Conglolese Reject LRA Radio Project

A radio project initiated by Invisible Children to lure the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels out of the bush has led to protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Invisible Children last year set up radio stations in areas that the LRA rebels are operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The radio stations which broadcast on FM band were set up with the objective of disseminating messages urging members of the LRA group to abandon rebellion and return to resettle in their homes.
The radio project is however yet to register success in the fight against the Joseph Kony led LRA insurgency. Jolly Okot Andruvile, the Regional Ambassador says the Congolese don’t want the messages to be aired out in the local radios because they are in Acholi dialect, the language spoken by the brutal rebels.
Okot says Invisible Children had hoped to reach out to the rebels in Acholi dialect which is spoken by a majority of the combatants
Okot says other challenges that are hindering defections among LRA include failure by the Kinshasha government to recognize that the LRA are living in the Garamba National Park and the hostility that the Congolese government forces have towards LRA returnees. Okot says the Congolese army has been harming the LRA rebels who surrender to them.
Meanwhile several LRA rebels in Congo have reportedly expressed interest in giving up rebellion.
Reverend Father Ernest Sugule, the Coordinator of Solidarité et Assistance Intégrale aux Personnes Démunies-SAIPD, a local NGO says locals in Dungu say the rebels are becoming friendly and no longer carryout abductions.
Sugule says the rebels now request for foodstuffs unlike in the past when they would loot. He says a week ago an LRA rebel reportedly approached villagers and requested that he be given a bicycle to ride around the village.
He says the rebel later returned the bicycle after three days.

G8 protester seized after 'trying to jump off building'

Demonstrator in central London appeared to try to throw himself from a rooftop

 

A man has apparently tried to throw himself off the roof of a building during anti-G8 protests before being pinned down by police officers.

Sky News' Jason Farrell said the protester appeared on the roof of a central London building, shouting at officers who were wearing climbing equipment.
He then ran towards the edge before he was pulled back and wrestled to the ground by police. He has been taken to hospital.
Around 100 police officers were in Soho where protesters with banners were believed to be occupying the former police station in Beak Street.
Police are thought to have entered the building with a search warrant after receiving intelligence that people there were in "possession of weapons and were intent on causing criminal damage and engaging in violent disorders".
More than six people have been arrested so far over the protests for alleged offences including possession of articles with intent to commit criminal damage, assault on police, criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon and failing to remove a face covering.
A small number of rallies were held in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus during the "Carnival Against Capitalism" before the two-day summit, hosted by Britain, in Northern Ireland next week.
Some of the world's biggest hedge funds, private equity firms and banks have warned their staff to take precautions in the event of disruption after similar protests in recent years led to violent clashes with police, vandalism and buildings being temporarily occupied.
Westminster City Council cabinet member for city management Ed Argar said: "Our warden teams will be working with police to manage the streets and we also have clean-up crews on standby.
"Everyone respects the right to legitimate protest and I hope this will be a day without incident.
"However, business people, shop staff and visitors have the right to go about the West End without intimidation or interference and we will do our best to ensure the centre of London runs smoothly."
There were reports on Twitter of a strong police presence in the Oxford Circus and Regent Street area of central London and Golden Square, close to Beak Street.
Designer Jamie Rees, tweeting under @jamie--rees, reported: "Locked into work. Literally. G8 protestors outside targeting Golden Square."
Another Ed McClaran, @edmcclaran, tweeted: "Big G8 protest outside our offices today. People chaining themselves to railings. Why they are in the West End and not the City, I don't know."
Police protection of landmark sites across Belfast has been tightened in advance of the conference next week.
The leaders of the world's eight wealthiest countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are due to meet at the luxury Lough Erne resort in Co Fermanagh.

 

German bank employee naps on keyboard, transfers millions

An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally
 transformed a minor transfer into a 222 million euro ($293 million) order, a court heard Monday

An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally transformed a minor transfer into a 222 million euro ($293 million) order, a court heard.

The Hessen labour court heard that the man was supposed to transfer just 62.40 euros from a bank account belonging to a retiree, but instead "fell asleep for an instant, while pushing onto the number 2 key on the keyboard" -- making it a huge 222,222,222.22 euro order.
The bank discovered the mistake shortly afterwards and corrected the error.
The case was taken to court by the man's 48-year-old colleague who was fired for letting the mistake slip through when verifying the order.
The court ruled that the plaintiff should be reinstated in his job.

Can Coffee Help You Live Longer?

For many a daily coffee is their boost to get through the day, but that medium drip just might save your life.

 People may preach about the dangers of caffeine, but a new study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that drinking coffee could have health
 The study, which began in 1995, took a sampling of 400,000 volunteers ages 50-71 that had no major diseases at the start of the study. By 2008, 50,000 of the participants had passed away. However, research found that those men who reported drinking two or three cups of coffee per day were 10 percent less likely to have died than those who didn't drink coffee and women drinking the same amount were 13 percent less likely to have passed away, according to The New York Times.

Besides possibly living longer, caffeine may be able to help prevent Alzheimer's. A 2012 study by the University of South Florida tested the caffeine levels of people who had begun to show the beginning signs of Alzheimer's. The researchers then re-tested the same people two tofour years later. Participants with little or no caffeine in their bloodstreams were far more likely to have progressed to have developed Alzheimer's than those whose blood work had shown that they'd consumed about three cups' worth of caffeine.

 These new results are no surprise, as other recent studies have also shown that caffeine can reduce the effects or prevent Type 2 diabetes, basal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, oral cancer and breast cancer. But Dr. Gregory G. Freund, a professor of pathology at the University of Illinois, told The New York Times it is too early to tell the true effect of coffee on health.

"We don't know whether [coffee] is sufficient to prevent or lessen the effects of dementia," he said. "But, [coffee] has been popular for a long, long time, and there's probably good reasons for that."

Govt sets up internet monitoring center

 

 

 

The Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) is to partner with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to set up a Computer communications center to detect and fight terrorism and cyber-related crime.

Addressing a press conference at UCC offices in Kampala, the Permanent secretary of the ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Dr. Jimmy Samanya said UCC had already installed the equipment to detect, prevent and respond to cyber threats.

He explained that UCC’s facility will serve as a national center for the country and provide guidance and training for organizations such as banks, media houses and institutions to install the equipment to fight cyber-crime.

The Malaysian based ITU that has set up cyber-crime detection and prevention centers for many governments, institutions and organizations across the World will also provide training to Ugandan officials who will man Uganda’s center that is undergoing construction at UCC headquarters in Bogolobi.

The initiative is dedicated to enhancing the global community’s capacity to prevent, defend and respond to cyber threats.

According to the plan, the UCC officials would be trained in three phases for about year by ITU before they can start operating the center.

When the center is up and running Samanya noted that UCC will be able to identify attacks and issue early warnings to subscribers to keep the threats at bay.

He explained that the initiative was not a ploy by government to limit fundamental freedoms and human rights by monitoring the internet and social networking sites.

“The Cyber-attacks are real. While we need internet as government to do business, there are people who are using it to attack and disable systems. This era of technological advancement has come with a lot of challenges,” Samanya said.

The ICT minister, Eng. John Nasasira said in a statement that terrorist are increasingly using internet and stressed the need for UGCERT to insulate the country against such threats.

“Women and children are increasingly becoming targets of online human traffickers. We cannot allow this to continue or wait to be attacked to respond,” he said.

The UCC executive director, Eng. Godfery Mutabazi said the UGCERT is a robust system that will counter and neutralize cyber threats, adding that the initiative is part of efforts by the ICT ministry to provide a secure environment for internet users across the country.

The UGCERT project manager, Sagar Mahendram said “The people we are training at UCC will be help to provide similar services to organizations after the third phase of the training,”
 

Man jumps to death at Mulago hospital

In Summary

Hajj Kasajja, a lorry driver on Ggaba Road, had reportedly told his wife that some people were demanding their money from him, so he wanted to clear the debts.

Shock gripped Mulago hospital yesterday morning when a 52-year-old man reportedly jumped to his death from the Sixth Floor.

According to Ms Sarah Nanfuka, the wife of Hajj Suleiman Kasajja, he left home saying he was going to work and she was surprised at how he ended up at Mulago hospital.

Hajj Kasajja, a lorry driver on Ggaba Road, had reportedly told his wife that some people were demanding their money from him, so he wanted to clear the debts.

Ms Nanfuka, however, admitted that her husband had been battling some mental problems lately and sometimes had incoherent speech. She added that they suspected that he had some mild dementia but they always accompanied him to Mulago hospital for checkup and this had been going on for some time. “I was surprised to receive a phone call from the police this afternoon informing me that my husband had committed suicide,” Ms Nanfuka said on telephone.

Cases of patients jumping to death from Mulago hospital are not new. Every year, at least one or two cases of such deaths are reported at the national referral hospital. Although the police had not yet ascertained the circumstances under which the father of four took his life, Dr Banterana Byarugaba, the hospital director, said the incident was not strange.

Mental problems
He observed that some people have many mental illnesses that force them to commit suicide. “You always hear about people committing suicide in high rise buildings such as NSSF, Mulago, drowning in lakes and this is normal. These are public places where people can walk in and out without restriction,” he said.

In 2009, a long serving mortuary attendant at the hospital jumped to death from the same floor, following revelations to colleagues on the eve of his death that he had urgent pressing problems. According to Dr Banterana, the hospital will conduct a postmortem to ascertain whether

Traffic police officer arrested over Shs150,000 bribe

A senior traffic police officer in western region has been arrested for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Shs150,000 from a bus operator.

The officer was arrested by the Inspectorate of Government last week following a tipoff by one of the bus operators who had allegedly fallen victim to the officer.

The bus operator (names withheld by IGG for investigation purposes) is reported to have queried the officer’s action of levying the said amount of money in question against him yet it was not backed by law.

Ms Munira Ali, the IGG’s public relations officer, in a Friday telephone interview with this newspaper, said the traffic boss had been detained at the Kampala Central Police Station and would be produced in the Anti-Corruption Court. But a day later, Ms Ali said they had instead referred the case to the Police Standards Unit for disciplinary action.

In a related development, two more police officers were arrested in Kaberamaido District by the IGG about two weeks ago for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Shs100,000. According to Ms Ali, the officers were arrested for allegedly demanding the said money in exchange for releasing a suspect in their custody.

The two were given a police bond on Friday as investigations into their actions continue.
According to the East Africa Bribery Index of 2011 carried out by Transparency International, Uganda Police Force was found to be the most bribery-prone institution compared to other forces in the five East African Community partner states. The Uganda Police had 80.8 bribery index score followed by Burundian Police with a 75 index score.