Saturday, 11 March 2017
Sunday, 26 February 2017
Iran’s Ahmadinejad writes open letter to Trump…Read full details
Iran's ex-president Mahmud Ahmadinejad
Iran’s ex-president Mahmud Ahmadinejad published Sunday an open letter to Donald Trump, welcoming his criticism of the US political system but taking issue with his visa ban and attitude to women.
Many Iranians see the new US president as cut from the same cloth as Ahmadinejad, who shocked the establishment with his sudden rise to power in 2005, combining hardline rhetoric and populist economic policies to win a powerful following among Iran’s lower classes.
At times in the long and rambling letter, published in English and Farsi on his website, he appears to find a kindred spirit in Trump.
“Your Excellency (Trump) has truthfully described the US political system and electoral structure as corrupt and anti-public,” he writes.
But much of the letter is spent exhorting Trump to end interventions in the Middle East and ditch the “arrogance” of past US administrations.
Ahmadinejad also takes issue with Trump’s visa ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran.
“The presence and constructive effort of the elite and scientists of different nations, including the million-plus population of my Iranian compatriots has had a major role in the development of the US… the contemporary US belongs to all nations.”
He also finishes with a short lecture on respecting women — a possible reference to Trump’s recorded claims that he has sexually assaulted some.
“The great men of history have paid the highest level of respect to women and recognised their God-given capabilities,” Ahmadinejad writes.
Ahmadinejad has a fondness for writing to world leaders, having sent letters to former US president Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the pope — as well as an 18-page missive to previous US leader George W. Bush.
When Trump was elected in November, many Iranians joked about the similarities to their former president, whose tenure ended in 2013.
“When Ahmadinejad said that he intended to export his method of managing the world, we didn’t take him seriously…” wrote one bemused commenter on social media.
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2lcVs8b
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Supporters gather for Mugabe’s lavish birthday party…Read full details
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe blows out candles during a private ceremony to celebrate his 93rd birthday on February 21, 2017 in Harare. Mugabe, the world's oldest national ruler, turned 93, using a long and occasionally rambling interview to vow to remain in power despite growing signs of frailty. / AFP PHOTO / Jekesai NJIKIZANA
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turned 93 this week, celebrates his birthday on Saturday with a lavish party attended by thousands of loyalists outside the second city of Bulawayo.
The ruling ZANU-PF party is hosting the event for Mugabe, who has held power since 1980 during a reign marked by repression of dissent, vote-rigging and the country’s economic collapse.
Now the world’s oldest national leader, his actual birthday on Tuesday has been celebrated in a week-long extravaganza with state media filled with tributes and praise.
The annual party — reported to cost up to $1 million (0.9 million euros) — includes a multi-course feast and vast birthday cakes, angering many Zimbabweans as the country endures severe food shortages.
Holding the event at a school in Matobo has also riled locals as it is close to where many victims of Mugabe’s deadly crackdown on dissidents in the early 1980s are thought to be buried.
At least 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the massacres by North Korean-trained Zimbabwean troops, according to rights groups.
“This should not be a place for celebration,” Mbuso Fuzwayo, spokesman for the Bulawayo-based campaign group Ibhetshu Likazulu, told AFP.
“The whole area is a crime scene where the bones of victims of the massacres are buried.”
– Increasingly frail –
Mugabe gave a faltering television interview this week, vowing to remain in power despite growing signs of frailty.
During the pre-recorded birthday broadcast, Mugabe paused at length between sentences and spoke with his eyes barely open.
“The call to step down must come from my party,” he said.
“If I feel that I can’t do it any more, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now, I think I can’t say so.”
The state-owned Herald newspaper on Tuesday published a 24-page supplement of congratulatory messages from government departments and regime loyalists.
Local ZANU-PF party activist Sibongile Ndiweni described hosting of the party as “a blessing”.
“It’s an honour and privilege to have such a luminary icon celebrating with us,” he said.
“President Mugabe is a national president who has the right to have an event wherever he feels like.”
ZANU-PF has endorsed Mugabe as its candidate for general elections next year, and he remains widely respected as a liberation hero by other African leaders.
He has avoided naming a successor, but his wife, Grace, 51, is seen as a possible candidate along with vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Born on February 21, 1924, Mugabe trained as a teacher and taught in what was then Rhodesia and Ghana before returning home to join the guerrilla war against white-minority rule.
He became prime minister on Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980 and then president in 1987.
All schools around Bulawayo were closed on Thursday and Friday.
“Our children were told their classrooms have been turned into boarding facilities, and they are being frogmarched to join the birthday party,” local poet and opposition activist Desire Moyo told AFP.
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2lUvrP9
Friday, 24 February 2017
Saudi minister in talks with Iran team over hajj…Read full details
hajj
A Saudi minister held talks with an Iranian delegation about the possibility of Iranian pilgrims rejoining the annual hajj despite ruptured ties between the two countries, state media reported late Thursday.
Shiite-dominated Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia have had no diplomatic ties since early last year.
The kingdom’s minister in charge of pilgrimages, Mohammed Bentin, discussed with the Iranians “arrangements concerning participation of the Iranian faithful in this year’s hajj,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.
It did not give more details but said the meeting took place on Thursday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
SPA said the talks occurred in the context of meetings organised by the pilgrimage ministry with various countries about accommodation and other logistics for the hajj, which will take place around early September.
For the first time in nearly three decades, Iran’s 64,000 pilgrims did not attend last year’s hajj after the regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics.
Tensions remain as Saudi Arabia repeatedly accuses Iran of fuelling regional conflicts by supporting armed Shiite movements in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain.
Iran rejects the accusations and says Riyadh must stop its support for Sunni “terrorists” like the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
But Saudi media reported in December that Bentin had invited Iran to discuss arrangements for this year’s pilgrimage.
“Iran’s policy is to send pilgrims to the hajj (this year), of course, if Saudi Arabia accepts our conditions,” Iran’s Culture Minister Reza Salehi Amiri told state television on Wednesday, when he confirmed Iran had sent a team to Saudi Arabia.
“In a letter I’ve written to the Saudi hajj minister I have specified our conditions,” he said.
“If they accept our conditions, we will definitely send pilgrims (this) year, otherwise the responsibility” will be on Saudi Arabia.
More than 1.8 million faithful took part in last year’s hajj. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who can must perform it at least once in their lives.
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2lzfRHT
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
Wizboyy – Chigeji (Change Over Album) [Mp3 + Lyrics]
Off Wizboyy album “CHANGE OVER”, here is a track titled “CHIGEJI”. Download and enjoy below…
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2jW8wkN
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Unhappy Leicester striker Ulloa threatens strike…See full details
PHOTO:AFP
Leicester’s unsettled striker Leonardo Ulloa has threatened to go on strike to force a deadline transfer on Tuesday.
Ulloa handed in a transfer request two weeks ago but the Premier League champions have reportedly rejected a bid from Spanish club Alaves because manager Claudio Ranieri would prefer to keep him.
The 30-year-old Ulloa posted on his Twitter account: “With all respect for LCFC FANS. I feel betrayed by Ranieri and let down by the club.
“I will not play again for them…”
Ulloa is disgruntled after starting just once in the Premier League this season and he has not been offered a new deal after helping the Foxes win the title last season.
The Argentine added on Sky Sports News: “I can’t understand the situation or why they don’t let me continue playing my football somewhere else.
“If I stay at the club it’s going to affect seriously my career and my future. The best thing for both parties is that they sell me to another club.”
The deadline for transfers is at 2300 GMT.
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kKIQ9o
