Obama Makes History, Confronts Past in Hiroshima

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) hugs atomic bomb survivor Shigeaki Mori as he visits Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, May 27, 2016
Honoring the memory of victims of the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima seven decades ago, U.S. President Barack Obama said the world has a shared responsibility to prevent the suffering that took place in the Japanese city from happening again.
"We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell," Obama said Friday at Hiroshima's Memorial Peace Park. "We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to silent cry. We remember all the innocents killed across that arc of terrible war and wars that came before and wars that would follow.”
Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made history simply by walking through the memorial park together.
An American warplane dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 during the waning days of World War II, killing tens of thousands and subjecting a generation to radiation sickness.
Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the city.
"We come to mourn the dead," the U.S. leader said after he and Abe each placed a wreath at the Peace Memorial.

"We have a shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history.  We must ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again," a solemn Obama said. "We must re-imagine our connection to one another as members of the human race."

Kenya urge shut refugee camps

 
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that tobadili its decision to close the main kambu of Dadaab, home to more than 300,000 Somali civilians.

A statement from his office says he has told the deputy secretary general of the United Nations Jan Eliasson that such action is not reversible.

'' The train has left the station so it .For those who want to see the effectiveness of the trip sign-in '', he added.

Support groups and refugee agency UNHCR in the United States outlined its concerns about the potential closure.

Mr Kenyatta has said that the closure of the camps shall be finalized through its inayofaa.Matamshi yanajiri just one day after the president of Somalia Warn raised about the closure of the camp.

US-backed Syrian Forces Advance Toward IS Capital

FILE - Soldiers participating in operation to liberate Raqqa, Syria, from Islamic State militants.

RAQQA PROVINCE, SYRIA/WASHINGTON
U.S.-backed forces on Friday advanced deeper into areas of north of Raqqa, continuing their march to the edge of the de facto capital of Islamic State in Syria.
On the fourth day of the offensive, the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, took control of at least 10 villages and advanced 15 kilometers southward as U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeted positions in nearby localities.

Raqqa, Syria

“The process is ongoing,” Rojda Judi, a female Kurdish commander who leads the operation on the ground, told VOA. “But the only thing that is slowing us is IS has left so many mines behind. We have to clear off any area before we fully step in.”
The Kurdish-led SDF aims to close in on IS by surrounding IS-held territories from different directions, local officials said.
“We are fighting Daesh on three fronts in northern Raqqa,” said Naser Mansoor, a Kurdish official in Syria, using the Arabic name for IS.
“In some areas they [IS] just retreat, and in other areas they stay to fight,” he told VOA via phone from Syria. “But we have killed dozens of them so far.”
Mansoor said that the level of coordination between the international coalition and local forces had been advanced and that coalition airstrikes were key to undermining IS on the ground.
A VOA reporter embedded with the SDF on the front line said that anti-IS forces are using midrange and heavy weapons against the militants. IS is firing back, using mortar rounds.
While the ongoing battles are some 40 kilometers away from Raqqa, IS is preparing for battle inside the city by digging trenches and building berms, local news reports said Friday.

Hari ya hatari Nigeria kwa sababu ya nyanya

Jimbo moja nchini Nigeria limetangaza hali ya hatari kutokana na uhaba mkubwa wa nyanya.

Jimbo hilo la Kaduna, kaskazini mwa Nigeria, limechukua hatua hiyo baada ya wadudu waharibifu wajulikanao kama Tomato Leaf Miner au Tuta Absoluta kuharibu nyanya mashambani.
Kamishna wa Kilimo katika jimbo hilo Daniel Manzo Maigar amesema wadudu hao wameharibu 80% ya nyanya katika jimbo hilo.
Amesema wakulima 200 wamepata hasara ya zaidi ya naira bilioni moja ($5.1m; £3.5m) katika kipindi cha mwezi mmoja uliopita.
Bei ya nyanya kikapu kimoja imepanda kutoka $1.20 chini ya miezi mitatu iliyopita hadi zaidi ya $40.
Mwandishi wa BBC aliyepo Nigeria Muhammad Kabir Muhammad anasema maafisa katika jimbo hilo wametangaza hali ya hatari kuonesha wanachukua hatua kutatua tatizo hilo.
Serikali ya jimbo hilo pia imewatuma maafisa wake wa kilimo Kenya kukutana na wataalamu kuhusu Tomato Leaf Miner kufahamu zaidi jinsi ya kukabiliana na wadudu hao.
Kaduna hupatikana kaskazini mwa Nigeria na kwa mujibu wa Umoja wa Mataifa, ndipo ukuzaji wa nyanya hufanywa kwa wingi.

Mapema mwezi huu, kampuni ya kutengeneza nyanya za kupondwa na kuwekwa kwenye mikebe inayomilikiwa na Aliko Dangote, ilisitisha shughuli zake kutokana na uhaba wa nyanya, kwa mujibu wa Forbes.
Nyanya hutumiwa sana katika vyakula Nigeria na ‘tomato’, jina la nyanya kwa Kiingereza, limekuwa likivuma sana katika Twitter nchini humo watu wakijadili kupanda kwa bei.
Moja ni kibonzo cha Mnigeria akiwa ameshangaa baada ya kugundua kuna tamasha linalofanyika Uhispania ambapo watu hurushiana nyanya.

Burundi peace talks in Arusha officially begins

 

The peace talks on Burundi have started in Arusha, Tanzania, after being postponed several times.

The Government of Burundi, and some opposition leaders attending the talks, where the intermediary is the former President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza since the play-off to decide third term of governing the country.