Kenya protesters warn Obama against bringing up gay rights during visit

Obama

Kenyan anti-gay protesters marched in Nairobi Monday warning US President Barack Obama not to speak about gay rights when he visits the country of his ancestors later this month.

“We do not want Obama and Obama, we do not want Michelle and Michelle,” they chanted. “We want Obama and Michelle and we want a child!”

“It is important for us as Kenyans to know that the US is not God,” said protest organiser and evangelical Christian pastor Bishop Mark Kariuki.

Kariuki said Obama was welcome to visit “his father’s home” but should not “talk about the gay issue.”

The demonstration drew around 100 people, wearing T-shirts and waving posters with the slogan “Protect The Family”.

It came a day after Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto, who is on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity, told worshippers at a church service that homosexuality was “against the plan” of God.

“We have heard that in the US they have allowed gay relations and other dirty things,” Ruto said, according to the Daily Nation newspaper.

“I want to say as a Christian leader that we will defend our country Kenya, we will stand for our faith and our country.”

Ruto made similar comments in May when US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kenya.

Homophobia is prevalent in many African countries and gay sex remains illegal in several nations, including Kenya where it was outlawed under British colonial legislation.

The march Monday was organised by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, a coalition of several churches.

Obama’s visit later this month will be his fourth to Africa since becoming US president, but his first to Kenya since taking office in 2009. He will also travel to Ethiopia.

Pro-gay rights activists warned of rising intolerance in Kenya, including attacks on homosexuals and alleged cases of lesbians being raped to “cure” them.

“The anti gay movement is spreading to Kenya… cases of discrimination and violence are increasing because of the very homophobic speeches,” said lawyer Erik Gitari, from the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

“Obama has been associated with equality and liberation, being the first black US president. They are afraid that he will preach equality here,” said Gitari.

                                                                      -ngrguardiannews.com

Clinton accuses China of ‘trying to hack into everything’

Democratic president candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign event in Glen, New Hampshire, on July 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Darren Mccollester)

Glen (United States) (AFP) – Hillary Clinton accused China of “trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America” and stealing government information, in strongly worded comments likely to irk Beijing.

Clinton, a former secretary of state who is making another tilt at the White House in 2016, pulled no punches in remarks to Democratic supporters at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Saturday.

James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, said last month that China was the “leading suspect” in a massive breach affecting personal data of millions of US government employees.

Beijing dismissed the charge as “absurd logic.”

Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said: “They’re trying to hack into everything that doesn’t move in America… stealing huge amounts of government information all looking for an advantage.

“Make no mistake, they know they’re in competition — and they’re gonna do everything they can to win.”

The US has in recent years blamed several hacks on Beijing, including some it says were carried out by members of the Chinese military.

Cybersecurity specialists say the breach of data on at least four million current and former US federal employees appeared to be part of a Chinese effort to build a database for espionage.

At the same event, Clinton said that engagement was the best option when it comes to confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We have to be much smarter in how we deal with Putin and how we deal with his ambitions,” she said.

“I’ve dealt with him. I know him. He’s not an easy man.

“But I don’t think there is any substitute other than constant engagement.”

Relations between Moscow and Washington are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War over Russia’s actions in neighboring Ukraine. Moscow denies backing pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.

Despite the tense ties, Putin sent a message earlier to US counterpart Barack Obama to mark Independence Day in the United States, saying that relations between Moscow and Washington were key to ensuring global stability, and calling for dialogue based on “equality and respect.”

Clinton also touched on Iran, which is thrashing out the fine details of a deal with world powers over its nuclear ambitions.

She warned, however, that even if an accord is sealed, “Iran’s aggressiveness will not end.”

“They will continue to be the principle state sponsor of terrorism,” Clinton said.

“They will continue to destabilize governments in the region and beyond.

“They will continue to use their proxies like Hezbollah. And they will continue to be an existential threat to Israel.”

                                                                     -pmnewsnigeria.com

Al Jazeera Journalists speak out against flotilla ordeal at hands of Israel

Two Al Jazeera journalists have spoken out after Israeli navy forces assaulted and abducted them while covering the ‘Freedom Flotilla III’ heading to Gaza.

Mohamed El Bakkali, Al Jazeera’s reporter accompanying the flotilla, said that the attack on the ship occurred in international waters, which is an act of piracy and a violation of international law.

El Bakkali said, “We were 100 km deep in international waters when the Israeli Navy intercepted us and demanded the ship to be stopped and handed over. Upon the captain’s rejection, the soldiers stormed the ship and assaulted some of whom were in the cockpit. After that, they led the ship to Ashdod where we were inspected and investigated, all of our belongings (mobiles, laptops and cards) were confiscated, and then we were jailed pending deportation.”

Ammar Hamdan, the Al Jazeera cameraman who documented the trip, said that the Israeli army abducted and detained them under the sun in the middle of the sea for nearly 12 hours. Hamdan also said that the Israeli authorities “lost their minds” after Al Jazeera’s footage reached the world from the vessel, especially the images of Israeli soldiers storming the ship. Hamdan added: “All of their attempts to make me reveal  the whereabouts of the footage failed, which prompted them to blackmail and search me more than five times. They reached a level of ugliness and depravity to photograph me naked. In the end, one of the officers lost his mind and shouted at his men claiming that I swallowed the camera memory cards, and I will get it out of my stomach after I get released”.

El Bakkali said that Israeli forces accused the journalists during the investigation of breaking the law. He also added that the Israeli authorities did not respect their right to call a lawyer during investigation, and refused his request to contact Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera’s acting director general Mostefa Souag said:

“Israel has violated many international laws by hijacking and arresting journalists doing their job on a peaceful and unarmed flotilla while in international waters and heading to Gaza for humanitarian purposes. We call on the international community to work together to protect journalists who are doing their profession of covering stories. The release of our colleagues without returning all of their personal possessions and technical equipment is not enough. We together  must do whatever it takes to expose violations of journalists’ rights”.

This is not the first incident where Israel has boarded and taken over ships and captured journalists. In previous flotillas, and among other activists and journalists, Al Jazeera’s Othman Battiri, Jamal Elshayyal, Mohamed Vall, Ali Sabri, Andre Khalil, Wasimah bin Saleh and Abbas Nasser were all taken into custody by Israeli forces and then later released.

In this context, El Bakkali commented: “What happened to us is a violation of press freedom and an attempt to commit a crime without witnesses. However, this will not deter us from continuing our mission of reporting the truth with impartiality and integrity, regardless the sacrifices”. Hamdan commented on that saying: “Even if the price is what happened to me when they sentenced me in absentia prohibiting me from entering Occupied Palestine for ten years.”

                                                                           -naijacenter.com

UN calls for Gaza war crimes trials

The United Nation’s Human Rights Council called overwhelmingly Friday for those responsible for war crimes during last summer’s Gaza conflict to be brought to trial.

Forty-five countries, including France, Germany and Britain supported the resolution, with only the United States voting against.

Israel’s representative Eviatar Manor lambasted the decision, accusing the council of being an “agent provocateur”, while his Palestinian opposite number Ibrahim Khraishi was jubilant.

The vote comes in the wake of a scathing UN report detailing “possible war crimes” during the 51 days of fighting.

The head of the UN’s inquiry Mary McGowan Davis said investigators had found “serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by Israel and Palestinian armed groups, in some cases amounting to war crimes.”

The resolution did not point the finger at those responsible but said they should face justice in either national or international courts.

Although the council does not have the power to order that suspects be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC), it urged both Israel and Palestinian authorities to “cooperate fully” with any criminal inquiries that may be opened.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the resolution saying it “sends a strong message that the perpetrators of serious violations should be held to account. Israel and Palestine, as well as Hamas, should respect the resolution?s call to cooperate with the International Criminal Court.”

Palestinians have been trying to bring criminal proceedings against Israel at the ICC as part of an increased focus on diplomatic manoeuvring and appeals to international bodies.

More than 2,140 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed during the conflict in July and August 2014. Of the 73 deaths on the Israeli side, most were soldiers.

The UN report criticised the “huge firepower” Israel used in Gaza, particularly against residential buildings and UN schools, and questioned whether a policy of civilian attacks had been “approved at least tacitly by decision-makers at the highest levels of the government of Israel.”

It also condemned the “indiscriminate” firing of thousands of rockets and mortars by Palestinian forces at Israel, which it said appeared to have been intended to “spread terror” among Israeli civilians.

Five countries including India and Kenya abstained from Friday’s vote.

                                                 - punchng.com