Ile kidali poo inayochezwa baina ya nchi za Kenya na Tanzania na yule bwana Al-Faisal bado ipo pale pale. Ukitaka kusoma ilivyokuwa, rejea posti ya awali kwa kubofya hapa. Huyu bwana, alikatiza alikokatiza kwa njia anazozijua yeye, hadi alipokwamia nchini Kenya. Huko nao wakafanya mipango na hatimaye wakatutangazia kuwa wamekubaliana kumsafirisha hadi Naijeria kwa malengo ya kumfikisha nchini Gambia, nchi pekee iliyokuwa na uwezekano wa kukubali kumpatia usafiri wa ndege wa moja kwa moja hadi kwao Jamaika. Iliripotiwa na wasemaji wa polisi wa Kenya kuwa, haikuwezekana kumsafirisha  bwana Al-Faisal hadi Marekani ili akamalizie safari ya kwao kutokana na Marekani kumpiga marufuku ya kusafiri katika anga yake.

Shirika la Associated Press linairipotia New York Times kwamba, bwana Al-Faisal wala hakukanyaga Gambia bali alirejeshwa tena nchini Kenya kutoka katika kiwanja kimojawapo cha ndege cha nchini Naijeria ili akaanze upya safari yake ya kurudi kwao Jamaika.

Tuhuma zinazosababisha azuiliwe kusafiri katika nchi kadhaa ni hivi:
Mr. Faisal was convicted in Britain in 2003 of inciting racial hatred for urging his followers to kill Hindus, Christians, Jews and Americans, and he was accused of influencing one of the bombers who struck the London transit system in July 2005. Britain deported him to Jamaica in 2007, and it is not clear how he ended up in Africa.

Soma habari kamili kupitia linki hii: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/world/africa/11kenya.html

Tangu ampokonye ubingwa Mbarzili Franck Caldeira (mwaka 2008), huu ni mwaka wa pili mfululizo kijana Marko Joseph (miaka 20) anaibuka kidedea katika mashindano ya kilomita kumi nchini Brazili.  Marko ameweza kumaliza mbio za mwaka huu katika muda wa dakika 29 na sekunde 58, rekodi ambayo ni bora zaidi kwa kutangulia sekunde tano kulinganisha na rekodi aliyoiweka mwaka jana, ishara kwamba kiwango cha Marko kimeimarika.

Kwa upande wa wanawake, mkimbiaji wa Kenya, Chepkorir Kipkoechi aliibuka mshindi kwa kumaliza mbio hizo katika muda wa dakika 34 na sekunde 24, hivyo kuwazidi washindani wake wa karibu Mwethiopia Zeineba Hasso Hayato na Mbarazili Maria Zeferina Baldaia

Mashindano hayo yalifanyika nchini Brazili siku ya Jumapili na yanajulikana kwa jina la King's Run. 

Hongera sana Marko kwa ushindi huu na tunakuombea mafanikio tele kwa mwaka huu katika mashindano zaidi yajayo.

AH, humu duniani humu bwana hivi viumbe alivyoviumba Mwenyezi Mungu ama huyo yeyote mwenye Mamlaka na Dunia hii, mbona vyasisimua hivi?

Pichani ni kiumbe wa majini kwa jina la kitaalamu ajulikana kama isopod. Basi huyo makazi yake ni ndani ya mdomo wa samaki na kazi yake ni kuula ulimi wa samaki hadi akaumaliza wote na kisha yeye kuchukua nafasi ya ulimi huo na kuwa kama ulimi mpya wa samaki. Waliomsoma mdudu huyo wanasema hasababishi maumivu yoyote kwa samaki (sasa mi hata sijui walichunguza vipi wanasayansi hao hadi wamejua kama kweli hasababishi maumivu?) mwe, na teknolojia hii, huenda ishagundulika namna ya kuwasiliana na samaki akatolea maelezo ikiwa anapata maumivu ama la.

Wataalamu hao wanadai kuwa kidudu hiki hakina madhara yoyote katika mwili wa binadamu isipokuwa tu pale utakapotaka kukakamata kakiwa hai, basi katakudunga kwa vijisindano uchungu vyake.

Nimemtizama mdudu huyo nikasikia mwili wanisisimka na vipele vya kuku vyanitoka ghafla!

Mvuvi mmoja aliyewahi kukumbana na kidudu hichi anasema: "Really quite large, really quite hideous - if you turn it over its got dozens of these really sharp, nasty claws underneath and I thought 'that's a bit of a nasty beast'." And while it can't seriously hurt people, it evidently doesn't like them: "It doesn't affect humans other than if you do actually come across a live one and try and pick it up - they are quite vicious, they will deliver a good nip."

Jana hapa tumeona orodha ya Marekani ya nchi ambazo raia wake au watu wanaobeba pasipoti za nchi hizo watakavyokumbwa na adha ya usumbufu wa kukaguliwa maradufu ya wengine punde watakapokuwa wakisafiri. Aghalabu mambo kama haya yanapotokea, basi nchi nyinginezo pia huiga yayo hayo hata ikawa kero kila pahala.

Sasa hii kidali po iliyoanza baina ya nchi ya Kenya na Tanzania kumhusu bwana Abdullah Faisal nadhani haitatupeleka pazuri katika macho ya nchi nyingine za dunia. Nasema hivi kwa kuwa bwana huyu ana mlolongo wa vizuizi toka nchi kadha wa kadha kwa madai kwamba yeye anachochea vurugu baina ya matabaka ya binadamu kupitia hotuba zake. Bwana huyu anatuhumiwa ugaidi na kuhusika na vifo vya baadhi ya Wayahudi na Wahindi.

Alifikaje Kenya?
Inasemekana nchi kadhaa zimemzuilia huyu bwana asisafiri kwao iwe ni kwa njia ya anga, maji ama ardhini . Kwa hivyo amekuwa akisafiri kwa kujiiba kwa njia ya barabara akitumia magari. Katoka zake Nigeria  huko kapita hadi Angola, kaenda Msumbiji, Swaziland na Malawi mwishowe kakatiza Tanzania hadi alipokwamia Kenya hapo mwezi jana tarehe ya 24. Yasemekana kuwa safari yake  ilikuwa itamatie  kwao kwa asili Jamaika. Msemaji wa jeshi la Polisi la nchini Kenya amekaririwa akisema kuwa, wao wesha memrejesha bwana huyu nchini Tanzania alikotokea ili apate kurudia njia yake aliyoijia hadi huko alikotokea awali. Askari wa Tanzania nao kwa upande wao wanaruka na kusema kuwa hawana taarifa zozote kumhusu , wanasisitiza, hayupo nchini.

Hii ndiyo nayoiita kidali po, na ninadhani si nzuri hata kidogo kwetu sisi wananchi na hasa wafanyabiashara wanaoleta ama kupeleka bidhaa nchi za ng'ambo. Hivi ilivyo tu tayari ni vigumu kupata vibali vya ruhusa ya kusafiria nchi za mbali. Mtu unanyimwa viza bila  hata ya kuwa na hatia yoyote, seuze tutakapounganishwa katika orodha ya nchi zinazosaidia au kushirikiana na magaidi?

Tafadhali, tusijefikishwa huko kubaya wafanyabiashara wetu wakashindwa kusafiri nchi za ng'ambo. Tutaendelea kubaki kuwa Taifa la wapokea vya nje tu, na inafahamika vyema kuwa nchi yoyote inayopokea zaidi ya kutoa kibiashara, uchumi wake huzorota marafudu.

Chondechonde jama, mtoeni huyu bwana arudi zake kwao huko alikotoka asijetusababishia mabalaa zaidi ya tuliyonayo.

Habari zaidi zisome katika: BBC na FOX News

Google has released it's Nexus One mobile phone, see demo here, and these are the features:

Display:3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixels, 100,000:1 typical contrast ratio, 1ms typical response rate

Camera & Flash: 5 megapixels, Autofocus from 6cm to infinity, 2X digital zoom, LED flash, User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver, Video captured at 720x480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions

Cellular & Wireless: MTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900), HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps, GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, A2DP stereo Bluetooth

Power and battery: Removable 1400 mAH battery, Charges at 480mA from USB, at 980mA from supplied charger, Talk time Up to 10 hours on 2G, Up to 7 hours on 3G Standby time Up to 290 hours on 2G Up to 250 hours on 3G Internet use Up to 5 hours on 3G, Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi Video playbackUp to 7 hoursAudio playbackUp to 20 hours

Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz

Operating system: Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)

Capacity: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM, 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Location: Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver,  Digital compass, Accelerometer, Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning

For Buttons, connectors and controls please click on the photos and read below the image.

Graphics, video and audio
Image: JPEG (encode and decode), GIF, PNG, BMP

Video: H.263 (encode and decode) MPEG-4 SP (encode and decode) H.264 AVC (decode) Audio encodersAMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz

Audio decoders: AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1 (AAC+), HE-AACv2 (enhanced AAC+) Mono/Stereo standard bit rates up to 160 kbps and sampling rates from 8 to 48kHz, AMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz, AMR-WB 9 rates from 6.60 kbit/s to 23.85 kbit/s sampled @ 16kHz., MP3 Mono/Stereo 8-320Kbps constant (CBR) or variable bit-rate (VBR), MIDI SMF (Type 0 and 1), DLS Version 1 and 2, XMF/Mobile XMF, RTTTL/RTX, OTA, iMelody, Ogg Vorbis, WAVE (8-bit and 16-bit PCM)

For additional features and Language support see this link: www.google.com/phone

Click on the photos to enlarge for a better view.

The wives:
Thobeka Mabhija - married, January 2010
Nompumelelo Ntuli - married, January 2008
Sizakele Khumalo - married, 1973
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - divorced, 1998
Kate Mantsho Zuma - died, 2000

Following the continuous attack directed to the US such as the attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit and the Christmas Day bombing plot, the USA Officials have said that, countries whose citizens (or at least people carrying passports from such countries) and those taking flights that originated or passed through any of them, will face more intense screening at airports worldwide in their trip destined to the United States of America.

Not that it matters that some of these people have been living outside the listed countries for a lengthy period of time, as long as they hold a passport from any of the country under watch, they will have to undergo full-body pat downs. They will also face extra scrutiny of their carry-on bags and in countries that have more advanced screening equipment, those people will pass through whole-body scanners that can look beneath clothing to detect any hidden or suspicious terrorist material.

The USA list of "state sponsors of terrorism" and/or "countries of interest" includes, but not limited to:

1. Pakistan
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Nigeria
4. Cuba
5. Iran
6. Sudan
7. Syria
8. Afghanistan
9. Algeria
10. Lebanon
11. Libya
12. Iraq
13. Somalia
14. Yemen

I just liked this article and thought I should share it with you. Please find the email address of the writer at the end of the article should you want a chit-chat or for some more info on what else transpired during their course of stay in Tanzania or an opinion on what you might need to improve on, especially if you an employer or employee in the tourism and hospitality industry. We learn from the mistakes and take constructive criticism positively in order to advance. We should stop being too defensive especially when there is some truth in the story.
 
By RASNA WARAH, December 27 2009
THE GENERAL CONSENSUS is that unlike Tanzanians, Kenyans tend to be a brash, crude and arrogant lot who don’t care much for niceties or politeness.

It is a stereotype that has stuck, even though, in my opinion, most ordinary Kenyans are generally quite polite and have a high tolerance for bad behaviour, which means they don’t lash out or fight back when treated badly. The other stereotype is that Kenyans are always in a hurry and will never lose an opportunity to make a quick buck.

This go-getting attitude has often been confused with greed. But after visiting Tanzania, I am beginning to wonder if it is not precisely this attitude that has kept the Kenyan economy going even in the worst of times. And nowhere is this more evident than in the hospitality industry.

Like Kenya, Tanzania is blessed with physical beauty, ample wildlife and sandy beaches. In terms of tourism, it is Kenya’s closest rival after South Africa. But in terms of human resources, particularly in the hospitality and services industries, it lags way behind Kenya.

My own experience during a short visit to Dar es Salaam was enough to convince me that Kenyan hotels need not fear competition from Tanzania because they manage to do one critical thing right — they train their staff to respond to a clients’ needs.

In Dar es Salaam, I could barely get the attention of the receptionist at the front desk of the hotel, nor could I expect things that I take for granted in Kenyan hotels, such as room service. At first I thought it was because I did not use the magic word “Naomba” often enough. But repeated use of the word did not yield results.

On its Website, the hotel claimed to be four-star, but the only four-star thing about it was the clean, crispy bed sheets and the bathtub. The owner clearly had big ambitions, but failed on the small details.

For instance, there was no bedside lamp for reading in the room and the TV had only one international channel. In the dining area, there were too few waiters, and it was almost impossible to get their attention.

Quite often it was difficult to predict exactly when dinner would be served as it varied from any time between 7 and 9pm. This was extremely frustrating for the clients with small children.

The décor and design of the hotel also left a lot to be desired. The swimming pool area, for instance, was stripped of all trees, which made swimming unpleasant as the water heated up to almost 30 degrees in the blazing sun.

MY SWEDISH COLLEAGUES WHO were staying in the same hotel were even more frustrated. A few of them almost missed their ferry to Zanzibar because the taxi-driver booked the day before arrived an hour later than expected.

Do I sound like an arrogant self-righteous Kenyan? Maybe. But I highlight these shortcomings, not because I want to feel smug about Kenya, but because I think Tanzania is going to lose a lot of tourism revenue if it continues like this.

We can’t entirely blame Tanzanians for the state of their hospitality industry. Until the early 1990s, the country operated like most socialist states with a heavily subsidised and centralised systems that left little room for risk-taking and innovation. This meant that a civil service mentality pervaded all industries.

When the economy was liberalised, it was not accompanied by human resources development. People were not trained to compete in the free market system. For instance, Tanzania has no training college for hotel staff. There is no Utalii College, as in Kenya, that churns out chefs, waiters, receptionists or housekeepers.

Moreover, the Tanzanian economy is heavily donor-dependant, which has created its own problems. I was told, for instance, that the Tanzanian participants in the conference I was attending expected to receive a daily allowance simply for being there. This would be unheard of in Kenya, especially if the conference is among peers belonging to the same profession.

Donor dependence has created a citizenry that looks to foreigners to solve their problems. It has also stifled entrepreneurship and hindered economic development.

Perhaps in the spirit of the East African Community (and the future political federation), Kenya could offer Tanzania a helping hand through training of people working within the hospitality industry or via exchange programmes between hotels in both countries.

In return, Tanzanians could instil in Kenyans a sense of solidarity or Utu. God knows, Kenya could use a dose of kindness and co-operation right now.

rasna.warah@gmail.com

Mvua kubwa zilizoendelea kunyesha katika kipindi cha kabla, wakati na baada ya sikukuu ya Krismasi zimesababisha maafa katika maeneo mbalimbali na kuwaacha baadi ya watu bila ya makazi maalum katika jamii nchini Kenya na Tanzania kama inavyoonekana katika picha.

Picha zote za maafa nchini Kenya ni mali ya gazeti tando la The East African.

Picha za maafa ya mvua nchini Tanzania unaweza kuziona kupitia blogu  ya kaka Issa Michuzi kwa kubofya HAPA (Kilosa - Morogoro) na HAPA (Hedaru - Kilimanjaro).

Xinhua News Reports that

Positive A/H1N1 flue cases in Tanzania have reached 737 since the first case was reported in early July this year, Tanzanian senior medical official said. Out of the above cases, 45 are fresh and quarantined at a special camp in Mwanza Region in northwest Tanzania, the Tanzanian Sunday News quoted Chief Medical Officer Deogratius Mtasiwa as saying.

Mtasiwa said the fresh patients are all inmates at Butimba Prison, who are under close monitoring and medical care.

The latest development has come hardly a month after the disease broke out in Kwimba District also in Mwanza last month where 40 patients were quarantined, following the reports in which142 people were suspected of being infected.

Following the dangerous situation in the area, the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has taken several measures to contain the situation, including the closure of Ilula Primary School in Kwimba District where some students and teachers got infected, the chief medical officer said.

He added that the situation is back to normal in Kwimba and that the inmates at Butimba prison are not at risk of further infections following the quarantining of the positive cases.

"All is well now in Kwimba and in Butimba. We have managed to place other inmates out of harm's way. All other parts of the country are, at the moment, free from the epidemic," he said.

Sufficient stocks of medicine have been distributed by the Tanzanian government to health centers to prevent further spread of the disease, according to Mtasiwa.