Russia says drivers must not have 'sex disorders'.Drive Hot News

 Moscow street: Various mental "disorders" are seen as a cause of road accidents.

Russia has listed transsexual and transgender people among those who will no longer qualify for driving licences.

Fetishism, exhibitionism and voyeurism are also included as "mental disorders" now barring people from driving.
The government says it is tightening medical controls for drivers because Russia has too many road accidents.
"Pathological" gambling and compulsive stealing are also on the list. Russian psychiatrists and human rights lawyers have condemned the move.
The announcement follows international complaints about Russian harassment of gay-rights activists.
In 2013 Russia made "promoting non-traditional lifestyles" illegal.
Valery Evtushenko at the Russian Psychiatric Association voiced concern about the driving restrictions, speaking to the BBC Russian Service. He said some people would avoid seeking psychiatric help, fearing a driving ban.
The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights called the new law "discriminatory". It said it would demand clarifications from the Russian Constitutional Court and seek support from international human rights organisations.
But the Professional Drivers Union supported the move. "We have too many deaths on the road, and I believe toughening medical requirements for applicants is fully justified," said the union's head Alexander Kotov.
However, he said the requirements should not be so strict for non-professional drivers.
Mikhail Strakhov, a Russian psychiatric expert, told BBC Russian that the definition of "personality disorders" was too vague and some disorders would not affect a person's ability to drive a car safely.Source BBC

WILDLIFE: Man arrested with 150 lizards.Double click and read more...

Dar es Salaam. Strange as it sounds, but a 34-year-old Kuwait national (name withheld) was arrested at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) with a total of 149 monitor lizards ready to leave the country for Kuwait.

The suspect was arrested in the departure lounge as he was ready to board Emirates airline for Kuwait via Dubai.

Addressing reporters yesterday,  Airports Police commander Hamis Selemani said the monitor lizards were in a closed bag.

According to Mr Selemani 15 out of 149 monitor lizards were already dead when police arrested the suspect.

The police in collaboration with officials from the ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources managed to stop the suspect at the departure lounge TB II of JNIA at around 11:20pm on Wednesday.

“When the suspect was checking in, the scanner showed that the bag had some live animals. At first we thought they were snakes, but after inspecting the bag, we found out that they were monitor lizards,” said Mr Selemani.

According to Mr Selemani the monitor lizards were packed in different 15 small packages depending on their size.

Mr Selemani said collectively the monitor lizards are worth Sh6.33 million as each is sold at around $25 (Sh40,000).

He added that, the initial investigation showed that the suspect entered the country on Tuesday

“This indicates that, there is a local syndicate which helped the suspect to collect the monitor lizards at a very short time. He spent just over 24 hours in the country and yet he managed to collect a total of 149 lizards,” said Mr Selemani.

It wasn’t immediately known what the suspect intended to do with the lizards had he managed to sneak them out of the country, Mr Selemani said.

It isn’t the first time that foreigners try to smuggle out live animals through Tanzania airports. In November 2010 more than 136 live animals including a giraffe were smuggled to Qatar by using the country’s military plane.

Pings detected in hunt for crashed AirAsia black boxes.Drive Hot News

 This US Navy handout photo released January 8, 2015 shows the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) as it operates on January 7, 2015 near the location where the tail of AirAsia Flight QZ8501l was discovered.

Ping signals believed to be from the black box data recorders of crashed AirAsia Flight 8501 were detected Friday, a senior Indonesian search official said, offering strong hopes of explaining the disaster. 

"A ship detected the pings. The divers are trying to reach it," said S.B Supriyadi, who is stationed at the search headquarters of Pangkalan Bun.

"The location of the ping is reported to be near where the tail was found."

The plane crashed into the Java Sea on December 28 during stormy weather as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, claiming the lives of all 162 people on board.

Stormy weather has slowed multinational efforts to find the wreckage of the plane and determine why it crashed.

The black boxes are regarded as crucial to explaining the cause of the disaster, as they should contain recordings of the pilots' final words and general flight data.

The black boxes are designed to give a ping signal for 30 days after a crash so that the recorders can be found.

The tail of the plane, where the black boxes were housed, was discovered on Wednesday partially buried in the seabed 30 metres (100 feet) underwater.

But no pings were initially detected.

Search officials have since Wednesday focused their efforts on and around the tail, believing the black boxes should be there unless they were dislodged.

Dozens of elite Indonesian Marine divers have tried but failed to thoroughly search the tail because of strong currents and the fact it is partially buried in the seabed. 

Supriyadi said divers would continue searching underwater on Friday to track the pings to the black boxes.

Former Kenyan envoy to France Dan Karobia dies in US.Drive Hot News

 Dan Jonathan Karobia in an undated photo. The former Kenyan ambassador to France died in the US on January 3, 2015.

A former Kenyan ambassador to France and Spain, Dan Jonathan Karobia, has passed away in his home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA.

Mr Karobia, 75, collapsed in his house on January 3 and died.

“By the time the paramedics arrived, he was no more,” said Ms Mary Bowers, a close family friend.

In a phone interview with the Nation on Thursday, Ms Bowers said the former envoy had been ailing for some time and lived with his children in Decatur, Georgia.

“His family and the Kenyan community here (are) devastated by the news of the passing on of Mr Karobia,” she said.

Mr Karobia graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1971 and later worked at the Co-operative College in Lang'ata as director of studies.

COMMONWEALTH DIRECTOR

In 1974 he was appointed director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme in Africa and moved to London in 1978 as the director of Youth representing the commonwealth countries.

At the end of his tenure, he moved back to Kenya and was shortly after appointed to the post of Kenya’s ambassador to France/Spain and The Vatican by President Daniel arap Moi.

He returned to Kenya in 1996 and worked as an undersecretary until his retirement.

The former envoy later moved to Decatur, Georgia, to join his children.

Until his death, Mr Karobia did voluntary work at the Pentecostal Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

“He was teaching English as a second language to members of the church,” said George Moore, a friend of the deceased.

Mr Karobia was born on January 29, 1940 in the then Murang’a District and is survived by his wife, Carrie Wambui Karobia, and his four children.

His body was moved to West Cobb Funeral Home and Crematory in Marietta, Georgia.Source Daily Nation

170 Kenyan health workers set to leave for West Africa in Ebola fight.Drive Hot News

 Health workers in protective gear pose at the entrance to the Ebola treatment unit of the John F. Kennedy Medical Centre in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on October 13, 2014. About 170 Kenyan health workers are set to leave for Sierra Leone and Liberia on Friday as part of the African Union (AU) mission to contain Ebola in West Africa FILE PHOTO.

About 170 Kenyan health workers are set to leave for Sierra Leone and Liberia on Friday as part of the African Union (AU) mission to contain Ebola in West Africa.

The volunteer health workers, drawn across the 47 counties, will be in West Africa for six months.

They have been trained on the prevention and management of the haemorrhagic fever by the Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation and other partners.
Comprising medical doctors, nurses and other public health officials, they are expected to offer various medical services such as care givers and laboratory workers depending on their skills and the needs on the ground.

Their deployment comes as over 5,000 health workers are required to effectively fight the disease, according to the World Bank.

OFFICIAL FLAG-OFF
Before their departure in two chartered Kenya Airways flights at midday, the workers will meet with President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House for their official flag off.

Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said on Thursday that the demographics of the workers such as their skills, gender among others will be shared at the send-off event.

He was presiding over the pre-deployment ceremony in Nairobi attended by Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohammed and representatives of the AU.

“With over 700 applicants, we are proud to send this first batch of about 170, my troops of health workers, who will be on their way to assist in tackling this international crisis. They have made a sacrifice for humanity, we cannot thank them enough. Kenya is proud of you,” he said.

He added: “I am grateful to the Council of Governors for facilitating the recruitment of these heath personnel from the various counties. It is highly appreciated.”

20,000 EBOLA INFECTIONS

According to WHO, there have been over 20,000 Ebola infections and about 8,220 deaths since the outbreak in Guinea in December 2013.

As of January 4, a total of 838 health-care workers are known to have been infected with Ebola, 495 of who have died.

The organisation notes that the fatality rate of Ebola-infected health care workers is about 57 per cent. 

The director of social affairs at AU, Dr Olwale Maiyegun, said the deployment was part of a larger AU banner, the African Union Support of the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa.

He said: “The Kenyan team will join other health workers from Nigeria and Ethiopia for about 18 weeks in Ebola Treatment Units. They will all have a comprehensive medical cover in case of Ebola infection, disability, evacuation or any other diseases. Plus, a timeline of their work is in place.”

As this was happening, representatives from research institutions, government officials from the Ebola-affected and partners were meeting in Geneva, Switzerland to review the current status of clinical trials of Ebola vaccines.

The two CSs are expected to visit the Kenyan workers in Sierra Leone and Liberia, weeks after the teams settle in the respective countries.

Indonesia says AirAsia plane tail found, raising black box hopes.Drive Hot News

Indonesia said Wednesday it had found the tail of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the sea with 162 people on board, raising hopes of finding its black boxes and explaining the disaster.

Search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said he was sure of the discovery after divers took photographs of the tail, wedged into the seabed 30 metres (100 feet) underwater, on which the company's logo could be seen.

"We have successfully obtained part of the plane that has been our target. The tail portion has been confirmed found," Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta.

AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar screens during a storm on December 28 when it was flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. All but seven of those on board were Indonesian.

The Indonesian meteorological agency said weather was the "triggering factor" of the crash in the Java Sea, with ice likely damaging the engines of the Airbus A320-200.
But a much clearer explanation is not possible without the black boxes, which record the pilots' voices as well as flight information. They were housed in the aircraft's tail.

"I am led to believe the tail section has been found. If right part of tail section then the black box should be there," AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes wrote on Twitter after the announcement.

"We need to find all parts soon so we can find all (our) guests to ease the pain of our families. That still is our priority."

Despite a huge operation assisted by US, Russian and other foreign military assets, progress in finding the wreckage of the plane and its passengers has been patchy with stormy weather severely hampering the search. So far 40 bodies have been found, all of them floating at sea.

And despite the discovery of the tail, authorities could not say when the black boxes would be found and retrieved.

One problem is the tail being deep into the seabed, according to chief maritime affairs minister Indroyono Soesilo.

The search for the rest of the plane would now focus on a two-nautical-mile area surrounding the tail, with a remotely controlled mini-submarine a key part of the effort, Soesilo and other senior Indonesian officials told a press conference.

Many of the bodies yet to be recovered were likely in the main parts of the plane that have yet to be found, they said.

Action against air officials -
Indonesia's transport ministry said on Wednesday that it had fired one transport official and disciplined several others in a crackdown following the crash, as it investigated how the flight was able to depart without permission.
Indonesia alleges the plane was flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed and AirAsia has since been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.

"To date, we have taken action against eight officials -- two from the transport ministry, four from state navigation operator AirNav, and two airport officials," Hadi Mustofa, an official with the transport ministry's public affairs office, 

"One of the transport ministry officials was fired and the other official was temporarily suspended. As for the other six officials, some have been temporarily suspended and some have been transferred."Source AFP.

Gossip.Pallaso, Sheebah Spend Night In One Room Drive Hot News

Latest gossip reaching Drive Hot News online indicates that Pius Mayanja well known as Pallaso and Sheebah Karungi had a fun filled night in Dubai as they slept in a same hotel room.

The two shocked their fans when they ordered to be given one room claiming that they needed to do rehearsals over night before their performance.

Pallaso went a step further to unleash more secrets by posting a photo of them sleeping in one bed.

He captioned the photo “last night was so awesome” message.

He said; “About last night!! Pallaso & Sheebah chilling at the hotel before the show!! Dubai is alright!! #I am very sorry.”

This comes after several rumours made rounds in the media claiming that the two were dating though they have never come out officially to approve or deny the allegations.

Sheebah was also earlier rumoured to be dating fellow musician and rapper Keko, though she denied the rumour.