Tunisia agrees on national unity government amid growing security concerns

The Tunisian parliament has approved the new government of Youssef Chahed. The decision ends months of negotiations as the country deals with various security and economic challenges.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Aug 2016

Members of the North African country's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of Chahed's new unity government, ending some three months of tense negotiations.

The government, with a new cabinet line-up announced on August 20, won by a margin of 167-22 with five abstentions.

Chahed took the reins as prime minister after a no-confidence vote ended his predecessor Habib Essid's government after just 18 months.

Chahed's proposed cabinet includes 26 ministers from across the country's political spectrum, along with 14 junior ministers.

Tunisia faces numerous challenges. Poverty and unemployment continue to be major problems in the country, while a string of terrorist attacks targeting tourists over the past year have exposed the country's fragile security situation.

blc/kl (AFP, dpa)

Japan PM pledges to invest $30 bn in Africa by 2018

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2016

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a session with Kenya's Ministry
 of Health and World Bank group at the Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD) in Nairobi on August 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Simon Maina)

Japan will pour $30 billion (27 billion euros) in investment into Africa by 2018, including $10 billion in infrastructure development, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday at a summit in Nairobi.

"When combined with the investment from the private sector I expect the total real amount to be $30 billion," Abe said at the opening of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

"This is an investment that has faith in Africa's future," he said.

Abe will use the conference to meet dozens of leaders from across Africa, among them Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa's Jacob Zuma.

It is the first time that the TICAD conference is being held in Africa, with all five previous events hosted in Japan.

The goal of the conference is to boost trade and aid to Africa, as Japan hopes that quality will trump quantity in the battle for influence against cash-rich China.

While Tokyo already has a well-established presence in Africa, its financial importance to the continent has long since been eclipsed by regional rival China.

The world's second-largest economy -- a resource-hungry giant -- recorded total trade with Africa of about $179 billion in 2015, dwarfing Japan's approximately $24 billion.

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya visits the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built
by China Communications Construction on Jan. 24, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

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"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

Malian jihadist says sorry for destroying Timbuktu

Yahoo – AFP, Jan Hennop and Jo Biddle, August 22, 2016

Alleged Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist leader Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi pleaded guilty to
a single charge of cultural destruction at the International Criminal Court in The
Hague on August 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/Patrick Post)

The Hague (AFP) - A Malian jihadist pleaded guilty Monday to attacking the fabled city of Timbuktu and begged forgiveness as the world was shown sickening videos of him tearing down centuries-old Muslim shrines with a pick-axe.

At the opening of his unprecedented war crimes trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi also urged other Muslims not to follow such "evil" ways.

Mahdi, a former teacher and Islamic scholar, is the first person to plead guilty before the ICC and the first to face a lone charge for the war crime of directing an attack on a historic or religious monument.

"I plead guilty," Mahdi said, after being read the charge arising from the 2012 attack on the UNESCO world heritage site when a group of Islamist jihadists swept across Mali's remote north.

Armed with videos, graphics and 360 degree landscapes, ICC prosecutors minutely catalogued before the three judges the destruction in the west African city, dubbed "The Pearl of the Desert."

The first of three prosecution witness also described the detailed methods, including satellite imagery, used to investigate the destruction.

Aged about 40, Mahdi is also the first Islamist extremist to appear before the tribunal launched in The Hague in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes, and the first facing allegations stemming from the conflict in Mali.

He is accused of "intentionally directing attacks" against nine of Timbuktu's famous mausoleums as well as the Sidi Yahia mosque between June 30 and July 11, 2012.

The mausoleums of Timbuktu (AFP Photo/Alain BOMMENEL, Jean-Michel CORNU)

City of saints

Founded between the fifth and the 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes, Timbuktu's very name evokes centuries of history and has also been called "the city of 333 saints" for the number of Muslim sages buried there.

Revered as a centre of Islamic learning during its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries and a designated UNESCO world heritage site, Timbuktu was considered idolatrous by the jihadists.

Prosecutors on Monday showed shocking images of jihadists smashing down the tombs, pushing down earthen walls that had stood for hundreds of years and hacking at them with pick-axes while their assault rifles lay nearby.

In one video, Mahdi and others were seen ripping open the door of the Sidi Yahia mosque, which had been kept closed for hundreds of years.

ICC prosecutors allege Mahdi was a member of Ansar Dine, a mainly ethnic Tuareg movement that in 2012 took control of Timbuktu, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) northeast of Bamako, along with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Mahdi, who was then head of the "Hisbah" or the "Manners Brigade", said he regretted the damage he had caused and was "really sorry".

"I would like to seek the pardon of all the whole people of Timbuktu," he said.

Transferred to the ICC by Niger in 2015, Mahdi was seen as a ruthless jihadist enforcer, fiercely imposing the strictest interpretation of Sharia law.

Islamist militants destroy an ancient shrine in Timbuktu in July 2012 (AFP Photo/)

But vowing that was all in the past, he sought to distance himself from the jihadists describing their acts as "evil."

Dressed in a Western suit with a blue-and-white striped tie instead of his earlier white collarless shirt, he said he hoped "the years I will spend in prison will be a source of purging the evil spirits that had overtaken me".

Mankind's heritage

Amid scenes of similar destruction in Iraq and Syria, the ICC prosecutors have said the case is about much more than just stones and walls.

Such "deliberate attacks on cultural property have become actual weapons of war," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the court.

"The heritage of mankind was ransacked," she said, adding that the jihadists "wanted to destroy these monuments and simply wipe them off the map".

The judgement will follow later, but it was revealed that the defence and prosecution have struck a deal under which Mahdi would not appeal a jail term of between nine to 11 years.

The judges warned however the court is not bound by the deal, and he could face up to 30 years imprisonment.

Critics have also urged the court to investigate allegations of other crimes committed during the Mali conflict, including rape and other sexual violence.

Saudi Arabia picks princess to head women's sports

Saudi Arabia has selected Princess Reema bint Bandar as the country's de facto minister for women's sports. This year, the kingdom doubled the number of its female athletes from two to four.

Deutsche Welle, 3 Aug 2016

Saudi's Cabinet announced on Tuesday that Princess Reema would head the General Authority for Sports without disclosing further details about her role.

The daughter of the ex-ambassador to the US, Princess Reema spent much of her youth in Washington, D.C. "I am honored to serve my country," she was quoted as saying by the SPA state news agency.

Female athletics have historically not been encouraged in the kingdom, though recently there have been calls for change. In an unprecedented move, one state school introduced sports for girls in 2014.

Evolving on women's sports

In an interview with Fast Company magazine, Princess Reema said she has been working to promote women's empowerment in the country.

"Our society tend to change a bit slower than other," she told the magazine last year. "We have to explain to people that it's evolution, not Westernization."

The Cabinet's announcement comes as the kingdom gears up for the 2014 Olympic Games in Rio, where four of its women athletes will compete alongside seven male athletes. That number represents an increase of 50 percent from the number of Saudi women who competed in the last Olympic games.

blc/kms (AFP, AP)

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”