European Parliament votes to recognize Palestine statehood 'in principle'

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood in principle. A total of 498 MEPs voted in favor, while 88 were against.

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Elephants Know How Dangerous We Are From How We Speak

Elephants pay attention when we speak, a new study in Kenya shows

When an elephant killed a Maasai woman collecting firewood near Kenya's Amboseli National Park in 2007, a group of young Maasai men retaliated by spearing one of the animals.

A female elephant displays an alert reaction—with ears held open and trunk extended—at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya.

"It wasn't the one that had killed the woman, says Graeme Shannon, a behavioral ecologist at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. "It was just the first elephant they encountered—a young bull on the edge of a swamp."

The Maasai spiked him with spears and, their anger spent, returned home. Later, the animal died from his wounds.

Elephants experience those kinds of killings sporadically. Yet the attacks happen often enough that the tuskers have learned that the Maasai—and Maasai men in particular—are dangerous.

The elephants in the Amboseli region are so aware of this that they can even distinguish between Ma, the language of the Maasai, and other languages, says a team of researchers, who report their findings today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A Maasai herder leads his cattle to drink at the edge of a swamp in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya.

Powers of Discrimination

The results add to "our growing knowledge of the discriminatory abilities of the elephant mind, and how elephants make decisions and see their world," says Joyce Poole, an elephant expert with ElephantVoices in Masai Mara, Kenya.

Indeed, previous studies have shown that the Amboseli elephants can tell the cattle-herding, red-robed Maasai apart from their agricultural and more blandly dressed neighbors, the Kamba people, simply by scent and the color of their dress.

The elephants know too that walking through villages on weekends is dangerous, as is crop raiding during the full moon.

They're equally aware of their other key predator, lions, and from their roars, know how many lions are in a pride and if a male lion (the bigger threat because he can bring down an elephant calf) is present.

And they know exactly how to respond to lions roaring nearby: run them off with a charge.

A group of elephants defensively bunch together, with the matriarch of the family at the front with Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain in the background.

Flight or Fight

Intriguingly, when the Amboseli elephants encounter a red cloth, such as those worn by the Maasai, they also react aggressively. But they employ a different tactic when they catch the scent of a Maasai man: They run away. Smelling the scent of a Kamba man, however, troubles them far less.

"They have very clear behavioral responses in all of these situations," says Karen McComb, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sussex, in the United Kingdom. "We wondered if they would react differently to different human voices."

To find out, she and her colleagues played recordings to elephant families of Maasai and Kamba men, as well as Maasai women and boys, speaking a simple phrase in their language: "Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming."

Over a two-year period, they carried out 142 such playbacks with 47 elephant families, each time playing a different human voice through a concealed speaker placed 50 meters (164 feet) from the animals. They video-recorded the elephants' reactions to the various human voices, including a Maasai man's voice they altered to sound like a woman's.

As soon as an elephant family heard an adult Maasai man speak, the matriarch didn't hesitate, the researchers say. "She instantly retreats," Shannon says. "But it's a silent retreat. They sometimes make a low rumble, and may smell for him, too, but they're already leaving, and bunching up into a defensive formation. It's a very different response to when they hear lions."

In contrast, the voices of Kamba men didn't cause nearly as strong a defensive reaction: The elephants didn't consider the Kamba a serious threat.

"That subtle discrimination is easy for us to do, but then we speak human language," says Richard Byrne, a cognitive biologist at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland. "It's interesting that elephants can also detect the characteristic differences between the languages."

Fear Men, Not Boys (or Women)

The Amboseli elephants were also sufficiently tuned in to the Maasai language that they could tell women's and boys' voices from men's, seldom turning tail in response. "Maasai women and boys don't kill elephants," Shannon points out. Nor were the elephants tricked by the man's altered voice; when they heard it, they left at once.

"The elephants' decision-making is very precise," McComb says, "and it illustrates how they've adapted where they can to coexist with us. They'd rather run away than tangle with a human predator."

Why, one wonders, don't elephants retreat when poachers descend on them?

"Unfortunately, there are going to be things they cannot adapt to, things such as humans' ability to come after them with automatic weapons or mass poisonings," McComb says. "And in those situations, we have to protect them—or we will lose them, ultimately."

Credit: National Geographic

             Virginia Morell

Africa's Key to Success: Investment Management

Investment management encompasses a broad spectrum of financial generating activities and their long term sustainability. It can be said to cover areas and sectors such as stock trading,- both online stock trading and over the counter stock trading-; investment services such as consultancy, human resource development and human resource management and viable natural resources exploitation.

A Map of Africa's Natural Resources

Trading Stocks

Most of African companies, especially the SMEs, are grossly undervalued. Raising capital and increasing the overall company value that would help make the company valuable has been the major hurdle. Investment advisers argue that public listing is one of the ways of opening up a company to innovation and competitive success. When a company is listed, it allows stock trading of its shares amongst the public through an investment broker.
However, one question arises: how do you engage in buying stocks? Stock refers to shares of companies listed publicly. The public is invited to buy shares in the company and as such, own a certain percentage of the company. They earn dividends proportional to their total stocks they own in the company.

How to Buy Stocks

On how to buy stocks, one can engage an investment company that will acts as the investment broker by buying stocks in the desired company of the client on his behalf. The client pays a brokerage fee. Alternatively, an interested party can buy stocks online and engage in online stock trading by exploiting the numerous available online investing platforms. Usually, the interested client opens up a Centr

al Depository And Settlement Account (CDS Account) through his financial institution of choice.  Through this account and depending on his account balance, he can engage in online stock trading by buying stocks online and selling them as he wishes and desires. this is what is referred to as online investing.

The full exploitation of this investment opportunity holds the key to spontaneous economic growth in Africa. To ensure that this is realized, not only is good governance required but also development of quality fully automated cloud infrastructure complete with computer tech support.

The Indian Community in Kenya

A section of the Kenya-Uganda Railway during Construction

The Indian community migration into modern day Kenya began with the construction of the Uganda railway between 1896 and 1901. About 32,000 labourers were recruited from British India. Construction of the railway proved a remarkable feat of engineering. However, many of the labourers perished in the course of the construction with the figure standing at 2,500 labourers or four for each mile of track laid, and became notorious for the Tsavo man-eater lions. Today, the Indian community in Kenya stands at about 100,000.

A.M Jevanjee

Image of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee

By the 1920s, there existed a sizeable Asian population who demanded a role in the developing political life of what became Kenya Colony. At the forefront of the early pioneers was Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, who established Kenya's first newspaper, today known as the The Standard.  It is the oldest newspaper in the country owned by The Standard Group. Currently, The Standard is one of the largest newspapers in Kenya with an estimated market share of 30%. Only the Daily Nation, owned by the Nation Media Group (NMG), commands a bigger market share, at 53%.

 

The Jevanjee Gardens with A.M Jevanjee statue in the background

 Mohamedally Rattansi

Mr Mohamedally Rattansi and his wife Maniben

 Mohamedally was born in 1882 in Chavand, a village in Kathiawar, India.  His father Rattansi Nanji, a Shia Ismaili, owned a small shop selling basic merchandise, such as salt, sugar, and dates to villagers and neighbouring farmers in India. They were to later move into Kenya, then part of British East Africa Protectorate.  In 1956, Mr. Mohamedally together with his wife Maniben, after spending over 50 years in East Africa decided to establish an Educational Trust to help needy students. The Trust was based in Kenya where he had lived most of his life, before retiring to his farm in Uganda. The Trust established in colonial Kenya, helped all regardless of race. Many prominent Kenyans have benefitted from this trust, amongst them; Raju Batavia of Batavia Enterprises Ltd., Mombasa, the late Justice J.M. Gachuhi of Court of Appeal, Mohamed Hyder, a former Professor of Zoology and Principal, College of Biological and Physical Sciences, University of Nairobi, J.B. Karagu,former Attoney General, B.E. Kipkorir, former academic and Kenya’s ambassador to the United States and Sadru Ramji of Wyco Paints, Nairobi. Many more needy Kenyans continue to benefit from the Trust to date.

The 1950s saw increased sentiment against the inequalities of colonial rule, and many Asians were at the forefront of the push for increased rights. These included: Pio Gama Pinto founder of the Kenya African National Union newspaper, Makhan Singh who is regarded as laying the foundations of Kenyan trade unionism, and A.R. Kapila and Fitz de Souza renowned in the legal profession for their representation of those accused of Mau Mau links.

Malkiat Singh

Iconic publisher Malkiat Singh during a book launch

Anyone who has gone through the Kenyan education system in the last three decades must have come across the name Malkiat Singh. So omnipresent have titles bearing the name been in all subjects that some may have initially concluded ‘Malkiat Singh’ is a publishing house, before probably realising it is one person responsible for such prolific publication. 

Currently, he has over 24 titles approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) – previously known as the Kenya Institute of Education – for use in primary schools

Business

There are many Indian owned businesses in Kenya; some of them comprise biggest business entities in the country. A walk down Biashara Street in Nairobi SBD, Kenya’s capital, will reveal how entrenched the community is in Kenya’s business landscape. ‘Biashara’ is Swahili for Business and almost all business enterprises along the street are Asian owned.

Business mogul Vimal Shah

There are globally renowned and prominent businessmen such as Naushad N. Merali, founder of the Kenyan mobile service provider Kencell along with French media giant Vivendi (today known as Airtel Kenya) , Manilal Premchand Chandaria, chairman and CEO of the Comcraft Group of Companies, a billion dollar enterprise that has a presence in over 40 countries and Vimal Shah of Bidco Oil; who was recently valued at $1.7 billion by New World Health, making him the richest Kenyan and one of the richest globally.

Other notables include Chamanlal Kamani, Deepak Kamani, Rashmi Chamanlal Kamani and Sudha Ruparell of Kamsons Group which owns numerous luxury hotels at the Kenyan coast, Raju Sanghani, Francisco D'Souza of Cognizant, Atul Shah of Nakumatt Supermaket Chains, Vijay Dodhia of Ukwala Supermakets and many more.

The Indian community encompasses variant sectors within the Kenyan social and economic set up. By sector, the following Kenyans of Indian descent are household names; 

Law

Kenya's Deputy CJ Kalpana Hasmukhrai Rawal

Kalpana Rawal, Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya, Yash Pal Ghai, Kenyan Consitutional lawyer, former chairperson of Constitution Commision of Kenya  and the current chairman of the Constitution Commision of Fiji; Sharad S. Rao, Chairman of the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board and Fitz Remedios Santana de Souza, a lawyer and ex-politician who was an important figure in the campaign for independence for Kenya, a member of the Kenyan parliament in the 1960s and Deputy Speaker for several years. He helped provide a legal defence for those accused of Mau Mau activities including the Kapenguria Six, and he was one of the people involved in the Lancaster House conferences held to draw up a constitutional framework for Kenyan independence.

Sports

Former rally driver Joginder Singh and cricketers  Chandrashekhar "Shekhar" Mehta, Aasif Yusuf Karim, Dipak Nanalal Chudasama, Sandip Gupta, Sheikh Basharat Hassan, Brijal Jagdish Patel, Malhar L Patel, Zahid Sadiq, Rajeshwar Sharma, Mohammad Sheikh, Alpesh Vallabhdas Vadher and many others.

Media & Film

Salim Lone, Ruhila Adatia-Sood, Kiran Shah, Eve de Souza, Fareed Khimani, Moyez G. Vassanji, Ali Velshi, Imran Yusuf, Gurinder Chadha, Pinky Ghelani, Smriti Vidyarthi and many more.

Politics

Prominent Kenyan Politician, Lawyer and journalist P.G Pinto

Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed, M.P Kisumu Town East, Irshadali Mohamed Sumra, M.P,Embakasi South, Abdul Rahim Dawood,M.P North Imenti, seasoned politician Kamlesh Pattni and Sonia Birdi former nominated M.P.

Investment: The Real Pearl of Africa

In the late 19th and early 20th Century, Uganda was known to the then British Imperialists and colonialists as the 'Pearl of Africa'. The main economic activity of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) in the British East Africa protectorate was agriculture. Uganda was then a fertile land laden with natural forests and beautiful rolling higlands. The source of the Nile, which had for decades been a mystery to the British explorers had been finally traced back to Uganda. The Buganda people were friendly to both the missionaries and the explorers. Without a doubt, this was the 'Pearl of Africa'.

Fast track to 21st century, and the sleeping giant of Africa, Kenya; is slowly awakening. From development of infrastructure to social political reforms, the country is building up the necessary business and investment environment stability that is set to propel the country to greater economic heights. The country has recently discovered potentially huge oil reserves. This is not the only economically essential mineral resource to be discovered in Kenya since the turn of the century; huge deposits of titanium at the Coast, coal in Kitui and huge rare earth reserves in Shimba Hills.

An oil rig in one of Turkana's oil fields, Northern Kenya

If well utilized, these resources are bound to make Kenya not only an African economic giant but also a global force to recon with. In infrastructure, the planned development of the Konza Technopolis will make Kenya a global I.T hub. To exploit the vast natural resources, the country is building a second port in Lamu. This port will be linked with the vast oil fields in the north via the LASSET corridor which will consist of a railway line, road and pipeline that will extend to the neighbouring Ethiopia and Southern Sudan. Along the LAPSSET corridor, new resort cities are set to come up like the Isiolo and Turkana resort cities. At Lamu, in addition to the port, a new refinery is set to be built to refine the crude oil into finished petrochemical products.

The Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Design Layout

The only major hurdle that the country is going to have to overcome is the deep-rooted colonial instigated ethnic divides as well as a political class that has promoted and continued with the colonial technique of absolute rule and power control of divide and rule. It can only be hoped that the recently promulgated constitution of 2010 will not only devolve power under the new devolution power structure but also help heal the ethnic divide. This surely makes Kenya the real 'Pearl of Africa' in the 21st century.

International Coercion Conspiracy?

The ICC Bulding at the Hague, Netherlands

Is there a chance that is what ICC actually is? Could the famed international justice the ICC so famed for defending be actually a front to instigate and propagate it uni-directionally?

 For the keen follower of the cases so far being prosecuted at the court, one evident thing is that most cases, if not all, lack precedence. A case in point is the rather awkward case of Kenya's fourth president Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta. A couple of years ago, the pre-trial chamber confirmed the charges against the then Deputy Prime Minister and deemed the evidence against him sufficient for the case to go to trial.

But alas! Once there, the evidence just seemed to evaporate, vanish without a trace! Before then, I had no idea non-tangible things, like evidence, could evaporate! Such has been the scenario that the case is back to pre-trial chamber. Already, isn't this a mistrial? a fallacy of a shambolic non-existent case? One can't help but wonder, was the case a legally created hurdle to bar Uhuru to run for presidency? If so, by who?

And paying close attention to his co-accused and his Deputy President, William Ruto, one can't help but have a laugh at the sheer misinformation of the witnesses, who cant seem to recall anything in their own sworn affidavits, the same one they supposedly stated by recalling the events of the period in question. Did they just suddenly become amnesiac?

My theory is simple, ICC is a 21st century institution of colonialism only that, this time, unlike back in 1885 where there was scramble and partitioning of Africa; it is now economic hitman instituting puppet governments all over the continent. Any institution or individual who is deemed a threat to the economic hitman is eliminated. It is high time for as a continent, Africa woke up!

Boat Capsizes off Lampedusa Killing130 Would-be Illegal Immigrants

Bodies of the ill-fated boat that wrecked near Lampedusa

By M'moh Kabati

According to BBC, at least 130 African migrants have died and many more are missing after a boat carrying them to Europe sank off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.

A total of 103 bodies have been recovered and more have been found inside the wreck, coast guards say.

Passengers reportedly threw themselves into the sea when a fire broke out on board. More than 150 of the migrants have been rescued.

Most of those on board were from Eritrea and Somalia, said the UN.

The boat was believed to have been carrying up to 500 people at the time and some 200 of them are unaccounted for.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the ship had come from Misrata in Libya and began taking on water when its motor stopped working.

It is thought that some of those on board set fire to a piece of material to try to attract the attention of passing ships, only to have the fire spread to the rest of the boat.

Simona Moscarelli, a spokeswoman from the International Organization for Migration in Rome, told the BBC that in order to escape the fire, "the migrants moved, all of them, to one side of the boat which capsized".

She estimated that only six of about 100 women on board survived, adding that most of the migrants were unable to swim.

"Only the strongest survived," she said.

It is one of the worst such disasters to occur off the Italian coast in recent years; Prime Minister Enrico Letta tweeted that it was "an immense tragedy". The government has declared a day of national mourning on Friday.

"There is no miraculous solution to the migrant exodus issue," said Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino. "If there were we would have found it and put it into action." 

In a separate incident on Thursday, local media reported that around 200 migrants were escorted to the port of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, when their vessel encountered difficulties five miles off the coast.

Earlier this week, 13 migrants drowned while trying to reach Sicily.

Twitter: @PeacefulAfrica

REVEALED: Westgate Mall Fire Started by KDF Shelling, Not Mattresses

                                                         By UPA Team

Collapsed Upper Car Park of the Mall

Contrary to the official government press release, the fire that started on Monday 23^rd September at the then under siege Westgate Mall may not have been started by burning mattresses after all. An interview with a reliable military operative close to the operation has revealed that the retreat by the terrorists to a strong room with bullet proof glass walls on the first floor of the mall necessitated the decision to shell the mall by firing two 84mm sharp-pointed shells from a recoilless rifle which exploded upon impact causing the fire.

Initially, two elite commandos had attempted to open the door to the strong room but a sniper backing up the terrorists holed up in the strong room took them out. Fearing that the terrorist had armed themselves with enough ammunition and food supplies to last them for weeks, the government was concerned that the militants would hold for as long as they could. The longer they held the building under siege, the more it would appear victory in the eyes of the terrorists’ world. The government then had to give the go ahead to use brute force.

It was not apparently clear whether there were any hostages held by the Al Shabaab terrorists in the strong room or how many militants were in the room. The resultant impact and ensuing fire led to the caving in of the floor above. The rear part of the building gave way hours later with cars in the above car park tumbling down. This minimized the chances of any would be survivals.

Basement Car Park of the Mall after the Attack

Due to the fire, it is strongly believed that many in the strong room were burned beyond recognition. This was pointed out as the main reason that the forensic experts were taken to the site immediately the siege was declared over. DNA analysis remained the only option to profile the identities and the occupants of the strong room and establish whether any of them was a hostage.

Twitter: @PeacefulAfrica

Why I Believe Kenya Shall Rise

A map of Kenya

By M'moh Kabaty

Kenya is a very unique country in very many aspects. The most stand out aspect is the relative ease with which it overcomes national calamities. From atrocities of colonial government, which made many settlers fear for retribution from the incoming post independence government, to tribal clashes and terror attacks; Kenya is a country that has experienced many adversities.

Contrary to the expectations of many in and around the world, the country always stands together, united as a people and forges forth energetically.  In times of hardships, the country rallies together all its citizenry and the often divisive partisan politics of the day are forgotten.

Mt.Kenya, from which the country is named after

Strangely, I have come to take note that the only time Kenyans tend to remember about their tribal affiliations is in politics, especially during electioneering period. For example, during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, slightly six months after the post election violence, each medal won by Kenyan athletes was celebrated across the country as a medal won by a Kenyan. Not by a member of a certain ethnic group. In the same breath, when the national football team, the Harambee Stars plays their home games at the Nyayo National Stadium, the place is full to capacity. And woe unto the coach if the talismanic Ajaccio striker Denis Oliech or trio midfield maestros of Victor Wanyama, Jamal Mohammed and McDonald Mariga is benched. Every fan across the country wants these players on the pitch. When Oliech scores, the whole country goes into ecstasy. No one remembers anything to do with the tribe, race or creed. All that matters at the moment is Kenya!

The same trend is observed in business. Kenyans of all walks of life, religion, race and tribe work and do business indiscriminately.  Even more interestingly, is when you are abroad and you happen to speak Swahili with a Kenyan in the vicinity. The person will turn to you and predictably ask, "Wewe ni Mkenya?" (Are you Kenyan?). With the tribally divided country we are painted to be, the expected question would be, "Wewe ni kabila gani?" (What tribe are you?).

And after the Westgate Mall attack, the unity amongst Kenyans, both in kind and in material help was outstanding. The social media was full of unifying messages. Hashtag WeAreOne was trending on twitter. The Sunday after the attack, I found myself in the city centre late in the afternoon. I was shocked at the long winding queues at the Kencom bus terminus where multitudes had turned up for blood donation. This scenerio, I later learnt, was replicated in many towns across the country. This is the very reason that makes the country bounce back from setbacks with relative ease.

Now, I honestly believe, is the high time we extended the same tolerance and accommodation to our divergent political views, affiliations and ideologies. After all, if we all had the same political view, we would not prosper as a country. In many African cultures, a classic adage has it that, he who only eats food cooked by his mother thinks that his mother is the best cook in the world; and probably the only cook.

The fact that we stand united in majority aspects of our Kenyanism, I dare say I believe that even politically, we can find uniformity in divergence. It's highly achievable and we have the platform. For this reason, I have hope for Kenya. And with the vast mineral deposits being discovered everyday, I believe we are en route to unrivalled growth and prosperity.

Twitter: @MmohKabati