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.

Magufuli has sacked the minister for being drunk

Grind is reported to be the master went to parliament to answer the question of MP drunk.

Minister of the interior in Tanzania Charles Grind has sacked due to being drunk on duty.

In a statement, President John Magufuli said master Grind went to parliament to answer the question of MP drunk.

However Grind master has not said anything.

President John Magufuli

Dr. Magufuli president who came to office last year promised to fight corruption and work on dismiss several officials with regard to corruption.

But the press say that the cancellation of the master Grind is surprising because he has been a friend of the president for a long time.

G-7: Consumers' Reluctance to Spend Causing Economic Dilemma

 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew talks to reporters during a press briefing in Sendai, Japan, May 20, 2016. Top finance officials of the Group of Seven industrialized economies kicked off their two-day meeting over discussions on revitalizing the global 

Consumers around the world are holding onto their money, say the finance leaders of the Group of 7 meeting in Japan.
There are a number of reasons for consumer apprehension about spending their hard-earned money.
Some have limited purchasing power because their budgets are tightly stretched. Others may have little savings or are opting to save rather than spend.
Their reluctant spending habits are having a ripple effect around the world.
The G-7 finance leaders say consumers' fiscally conservative ways have led to a worldwide economic dilemma. Companies and factories are churning out consumer goods, but consumers are not buying.
"There is no demand and that is one of the biggest problems around the world," Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said.
Spur growth
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has urged governments and businesses to use whatever "policy levers" are available to them to spur growth.
Most of the governments of the G-7 favor more pro-active government spending to help support flagging growth.
Economic powerhouse Germany, however, has maintained a more conservative stance on any financial reforms.
The officials have also warned against the dire consequences of "Brexit:" Britain leaving the European Union.
"Everyone here at the G-7 is clear ... it would be bad for the British economy if we left the European Union," Britain Finance Minister George Osborne said.
The finance leaders are meeting ahead of a summit to be held May 26-27 in Ise-Shima, central Japan.

500,000 Flee Bangladesh Cyclone, at Least 20 Killed

 

Bangladeshi people walk through a waterlogged street after heavy rainfall in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 21, 2016.

Cyclone Roanu swept across the southeastern coast of Bangladesh Saturday, forcing an estimated 500,000 people out of their homes. Tidal surges of up to two meters and floods killed at least 20 people.
The cyclone weakened after making landfall, but authorities in Bangladesh said scores of villages already were submerged by floodwaters.
Many of the victims were rice farmers overwhelmed by the storm as they worked in their paddies, accounts from the region said. Deadly landslides in parts of Chittagong District crushed villagers' mud-and-tin shacks, and the casualty toll was expected to rise.
VOA reporters in the area saw hundreds of homes destroyed or heavily damaged, and thousands of trees uprooted by high winds and water. Electricity service was disrupted over a wide area.
Authorities said 500,000 residents of low-lying areas in the south and southeast were relocated to thousands of shelters. Some began trying to return to their homes later Saturday after the cyclone's winds lessened in intensity.
Mohammed Ali Hossain, a government official in Dhaka, said 100,000 people were forced to leave their homes on Moheshkhali island, near the tourist site Cox's Bazaar in extreme southeastern Bangladesh, close to the border with Myanmar.
News reports quoted a local council chief on Moheshkhali island as saying residents had been warned a cyclone was imminent, but the storm arrived earlier than expected, forcing many people to flee before they could reach secure cyclone shelters.
Airlines canceled all flights to and from Chittagong, a city of over 2.5 million people in the southeast, and authorities shut down sea and river ports Saturday, halting the ferries that millions of people in southern Bangladesh rely on for basic transportation.