President of the Somali Red Crescent Society has expressed gratitude to Iran for Tehran’s significant contribution of humanitarian aid to the famine-stricken African nation, Press TV reports.

“[We are here] to express our appreciation and thanks to the Iranian Red Crescent for the assistance they have provided for the Somali people,” Ahmad Mohammad Hassan told Press TV after a meeting with the president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society in Tehran.

Hassan added that, “They (Iranian Red Crescent) played a major role in controlling hunger and famine. They were among the first ones to come to Somalia to provide this humanitarian assistance such as food, shelter and medical assistance.”

The UN declared famine in Somalia last July owing to the worst drought in decades. Hundreds of thousands of people fled to the refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Somali capital Mogadishu in search of food.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society is now planning to start a new phase of activities in Somalia.

“I think healthcare is the most needed thing there at the moment. It is also important for us to enable people to help themselves and to help create jobs for them. This is one of the general policies of the Islamic Republic,” Abdolhassan Faqih President of the Iranian Red Crescent Society told Press TV.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society currently has a permanent medical center and five makeshift clinics in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where Iranian physicians provide treatment for the people.

East African countries, including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, have experienced a crippling drought over the last year, but the crisis turned into famine only in Somalia, where aid groups have reduced access due to persisting violence between government forces and al-Shabab forces.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has expressed hope that the upcoming elections in Somalia would lead to the establishment of a government, which can provide enough security and make the job easier for all aid organizations in the African country.

Source

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Senegalese demonstrators protest against the decision to allow President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third term in Dakar on January 27, 2012.

Senegalese police have clashed with demonstrators protesting against a constitutional court ruling that allows President Abdoulaye Wade to run for a third term in the upcoming presidential election.

On Friday, police in Dakar used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters throwing stones at them to show their discontent with the ruling.

The demonstration was held in the streets of the working class district of Colobane.

The five-judge court issued a statement late on Friday, listing 14 eligible candidates for the presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on February 26.

The list includes Wade, three ex-prime ministers, Idrissa Seck, Macky Sall, and Moustapha Niasse, and main opposition leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng.

However, famous singer Youssou N’Dour was excluded from the list.

According to the constitutional court, N’Dour had not introduced the minimum 10,000 signatures of voters supporting his candidacy. The court said N’Dour had produced a list of 12,936 voters, but only 8,911 could be identified and their signatures validated.

A number of Senegalese media outlets often criticize the incumbent president for excessive spending, while the country experiences “poverty and inequality.”

However, the 86-year-old president has also been credited with building roads, an airport, and other key elements of infrastructure.

Wade was first elected president in 2000 and was reelected in 2007 to a five-year term after a constitutional reform shortened the presidential term by two years. The constitution was changed again in 2008 to allow for two seven-year terms from 2012.

Wade says he can “even legally stand again in 2019,” according to state media.

The opposition says the decision to allow Wade to run for a third term is “illegal.”

The June 23 Movement (M23), a coalition of Senegalese activists and political groups, has called for “active resistance” against the approval of Wade’s candidacy.

Wade’s ruling party, the Senegalese Democratic Party, announced that he would run for a third term in the February presidential election on December 23, 2011.

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At least eight people have been killed after troops from the self-declared republic of Somaliland launched an attack on local militiamen in the Buhodle district, Press TV reports.

The conflict erupted on Thursday as Somaliland forces launched an attack against bases of militia fighters, who have recently formed the new regional state of Khatumo, on the outskirts of Fool-Joogto village in the Buhodle district.

Fierce skirmishes broke out in the aftermath of the assault and heavy weapons — including artillery and machine guns — were used in the fighting. The gun battle forced local residents to flee their homes.

A total of eight people were killed and several others wounded during the clashes.

Somaliland, situated in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Horn Africa country in 1991.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security but efforts have not yet yielded results in the African nation.

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Scientists have uncovered multiple clutches of fossilized eggs at a dinosaur nesting site in South Africa that are 10 million years older than any found before.

The newly discovered nesting ground, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is located in Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

The site contains at least 10 nests at different rock levels with clutches of up to 34 eggs measuring 6-7cm.

Paleontologists also found embryonic dinosaur skeletons as well as footprints of hatchlings showing that the young dinosaurs stayed in the nest long enough to at least double in size.

The nests belonged to Massospondylus, a relative of the long-necked sauropods such as Diplodocus that lived 190 million years ago.

The findings suggest that Massospondylus laid their eggs in groups in the earliest-known case of colonial nesting.

Scientists believe the new findings would help them have a detailed look at dinosaur reproduction early in their evolutionary history.

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Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, sits in a police cell in Uganda's capital Kampala on January 19, 2012.

Ugandan police have arrested Kizza Besigye, the president of the country’s main opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), as he was preparing to lead an anti-government protest against spiraling living costs in the East African nation.

Besigye, a one-time advisor to President Yoweri Museveni, was meeting a number of senior opposition figures in an upmarket suburb of the capital Kampala on Thursday before the rally, which was set to focus on corruption and economic hardships.

Armed police intercepted the group as they were heading towards the city center. The police then fired teargas canisters before bundling the politicians into vans and hauling off the opposition leader into detention.

“We’re holding Besigye and others as a preventive measure because there was a likelihood of a breach of peace and chaos,” deputy police spokeswoman, Judith Nabakooba, said.

She added, “We’ll hold until we’re sure there is no more threat.”

Besigye has announced that he would step down as party leader to devote more time to organizing anti-government rallies.

He was arrested on several occasions last year. He was once injured and had to be hospitalized in neighboring Kenya, following violent clashes during a rally between Ugandan security forces and his supporters.

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Thousands have protested in Nigeria against the president Goodluck Jonathan

Nigeria is facing mass protests after the government canceled a fuel subsidy, effectively doubling gas prices. With anti-government feeling rapidly growing, some fear the demonstrations may soon turn violent, repeating the Arab Spring scenario.

Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in cities across the country since Monday, demanding fuel prices revert to their previous level before the authorities introduced the increase.

The demonstrations, which were originally triggered by the removal of the subsidy, later became generally anti-government in their mood, with further demands being made.

Protesters held anti-government banners calling President Goodluck Jonathan a ‘dictator’ and a ‘tyrant’ and demanding an end to corruption and poverty in the country.

Despite its oil resources, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, does not have a high standard of living. Half of its population of 160 million live on less than $2 a day. Following the increase in petrol prices, the cost of food and transportation has also skyrocketed, thus adding to people’s hardships.

The authorities say removing subsidies will save the national budget about $8 billion per year, which will then be spent on projects to improve the country’s infrastructure.

But these promises do not convince protesters, who are fed up with the situation in the country. One protester, who was carrying a banner reading “Go Jonathan or die like Gaddafi,” told the Associated Press he was ready to storm the presidential palace.

­Major oil supplier to US

Nigeria’s trade unions are supporting the public protests with strikes. Some schools, banks and transport services have been closed since Monday.

The country’s main oil union has also threatened to shut down oil production on Sunday if the government does not reinstate the subsidy.

On Thursday President Jonathan met with trade union leaders in an attempt to avert the strike, which could have devastating consequences for the Nigerian economy.

Although no final agreement was reached, one of the union leaders called the meeting very productive, adding that the negotiations would continue on Saturday.

The union leaders said the government had offered a small subsidy to bring down gas prices, but the unions had rejected it as insufficient. However, the unions have agreed to suspend the strike for the weekend.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of oil and the 8th largest exporter of petroleum in the world. The oil industry accounts for 40 per cent of GDP. The country is also the United States’ largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa and supplies a fifth of its oil.

Given its vast oil reserves many protesters are puzzled by their poor economic situation and accuse the government of corruption and poor management.

­Protests amid sectarian violence

The protests come at a time when Nigeria is being torn apart by sectarian conflicts. On Tuesday religiously motivated attacks killed 13; a mob killed five people in a mosque in Benin City in the south, while in the north Islamist militants shot dead eight people in a bar.

The attacks in Benin City are believed to be a response to the atrocities committed towards Christians in the north of the country.

More than 80 Christians have been killed in bomb and gun attacks in recent weeks. Most of the attacks have been attributed to Boko Haram, a terrorist organization based in the north-east of Nigeria, which is seeking to establish an Islamic state in the country.

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Nigerian lawyers carry a banner and placards as they march on the streets to protest against soaring fuel prices, Lagos, Nigeria, January 5, 2012.

Nigerians have begun a nationwide walkout over the removal of fuel subsidies in Africa’s largest oil-producing nation with labor unions set to join the strike.

The strike follows union objections to a government decision to cut fuel subsidies, which caused petrol prices to more than double since January 1.

There have been several angry street protests across the country where most of the 160 million population lives on less than USD 2 per day despite its oil wealth.

On Sunday, huge queues formed outside gas stations in the country’s most populous city, Lagos, as motorists rushed to fill their tanks. Gas stations in the city began closing after running out of fuel.

More than 15,000 police forces are deployed to the capital, Abuja, to maintain security during the strike.

Last week, police fired tear gas and reportedly used excessive force to disperse angry protesters.

One protester was killed in the central city of Ilorin on Wednesday when police fired tear gas at the demonstrators.

The parliament held an emergency session on Sunday and approved a measure urging the government to reinstate fuel subsidies to calm the situation for further consultations on the issue.

Activists have already launched a protest movement called “Occupy Nigeria,” inspired by the anti-Wall Street protests in the US. Protesters are angry at the cutting of fuel subsidies as well as Abuja’s response to the wave of violence in the African country.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan defended his removal of fuel subsidies, arguing that the cut was in the “best interest of all Nigerians.”

The government says it will use USD 8 billion in savings to make much-needed infrastructure improvements.

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More than 3,000 people have been reported killed in South Sudan during a week of clashes between two tribes in the world’s newest state.

Hundreds of children are missing and entire villages are said to have been burnt as a huge raiding party from the Lou Nuer tribe swept through a remote area in the east of the country, attacking their neighbours, the Murle people.

The war party, estimated to be 6,000-strong, has been marching south towards the main town in the Murle area, Pibor, crossing hundreds of miles on foot.

The fighting is part of an escalating war of reprisals between two ethnic groups who rely for survival on vast herds of cattle in one of the least developed countries on earth, and launch regular raids to snatch livestock, women and children.

“There have been mass killings, a massacre,” Joshua Konyi, commissioner for Pibor county in Jonglei state, told Agence France-Presse. “We have been out counting the bodies, and we calculate so far that 2,182 women and children were killed and 959 men died.”

Sightings of the column of Lou Nuer fighters last week prompted the United Nations to send in peacekeepers and the South’s security force, the SPLA, to warn residents in Pibor to flee the town.

The UN has confirmed that tens, maybe hundreds, have died but has not been able to give an accurate figure as many of the killings have taken place in small settlements far from any communications.

The Murle’s home area in Eastern Jonglei state is among the least developed parts of South Sudan – which only gained its independence from the north in July last year. Mobile phones have only reached Pibor in the last 18 months and beyond a small clinic run by the medical charity MSF, there is no healthcare facility for hundreds of miles.

Only dirt tracks connect the town to the outside world and it is cut off completely for half the year during the rainy season, when planes often cannot land on its waterlogged airstrip.

Due to their isolation and rumoured involvement in child abduction, the Murle are widely distrusted by the country’s major tribes, the Dinka and Nuer. Their relative exclusion has seen very few Murle take senior roles in South Sudan’s new government or in the powerful SPLA.

Both the Murle and the Lou Nuer dispatch most of their young men to cattle camps, where they are responsible for guarding the community’s livestock and live away from the rest of society for months at a time. Large caches of weapons, often left over from two decades of civil war with the north, are stored in many of these camps.

During the dry season raiding parties cross into their rivals’ terrain in a series of sometimes epic raids and counter-raids.

Their have been attempts by the government to disarm different factions, especially in the vast state of Jonglei, where many of the clashes have taken place, but the administration has little authority over its outlying areas.

Jonglei state information minister, Isaac Ajiba, would not confirm or deny the claims made by commissioner Konyi, who is an ethnic Murle. “Yes, there have been casualties, but we don’t have the details,” he said.

South Sudan’s army spokesman, Philip Aguer, said he was waiting for his troops on the ground to report back on casualties: “For the assessment to be credible they must have gone into the villages to count all the bodies.”

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Journalists Johan Persson (L) and Martin Schibbye

Two Swedish journalists have been sentenced to 11 years in prison in Ethiopia for supporting terrorism and illegally entering the African state.

Reporter Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson were arrested in July after entering the eastern province of Ogaden from Somalia.

“The court has sentenced both defendants to 11 years. We have heard both cases… and we believe this is an appropriate sentence,” Judge Shemsu Sirgaga told the court on Tuesday.

The journalists had also been charged with terrorism but were acquitted in November on that count, as the court did not believe they were involved in carrying out any attacks.

The two Swedes did admit to crossing the border without a permit.

Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Anders Jorle called the sentencing expected but regrettable.

He said Sweden has been in contact with the Ethiopian government over the court case “at a high level.”

The defendants’ lawyers plan to hold a meeting at the Swedish Embassy later Tuesday to discuss the possibility of an appeal.

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People gather around burnt cars near St. Theresa Catholic Church after a bomb blast in the Madala Zuba district of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on December 25, 2011.

Powerful explosions targeting government offices and churches in Nigeria have left at least 30 people dead and many others injured.

On Sunday, more than 30 people were reportedly killed after explosions hit St. Theresa Church during Christmas service in the town of Madalla in the capital Abuja.

Shortly afterwards, a second blast struck a church in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

According to officials, explosions also hit a government office in the city of Damaturu in the northeast.

This is while the Boko Haram group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The latest blasts come after days of violent clashes between Nigerian troops and Boko Haram in Damaturu city which have left at least 60 dead.

Nigeria, home to more than 200 ethnic groups has an almost equal Christian-Muslim population.

According to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria claimed the lives of over 14,000 people between 1999 and 2009.

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The baffling metal sphere, pictured made a crater 12 inches deep where it fell

It is a mysterious ball that looks like a prop from a science fiction film – and nobody can explain where it came from.

Police have been left baffled after a strange metal sphere fell to the ground in a remote area of northern Namibia, Africa.

It weighs around 13lbs, has a diameter of 14 inches and its rough surface looks like ‘two halves welded together’, said police forensics director Paul Ludik.

When the ball came down it caused a crater 12 inches deep and 13ft wide, although it was found some 60ft away.

Locals claimed to have heard several explosions in the days before it was discovered by a farmer on his land.

The find sparked speculation on the internet that it could finally be proof of extraterrestrial life, even though it bore a passing resemblance to the head of a character from the children’s series Teletubbies.

Some claimed that it could be an escaped particle from the Large Hadron Collider, reindeer droppings or a Quaffle from the Harry Potter films.

Others – arguably with more accuracy – guessed it was a hydrazine tank, which are used on space satellites to store the flammable chemical.

Mr Ludik however was quick to point out that more tests need to be done and that NASA and the European Space Agency had been notified.

He said that the ball was discovered a month ago but it has only now been made public. Whilst it was made of a ‘sophisticated material’, it was something that was known to mankind.

He explained that the explosion heard by locals could have been the sonic boom when it broke the sound barrier coming down to Earth, or by the impact on the ground.

The compound appeared to be a ‘metallic compound normally used in space vehicles,’ although he would not be surprised it it was actually from a normal aircraft.

Police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka added that the sphere, which landed 480 miles from the Namibian capital Windhoek, did not pose any danger.

He said: ‘It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first’.

The mysterious metal sphere landed on dry land in an area of northern Namibia, pictured

Earlier this year Britain and the rest of the world was put on alert when one of NASA’s satellites broke up and crashed to Earth.

Huge chunks of titanium up to 350lbs from car-sized Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite tore through the atmosphere at 1,800mph but the best NASA could guess was that they landed somewhere south of Inverness on the equator.

To try and reassure the public it also revealed that the odds of being hit were one in 3,200 – more likely than getting a hole-in-one in golf.

Weeks later Germany’s Roentgen satellite crashed to Earth and split up into 30 huge chunks including one which weighed 880lbs.

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Britain is apparently preparing its troops for the next oil war in Africa after Prime Minister considered Somalia as a “failed state” that has been threatening Britain’s interests and security.

As the British government considered Libya’s regime change as a victory of the Nato forces, it is now looking for its next humanitarian intervention in oil-rich states in the Middle East and Africa.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell once again painted Somalia as the hotbed of terrorism and described the East African country as “a very direct threat to the security of the United Kingdom,” concluding “It’s right that we should deepen our involvement” in the crisis hit country as it is the most “dysfunctional” in the world.

Highlighting the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, Mitchell announced that Britain will offer aid package, including 9,000 tons of food and medical supplies, to the drought-ravaged areas in the Horn of Africa in Christmas.

“This is not only about saving the lives of huge numbers of vulnerable babies and children, it is also about doing the right thing to promote British security,” he claimed.

Seemingly a poor country which has always been struggling with civil wars and natural disasters such as flood and famine, Somalia has immense oil and gas reserves and some other natural resources like Uranium, iron and zinc.

According to World Bank reports, Somalia is the second African country with vast unexploited oil reserves, Puntland Province alone is able to produce between 5 and 10 billion barrels of oil.

Meanwhile analysts believe that as the western oil companies planning to start exploration in some of the regions, the politicians will use the pretext of fighting terrorism to impose war to secure more drillings all over the country.

Furthermore, UK’s state run TV, BBC, has been reporting that terrorism and the current militants are the underlying causes of the humanitarian crisis. Picturing people struggling for life and showing militants as the enemy, the media is now paving the way for military intervention in the country to protect Somalia’s civilians.

Britain promised to use the London Conference on Somalia, announced last month by David Cameron, to introduce fresh steps to fight terrorism in the war-torn country.

Envoys from Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and the United States are to attend the conference to deliver “a new international approach to Somalia,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

“It will form the basis for coordinated and sustained international leadership on Somalia, bringing together international partners,” it added.

As the drums are echoing around Somalia, the analysts stress that it would be the next front line for the western allies to install a pro-western government and officials.

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Scientists have recently discovered a new type of cockroach in South Africa, which can jump a distance 48 times the length of its body.

The insect was found in the Silvermine Nature Reserve in the Table Mountain National Park of South Africa, Royal Society Publishing journal reported.

Scientists say the bug jumps with the help of its extra-long, spring-activated legs, which classifies it as a “leaproach.”

According to National Geographic, the last jumping roach was seen during the Jurassic period.

The roach jumps or hops 71 percent of the time. Otherwise, it scuttles around like a typical cockroach.

Dr. Mike Picker, an entomologist at the University of Cape Town believes there might be other species of jumping cockroaches that have yet to be discovered.

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Kenyan military soldiers

Kenyan fighter jets have bombarded a civilian refugee camp in southern Somalia, killing and wounding dozens of people, Press TV reports.

The airstrikes targeted the civilian refugee camp in Gedo region of Ceel Ade village on Friday afternoon, a Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.

Mohamed Abdi Kalil, the head of Gedo region, confirmed the attacks and the casualties.

Kenya invaded Somalia and sent its troops to the neighboring country almost two months ago in order to wipe out the al-Shabab group.

An unnamed Kenyan military spokesman announced that he would investigate the incident.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.

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Reports from Mali say three Europeans have been kidnapped and a fourth killed at Timbuktu in the north of the country. The information comes from a Malian government source.

The person killed is said to be German; the others’ nationalities are from the Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden, officials and witnesses said, as officials on Saturday ordered a plane to evacuate foreigners from the tourist destination.

The latest attack comes a day after two French geologists were kidnapped from their hotel at Hombori, 200 kilometres to the south. French troops have joined Malian forces in trying to find them.

Groups linked to al Qaeda have kidnapped several westerners and taken them into hiding in the vast desert of northern Mali. A total of nine Europeans are now being held in the Sahara, including six French nationals.

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