Kioo17 Journal

Harare, ZIMBABWE: The Zimbabwean government has brought back the Chinese to the Chiadzwa diamond fields, three years after former president Robert Mugabe drove them out on allegations of looting. Chinese-owned Anjin was expelled by government on February 22 2016, along with Mbada Diamonds, on grounds that their special grant licences had expired. Prior to that, Mugabe had accused them of massive leakages and smuggling the gems out of the country. Now under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Anjin and Russian diamond mining company Alrosa will spearhead the government’s target of raising at least US$400m in revenue by the end of 2019. They will form partnerships with the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC). "Anjin, which used to operate in the area, is now back on the ground. We expect that it will commence production, at the latest, by end of May. We are looking at it being a significant producer in that regard," said mines and mining development m...

Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA (AP) : Amnesty International on Wednesday slammed plans by Brunei to implement what the rights group called "vicious" Islamic criminal laws such as stoning to death for gay sex and amputation for theft. Amnesty said in a statement that the new penalties, which also apply to children, are provided for in new sections under Brunei's Sharia Penal Code and will come into effect April 3. The legal changes were announced in a discreet notice on the attorney general's website, it said. "To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself," said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Brunei researcher at Amnesty International. She said some of the potential offenses "should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender." Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Queen Saleha ride in a royal chariot during a procession to mark his golden jubilee of accession to th...

Botswana’s Minister of Transport and Communications Dorcus Makgato has allayed fears that her country and neighbouring Zambia were headed for a diplomatic row over the suspension of construction of a bridge that links the two neighbouring countries and the region, APA can reveal here Saturday.In a statement, Makgato said the adversity which  recently affected the Kazungula Bridge Development has been resolved–  further that the project is expected to be completed in 2020. “It  is a fact that the Contractor–Daewoo International, recently issued a  contractually-enforceable notice to suspend works on the bridge project.  This was as a result of delayed or non-payment of amounts due from the  Employer who, in this case, is a joint and 50/50 partnership between the  governments of Botswana and Zambia,” she said. Makgato  said Zambia which was yet to contribute its share of funds for the  construction of the bridge has moved swiftl...

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA : Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malemahas vowed to hold senior African National Congress (ANC) leaders accountable if his party were to be voted into power come 8 May elections. He has urged his supporters to reclaim the Western Cape from the Democratic Alliance (DA) rule and emphasized his plans to clamp down on corruption. Malema was speaking at the party’s provincial manifesto launch in Philippi, Cape Town on Saturday. He said former President Jacob Zuma, who is currently facing corruption charges, would be the first order of business if the EFF is voted into government. “If you want to see Zuma arrested, vote for EFF... and then the cellmate of Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa.” He also took a swipe at Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane who facing her own bribery allegations. ”They [Zuma and Ramaphosa] will be followed by Mokonyane.” During the week, disgraced former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi told th...

Nairobi, KENYA: Companies that use animals to market their brands will now be required by United Nations Development Programme to raise funds for wildlife conservation. In the new initiative dubbed Lion's Share, the corporate world in all UN member states will be expected to make voluntary contributions every time an animal appears in their adverts. The money raised will be channelled towards conservation of wildlife habitats and animal welfare. Advertisers like Kenya Commercial Bank which uses a lion in its logo or Nakumatt chain stores that uses elephant symbol are being asked to contribute 0.5 per cent of their media spending for each TV, print or online marketing campaign featuring an animal. The campaign argues that whereas many corporate bodies use animals to advance their commercial brands and make profits, little or nothing is channelled back to the wildlife, most of which continue to be endangered due to human activities. The Lion's Share Fund giv...

Tehran, IRAN: Iran recalled its ambassador to Kenya because of a court decision upholding sentences for two Iranians in jail, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Sunday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. Iran also lodged a formal complaint with the Kenyan ambassador in Tehran on Saturday because of the Kenyan court decision in the case of Ahmad Abolfathi and Seyed Mansour Mousavi. In 2016, a Kenyan judge reduced the life sentences given to the two Iranians convicted of planning bomb attacks to 15 years. The case raised concerns about possible Iranian plans to strike targets in the east African nation. The two were arrested in June 2012 and convicted a year later of planning attacks and possessing 15 kg of military-grade RDX explosives. The men may have had links to the Quds Force, the elite extra-territorial special forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Kenyan investigators have said. The men were scheduled to be freed before the...

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA : US President Donald Trump has said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study South African "land and farm seizures" and "killing of farmers", prompting Pretoria to accuse Mr Trump of stoking racial divisions. Mr Trump's comments have inflamed an already high-octane debate over land in South Africa — a country that remains deeply racially divided and unequal nearly a quarter of a century after Nelson Mandela swept to power at the end of apartheid. The rand currency dropped more than 1.5 per cent against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday after Mr Trump's tweet had circulated in South Africa. South Africa's foreign ministry will seek clarification of Mr Trump's comments from the US embassy in Pretoria, President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokeswoman said, adding that Mr Trump was "misinformed". A tweet from South Africa's official government account rejected the comment, saying the twe...

Black box data recovered from an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last week show "clear similarities" with a recent crash in Indonesia of the same type of aircraft, Ethiopia's transport minister said on Sunday. While declining to give details, Dagmawit Moges told journalists the parallels would be the "subject of further study during the investigation," with a preliminary report issued in "30 days". The announcement came a week after Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 plummeted into a field southeast of Addis Ababa minutes into its flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people onboard. The disaster caused the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft involved after aviation regulators noticed similarities with the October crash of an Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX 8 that killed all 189 passengers and crew. Both planes reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents as well as fluctuating airspeeds before crashing sh...

Juba, SOUTH SUDAN: The South Sudan Director General of Police for Administration and Finance says a high rate of illiteracy in the police force is impeding criminal investigations. According to his statistics, over 80 percent of police personnel are not qualified. And South Sudan has the highest illiteracy rate due to years of conflict, lack of infrastructure, and quality education. Part of the country is still using Sudanese curriculum while other parts either used the newly developed South Sudan Curriculum or the Ugandan one. Lieutenant General, Abraham Majok said most the officers cannot read or write in English, while others can only speak and not write in Arabic. “We need people from great 8 upward. But now we get people who don’t know how to write and read. 85 percent of them. So, it is difficult also to train them on how to conduct investigations,” Lt. Gen. Majok lamented. He said this is affecting the performance of police in the country, especially du...

A father in south-west China has come up with a creative way to stop his daughter from getting distracted while doing her homework. The man decided to train their pet mongrel to 'supervise' the school girl while she writes her homework at their home in Guiyang, Guizhou province as she wouldn't stop looking at her phone. Adorable footage shows the cream-coloured pooch standing on its hind legs, hovering strictly over the schoolgirl as she completes her assignments on a coffee table. Watch the Video below: The father, surnamed Xu, told video news site Pear that his daughter would always procrastinate and struggled to focus. The dog joined the family in December 2016 when he was only a puppy and grew up with the girl, Mr Xu said. 'It's very well-behaved,' he said. 'I have been training it since it was young and now it does whatever I tell it to do.' 'I pointed at the coffee table and told it to watch my daughter as she d...

Accra, GHANA Ghanaian prophet Cosmos Walker Affran who predicted the Ethiopian Airline crash has revealed the cause of the crash. According to the prophet, the plane crash happened due to a minor fault in the engine of the plane. He noted that the fault was detected by the pilot but the pilot ignored the fault and decided to fly. Prophet Affran said considering the fact that the pilot ignored the fault, he should be blamed for the crash. According to the prophet, the pilot was aware of a minor engine problem but felt he could manage the situation since it was a short distance. "The pilot was aware of an engine fault and thought he could manage it to Kenya. On his way to Kenya, he realised the engine was failing and decided to return which caused the accident," he said. "The fault was in the engine and he got informed that there is a problem with the engine but he felt it wasn’t a major problem," he disclosed. The prophet also stated that he wa...