Osuta Yusuf

Opposition leaders arrested . Civil society groups on Friday accused authorities of arresting at least nine opposition leaders, ahead of fresh anti-government protests expected after weekly Muslim prayers. A committee of professional organisations involved in the protests said in a statement that authorities had raided a meeting of opposition leaders in Khartoum. They detained a total of nine people, including Siddiq Youssef, a senior leader of Sudan’s Communist Party, as well as leaders from the pan-Arab Ba’ath and Nasserist parties, the statement said. The raid came after a coalition of opposition groups called for more protests after the weekly noon prayers on Friday. The head of the media office at the National Intelligence and Security Service denied any knowledge of the arrests. Fourteen leaders of one of Sudan’s two main opposition groupings were detained last Saturday and then released some nine hours later. Sudan doubles down on social media amid protests . A digital r...

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company of China, will invest $147.2 million to build a copper project in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as it extends the exploration of its mining assets in the country, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange on Tuesday. The project will be located in the Lukuni region in the south of DRC, and will have annual electro-deposited copper production capacity of 30,000 tonnes. Electro-deposited copper is a raw material widely used in the electrical equipment and machine manufacturing sectors. Huayou has built two cobalt refineries in the Luiswishi region of DRC after buying copper-cobalt mineral rights from La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines in 2015. The new copper project is expected to launch by September 2019, the company said in the filing, but it also warned it still needs approvals from Chinese authorities. The investment will be made through its subsidiary Congo DongFang International Mining (CDM), which mainly sources coppe...

Qatar has joined the global powers and nations that are working to increase their influence on the African continent, opening its taps for aid and cooperation. The small, but gas-rich nation has increased efforts to show it is a force for good in international security since its Gulf Arab neighbours imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott on it in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar is the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter. Qatar sends 24 armoured vehicles to Mali. This week, the rich Gulf nation airlifted 24 armoured vehicles to Mali, in a move it said would help the countries of the African Sahel region combat terrorism. Qatari military planes delivered the vehicles, its foreign ministry said, adding the shipment would help “combat terrorism and establish security not only in the Republic of Mali but also in the African Sahel countries known as the G5.” The G5 of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania last year cre...

A new opinion poll for the presidential election in Democratic Republic of Congo says opposition candidate Martin Fayulu of the Lamuka coalition, has become the clear favourite to win, ahead of Felix Tshisekedi and the government-backed Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager, was little known when he was picked as the joint candidate of an opposition coalition in November, but extensive campaigning, including in Ebola-hit eastern regions, has since boosted his profile. The latest election poll by a New York-based research group showed Fayulu leapfrogging from third place in October to the top spot with 44 percent support. He was ahead of the former frontrunner, Tshisekedi, on 23 percent, and the ruling party’s Shadary on 18 percent. Fayulu ... is the clear favorite to win elections if they are free and fair. “The polls reveal an electorate eager for change. A large majority supports the opposition,” Congo Research Group (CRG), which commiss...

The Gabonese president Ali Bongo will address his nation during a New Year’s speech from Rabat where is recovering, according to AFP which cited close sources to the presidency. According to the news agency, Bongo has instructed his Prime Minister to respond to the expectations of the Gabonese people pending his return. This will be Bongo’s first speech since he was hospitalized in Saudia Arabia on October 24 after treatment for what the presidency said was severe fatigue. The Gabonese President was treated in a Riyadh hospital for more than a month before being transfered to Rabat, Morocco. Here, he was first taken to a military hospital, then to a private residence where is currently recuperating. His Vice President, Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou said Bongo suffered a stroke.

A network of Sudanese journalists went on strike Thursday in the wake of deadly protests sparked by a hike in bread prices, while opposition groups called for further rallies. “We declare a three day strike from December 27 to protest against the violence unleashed by the government against demonstrators,” said the Sudanese Journalists’ Network which advocates free speech. Journalists in Sudan frequently complain of harassment from the authorities, and the African country has a dire rating on international press freedom rankings. Entire print runs of newspapers are often confiscated over articles deemed offensive by the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), which is spearheading the current crackdown on protesters. Activists and opposition groups have called on people to take to the streets again over the next few days. “We urge the Sudanese people to continue their demonstrations until success is achieved by overthrowing the regime,...

The electoral situation in the DRC was at the heart of a summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region held in Brazzaville, Congo. The sub-regional bodies are concerned about the political situation in the country barely a week to an election that has already been postponed for the third time. There was no representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo during Wednesday’s meeting. Brazzaville has every interest in taking this initiative because Brazzaville and Kinshasa are the two closest capitals in the world. You will realize that whatever is happening in DRC has an impact in Brazzaville. I would say Brazzaville is playing it safe. So, as a wise politician, President Sassou Nguesso is playing Congo’s foreign affairs minister, Jean-Claude Gakosso, read out the communique issued at the end of the mini-summit. “The Heads of State called on the political class and civil society to calm down an...

According to full provisional results released on Thursday 27 December 2018, The electoral commission has declared Andry Rajoelina the winner of a runoff presidential election in Madagascar. The High Constitutional Court has nine days from Thursday to decide whether to confirm the provisional results. Rajoelina’s rival Marc Ravalomanana on Sunday alleged fraud. Rajoelina won 55.66 percent of the vote compared to 44.34 percent for Ravalomanana and turnout was just over 48 percent, the commission said. The two ex-presidents — Ravalomanana and the man who ousted him in a 2009 coup, Rajoelina — had previously said they would accept the results, raising hopes of a peaceful outcome and no repeat of the political chaos seen nearly a decade ago. Rajoelina attended the commission’s results announcement on Thursday. Ravalomanana did not. The Indian Ocean island nation has a population of around 25 million people and is among Africa’s poorest. About 80 percent of...

All my Audience, Readers and Followers know that this is not my Hand Writing and Opinion. Written By My Fellow Editor in UK. Thanks. Big issue in Uganda is OTT - it brings different views of many people where one group advocates it as reasonable income to budged while others (including me) see it as oppression. Why not to try to build compromise. 1. Government should guarantee that 100 percent of OTT will be directed to public health care services. It will fund increase of availability and quality of it. 2. VPN will not be sanctioned - who wants to spend extra data on it and save 200UGX which would be genuinely used for public health - let keeps his money if it makes him happy. 3. Payment of OTT would bring benefit to paying citizens directly - in form of vouchers for health services like eye checks, blood checks and so on What would be your view my brothers for such as system? It is win win game - there will be extra income to the budget, it brings money which will be directed...

I have chosen to write about the Political Wisdoms and Political Ideas of Mr Ejiku Robert and Mr Alaka Caleb, not to denying their Political Philosophy but to reflect their Pragmatic and Non-Rationalist Characters. If we are to understand Ejiku & Alaka, as People of Prudence and Expedience rather than abstract theory, it is therefor incumbent up on us to investigate their willingly Community Based Charity, Humanitarian Assistance implied and Among others. As i keep writing deep and deeper about these Two People, only the insane will judge me to have been Bribed millions of cash money to write articles about them. Sorry, and Never. I start to you People, about the PRUDENT Mr Ejiku and Mr Alaka, Prudence — the exercise of sound judgement —— is Practical Wisdom, as EXPEDIENCE of these Two —— is Suiting the case to the circumstances; but there can no Wisdom without a Knowledge of Good, without awareness of those Suffering, Poor, Oppressed and the Need...

The FBI just saved the Christmas. The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier today that the FBI has seized domains of 15 "DDoS-for-hire" websites and charged three individuals running some of these services. DDoS-for-hire, or "Booter" or "Stresser," services rent out access to a network of infected devices, which then can be used by anyone, even the least tech-savvy individual, to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against any website and disrupt its access. In recent years, multiple hacking groups ruined Christmas Day for millions of gamers by taking down PlayStation, Xbox networks and other gaming servers using massive DDoS attacks. "Booter services such as those named in this action allegedly cause attacks on a wide array of victims in the United States and abroad, including financial institutions, universities, internet service providers, government systems, and various gaming platforms," the DoJ said. "The actio...

As trade ties grow, 35 Ugandan schools set to teach Chinese . Presidency minister Esther Mbayo said the decision to teach Chinese was informed by increasing trade and the growing friendship between the countries. This brings the number of international subjects taught in Uganda to six, the others being English, French, Arabic, Latin and German. Makerere University will soon have a bachelor's degree programme in the Chinese language and culture. The Ugandan government has named 35 secondary schools countrywide where the teaching of the Chinese language will be introduced. Presidency minister Esther Mbayo said the decision to teach Chinese was informed by increasing trade and the growing friendship between the countries. The Ministry of Education’s National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) selected the schools for the programme that will be rolled out next year. At least 35 teacher trainers, who learned the Chinese language for the last nine months, will be posted t...

Another day, another data breach. This time it's the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) NASA today confirmed a data breach that may have compromised personal information of some of its current and former employees after at least one of the agency's servers was hacked. In an internal memo sent to all employees on Tuesday, NASA said the unknown hackers managed to gain access to one of its servers storing the personally identifiable information (PII), including social security numbers, of current and former employees. The agency said NASA discovered the breach on October 23 when its cybersecurity personnel began investigating a possible breach of two of its servers holding employee records. After discovering the intrusion, NASA has since secured its servers and informed that the agency is working with its federal cybersecurity partners "to examine the servers to determine the scope of the potential data exfiltration and identify potentially...

Congo Elections Hub: CENI postpones election to December 30 . CENI  confirms poll delay . The electoral commision in Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday confirmed that it was postponing the presidential election scheduled for Sunday, to December 30, citing delays in deploying voting materials. After a meeting with candidates in the capital, the electoral commission (CENI) said it had not been able to provide sufficient ballot papers for Kinshasa after a warehouse blaze last week destroyed much of the capital’s election material. “We cannot organise general elections without the province of Kinshasa, and without the Kinois voters – who represent 10 percent of the electoral body,” CENI president Corneille Nangaa told journalists. “The presidential, legislative and provincial ballots will take place on Dec. 30 2018.” The decision may stoke already high tensions after several government crackdowns on opposition rallies. After the announcement, a crowd outside...

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Martin Fayulu, leader of the Lamuka coalition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has called for a national debate between contestants in the December 23 elections. His call comes four days to the end of campaigning, December 21, and under a week to the opening of voting centers. According to Fayulu, the occasion will help candidates share their ideas with voters. He made the call via a Twitter post on Monday. “I propose a live broadcast debate on national television and Radio + private media between presidential candidates. “This will be an opportunity to demonstrate that (for) on the ground ideas and their implementation, our coalition brings concrete proposals,” his tweet read. Fayulu’s challenge comes at a time when candidates are busily campaigning across the country as they canvass votes to replace outgoing Joseph Kabila. The DRC is hoping for its first ever peaceful transition of power. The Lamuka coalition comprises three aspirants and two ban...

Another Social Media Giant, Twitter has been hit with a minor data breach incident that the social networking site believes linked to a suspected state-sponsored attack. In a blog post published on Monday, Twitter revealed that while investigating a vulnerability affecting one of its support forms, the company discovered evidence of the bug being misused to access and steal users’ exposed information. The impacted support form in question was used by account holders to contact Twitter about issues with their account. Discovered in mid-November, the support form API bug exposed considerably less personal information, including the country code of users' phone numbers associated with their Twitter account, and "whether or not their account had been locked." So far the company has declined to provide more details about the incident or an estimate for the number of accounts potentially impacted but says it believes that the attack may have ties to state-sponsored actors. ...

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Independent National Electoral Commission is preparing contested voter machines for the December 23 Presidential election. The move comes after thousands of voting machines went up in flames last week in the capital Kinshasa. Opposition parties have strongly contested the introduction of untested tablet-like voting machines for the election. They argue that the machines are more vulnerable to vote-rigging than paper and ink, and could be compromised by the unreliability of Congo’s power supply. The commission believe the voting machines will facilitate, speed up and give reliable and truthful results in the long-delayed December 23 polls. Last week’s blaze at a depot destroyed 8,000 of over 10,000 voting machines due to be used in the capital Kinshasa, but CENI said the election would go ahead as scheduled. Though the commission has said nothing on who it believes is responsible for the fire, the ruling coalition and leading opp...

New Shamoon Malware Variant Targets Italian Oil and Gas Companies. Shamoon is back… one of the most destructive malware families that caused damage to Saudi Arabia's largest oil producer in 2012 and this time it has targeted energy sector organizations primarily operating in the Middle East. Earlier this week, Italian oil drilling company Saipem was attacked and sensitive files on about 10 percent of its servers were destroyed, mainly in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, but also in India and Scotland. Saipem admitted Wednesday that the computer virus used in the latest cyber attack against its servers is a variant Shamoon—a disk wiping malware that was used in the most damaging cyber attacks in history against Saudi Aramco and RasGas Co Ltd and destroyed data on more than 30,000 systems. The cyber attack against Saudi Aramco, who is the biggest customer of Saipem, was attributed to Iran, but it is unclear who is behind the l...

South Sudan’s government has protested the decision of the United States to impose fresh sanctions and cut financial aid to the country. Addressing a press conference on Monday, the foreign ministry spokesman Mawien Makol warned that the ‘unjustifiable’ actions of the US government could undermine the implementation of the recent peace agreement. “The government of South Sudan would like to register its concern and protest in the strongest terms against these unjustified unilateral sanctions, and on other USAstatements designed to undermine the implementation of the peace agreement in South Sudan,” Makol told journalists. The government of South Sudan has endeavoured to promote dialogue with the government of United States of America, and welcomes any proposals on improving bilateral relations. Last Friday, the US Treasury slapped sanctions on an ex-Israel military officer and two South Sudanese nationals, Obac William Olawo and Gregory Vas...

Facebook's latest screw-up — a programming bug in Facebook website accidentally gave 1,500 third-party apps access to the unposted Facebook photos of as many as 6.8 million users. Facebook today quietly announced that it discovered a new API bug in its photo-sharing system that let 876 developers access users' private photos which they never shared on their timeline, including images uploaded to Marketplace or Facebook Stories. "When someone gives permission for an app to access their photos on Facebook, we usually only grant the app access to photos people share on their timeline. In this case, the bug potentially gave developers access to other photos, such as those shared on Marketplace or Facebook Stories," Facebook said. What's worse? The bug even exposed photos that people uploaded to Facebook but chose not to post or didn't finish posting it for some reason. The flaw left users' private data exposed for 12 days, between September 13th and Septem...

A woman has been accused of killing her lover then cooking his remains as part of a traditional rice dish, according to reports. The Moroccan woman, who has not been named, allegedly butchered her boyfriend before serving his remains to nearby workers as 'machboos' - a Gulf dish similar to biriyani. Local reports, quoting the man's brother, said police found a human tooth inside the woman's blender. The woman was arrested after DNA tests showed it was the man's tooth, The National AE reports. She was reportedly arrested on suspicion of killing her boyfriend, who she had been with for seven years.  It has not been specified how she is alleged to have killed him. But reports claim the incident happened after he told her he'd planned to marry someone else. The death was discovered after the man's brother reported him missing to police in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates. When the brother went round to the couple's home, the woman denied knowing where he...

Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent and demand snap parliamentary polls. The inauguration paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president. The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi in Georgia's eastern winemaking region of Kakheti. French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia's penultimate king Heraclius II. Georgia's new President Salome Zurabishvili at her inauguration ceremony in Telavi on December 16, 2018.  "The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia's democratic development and its path towards Europe irreversible," she said in an inaugural speech. "I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, ...

Quick question: who has the time or desire to shop the aisles this holiday? Quick answer: very few people! If you’re like most people after a long day at work, you don’t want to push through the throngs of desperate shoppers. You have things to do — like decking the halls, spiking the eggnog, or simply sitting on the couch to unwind. Luckily for you, you can still tick the people off your list from your spot on the cushion. You just need a laptop and an open browser before you’re perusing the digital shelves of your favorite retailers. The modern wonder of online shopping is a blessing during a hectic holiday season — but it’s not without its own issues. As you scroll through your shopping list and click ‘check out’, you’re sharing more of your personal information online than ever before. It’s important you keep this data secure, so you aren’t delivered a piece of coal in your stocking in the form of a hacked account.

UMUAHIA— THE ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, has restated its resolve that President Muhammadu Buhari will hand over power to an Igbo person in 2023 and urged Ndigbo to embrace the party. This is contrary to the position credited to Works and Housing Minister, Babantude Fashola that President Buhari would hand over to a Yoruba in 2023. Speaking weekend in Umuahia, at the inauguration of the South East chapter of the Presidential Support Committee, PSC, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. Boss Mustapha assured Ndigbo that President Buhari does not hate them. According to him, the shortest route to producing a president of Igbo extraction is by supporting and voting for APC in 2019. He urged them to ensure that President Buhari is returned in 2019. Represented by Mr. Gideon Sammani, Mustapha who expressed the level acceptance the party has gained in the South East, urged the people to work hard to ensure that President Buhari is re-elected in 2019. He said that w...

Just in. The LC1 Chairman of Ayibiri Village, at Onzivu, Arua Hill Division in Arua Municipality, was shot dead Yestermorning (Saturday 15 December 2018) by Military Soldiers, after 4 Guns were recovered from him. Intelligence sources have it that, He is perceived to be Hiring out those Guns to unscrupulous Thugs, for Killing and Robbing People at Night. This fruitful operation came at the verge, when incidents of Gunwielding Thugs Shooting and Robbing innocent People, was at its Climax. On behalf of the People of WestNile, i thank UPDF and Police for this wonderful operation done. It is Rogue and Chronical for such an LC1 to own an illegal Gun for Hire and Terrorising People with it at Night.