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Outright control in DA's sight
Outright control in DA's sight
Outright control in DA's sight
GLYNNIS UNDERHILL CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - May 19 2011 18:56
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The Democratic Alliance believes it will win its first overall majority in the Cape Town metropolitan council with party strategist Ryan Coetzee predicting that it will take "somewhere between 57% and 60%".
"We expected a majority but not such a large one," he said on Thursday. "This is an endorsement of our record of service delivery. I think Patricia [de Lille] was a strong mayoral candidate. The ANC paid the price for having no substance and no manifesto."
Between them, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha account for most of the city's voters and in the former, Coetzee said the party expected to win about 80% of the vote, meaning that more coloured voters had swung towards it.
Preliminary results indicated that the ANC's strategy of naming popular Cosatu unionist Tony Ehrenreich as its mayoral candidate had not had the desired effect of winning over significant numbers of coloured voters.
Violent protests and clashes with police involving residents and backyard dwellers erupted this week in Tafelsig, a coloured ward of Mitchells Plain. However, while many residents said they would not vote, others streamed to the four polling stations in the area.
By mid-afternoon on Thursday results had come in from 19 of the city's 111 wards. Seventeen had gone to the DA, including Kensington, Edgemead, Bellville and Plattekloof, and two to the ANC. However, no results had been received from Khayelitsha, an ANC stronghold. The Independent Electoral Commission said that by early afternoon it had captured 60% of the votes in Cape Town.
De Lille said that if the DA won an overall majority in the city, as seemed to be on the cards, her mayoral term would focus on economic growth. "I want to build on what the party has already built up and to make this city an inclusive one for all," she said.
Another area of discontent has been the Hangberg fishing village in Hout Bay, where violent clashes between residents and police took place over shack removals in September last year. Many people blamed the DA-run city council, which ordered police to remove the shacks along a firebreak.
Hundreds of people waited in long queues to vote in Makhaza in Khayelitsha, where a Cape High Court judgment three weeks ago slammed the DA-controlled city for erecting unenclosed toilets. This prompted an all-out ANC attack on the DA's delivery of services in poor areas, but the strategy backfired when news surfaced that there were about 1 600 unenclosed toilets in the ANC-controlled municipality of Moqhaka in the Free State.
CONTINUES BELOW
The DA's key election document, "The Cape Town Story", says the 2009-2010 budget allocations for free water, subsidised housing and electricity have almost doubled, to R776-million.
In the 2006 local-government election the DA was the largest single party, taking 90 of the 210 seats on the council, ahead of the ANC's 81 seats. However, because no single party held an overall majority, the African Christian Democratic Party, with seven councillors, forged an alliance with five smaller political parties to form a king-making bloc of 16 councillors that eventually agreed to work with the DA in a multiparty ruling coalition.
Helen Zille was elected executive mayor in 2006 by a three-vote majority over the ANC's former mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo. The ruling coalition narrowly survived a series of ANC attacks, including a challenge from the then ANC-controlled provincial government. Outright control of the city has, therefore, been one of the DA's key aims in this municipal poll.
High noon on the Cape Flats
While other Capetonians were flocking to polling stations on Wednesday, 50-year-old grandmother Sumaya Davids faced police in a tense stand-off over the invasion of a littered sportsfield in Tafelsig on the Cape Flats.
One of the many backyard dwellers who staked out a plot on the city-owned field last weekend, Davids said she was tired of waiting for a home for her three daughters and disabled granddaughter. The municipal elections held little interest for her and she, like many other backyard dwellers in Mitchells Plain, said she had no intention of voting.
Her 22-year-old daughter Faziela was hit when police fired rubber bullets and teargas at backyard dwellers, residents and journalists who had gathered near the field on Tuesday, but her mother seemed unfazed by this. "I've got to have a home for all of us," said Davids. "It is just too crowded in the tiny room we rent. I've been on the local government housing list for eight years and I don't see any other way." One resident said she had been on the housing list for 38 years.
Davids said she did not believe the ANC or the Democratic Alliance had "done right by the growing community of backyard people in Cape Town". Her two-year old granddaughter, Labeeqah, who is blind, need full-time care. "Nobody else can cope with her. I have to look after her and my daughters and we need a home. I pay R500 a month for my room and we cram in," she said.
As voting got under way, the Cape Town council was awarded an urgent interdict by the Western Cape High Court barring people from illegally occupying land in Tafelsig. The eviction order application will be heard on June 1.
For Davids the news was devastating -- she had handed in notice on her room after members of an informal group claiming to represent backyard residents told her that the land had been given to them. Many others had also forfeited their backyard dwellings, she said.
"We were told the land now belongs to us, but this morning they had another story. Now we're stranded," said Davids. By Wednesday lunchtime the field had been cleared and only the pieces of wood and ribbons the invaders had used to stake out their claims remained. Police continued to maintain a strong presence.
"Put Nigeria First" Movement
TTimes Nigeria
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"PUT NIGERIA FIRST" MOVEMENT begins their campaign in Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria: The Group Put Nigeria First (PNF) released today their Nigerian Leadership, Excellence and Voice in Nigeria's Democracy, to encourage all Nigerians to COMMIT TO NIGERIA BY PUTTING NIGERIA FIRST. In a statement release today by Adams Unaji the National secretary for PNF and James Atah Asst. National Secretary for Mobilization, the group unveiled their their Citizens agenda in thier 12 Points Pledge to the Nation.
1. Believe in Nigeria as a Nation
2. 24 hours of uninterrupted Power (Electricity) supply.
3. Clean, portable water supply to all Nigerians
4. Produce sufficient food supply for our nation
5. Effective Police Security, Law and Order
6. Accept our diversity: Religious tolerance and disdain tribalism
7. Jobs, Social Security and Unemployment Benefit for all Nigerians
8. Health care for all Nigerians
9. Provide quality Education at all levels of Nigerian institutions
10. Comprehensive and integrated infrastructural development in Transportation, adequate Housing, Waste Disposal, Urban and Rural development for Nigeria.
11. Eliminate Corruption, reduce National waste with accountability and effective management of our National resources.
12. Eradicate poverty in Nigeria, create a vibrant middleclass, improve the dignity and image of every Nigerian.
Lets Put our Nation First. Yes, We can do it.
PNF is a non-partisan grassroots movement representing the collective interest of Nigerians worldwide in all their social, economic and political interest. It is a generated bottom up call for real economic management of the nation's abundant resources through good governance. Put Nigeria First has a collective voice that is heard at the local, state and federal government levels on multiple issues pertaining to overall interest of Nigerians worldwide. Through the Put Nigeria First movement, you can put your opinions and ideas into action, and count yourself in the affairs of your country Nigeria. Our platform addresses issues of vital importance to millions of Nigerians worldwide. Expanding opportunities and increasing access to all.
Speaking for the group from Lagos, Mr. James Atah affirmed that the organization will monitor the performance of all persons seeking political offices in Nigeria in accordance with the 12 points pledges of PNF and will publish their performance when they get elected into office, every month and such result will be made available of www.putnigeriafirst.com the official website of PNF as well as to other media houses who will seek such information.
The collective views of all of us which we will be accountable to you will help in our efforts to bring meaningful changes and lasting results nationwide that addresses the critical issue of building a strong nation based on the rule of law and respect for each other. During the months to come in 2011, the politicking of selecting a president , his vice, 36 governors and their deputies, 109 Senators, and 360 House of reps members, 774 local government chairmen, and their deputies that will govern Nigeria, will commence in earnest. It is expected that Nigerians worldwide will choose a leader to address important issues that have an impact on them, their future and dependents.
As a Citizen of Nigeria, your input is needed as delegates deliberate on choosing their leaders. We ask of you to register yourself and your input by participating fully in the electoral process. Please go to www.putnigeriafirst.com and register. Together we are stronger. Please help shape Nigeria's decisions by sharing your input today. By participating in the process as a member of "Put Nigeria First Movement" you will help shape our advocacy agenda and activities on the issues you care about. The more we are engaged or involved, the more we can do. Please go to www.putnigeriafirst.com and register now.
Make a Statement with your Email address, Visit www.ttimesnigeria.com, get a courtesy Free Email address: yourname@putnigeriafirst.com
8 Americans Among Those killed in Traffic Accident in Egypt
TTimesworld
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Cairo, Egypt-- Eight American tourists -- six women and two men -- were killed in a traffic accident Sunday while on a tour bus in Aswan, Egypt, the country's interior ministry said.
An additional 19 American tourists and two Egyptians -- the bus driver and a tour guide -- were injured.
A total of 116 American tourists were traveling in three tour buses. The interior ministry said the middle bus -- carrying 37 of the tourists -- crashed into a parked dump truck loaded with sand.
Aswan is one of Egypt's popular tourist sites and is about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away from Cairo.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a statement Sunday saying it was "deeply saddened" by the accident.
"The embassy has confirmed that the injured are being moved by military transport to Cairo, and has mobilized staff to identify and to assist those Americans involved," the statement said. "Consular services will be provided to assist any American citizens who have been affected and their families, in coordination with the Egyptian government."
Embassy staff members in Egypt are available for questions or concerns.They can be reached in Cairo at 011 202 2797 3300.
Pyongyang Talks War, US Holds Drills Off Korea
N. Korea Vows "Powerful Nuclear Deterrence" In Response to US and S. Korea Anti-Submarine Maneuvers
U.S. and South Korean warships and helicopters practiced anti-submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula Monday, readying defenses against the kind of weapon that allegedly sank a South Korean navy vessel earlier this year.
The destruction of the Cheonan in March, which has been blamed on North Korean torpedo, killed 46 sailors in the worst military disaster for the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The four-day "Invincible Spirit" exercises involving 20 ships, 200 aircraft and about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean sailors are being held in response to the sinking, bringing threats of retaliation from North Korea, which denies responsibility for the attack.
North Korea Threatens "Sacred War"
The anti-submarine phase of the training — which also involves anti-ship and anti-aircraft operations — is particularly important because an international investigation found that the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine that somehow penetrated South Korea's defenses.
"I am concerned about every submarine underwater that I don't know about," said Capt. David Lausman, the commanding officer of the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered supercarrier deployed to the maneuvers from its home port in Japan.
Lausman said the attack — which North Korea denies having ordered — demonstrated the opaque nature of Pyongyang's military, which he said should not be underestimated.
"North Korea's danger lies because they are unpredictable," he said. "The sinking of the Cheonan is a prime example."
North Korea has strongly protested the exercises, saying they are a provocation and threatening retaliation. In flourishes of rhetoric typical of the regime, it vowed to respond with a "sacred war" and a "powerful nuclear deterrence."
U.S. officials say that the maneuvers, held well away from North Korea's border, are not intended to provoke a response, but add that they do want to send North Korea a message that further aggression in the region will not be tolerated and that the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea remains strong.
On Monday, Gen. Han Min-goo, chief of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, was to tour the George Washington.
The exercises are the first in a series of U.S.-South Korean maneuvers conducted in the East Sea off Korea and in the Yellow Sea closer to China's shores in international waters.
They are the first to employ the F-22 stealth fighter — which can evade North Korean air defenses — in South Korea.
The North routinely threatens attacks whenever South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan, but says it has no intention of invading the North.
Pyongyang's latest rhetoric was seen by most as bluster. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it had not observed any significant moves by the North Korean military since the maneuvers began Sunday.
But the North's latest rhetoric carries extra weight following the sinking of the Cheonan and the heightened tensions that have followed. North Korea says the investigation results were fraudulent and has warned the United States against attempting to punish it.
Cmdr. Ray Hesser, the head of an anti-submarine helicopter squadron on the George Washington, said North Korean submarines are largely restricted to shallow, coastal waters.
"We're not expecting to see them out here," he said. "I would not think they would be willing or wanting to come all the way out here."
He said the attack on the Cheonan probably came when the ship was not prepared and said U.S. ships observe higher readiness.
"It was like sucker punch," he said. "It doesn't say much about how much of a fighter you are."
Still, Capt. Ross Myers, the commander of the George Washington's air wing, said the threats were being taken seriously.
"There is a lot they can do," he said. "They have ships, they have subs, they have airplanes. They are a credible threat."
The maneuvers underscore a diplomatic blitz by the United States aimed at further tightening the screws on North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced during a visit to Seoul last week that the U.S. would slap new sanctions on the North to stifle its nuclear ambitions and punish it for the Cheonan sinking.
The European Union is also considering new sanctions on North Korea.
The deployment of the supercarrier to the area off Korea was also raising eyebrows in China — which was believed to have been concerned about having the carrier operate too close to its own shores.
Russian fishermen demand an investigation into killer Nesski's 19 lake deaths in three years Read more: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1293955/Russian-fishermen-demand-investigation-killer-Nesski.html#ixzz0tVJEag00
Russian fishermen are demanding a probe into a creature resembling the Loch Ness monster in a remote Siberian lake.
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Locals say that 'Nesski' has devoured anglers who have been pulled into the murky waters of Lake Chany from their boats.
Those claiming to have glimpsed the creature say it resembles the classic long-necked image of Scotland's fabled monster. It has also been called 'snake-like', while other accounts suggest a large fin and huge tail.
The latest mysterious death of a 59-year-old man last week has fuelled demands for a proper probe into what lurks beneath the surface of Chany, one of Russia's largest freshwater lakes.
'I was with my friend... some 300 yards from the shore,' said 60-year-old Vladimir Golishev. ''He hooked something huge on his bait, and he stood up in the boat to reel it in.
'But it pulled with such force that he overturned the boat. I was in shock - I had never seen anything like it in my life.
'I pulled off my clothes and swam for the shore, not daring hope I would make it.'
He said his friend was pulled under the surface, a description in common with earlier incidents.
'He didn't make it - and they have found no remains.'
Three years ago 32-year-old Mikhail Doronin - a special services soldier - was lost.
'The lake was calm, but suddenly the boat was rocking, and it capsized,' said his 80-year-old grandmother Nina, who has lived beside the lake all her life.
'Something of an awesome scale lives in the lake, but I have never seen it,' said her husband, Vladimir, 81.
Official figures say 19 people have drowned in the lake in the past three years and in most cases their remains were never found. Locals say the true figures are higher.
Some bodies that have been washed up had been eaten by a creature with large teeth, they claim.
'It is time to find out the truth,' said Golishev.
Unlike deep Loch Ness, Lake Chany is no than 23 feet in depth. Frozen in winter, it is warm and popular with swimmers in summer. It is known to contain large carp.
The lake is 57 miles in length by 55 miles in width. A relic of the Ice Age, accounts of monsters in its waters were first made public in Soviet times.
Dark Side of America's Soul
By Selim Djem
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Ottoman Royalty Aims to Conquer America with his New Novel
Houston, TX, February, 2010 -- His Imperial Highness Prince Selim Djem, Ottoman royalty and great-great grandson of Emperor Abdulmejid, is proud to announce the release of his novel. The Dark Side of the Soul, in America. After a successful launch in the U.K. this fall, Prince Selim is embarking on a campaign to introduce his beautifully-written novel to an American audience.
The story line is completely unique. Two souls fall in love and then are separated by the angel Gabriel, who casts them to earth. Embodied in human form but robbed of their memory, they seek each other through the ages, never aware of the nature of their obsessive quest. It is a story filled with dichotomies; an exploration of the dual sides of human nature, good and evil, dark and light, attraction and repulsion, heaven and hell, as well as examining altruism and destruction within oneself and mankind. It is a story s o exquisitely written, it's impossible to stop reading it. Prince Selim describes beauty rarely experienced by readers and, at the same time, explores man's excesses and unchecked destructiveness in horrific detail. In the end though, the novel is a completely original love story - a story about longing that leaves readers deeply affected.
What makes the novel even more intriguing is the fact that it is written by Ottoman royalty. Prince Selim's perspective is utterly unique.
“My father, His Imperial Highness Prince Burhaneddin Djem, spent the first four years of his life in his father's palace in Istanbul. He clearly remembers the day the soldiers, following Mustapha Kemal's orders, came into the palace and told his father, His Imperial Highness Prince Ibrahim Tevfik, that his family, their entourage and he had three days to pack their belongings and leave the Ottoman Empire. From then on, the members of the Ottoman Family found themselves lost and dispersed around the world.
This perspective is echoed in his novel. Prince Selim is both an impartial narrator and an integral part of the lead characters. In this way, readers are drawn in, keenly feeling the characters experiences and impressed by deeper questions about the nature of humanity and man's place in the universe.
About the Prince Selim Djem
His Imperial Highness Prince Selim Djem is a member of Ottoman royalty. The Ottomans were a ruling dynasty for more than 700 years, with an empire that encompassed territory stretching from North Africa to the Balkans, over Eritrea, the Near East, most of the Middle-East as well as all the countries along the Black Sea. Prince Selim attended the Universit é de Genève, where he studied numerous subjects ranging from Biochemistry to Psychology. After teaching on the university level, he became a professional reporter, interviewing celebrities like Woody Allen, Kim Basinger, David Bowie, Tim Burton, George Clooney, Kevin Costner, Courtney Love, Sharon Stone, and Robin Williams, to name a few.
US Turns Its Focus On Yemen
Yemen Extremist Masterminded Mutallab's Attempt on Detroit
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U.S. General David Petraeus met with Yemen's president Saturday, as US turns its focus to the country where the mastermind of the failed Detroit Delta attack originated in efforts to stop al-Quaeda militants. Sources say Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, discussed the security situation in Yemen with President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemeni officials said Saturday that extra security forces have been deployed to eastern provinces where al-Qaida militants operate. On Friday, a Somali Islamic extremist insurgent group al-Shabab said it was sending fighters to Yemen to help al-Qaida there. Yemen said it will not tolerate foreign terrorists on its soil.
In the meantime, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour a leading extremist figure has called on Muslims everywhere to join the fight. It is clear that the Somalian Yemen axis is now the rising hot bed for extremist militants and the US authorities are taking notice. The Yemeni government has tried its best to combat the growing threat of the extremist in the Arabian Peninsula boardering with Somali and the US is steping up their assistance to the Yemeni forces.
Anwar Al-Aulagi Group of Al Quaeda Yemen Recruited Abdulmutallab
US Agencies Did Not Connect The Dots
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Reports from Yemen intelligence intercepts as early as August 2009, when Abdulmutallab arrived in that country, contained plans as well as information about planning by the al-Qaeda branch in Yemen led by Al-Aulagi the radical cleric that somehow connected the unnamed Nigerian. However, all the government agencies, the CIA, the National Security Agency -- in charge of electronic intercepts -- and the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center, established after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did not connect the dots.
No agency checked to find out whether Abdulmutallab had a valid visa to enter the United States following the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria meeting with Abdulmutallabs father last month to express concerns about his sons disappearance and associations in Yemen. Furthermore, electronic intercepts from Yemen indicated that an unnamed Nigerian was being groomed for an al-Qaeda mission, and other communications spoke of plans for a terrorist attack during Christmas, none of this information was flagged in a way that would have linked it to the US Embassy meetings with Abdulmutallabs father in Nigeria. Yemeni American cleric Anwar Al-Aulagi has been named a key figure in grooming Abdulmutallab, and his group in Yemen are most responsible for the attack. President Obama is suppose to get the detailed report on Thursday.
See States Most Americans Are Moving Out From and See Their Destination
There No Point Moving When You Cant Find Job
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Number resident loser is California, with nearly 100,000 more residents leaving than moving in. Newyork lost a quarter million, more people left the state than moved in. Second is New York and remains the decade's biggest loser: The state a total of 1,686,583 residents, more than anywhere else. With unemployment rate of 14.7%, not only is Michigan third highest in the nation for net migration losses, it also has this dubious distinction: 0.88% of the Great Lakes State's nearly 10 million residents left last year, the highest ratio in the nation. Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Maine and Rhode Island are other states topping the list of states with residents moving out.
Destination number one is Texas.
In the year ended July 1, Texas added more people than any other state, and Wyoming had the highest growth rate in the nation. Nevada, the population has risen 32.27% since the 2000 Census, more than any other state,followed by North Carolina. Wyoming boasted the fastest growth rate for the 12-month period.
We Will Not Rest Until All Yemen Plotters Are Brought To Justice - Obama
Speaking On Al-Quaeda Claiming of Responsibility For Foiled Delta Flight Attempt
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Mr Obama speaking after it emerged a wing of al-Qaeda had claimed the plot for the Delta flight to Detroit. The US president said only the "quick and heroic actions" of passengers and crew had averted disaster. The 23-year-old accused, who is being held at a prison in the US state of Michigan, was restrained while allegedly trying to detonate a high-explosive device sewn in to his underwear. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle and defeat violent extremists, President Barack Obama vowed today.
Mr Abdulmutallab is charged with attempting to blow up the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330 from Amsterdam, which had nearly 300 people on board, as it made its final descent to Detroit. Mr. Obama said there are others just like him in Yemen who needs to face justice, otherwise they will strike again. There are training more al-Qaeda young men in that country planning to bring down US planes, and we must not rest till they are brought to justice. Mr Obama, speaking at a military base in Hawaii where he has been on holiday with his family, said: "We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable." Mr Obama said the people of America would not give in to fear, but added that its citizens should be vigilant.
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