken politician, who helped the eurosceptic DPP become Denmark’s largest party in the European Parliament election of 2014.
The liberal Politiken daily responded by publishing a list of DPP expense quotes, accusing the EU of wasting taxpayers’ money.
“If Europeans knew the full extent of the shameless waste of money, I am convinced that there would be a revolution,” Messerschmidt wrote in 2012.
The European parliament had previously asked the DPP to pay back 2.9 million kroner that it spent on political campaigning. The party repaid 1.6 million kroner in June, saying it did not administer the rest of the money.
Messerschmidt previously sat on the board of the Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy, a now defunct conservative European alliance.
Last year, the DPP paid back 120,700 kroner to Brussels after using the money to tour Danish harbours on a sailing ship a few months before local elections in 2013.

EU leaders plan to “strongly condemn” Russia at their summit on Thursday for its alleged attacks on civilians in Syria’s Aleppo, urge an end to fighting and call for a revived political process.
A draft of their planned statement obtained by AFP omits the threat of sanctions, despite such calls from the United States and Britain, but it sharpens the tone against Russia.
“The European Council strongly condemns the attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies, notably Russia, on civilians in Aleppo,” according to the draft.
It asks them to urgently allow “unhindered humanitarian access to Aleppo” and to other parts of Syria while calling “for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for resumption of a credible political process under UN auspices.”
The draft warns that “those responsible for breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be held accountable.”
In it the 28 leaders also ask EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the European Commission, the EU executive, to continue pursuing medical evacuations in cooperation with the United Nations.
It also asks her to push for a political transition in Syria by working with the region’s main players which were not named.
The statement ratcheted up the tone against Russia after EU foreign ministers for the first time strongly condemned Russia by name Monday for the bombardment of Aleppo and warned that the strikes may amount to war crimes.
EU President Donald Tusk, who will host the summit, warned of the need to maintain European unity over Russia amid weakening support for sanctions imposed on Moscow over its involvement in Ukraine.
The leaders are due to hold a discussion on their Russia strategy over dinner at the summit.
“Our main asset in dealing with Russia remains our unity. To date, regardless of our differences, we have always remained united and we must continue to do so,” Tusk told a press conference.
“This will also be crucial when it comes to Russia’s role in Syria,” he added.
On top of sanctions pressure from Washington and London, European Parliament leaders Manfred Weber, Guy Verhofstadt and Rebecca Harms sent Tusk a letter urging him to push for coercive “measures.”
They asked for a summit decision on “a set of enforcement tools to be activated should Russia continue violating UN Security Council resolutions and continue bombing civilians,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by AFP.

The armed group is blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings in pursuit of an independent homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.
It declared a ceasefire on October 20, 2011.
“ETA is not dead, it still has weapons, explosives… but I don’t think they will take up arms again,” said Javier Zaragoza, chief prosecutor at the National Court, which handles terrorism cases.
“There are still 50 people left who are being investigated for belonging to a terrorist group or collaborating, or for participating in other offences” linked to ETA, he told AFP.
Zaragoza added that up to twenty members are still believed to be at large, living in hiding.
In contrast, some 90 people are in prison awaiting trial for acts linked to jihadism and around 30 have been sentenced and jailed.
Ten of these are serving time for their role in train bombings in Madrid in March 2004 that left 191 dead in what is still the worst extremist attack in Spain’s history.
Close to a quarter of all investigations launched by the National Court are now linked to jihadists, said Zaragoza.
Spain has so far been spared another attack and holiday-makers fleeing other restive destinations have flocked to the country known for its sunshine and beaches.
“There have been risky situations. We identified two or three cases of cells that were ready to act,” said Zaragoza.
“But the attacks on March 11, 2004 taught us a lot,” he said, adding that the focus was on prevention, with the adoption in 2015 of a law allowing authorities to detain people who had merely consulted jihadist websites.
But Zaragoza warned that Spain had recently started to be mentioned on jihadist websites.
“Spain is one of the countries they have in their sights for historical reasons as it was once Al-Andalus,” he said, referring to a territory that was under Muslim rule from 711 to 1492.
But unlike France or Belgium, the country is less exposed to a “very high risk” phenomenon — the return of nationals who went to fight abroad and plan to commit extremist acts on home soil, he said.
Only around 200 Spaniards are estimated to have gone abroad to fight, compared to thousands from nearby France and Belgium.
And while Spain remains on high terror alert — level four out of five — Zaragoza warned against descending into alarmism.
“We must be careful,” he said.
“One of the keys to the expansion of terrorism is to be present all the time in the media.
“If you constantly give news about their actions, you are in a way giving them what they want: generating terror among the people.
“Without the media, terrorism is nothing.”
ETA meanwhile has sought to negotiate its dissolution with Spain and France in exchange for an amnesty or for gathering together in Basque prisons the roughly 350 jailed ETA members scattered across both countries.
Relatives regularly stage protests demanding they be held closer to home, but so far the government has taken a hard line.
“These negotiations cannot take place,” said Zaragoza.
“You can’t put a terrorist organisation on the same level as a state governed by the rule of law.”

Brazilian police on Wednesday arrested Eduardo Cunha, the driving force behind former president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, in a new escalation of a corruption probe shaking Latin America’s biggest country.
“We can confirm that (Cunha) was detained in Brasilia,” a police spokesman told AFP. Cunha was later flown under close guard to Curitiba, where the probe into a sprawling embezzlement and bribery ring at flagship state oil company Petrobras is based.
Cunha, nicknamed Brazil’s Frank Underwood after the scheming main character in the dark US political television series “House of Cards,” has been accused of taking some $40 million in Petrobras-related bribes, laundering money and hiding funds in secret Swiss bank accounts.
Cunha, 58, denies all the charges. “This is an absurd decision, without motive,” he said in a Facebook post.
In addition to his detention, the authorities ordered the seizure of eight cars, including two Porsche Cayennes, along with other assets amounting to nearly $70 million.
Top anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro said the detention was necessary because of risks to “public order, as well as a concrete possibility of flight given his access to hidden resources abroad, as well as double nationality,” the justice department said.
Part of Brazil’s growing conservative evangelical movement, Cunha has long been a consummate wheeler-dealer and became the architect of Rousseff’s removal from office in August on charges that she broke government budget laws.
Rousseff, from the leftist Workers’ Party, was replaced by Michel Temer, from Cunha’s own center-right PMDB party.
But Cunha’s triumph was short-lived as the corruption allegations caught up with him. He was stripped of his congressional seat in September, losing his parliamentary legal privileges.
Cunha’s downfall signals that the Petrobras corruption probe headed by Moro is far from over.
Dozens of politicians — from the Workers’ Party but also numerous figures on the right — as well as business executives have already been charged or convicted in the embezzlement and bribery scheme.
Rousseff’s presidential predecessor, the leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faces three corruption-related court cases, and speculation is rife that he may also be placed in pre-trial detention.
“Now it will be Lula’s turn. He’s next,” said Alberto Almeida from the Analysis Institute in Sao Paulo.
There is also speculation that Cunha could turn on old allies and strike a plea bargain with prosecutors, fueling a new wave of corruption cases. He has already said he is writing a book.
Analysts say that Temer’s government will be nervous about fallout.
“The political consequences will depend on how long he remains in detention,” Almeida said. “He has a lot of information on Dilma’s government, on the house of deputies, different parties.”
Temer, who has seen several of his ministerial choices targeted in the Petrobras inquiry — dubbed Operation Car Wash — rejects suggestions that he is seeking to curb the probe.
Even behind bars, Cunha is likely to continue fascinating and scaring the political elite.
A master at maintaining influence even as his legal troubles piled up, Cunha used multiple stalling tactics to impede his eventual ouster from Congress. The process dragged on for almost a year, the longest in Brazilian history.
The authorities cited that proven skill as one of the reasons for ordering his detention.
“Although the loss of his mandate probably represents some loss of power,” Moro wrote, “this was not totally exhausted, since the total extent of the ex-deputy’s criminal activities and of his circle of influence are still unknown.”

Sheikh Malek al-Humud Al-Sabah was among 71 hopefuls who filed to stand for election on the first day of registration which saw some opposition members return after a four-year boycott.
“The previous assembly let down the Kuwaiti people and I am contesting the polls to defend the rights of the people,” said Sheikh Malek.
Speaking to reporters in Kuwait City, he said he had given up his special passport “to become an ordinary citizen” and that he does not mind losing other benefits.
Under the Kuwaiti constitution, royals are eligible to run for public office.
Only a few have registered as candidates in the emirate’s 54 years of democracy, but all have dropped out before election day.
The last royal to register their candidacy was Sheikh Fahad Salem al-Ali Al-Sabah, who withdrew before the 2006 election.
Members of the Al-Sabah family, which has been in power for 250 years, still occupy the main posts in the OPEC member.
The emir, crown prince and prime ministers are senior members of the family, and royals always occupy the key posts of foreign, defence and interior minister.
The November 26 polls were called after Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved parliament on Sunday, following a dispute over petrol price hikes.
Many candidates have criticised the outgoing parliament for failing to defend the interests of citizens.
Political parties are banned under Kuwaiti law but many Islamist, nationalist and liberal groups operate freely as de facto parties.
Under Kuwait’s unique system of democracy, a senior ruling family member will be mandated to form a government regardless of poll outcome.
Many opposition groups have decided to take part after boycotting the previous two elections in protest against changes to the voting system.
Only two former opposition lawmakers registered on Wednesday but as independents.

A new UN-brokered ceasefire is due to take effect at midnight Wednesday in Yemen, where a 19-month conflict fuelled by rivalries between Saudi Arabia and Iran has killed almost 6,900 people.
Here are key dates:
– March 26, 2015: Saudi Arabia begins Operation Decisive Storm with air strikes on the rebels after forging a coalition of nine countries to shore up the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has taken refuge in Riyadh after Iran-backed Shiite Huthi revels overran the capital Sanaa and swathes of the country.
A few months later coalition special units are deployed in Yemen.
– April 17, 2015: UN chief Ban Ki-moon calls for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen, two days after world powers impose an arms embargo on the rebels and demand they relinquish territory seized in a sweeping offensive.
On July 17, 2015 the government says it has “liberated” the southern province of Aden, its first major victory.
Loyalist troops backed by Saudi air strikes struggle to maintain control over southern provinces owing to an influx of fighters from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
In February 2016, Saudi Arabia says that Yemeni government forces have recaptured “more than three-quarters” of the country.
Coalition casualties begin to mount, and include 67 soldiers killed in a rebel rocket attack on September 4, 2015.
Five attempts by the United Nations to clinch a truce in Yemen fail and a diplomatic rupture between Riyadh and Tehran in January 2016 throws up a fresh hurdle.
The latest effort for a 72-hour truce due to start from 2059 GMT on Wednesday was announced by UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
A truce declared in conjunction with the start of peace talks in Kuwait was hardly observed and eventually collapse as the negotiations ended in August with no breakthrough.
Since then fighting has intensified, and hours before the start of the new truce heavy clashes rocked Yemen.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have exploited the power vacuum created by the conflict in yemen to expand their presence in the Arabian Peninsula country, particularly in the south and southeast.
In mid-August, loyalist forces entered Zinjibar, the capital of the southern Abyan province, as part of an offensive to recapture the province from Al-Qaeda jihadists.
The Arab coalition which backs the Yemeni government against the Huthis has turned its sights on the jihadists, and the United States has pressed its drone war against them.
Civilians have paid the highest price in the impoverished country.
Almost 6,900 have been killed — more than half of them civilians — while another three million are displaced and millions more need food aid.
An October 8 coalition air strike killed more than 140 people and wounded at least 525 at a funeral in the Huthi-held capital Sanaa, according to UN estimates.
The coalition, after denying any responsibility, admitted that one of its planes “wrongly targeted” the funereal based on “incorrect information”.
Earlier this month the World Health Organization reported an outbreak of cholera in Yemen and warned that the scarcity of drinkable water has worsened the hygiene situation in the country.
Nearly three million people in Yemen are in need of immediate food supplies, while 1.5 million children suffer malnutrition, including 370,000 enduring very severe malnutrition that weakens their immune system, according to UNICEF.

“There are a lot of safeguards in place that would preclude that from happening, from federal laws to local and state laws as well,” said Jo-Renee Formicola, a political scientist at Seton Hall University.
The US election system is far from perfect, as illustrated by the imbroglio over the vote count in Florida during the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
A conservative-majority Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of Bush, but the sense of a “stolen” election lingered on among some Democrats — who never fully accepted the Republican president as legitimate.
But 16 years later, the chances of mass fraud marring the contest between Trump and his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton are remote, experts say.
Even national elections like the one on November 8 are organized not by the federal government but by US states, and they tend to delegate the task to a welter of local authorities.
“The fact that every single voting district would be involved in a fraud is virtually impossible because there are so many different kinds of districts,” Formicola said.
A mosaic of voting systems — some using electronic voting machines, others paper ballots, and still others both — add a level of complexity that would tend to thwart any attempt at wholesale voter fraud, the experts say.
Besides, Republican election officials oversee the vote in most of the key battlegrounds of the 2016 presidential elections, states like Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Arizona.
“In person voter fraud — that’s when someone shows up and pretends to be someone else — is incredibly rare, almost never happens and there is no evidence that it happens in numbers that are anywhere close to having an effect, even in a close election,” said Cornell Law School professor Zachary Clopton.
Trump’s charges of impending voter fraud have escalated as he has sunk below Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, in the polls.
While providing no evidence to back his claims, the New York billionaire has cast suspicion on voting in urban areas where Clinton enjoys strong backing from black and Hispanic voters.
“Mr Trump, for example, has called out Philadelphia as a place where he thinks there might be fraud,” said Clopton. “I think there is virtually no evidence of in-person voter fraud at all, but I guess the idea would be that it would happen in a few places.”
President Barack Obama on Tuesday derided Trump’s attacks.
“I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place. It’s unprecedented,” Obama said.
“If, whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else? Then you don’t have what it takes to be in this job,” he said.
While the risk of in-person fraud is seen as minimal, there are more serious concerns that hackers could pose a threat on Election Day — fuelled by recent intrusions attributed to Russian hackers in voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona.
Those incidents have spurred federal authorities to offer local authorities their expertise in protecting their systems against hackers.
Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, a civic group that advocates for clean elections, says safeguards against fraud are greater now than they were in 2012 and 2014.
Still, electronic voting machines could be a weak link.
“That’s perhaps one area where we might be concerned about leaving these questions to little towns and cities that may not have the technical sophistications of the federal government, but it would then require hacking multiple places if you are trying to build up,” said Clopton.
Trump may be preparing the ground for a loss to Clinton by predicting that the election is rigged.
But experts worry he is undermining public confidence in a basic democratic institution.
“I can say it is highly unusual to claim ‘rigging’ in advance of polls even opening,” said Smith. “It would not appear to be based on specific evidence, or perhaps it is better to say we have seen no evidence brought forward in support of such a statement.
“It is of grave concern to the extent that it could generate doubt in our democratic system and peaceful transference of power that we exercise every four years,” she said.

Major winners Davis Love, Ian Woosnam, Lorena Ochoa and Meg Mallon and journalist Henry Longhurst have been named 2017 inductees to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The selection committee for the St. Augustine, Florida, attraction announced the honor group Tuesday from among 16 finalists, with enshrinement ceremonies set for September 26, 2017, in New York ahead of the area hosting the Presidents Cup.
“We have the privilege of bringing in one of our strongest classes to date,” said World Golf Hall of Fame president Jack Peter.
Each new member of the Hall of Fame, which will now feature 155 people, received 75 percent support from the 16-member selection group, whose members include Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam.
Love captained the 2016 US Ryder Cup team to victory earlier this month at Hazeltine after his 2012 squad lost to the greatest last-day comeback in Ryder Cup history.
Love won 21 US PGA Tour titles, including the 1997 PGA Championship, and also played six times each on Ryder and Presidents Cup teams.
“Davis has an outstanding record not only as a player but as a gentleman,” said South African legend Player. “He has been a tremendous contributor and all-around man for golf. It’s terrific to see him in the World Golf Hall of Fame.”
Welshman Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion, topped the world rankings for 50 weeks in 1991 and 1992. The former European Tour Order of Merit winner was named European Player of the Year in 1987 and 1990 and played on eight Ryder Cup teams.
“Woosie got a lot out of his game. He was a great competitor and handled himself very well. He has been a great contributor to golf from the European side, and I?m delighted to have him inducted,” 18-time major winner Nicklaus said.
Mallon won 18 LPGA titles, including four major crowns, and was a member of nine Solheim Cup squads, serving as captain of the 2013 US team.
“Meg Mallon has been a great player and a great contributor. She has been involved heavily in the game of golf. Everybody likes her. Everybody knows what her talent is. She’s just an amazing gal,” Nicklaus said.
Ochoa, the first Mexican-born golfer in the Hall, won 27 LPGA events, two of them majors, and was world number one for 158 consecutive weeks from 2007 to 2010.
Longhurst, a long-time British newspaper columnist, was a pioneering British television golf commentator. He died in 1978 at age 69.

An Italian judge on Wednesday sent “Ruby the heart stealer” and 22 others for trial on charges of lying under oath after being bribed to protect former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Ruby, an exotic dancer of Moroccan origin, was at the centre of the scandal over Berlusconi’s notorious “Bunga Bunga” sex parties.
A decision on whether Berlusconi, 80, will face trial in the case was postponed as the billionaire tycoon did not attend pre-trial hearings, citing health concerns following open-heart surgery in June.
Also sent for trial by judge Laura Marchiondelli was lawmaker Mariarosaria Rossi, a senator for the tycoon’s Forza Italia party.
Prosecutors suspect Berlusconi bought the silence of the young women who attended his “exotic parties” by giving them cash, jewellery and even properties worth millions of euros.
Evidence presented in his trial for having sex with Ruby when she was under age indicated that he gave her gifts worth seven million euros ($7.8 million).
She testified in that trial that she had not had sex with the tycoon, claiming she had lied when she was recorded on a wiretap telling friends that she had.
Berlusconi was initially convicted of the charge but acquitted on appeal, the judge accepting that he had not known Ruby was a minor at the time of their encounter.

Amazon’s new streaming service on Wednesday announced an exclusive deal with country superstar Garth Brooks, the top-selling artist to have resisted the fast-growing music format.
The retail giant, which launched its Amazon Music Unlimited service last month with a cut-rate price for owners of the company’s speakers, started with a new single by Brooks and will eventually stream his entire catalog.
Brooks, whose stardom in the 1990s expanded the demographic map for country music, has sold more albums than any solo artist in US history, with Elvis Presley in second place.
The deal with the 54-year-old could help Amazon make inroads with US listeners who have yet to discover streaming such as older music fans outside of major urban areas.
Sweden’s Spotify is the world’s leader in streaming — which offers unlimited, on-demand music online — and has pursued an open model of making as many songs as possible available.
Upstarts Apple Music and Tidal, led by rap mogul Jay Z, have emphasized original content and exclusives by artists who mostly appeal to a younger, more international audience than Brooks.
The country singer has long resisted not only streaming but Apple’s iTunes — which opened in 2003 after Brooks was already an established star — insisting that he wants to sell albums rather than individual tracks.
Brooks, in an interview with music industry journal Billboard, said that Amazon was “very sweet” in giving him flexibility on how he wanted to enter streaming.
He said he spoke to rivals but an Apple Music deal would have brought him into iTunes, while Spotify did not have a way to sell his work.
As for retail behemoth Amazon, “They said, ‘It’s your music, you tell us how you want it sold,'” Brooks told Billboard.
Brooks, who will wind down his own GhostTunes sale site, saw the deal as fluid and rejected suggestions he was trying to reach a new audience.
“Here’s the thing that I sit with that makes me sleep well at night: We’ve had a great run and we have never streamed, so if this never happens, I’m good,” he said.
Streaming’s rapid growth led the global music industry last year to post its first substantial profits since the start of the internet age, despite criticism from many artists that the format insufficiently compensates them.
In the United States, the number of subscribers to streaming services more than doubled in the first half of 2016 alone but at 18.3 million there is likely plenty of room for growth.
The owners of the music of The Beatles, the most glaring holdout to streaming, put the Fab Four’s full catalog on all major services on Christmas Eve last year.
Late pop icon Prince, folk rock great Neil Young and art house rock favorites Radiohead have all criticized streaming but in the past two years agreed to stream on at least one site.
Adele and Taylor Swift, two of the top artists in recent years, both refused to stream their latest albums until a window of high retail sales ended — a set-up that Brooks said he will follow with Amazon for his upcoming albums.
Prominent artists who still refuse to stream their work include heartland rocker Bob Seger, experimental metal band Tool and English progressive rock veterans King Crimson.

The head of the Belgian region of Wallonia on Wednesday said he still refused to sign off on a EU-Canada trade accord and asked that a visit by Canadian premier Justin Trudeau be delayed.
Paul Magnette, the head of government of Wallonia, spoke a day after he received an ultimatum of Friday to allow Belgium’s federal government to endorse the huge trade deal, known as CETA.
“We cannot sign by Friday. That is not reasonable,” a combative Magnette told RTBF radio after EU ministers asked that he reverse course in time for a discussion on trade by European leaders set for Friday.
“I think that it is reasonable to delay indefinitely the meeting (with Trudeau set for October 27) because it’s better to avoid what would seem like a confrontation,” Magnette added.
“It’s not because the Canadians are our friends that we must accept everything,” said Magnette.
But in a sign that a breakthrough might be in the making, a spokesman for Magnette said Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland met the regional leader in the Walloon capital of Namur on Wednesday.
Magnette later met with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem and Belgium’s pro-CETA Foreign Minister Didier Reynders in Brussels.
Magnette warned the commission, which handles EU trade talks, that his demands could only be met by reopening negotiations with Canada that were formally concluded two years ago.
“The treaty is already unravelling,” Magnette said, citing concessions agreed with Germany, which was allowed on Tuesday to kill the deal if the German constitutional court should later decide against it.
Later an EU Commission spokesperson called the talks “constructive”.
The issue will be discussed later by European leaders, the EU’s executive arm said expressing the hope that “a solution is reached soon so that CETA can be signed during the EU-Canada Summit on 27 October”.
While Magnette cited progress in his talks with the EU, he said differences remained too wide on a contested investor protection system that has become a hot-button issue for the anti-CETA movement.
A senior EU diplomat told AFP that the signature with Trudeau would need to be confirmed by Monday.
“Wallonia’s deadline is Monday morning, otherwise Trudeau will not come,” the source said.
The EU fears that the delay of CETA would be fatal to the deal and send a bad signal to the world that it is difficult to reach trade accords with Europe.
“I still believe that we can find a way forward and we can get it through,” said European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen at a news briefing.
Magnette has drawn big support from opponents to CETA, including Greenpeace and Foodwatch, that see the Canada deal as a Trojan horse for a far more ambitious trade accord between the EU and US, known as TTIP.
Both deals threaten environmental and consumer protection and offer big benefits to multinationals, the groups say.

Prosecutors have ordered an autopsy be carried out on the remains, police in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate said in a statement.
BASF firefighters were caught in an explosion on Monday after responding to a small blaze near docks where tanker ships unload flammable liquids and liquified gases via systems of pipes.
Two firefighters were confirmed dead on Tuesday, with one person missing and more than 20 hurt, including six seriously.
The body found on Wednesday is believed to be that of the missing person.
“We have to assume that our fears have become a tragic certainty and lament a third death,” BASF board member Margret Suckale said in a statement.
Monday’s blast sent smoke billowing into the sky above the company’s home town of Ludwigshafen and neighbouring Mannheim, with emergency responders called in from the whole region to fight the resulting blaze.
Local people were warned to remain indoors for fear of airborne chemical leaks after some complained of respiratory irritations.
City and company officials kept the warnings in place even after the fire was extinguished on Monday evening, as gases were still leaking from breached pipes at the site.
City authorities gave the all-clear on Tuesday evening, saying then that a possible danger to the population could finally be ruled out.
BASF employs over 100,000 people around the world — around 36,000 of them in Ludwigshafen — and had sales of more than 70 billion euros ($76.77 billion) in 2015.
The firm’s worst accidents lie many decades in the past, including a 1921 explosion in a Ludwigshafen ammonia factory that killed 585 people and a 1948 accident on the same site in which 207 were killed and 3,800 injured.

No insurgent group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which highlights growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taliban step up their nationwide insurgency.
“One US service member and one US civilian died as a result of wounds sustained in Kabul today,” NATO said in a statement, adding that three other Americans were wounded in the incident.
“The two individuals were killed during an attack near a coalition base by an unknown assailant, who was later killed.”
An American official said the shootout occurred at a military ammunition supply point near Camp Morehead, a base used for Afghan commando training.
Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri earlier indicated it was a so-called insider attack, saying one NATO soldier had been killed and five others were wounded by a gunman wearing military uniform.
NATO said the Americans were conducting duties as part of their mission to train, advise and assist Afghan forces when they came under attack, adding that an investigation had been launched into the incident.
“Anytime we lose a member of our team, it is deeply painful,” said General John Nicholson, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan.
“Our sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and the units of those involved in this incident. To those who continue to target coalition forces… (we) will continue to pursue our mission to help our partners create a better Afghanistan.”
So-called “green-on-blue” attacks — when Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on international troops — have been a major problem during NATO’s long years fighting alongside Afghan forces.
Gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms shot dead two Romanian soldiers in the southern province of Kandahar in May.
In a similar attack in August last year, a man wearing an Afghan military uniform shot dead two American soldiers in the southern opium-rich province of Helmand.
And in April last year an American soldier was killed in a firefight between US and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan.
Western officials say most such attacks stem from personal grudges and cultural misunderstandings rather than insurgent plots.
The killings have bred fierce mistrust between local and foreign forces even as the rate of such incidents has dropped in recent years.
NATO troops have adopted special security measures in recent years to try to counter the threat.
Insider attacks have also plagued Afghan troops, depleting morale and causing mistrust within security ranks.
In September, two Afghan soldiers with suspected Taliban links killed at least 12 of their comrades as they slept in the volatile northern province of Kunduz.

A group of Boko Haram gunmen invaded Goptari, 10 kilometres from Chibok, late Tuesday and set it on fire after looting food supplies and livestock.
The attack underscores the continued threat of Boko Haram in Nigeria’s volatile northeast, where the military is still battling for control despite making gains against the insurgents over the past year.
“They attacked the village around 8:00 pm (1900GMT), firing heavy guns which made people flee into the bush,” Samson Bulus from nearby Kautikeri village told AFP.
“The Boko Haram raiders looted homes and shops, taking along food supplies and livestock before burning the entire village,” he said.
Luka Damina, another Kautikeri resident said troops in Chibok engaged the attackers in gun battle but were subdued by the insurgents.
“The Boko Haram fighters overpowered the soldiers and seized a van with a machine gun mounted on the deck from the soldiers,” he said.
Witnesses, including a local chief, said a soldier was wounded during the shootout.
The attack came two days after a raid on nearby Kallali village where the Islamists looted and burnt homes, a local chief told AFP.
Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency against the Nigerian state that has claimed at least 20,000 lives and spilled across the country’s borders.
Aided by troops from neighbouring countries, the Nigerian military has recaptured swathes of territory from the Islamists since early 2015.
But Boko Haram has carried out sporadic attacks on remote villages in the restive region.
Last month eight people were killed outside a church in a village 30 kilometres east of Chibok. In August, 10 people were killed in another attack on nearby Kubrivu village.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, whose time in office has been tarnished by allegations of state-sponsored doping, has been promoted to deputy prime minister, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
President Vladimir Putin approved Mutko’s appointment to a new post of deputy prime minister in charge of sport, tourism and youth politics, adding that Mutko’s deputy, former Olympic fencer Pavel Kolobkov, would take over as sports minister.
Mutko’s move to the new position is the latest in a series of high-profile staffing changes in the Russian government and comes on the heels of doping scandals that saw the country’s track and field team sidelined from the Rio Olympics in August.
The 57-year-old’s name has emerged in World Anti-Doping Agency reports containing evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics and other disciplines.
WADA founder Dick Pound, who headed an independent commission that probed doping in Russia, said last year it was “not possible” for Mutko to have been unaware of the vast rot in the system and “if he was aware of it, then he was complicit in it.”
A programme by German public broadcaster ARD which aired in June suggested Mutko had been involved in covering up positive doping tests by a footballer playing for FC Krasnodar in 2014, a charge the minister dismissed as “a deliberate attack” on Russia.
Sports minister since 2008, Mutko has over the past year repeatedly called for reforms to Russia’s scandal-ridden anti-doping programme while slamming the West for what he said were attempts to sideline Russia from international competition.
Mutko — who also heads Russia’s football association and was president of Zenit Saint Petersburg from 1997 to 2003 — has been repeatedly implicated in scandals, from FIFA to the Olympics, but has always managed to face down controversies.
The Kremlin vowed to suspend officials directly implicated in WADA’s McLaren report — which in July accused Moscow of covering up doping violations and called for Russia to be banned from Rio — but insisted there was no hard proof against Mutko.
Writing on Twitter, firebrand opposition leader Alexei Navalny described Mutko as “the person who ruined everything.”
“This is exactly the sort of person who should be appointed deputy prime minister,” he wrote, tongue firmly in cheek.
Russia narrowly escaped a blanket ban from the Rio Olympics when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July left it up to international sports federations to determine which Russians were eligible to compete while granting itself a final say.
But its athletes were slapped with a blanket ban from the Paralympic Games over allegations of state-run doping in the McLaren report.
Kolobkov, 47, was a prolific Olympic fencer, winning six medals including gold at the 2000 Sydney Games in individual epee.

Children in particular find themselves in the firing line as ground fighting between local troops and Islamist militants intensifies.
A total of 2,562 civilians were killed and another 5,835 wounded in the first nine months of this year, a slight dip compared to the same period last year when casualties soared to a record high, a UN report said.
It cited a 42 per cent rise in casualties caused by pro-government forces compared to last year — “primarily due to casualties from the use of indirect and explosive weapons and aerial attacks”.
But Islamist militants were responsible for the majority — 61 percent — of total casualties.
“Increased fighting in densely populated areas makes it imperative for parties to take immediate steps to ensure all feasible precautions are being taken to spare civilians from harm,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Intentional and direct targeting of civilians in towns and cities continued through 2016, the UN report said.
It also expressed concern at the continuing increase in child casualties, which have risen year-on-year since 2013.
In the first nine months of 2016, the UN documented 2,461 child casualties, a 15 per cent increase on the same period last year.
“Eighty-four per cent of victims from unexploded ordnance were children,” said UN human rights director Danielle Bell.
“All parties must systematically track, mark and clear unexploded ordnance in order to protect current and future generations of children from harm.”
The statistics are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taliban step up their nationwide insurgency and the Islamic State group seeks to expand its foothold in the east.
In recent months, Taliban militants have attempted to overrun several provincial capitals, from Kunduz and Baghlan in the north to Lashkar Gah in the south, with Afghan forces struggling to contain the insurgency.
The Taliban have waged an insurgency against the western-backed Kabul government since being toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001.

A gunman wearing an Afghan military uniform killed one NATO soldier and injured five at a base in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, the defence ministry said.
“The shooter was also killed,” ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP, giving no details of the nationalities involved.

Some survivors froze and some wept when they returned to the Bataclan music hall in Paris this month, nearly a year since they witnessed jihadist gunmen slay dozens of concertgoers.
But all were determined to face their fears at the place where 90 people were shot dead on November 13 in the culmination of the Islamic State group’s slaughter of 130 people across Paris.
“When I left the Bataclan, I imagined it as a bloodthirsty monster which wanted to consume me,” said Caroline Langlade, of the victims’ association Life for Paris.
“In fact it’s just a room with walls where something tragic happened. It’s not the building itself which is tragic,” she said.
When the trio of jihadists brandishing Kalashnikovs burst into a concert by Californian group the Eagles of Death Metal, Langlade and around 40 other people among the crowd of 1,500 barricaded themselves in a room upstairs.
Returning for the first time 11 months later, she was astonished to find that the staircase she had charged up in a terrified state was not wooden and spiral as she had recalled.
“In fact, it was as it has always been — made of concrete and dead straight,” she said.
Another survivor, 28-year-old Maureen, who did not want to give her full name, had a similar sensation: “The hall was not as I left it. The emergency exit was only seven metres (23 feet) away, but in my memory the distance seemed infinite.
“I went back there — I didn’t have to, but it feels like a sort of victory over what we lived through that day.”
AFP spoke to survivors after a group of 260 visited the Bataclan earlier this month. A smaller group of nearly 130 visited in March.
Florence Deloche-Gaudez, part of the team of psychiatrists who have been working with survivors, said going back to the Bataclan had had a “calming effect” on many of them, despite the terrible memories it re-awakened.
“It allowed them to relive the event and feel those sensations again — the noises, the smells, what it looked like, the fear,” she said.
“Some froze while others were walking around, re-tracing the route they had taken that night.”
The visit also gave survivors a chance to talk to other survivors. “In many cases, that was the Bataclan security staff, who replied to their questions,” the psychiatrist said.
Such experiences “help them to feel less powerless and to ease the trauma of experiencing death,” she added.
The survivors filed into the concert hall in groups of five or six and led to a specially reserved area. Psychiatrists were on hand to assist them.
Some of the survivors stayed there for as long as an hour. A few people lit candles or left notes and flowers.
The Bataclan will defiantly re-open for concerts in November, but despite the building work the venue’s management said it had “tried to respect the various requests from victims and to respond to them wherever possible”.
Maureen said the visit had helped her.
“When you do something like that, you don’t know what good it is going to do.
“When I came out, I felt calmer. It might sound morbid to say so, but I felt it helped in my rehabilitation.”
Other survivors, like 37-year-old Anthony, who also did not want to give his full name, said he only wanted to return to the Bataclan under happier circumstances.
“I want to go back for concerts and definitely not when I am surrounded by victims,” he said. “Everyone has their own way of dealing with it.”

Myanmar is struggling to establish full democracy after 50 years of military rule, de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday following a deadly military lockdown in restive Rakhine state.
State media say security forces have killed at least 29 people in a military crackdown after raids on guard posts along the Bangladesh border which the government blamed on Islamist insurgents.
The area is home to many Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
“We as a nation are struggling to make the democratic culture take root,” Suu Kyi told reporters after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her first official visit to New Delhi.
“We too have many challenges to face, but we are confident that these challenges can be overcome because our people are determined to overcome them.”
Suu Kyi won a historic election victory last year and her administration is managing a difficult transition from a military-run pariah nation to full-fledged democracy.
After spending much of the last few decades under arrest, she is now officially foreign minister and self-appointed state counsellor — a role akin to prime minister.
But her country remains riven with ethnic and religious violence and she has disappointed some of her supporters by refusing publicly to recognise the Rohingya as legal citizens.
Tens of thousands of stateless Rohingya have spent the past four years trapped in bleak displacement camps with limited access to health care and other basic services.
Suu Kyi said her country had suffered from a lack of peace and stability for many decades and looked to neighbouring India for help in developing as a democracy.
Modi said India, which strongly supported Suu Kyi during her time in opposition, stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Myanmar.

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric wants to play out the rest of his career with the Spanish giants after signing a new contract until 2020.
Modric, 31, has become a fundamental part of the Real side, winning two Champions League titles, since his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur in 2012.
“My wish is to retire at Real Madrid and with this renewal I am closer to that goal,” Modric said on Wednesday.
“I want to thank the club and the president for having so much confidence in me.
“I am going to continue giving everything I have, working hard and I hope to have more success in front of me.”
Modric’s quality on the ball and work rate has converted the Croatian into a fans’ favourite at the Santiago Bernabeu in recent years.
However, he had to overcome a difficult and trophyless first season in the Spanish capital before he established himself as a regular in the team.
“I had confidence in myself from the start. I never doubted my qualities,” he added.
“I knew that sooner or later I way going to succeed here with the work I put into every match, every training session.”
And the former Tottenham Hotspur star insisted mental toughness is needed as much as ability to succeed at the richest club in the world.
“To play at Real Madrid it is not enough to have football quality. It is very important to be strong mentality and never give up.”
Modric is currently sidelined by a knee injury, which is expected to keep him out until next month.
Yet, he refused to confirm he would be fit in time for the Madrid derby away to Atletico on November 19.
“I feel good, every day I feel a little bit better,” he added.
“I am working hard to return as quickly as possible, but I can’t say when I will return.”

The case was “about the clear, and downright criminal behaviour of the five accused… that resulted in serious offences against the administration of justice,” presiding judge Bertram Schmitt told the International Criminal Court, handing down the verdict.
“No legal system in the world can accept the bribing of witnesses, the inducement of witnesses to lie or the coaching of witnesses,” he told the five men.
“Nor can the International Criminal Court.”
Each of the men stood in turn and remained impassive as Schmitt pronounced them guilty, although two of the defendants were acquitted on a few charges against them.
Wednesday’s verdict at the court in The Hague was the first such corruption trial in its history, and came after a tip-off to the prosecutors office.
Prosecutors charged that from his prison cell, the ex-rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo masterminded a network to bribe and manipulate at least 14 defence witnesses persuading them to lie during his main war crimes trial.
Bemba was sentenced in June to 18 years in jail on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed when his troops went on a rampage in neighbouring Central African Republic from 2002-2003.
But on Wednesday the judges said he had tried to skew his main trial and had “planned, authorised, and approved the illicit coaching” of the witnesses.
He was aided and abetted by his lawyer Aime Kilolo, his legal case manager Jean-Jacques Mangenda, Congolese lawmaker Fidele Babala and Narcisse Arido, a defence witness, the judges found.
“Today’s judgement sends a clear message that the court is not willing to allow its proceedings to be hampered or destroyed,” Schmitt said.
And he warned those who sought to undermine the court would “not go unpunished”.
The court, set up in 2002 to try the world’s worst atrocities which national courts cannot handle, goes to great lengths to try to protect both witnesses and its trials from any interference or hampering.
But in Bemba’s case, Kilolo “instructed the witnesses to lie on key points” and “scripted, dictated and corrected” the testimonies, Schmitt said.
In return, he promised the witnesses would be paid between 600 to 800 euros, given new laptops or would be in Bemba’s “good graces”.
Mangenda liaised between Bemba and Kilolo and helped to distribute secret cell phones to the witnesses without court officials knowing.
Babala, deputy secretary of Bemba’s MLC party, was found to have handled the money transfers.
While Arido, who was an expert defence witness on military operations in the Central African Republic, acted as a kind of “go-between”. He recruited four of the defence witnesses, promising them 10 million Central African francs (about 15,200 euros) and a relocation to Europe.
Once the powerful leader of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) and a wealthy businessman, Bemba, 53, remains behind bars in The Netherlands and is appealing his 18-year jail term.
His lawyer, Melinda Taylor, said in a statement after Wednesday’s hearing that “the defence intends to appeal today’s judgement” and was studying it carefully.
All five men had pleaded not guilty to more than 100 combined charges. Sentencing will be at a later date.
The judges however denied a prosecution request to detain the four other defendants, who were allowed to remain free before sentencing.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors stormed into the AFC Champions League final with a 5-3 aggregate victory over FC Seoul despite losing the all-Korean semi-final’s second leg 2-1 on Wednesday.
After Jeonbuk had dominated the first leg 4-1, Brazilian marksman Adriano gave the home side hope when he slotted a record-equalling 13th goal of the tournament in the first half.
But Jeonbuk’s Ricardo Lopes doused any hopes of a comeback by equalising on 59 minutes, before Seoul’s Ko Kwang-Min grabbed a consolation goal for Seoul in injury time.
Jeonbuk, the 2006 champions, now go into a blockbuster two-legged final next month against fellow former winners Al Ain and their feted playmaker Omar Abdulrahman.
The K-League leaders also reach their third Asian final despite a domestic scandal. They were deducted nine points and fined after one of their scouts was convicted of bribing referees.
“We fought hard and were looking good in the first half,” said FC Seoul’s coach Hwang Sun-Hong. “The second goal was important and we were pushing for that.
“So I am sorry for the fans who came out to support us in good numbers. We had a good campaign and the players did their best… we have learned from this experience and we will come back stronger.”
FC Seoul’s Adriano was in the thick of it during an electric first half in front of a noisy crowd as the hosts pressed for the goals they needed to overturn their first-leg deficit.
The Brazilian shot just wide on 16 minutes and headed off-target eight minutes later. Elsewhere, Jeonbuk midfielder Kim Bo-Kyung was bloodied by a flailing elbow before playing on with a bandaged head.
It was Adriano who lifted the home side’s hopes when he charged on to Kim Chi-Woo’s cutback to put Seoul 1-0 up on 38 minutes with his 13th goal, equalling the 2013 record of Guangzhou Evergrande’s Muriqui.
A shock comeback was on the cards and FC Seoul came close to a second goal from a breakaway seven minutes into the second half, but ex-Arsenal forward Park Chu-Young’s shot deflected wide.
And Seoul regretted their miss when Lopes turned Kim Chi-Woo and fired across the face of goal to make it 1-1 on the night and open up a yawning 5-2 aggregate lead.
Veteran substitute Lee Dong-Gook twice went close for Jeonbuk before Ko gave home fans something to cheer with a fierce drive two minutes into injury time.
It sets up a home-and-away Asian final between two sides of similar pedigree after Al Ain, who ousted Qatar’s El Jaish on Tuesday, won the inaugural edition in 2003 and were runners-up two years later.

Nairobi, Kenya is one of the most volatile urban centers in Africa, suffering from 60% of its population living in crowded and poverty-stricken informal settlements around the periphery of the city.
According to a 2015 survey,over 100,000 Kenyans flock to the city annually in search of greener pastures and obviously,better living standards but most of these souls are trapped in less than stellar neighborhoods,settling in ramshackles and tattered houses which also are not easily accessible and lack basic housing amenities.
James Kinyua,an Uber driver,for example,is a perfect representation of the nightmare proper housing in Nairobi has become.
James says,sadly.
James has little choice. He has to live in Roysambu – or at least around Thika Road – which is not just convenient for him and his job but also close enough to his brother who lives in Zimmerman,some kilometer away from Roysambu.
 
Also,James has no choice – He has been totally unable to find a proper house in the surrounding neighborhoods and Kasarani has been particularly frustrating.
Today,many house-hunting city dwellers are being forced to move further down the road to less safe estates like Santon,Hunters and further down to the crowded and messy Mwiki for settlement which still,doesn’t satiate their quests for proper housing and livelihood.
Roysambu,for instance,is a cool,albeit chaotic,relatively safe and easily accessible neighborhood but it has had it’s allure blighted by the influx of Nigerian men,students and also the fact that the houses are overpriced and don’t really match the exorbitant house rent they carry.
Steve,who lives just behind TRM says.
 Steve adds.
Further down the road,things get even messier.
Zimmerman and Githurai 44 are some of the oldest and most crowded city estates with thousands of people massing around and suffocating the space in these unsightly estates.
Still, alot of people prefer to reside in these Estates which have less stringent residential rules and regulations and also,offer pocket-friendly rent rates.
 Karanja,a caretaker in a swanky apartment along Kamati Road,Githurai 44,says.
 
In a 2015 report,Knight Frank, a global property consultancy firm, for the year ending September 2015 indicates that the housing prices in the country have for this year alone, risen by over 3.5 per cent.
According to an independent survey,these disparities in house rents and also,the alarming lack of proper housing in Nairobi has to be blamed on poor financing, bureaucracy, corruption and lack of government support.
observed Ms. Ms Elizabeth Mwangi—Oluoch, chief executive officer of the Kenya Property Developers Association.
For instance,In the film  journalist Sorious Samura shows, for example, how he had to pay at least US$300, much of that in payments to officials, to build a shack in Nairobi’s Kibera slum with insecure rights.
Estates like Umoja and Donholm fair even much worse.
 an Umoja dweller says.
The common house rent rates here go for a regular Ksh 10,000 for a basic,rundown one-bedroomed house around an old,stenchy block.
Still,even getting a house here is a nightmare as well. It takes months of arduous house-hunting sprees before you can finally land a little spot.
Another big demon in this whole crisis is the house agent.
These are the shrewd dudes in oversized faded suits whose job is to basically show you around the vacant houses in exchange for some fee.
 
 Carol says.
Love them or loathe them,agents are a very crucial – and unavoidable – devil in the management of renting and housing around many city estates.
Places like Kahawa Sukari and Kahawa Wendani fair even worse.
For starters,the estate is chocking under the weight of the neighboring Kenyatta University students who have invaded pretty much every inch and corner of the expansive,sun-drenched dusty neighborhoods.
Getting a house around the Kahawas requires much patience and zeal as most of the houses are not just taken but rarely vacated.
 Stano, a caretaker here says.
Stano adds
The Nairobi economy also makes it very hard for a regular Nairobian to live in the house of their dreams and comfort.
 
 Ruth,a city employee says.
Political honchos and elites also are to blame for the housing crisis in Nairobi as highlighted by writer Jacqueline M Kloop in her article for  where she writes that;
Actually,Kenya’s urban centers face a shortage of 200,000 housing units annually, with only 50,000 new units being constructed every year.
As a result of the overcrowding and over pricing of the houses,most of which don’t even deserve that much monthly rent,house-hunters have resorted to moving to Estates that are significantly further away from the city center most especially Ruaka,where there is a current housing boom.
“Houses in Ruaka are splendid. But also quite costly…Also, lately the security is starting to be an issue. But we are coping, ” a Ruaka resident says.
Gospel star Bahati lives in Ruaka. So do a few other local celebs.
Thindigua along Kiambu Road and Garden Estate along Thika Road are also some of the other less congested neighborhoods middle class city dwellers – and celebrities – are starting to flee to.
Celebrities like DJ and Size 8,Abel Mutua and Dennis Itumbi and many others reside -or have resided in- Thindigua which has become sort of serene,expansive lush green environment for the better endowed and fortunate members of Nairobi society.
During the month of March 2015, the then Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development Charity Ngilu said that an ambitious housing development had been launched by the government to cater for the increasing shortage in housing.
 said Ngilu during the launch of National Housing Survey 2012/2013.
None of that seems to be on track yet
Thus,housing in Nairobi is increasingly becoming a headache for the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who troop to the city annually and find no suitable housing and who mostly end up putting up with their relatives or in slums for lack of affordable housing or even any form of housing at all..
Unscrupulous landlords have also taken advantage of the situation and seem to have conspired to defraud desperate house-seekers by setting unrealistic rent rates and also,clamping down on the defaulters many of whom may have been affected beyond their control to be unable to pay rent by the 5th of the month which is the traditional – almost tyrannical – deadline for rent payment across the city.
Roads and routes leading up to the rental blocks are another story altogether – most of these pathways are muddy,soggy paths littered with all manner of garbage and riddled with small,dirty pools all the way up to the apartment,which,in most cases is decaying from the outside and whose color is also peeling off.

 
Rent by the roadside has always been higher than rent deep into the estates where security and lighting at night is not always guaranteed.
Still,hundreds of thousands of Kenyans still grapple with an acute shortage of decent houses opting to put up in crammed,narrow rooms famously called Bedsitters as affording either a one bedroom or a decent double room has become an unachievable dream.
Sadly,this is a nightmare that may never be settled anytime soon. Not when politicians sand and corrupt city hall bosses are still very much involved in the rolling out of apartments and general city housing development.
The crisis can only get worse…As the city hosts more and more residents every year.

Documents recently tabled in parliament paint a grim picture of Kenya’s current financial position.
The figures submitted by the National Treasury reveal that the country borrowed nearly Sh200 billion between January and July this year alone translating to an average of over Sh800 million every day.
However, the government insists that the money has been used to finance key development projects across the country.
Economists and opposition leaders led by Raila Odinga have criticised the government’s heavy borrowing, which they say has sunk Kenya deeper into debt.
The country’s public debt now stands at Sh3.2 trillion, up from Sh1.6 trillion in 2013 even as experts warn that the ballooning public debt is unsustainable.
The opposition has challenged the government to make a full disclosure of the amounts borrowed, sources of the funds and the repayment amount in terms of capital and interest from January 2013 to date.
A major cause of worry is the National Treasury’s unclear explanation of the expenditure of some of the money as the details remain scanty.
 
Though part of the loan had been allocated for infrastructure and development, there lacked supportive evidence given to parliament on the same.
A section of Members of Parliament has called on the Budget and Appropriations Committee needs to take its role seriously and scrutinise Treasury’s management strategy for borrowing.
Already, experts have warned that the ballooning public debt is unsustainable.
Kenya stands fifth in the International Development Association’s ranking of the top 10 borrowers in its 2015 financial year.
During the State House summit on Transport and Infrastructure in August this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta insisted Kenya was best placed to know the projects that have a direct impact on its people.
The president’s sentiments were seen as a response to an article published in  that revealed the World Bank’s criticism of the Standard Gauge Railway which they termed as uneconomical.
There is also worry that the government is implementing too many projects at a go, greatly contributing to the massive borrowing.
Some of these flagship projects include the Standard Gauge Railway, LAPPSET, the school’s laptop programme, large scale irrigation schemes, National Youth Service Programme, geothermal power generation, the rural electrification programme and free maternal health care.
Though all these are seen by many as an attempt to frame the current administration’s economic legacy positively to boost its re-election come next year, the presidency maintains that the projects are aimed at steering the country towards realising the double-digit growth and achievement of the Vision 2030 blueprint.

A Belgian tourist was trampled to death by an elephant near Kenya’s famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve, police said Wednesday, the second such incident in a month.
“He was badly injured by the rogue elephant and succumbed to injuries at the Talek Health Centre,” a police officer in the area said on condition of anonymity.
The death of the Belgian man on Monday in circumstances that remain unclear comes a month after an Italian man was trampled in the Tsavo National Park, southeast Kenya, while trying to take a photograph of an elephant.
Kenyan daily The Standard reported that in a separate incident on Tuesday, a Kenyan secondary school student was killed by an elephant on the way to school.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) warned in a statement Wednesday that a fierce drought gripping the country was pushing wildlife further from their traditional habitats in search of food and water, increasingly bringing them into contact with humans.
“From the cases recorded by KWS, it is evident that there has been an increase in reported incidents of conflicts compared to past years; the notable ones being attacks on people, property destruction, livestock predation and crop raiding,” said the statement.
KWS warned that such interactions were likely to increase and urged caution in high-risk areas.

A pause in Russian and Syrian strikes on Aleppo was holding for a second day Wednesday, ahead of a brief unilateral ceasefire aimed at allowing civilians and rebels to quit the devastated city.
Moscow announced it would extend an eight-hour truce planned for Thursday to 11 hours and said Syrian and Russian warplanes were giving Aleppo a wide berth.
At a meeting in Berlin, French President Francois Hollande said he would work with Germany to persuade Russia to adopt a long-lasting truce around Syria’s second city.
Despite the Russian initiative, EU leaders at a summit on Thursday are expected to condemn Moscow over attacks on civilians in Aleppo, according to a draft statement obtained by AFP.
Russia’s ceasefire plan has stirred scepticism in the West and the United Nations said it would be insufficient to allow humanitarian aid to reach encircled Aleppo inhabitants.
Moscow is backing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in its war with a wide range of rebel groups, including with air strikes in the divided northern city.
Under growing international pressure over the devastation and civilian deaths, Moscow announced early Tuesday that Russian and Syrian warplanes would stop bombing rebel-held parts of the city to pave the way for a “humanitarian pause”.
That window, starting at 0500 GMT on Thursday, was initially meant to last eight hours and is expected to see all fighting stop to allow civilians and rebels to exit opposition-held districts via six corridors.
Senior Russian military official Sergei Rudskoi said Wednesday the ceasefire had been extended “by three hours until 7:00 pm (1600 GMT)”.
He also said Russian and Syrian planes were keeping 10 kilometres (six miles) from Aleppo.
An estimated 250,000 people live in Aleppo’s eastern districts and have been under near-continuous government siege since July.
AFP’s correspondent in east Aleppo said although clashes between rebels and pro-government forces involving heavy artillery continued in several neighbourhoods, the pause in air strikes was holding.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said pro-regime fighters were pressing their ground assault in the Old City as they vied to shift the front line.
Russian and Syrian bombardment had been providing air cover for a government offensive that started on September 22 aimed at seizing the city’s east, held by rebels since 2012.
According to Moscow, once the pause begins six corridors out of the city would open for civilians with another two — via the Castello Road in the north and Souk al-Hal in the city centre — designated for rebels.
The UN dashed hopes however that a prospective Aleppo truce could allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians.
“Before we can do something really meaningful… we need assurances from all parties” over a lasting ceasefire, a spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian agency said in Geneva.
Rebel groups have indicated they will not abandon their posts and, with Aleppo encircled by pro-government forces, many civilians fear falling into the hands of the regime.
But Russia has said the pause is an opportunity for mainstream rebels to disassociate themselves from jihadists in Aleppo.
Near Damascus, more than 600 rebels and their families were evacuated Wednesday from Moadamiyat al-Sham, a besieged rebel town, according to a local official.
It was the latest in a string of evacuation accords allowing armed rebels to flee encircled areas, which Damascus has championed as a way to restore stability.
Syria analyst Thomas Pierret, of the University of Edinburgh, said the halt in Russian air strikes was about Moscow “managing international pressure”.
“Russia is periodically trying to mitigate tensions with the West on Aleppo through such initiatives. This is the continuation of war by diplomatic means,” he said.
In Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders are expected to “strongly condemn the attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies, notably Russia, on civilians in Aleppo”, according to a draft obtained by AFP.
The draft calls on them “to bring the atrocities to an end and to take urgent steps to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to Aleppo and other parts of the country”.
Five years of diplomatic initiatives to put an end to Syria’s conflict have failed, but over the past week world powers have made new efforts to reach a lasting truce.
Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Berlin later Wednesday to discuss the ceasefire plans.
“France will do everything it can to exert pressure, especially on supporters of the (Syrian) regime, such as the Russians, so that the ceasefire can be extended,” Hollande said.
A US-led coalition is bombing jihadists in Syria including the Islamic State group and Russia accused member Belgium of killing six civilians in air strikes in the Aleppo region on Tuesday.
Belgium denied the claim and said it had summoned the Russian ambassador in protest.
Talks were also due Wednesday in Geneva between Russian, US, Saudi, Qatari and Turkish officials on the efforts to distance Syrian opposition fighters from jihadists.

Through her “Let’s Move” campaign, Michelle has managed to raise awareness about healthy living and has inspired millions of Americans in the United States to exercise regularly.
And she is one who walks the talk as demonstrated by her toned arms and remarkable body at 52 years old.
But that doesn’t come easy as she has incorporated weight lifting, skipping and intense boxing as part of her regular exercise routine.
 
Her trim body was in full display in a super classy floor-length rose gold chain-mail gown by  A designer who is famed for his exquisite gowns that radiate power and class in their highly structured designs.
This was at the final state dinner which doubled up as a welcome party for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife Agnese Landin.
Check out her looks below:
 
 
Image credits: AFP

Through her “Let’s Move” campaign, Michelle has managed to raise awareness about healthy living and has inspired millions of Americans in the United States to exercise regularly.
And she is one who walks the talk as demonstrated by her toned arms and remarkable body at 52 years old. But that doesn’t come easy as she has incorporated weight lifting, skipping rope and intense boxing as part of her regular exercise routine.
Her trim body was in full display in a super classy floor-length, rose-gold, chain-mail gown by. A designer who is famed for his exquisite gowns that radiate power and class in their highly structured designs.
This was at the final state dinner which doubled up as a welcome party for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife Agnese Landin.
Check out her looks below:
 

Captain Mushfiqur Rahim insisted Wednesday that Bangladesh would not use their long break from Test cricket as an excuse as they seek a first victory over England in the game’s longest format.
While Bangladesh have inflicted embarrassing defeats on England in ODI and Twenty20 cricket, they have lost all eight of their Test matches and are desperate to break that sequence in the next fortnight.
Given that Bangladesh have not played a Test match for 15 months, they could be forgiven for being somewhat ring-rusty when the first contest in a two-match series begins on Thursday in Chittagong.
But Rahim said the hosts would not dwell on their lack of five-day cricket and instead seek inspiration from their vastly-improved form in the shorter formats.
“If we start thinking about these things, then we are going on the back foot,” he told a press conference.
“Now is the time to play and we are focusing on that. Being a professional cricketer you cannot say that we have not played for the last 15 months.
“The important thing is how you can do well in the coming five days. We are not concentrating on not having played for a long time.”
Once the whipping boys of international cricket, Bangladesh’s performances in limited overs have earned them respect and they are no longer regarded as pushovers — especially on home turf.
They won six consecutive ODI series at home in a sequence dating back to November 2014, before England’s narrow 2-1 victory earlier this month.
“The last two years we played ODIs very consistently. We did not win all the matches but the graph has been on an upward path,” said Rahim.
“So we want that we can become a team like that in Tests too, that we can play better and better with each Test.”
While Bangladesh have had a dearth of Test cricket, England play more Test matches than any other nation, something which their skipper Alastair Cook acknowledged should give them an advantage.
“You get into a rhythm of playing Test cricket, there’s no doubt about it,” said Cook while stressing that England would not be guilty of complacency.
“As we saw in the one-day series, Bangladesh are a hugely improved cricketing nation over the last three or four years. There’s talent, which we hadn’t necessarily seen in the past, and a pathway through for guys. I think it will be a really good test for us.”
The second Test against England will start in Dhaka on October 28 before the tourists head to India.

Saudi Arabia has executed one of their princes, Prince Turki bin Saud bin Saud al-kabeer, who is said to have killed an innocent person after a misunderstanding.
Reports claim that the prince was put to death in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, on Tuesday 18 October, 2016.
The government of Saudi Arabia has however refused to reveal the method they used to execute this prince.
Prince Kabir is now the 134 person to be killed in Saudi Arabia in 2016. Most reports show that those sentenced to death are often beheaded when their time comes meaning that this prince could have suffered the same fate.
Murder is a serious crime in all Arabian country and this is why this certain prince could not walk away freely even though he was from the royal family.
 
 
 
 

It’s one beautifully crafted phone released in 2016. Has a very premium impressive design, with a mix of plastic, metal and glass. A lot of attention has been given to aesthetics this time around, its sleek and so slim unlike the Phantom 5.
Display is impressive; 5.5-inch display bright and sharp.
The camera; there are two cameras at the back, a 13MP auto focus and a 5MP refocus camera, Front camera sits at 8MP with a flash to take selfies at night with HDR, guidelines, gesture shots.
Software, storage and performance; runs on Android Mashmallow, processor is 2GHz, RAM size is an impressive 3GB while internal memory is 32GB.
Eye print which serves as a security features is also present.
One would expect with all this amazing features, the phone o retail more than the Phantom 5, but that is not the case. www.electronicsoko.co.ke 
is actually selling it at 22,500/=.
Get yours now via the website or just call 0726118801 Electronic Soko is taking that into consideration with the introduction of FREE delivery in Nairobi, within 24hrs! Now you can shop for any gadget at http://www.electronicsoko.co.ke/ and have it delivered the same day to any location of your choice within and out of Nairobi.

Finally, Ghafla Kenya, one of East Africa’s largest online entertainment websites is set to experience a massive rebranding and rebirth, in a launch ceremony that will take place on Wednesday evening, October 19, 2016.
Started seven years ago, in a bedroom from where it struggled up the ladder with no readership and no clout, Ghafla has now spread her tentacles wide and large network that has readers spread across the entire African continent – and beyond.
Ghafla was the little dream of one ambitious university student named Samuel Majani who saw a vacuum in the provision of local celebrity news and music lyrics online – and then he moved in to fill the void, creating the Ghafla behemoth that today boasts of over millions of monthly readers.
 Majani says.
Less than a decade after the site was born, Ghafla has now found a new home in Ringier Africa Digital Publishing (RAPD) who have partnered with the Kenyan startup and promised to carve it into an even bigger, more balanced, broader and expansive news network that will easily compete with the largest digital platforms from Nigeria to South Africa.
 says Tim Kollman, the Managing Director of RAPD.
Initially tailored for the Kenyan audience, with most of the news focusing largely on the Kenyan market and celebrities, the new Ghafla has now moved into deeper waters – casting her net wider and further to encompass not just Kenya but also Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
Commenting on the exciting Ghafla partnership, Robin Lingg who is the Ringier Africa & Asia CEO said:
The new Ghafla, whose brand icon has also changed to feature a ‘Ghafla’ logo with a small ‘g’, will move from disseminating just entertainment and celebrity news to covering broader topics that include politics, sports, science, technology, and lifestyle.
, says Martin Kinyua, an avid Ghafla reader and subscriber.
To cater for this broader market, the new Ghafla management has also hired highly skilled new talents who come with great knowledge and expertise in news dissemination and analysis.
 
 says Dennis Tarus, one of Ghafla’s new writers.
Ghafla also promises to have a stronger focus on breaking news as it plans to have writers on board as it seeks to disseminate breaking news at it happens.
The big launch on Wednesday, expected to start at 6pm in the evening, will feature a galaxy of some of the biggest and most powerful local celebrities and stars from all facets of entertainment.
Representatives from some of the biggest local brands will be in the house too for a dazzling night of festivities, music, laughter, networking, sumptuous foods, drinks and fine wine.
mjue nitawalambaaawoteWaambie ivo Shaniqwa, one of Kenya’s biggest comedy stars, said.
As for those that love their tipple, as much as yours truly does, , one of the most accomplished beer manufacturers in East Africa, will be in the house helping to quench the thirst of all the esteemed guests.
The  too will be very much represented for those that love to wash down some spicy chicken wings with some smooth,soothing wine.
It will certainly be one of the biggest entertainment launch events of the year and  will be on the decks. We just cannot wait.

Kenyans on social media seem to have a thing for beautiful women. They have graduated from praising socialites and nearly naked women to appreciating the real simple beauty that needs no publicising.
Anyway, there is a new cop in town and rumour has it that she is too fine to be ignored.
 Edith Githinji, a Kenya Defense Forces solder has left many talking and ogling at her sexy photos being shared on social media.
As much as the Kenya Military has had a tough and rough year, the lady has managed to stay fly and strong for those who look up to her.
 
 We understand that being a female military demands a lot but having strong willed women like Edith Githinji and many others Kenyans have every reason to feel safe.
 

Some 5,000 people came to Donetsk’s opera house to pay last respects to the 33-year-old Russian, known as “Motorola”, who died Sunday when a homemade device exploded in his apartment block.
A Russian army veteran from the Komi region, Pavlov joined the fighting in east Ukraine in 2014 as a volunteer, rising to prominence after appearing on Russian television broadcasts.
He boasted in a 2015 interview of shooting 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war, prompting Kiev’s defence ministry to say he was lucky to die in a bombing rather than serving an “inevitable” life sentence.
Some mourners carried flowers and black-and-orange St. George’s ribbons that symbolise World War II victory and have been adopted by the Kremlin-backed insurgents, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene.
The grandiose memorial ceremony was also shown live on Russian state television.
More than 100 armed men in camouflage guarded the opera house, where the leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko, stood by the coffin.
“A great public figure, a real warrior, a man who remained undefeated in an open battle is now gone”, said 63-year-old Alexander Kurenkov, a rebel fighter standing in the guard of honour.
“He was killed in a terrorist attack,” he added.
Natalia, a 32-year-old doctor carrying a bunch of red carnations, praised Pavlov as “a hero of DPR, a hero of Russia.”
After the ceremony, militants from the Sparta battallion Pavlov commanded carried his coffin out to brass music as the crowd chanted “We will not forget, we will not forgive!”
The coffin was then placed on the gun carriage of an open-topped truck, and the funeral procession slowly moved through streets lined with mourners to a local cemetery.
Several people told AFP that state employees including teachers and doctors were “strongly recommended” to be present at the funeral.
“Lessons were cut for all the teachers to come here. Students were also freed from classes”, said Viktor, a 42-year-old history teacher.
Pavlov is the latest in a series of rebel leaders to be killed in the eastern Ukrainian regions controlled by militias.
Fighting has dragged on there despite a peace plan brokered by Germany and France, which has run aground amid acrimony between Russia and Ukraine. The conflict, which broke out in April 2014, has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

Montenegro’s High Court has ordered the month-long detention of a group of Serbians suspected of planning an anti-government attack during parliamentary elections at the weekend, whose result the opposition contested Wednesday.
Authorities said the Serbian group — allegedly headed by retired police chief Bratislav Dikic — plotted to seize the prime minister and parliament and proclaim victory for the opposition.
The detention order affects 14 of the 20 Serbians arrested on the eve of Sunday’s vote, a court spokesman told AFP on Wednesday. The other six were released on Monday.
The former police chief denied the charges and launched a hunger strike in protest, his lawyer Milan Petrovic said.
“My client denied the charges and said he was visiting Montenegro to go to the Ostrog (Orthodox) monastery,” Petrovic told reporters.
With all the ballots counted, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) won more than 40 percent of the votes — more than double that of the main opposition Democratic Front.
But the opposition contested the result, saying the arrests late on Saturday had influenced the outcome.
“The opposition at this moment cannot accept the vote because an atmosphere of a coup d’etat was created during the (election) day,” Miodrag Lekic, a leader of the Kljuc (Key) Coalition, told reporters.
“It is necessary that the police, prosecutor and all relevant institutions explain who is this group that prepared attacks on election day and for which party,” Lekic said.
A pro-government private newspaper, Dnevne Novine, on Wednesday published a transcript of a telephone conversation allegedly between Dikic and another group leader, in which the two were said to be as plotting to break into parliament with opposition leaders.
Although DPS won the election, it only took 36 of the 81 seats in parliament, meaning it will have to ally with parties representing Croat, Muslim and Albanian minorities.
Opposition groups, who collectively won 39 seats and have not yet lodged any formal appeal, have pledged to ask minority parties to support a “temporary technical government whose task would be to prepare new parliamentary elections,” a Kljuc official told AFP.
International observers said fundamental freedoms were largely respected, but that allegations of political tension, corruption, foreign funding and inconsistencies in the legal framework had tainted the electoral environment.

Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, Wednesday ratified a landmark climate rescue pact but environmentalists expressed scepticism about the government’s plans to limit global warming.
The country’s parliament agreed to endorse the Paris Agreement which was reached last December in the French capital, joining scores of other countries which have ratified the deal.
It requires all countries to devise plans to achieve the goal of keeping the rise in temperatures within two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
The accord is due to enter into force on November 4, earlier than expected, after the threshold for ratification — by 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of emissions — was reached earlier this month.
In its plan Indonesia pledged to cut emissions by at least 29 percent by 2030 by stepping up protection of forests and expanding the renewable energy sector.
The sprawling archipelago is home to vast tracts of tropical rain forest. But much has been felled in recent years, to be sold as timber and to make way for palm oil and pulp plantations, greatly increasing the country’s emissions.
Indonesia also says that if it receives international aid such as financing, it will raise its target to a 41-percent cut by 2030.
Green groups have criticised the pledge as lacking in detail, such as ways to tackle forest fires that burn out of control in Indonesia every year, cloaking the region in toxic haze.
Last year’s fires were the worst for years. A study by environmental watchdog the World Resources Institute estimated that at their peak, the blazes led to Indonesia spewing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each day than all US economic activity.
The institute usually classifies Indonesia as the fifth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Hindun Mulaika, who works on climate change with Greenpeace Indonesia, said that the “devil is in the detail” when it came to the official plans.
“There are still ongoing projects that are really carbon-intensive,” she said, noting the government was in the process of building a series of new coal-fired power plants.

England’s record-breaking bowler Jimmy Anderson, who has already been ruled out of the current tour of Bangladesh, will miss next month’s first Test against India, captain Alastair Cook said Wednesday.
“I don’t think he’ll be there for the start. He might be ready to do some training, but he won’t be ready for the first Test match” in India, Cook told reporters.
“I don’t know what’s happening — they will be making some decisions over the next seven days or so. I spoke to him last night and he is training well and in good shape physically.”
Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, has not played since the fourth Test against Pakistan in August because of a shoulder injury. He has not travelled to Bangladesh, where England on Thursday begin a two-Test series in Chittagong.
Asked whether he was optimistic the 34-year-old would play some part in the five-Test India series, Cook refused to give any guarantees and said a decision on when he would travel had still to be made.
“You should probably speak to the medical team and Jimmy on that. He hasn’t yet bowled since, and that has been the problem in the past,” Cook told reporters in Chittagong.
“He’s making some really good strides and we’ll know more later on.”
Anderson’s continued absence would be a significant blow to England’s chances in India, who are the world’s number one Test side and have a formidable home record.
England are expected to field three spinners in the Chittagong Test, with the 39-year-old Gareth Batty expected to be selected after more than a decade in the international wilderness.