Canada: Ban Ki-Moon says Canada must do more on climate change

Ban Ki-moon, in an exclusive interview with CBC News, says Canada needs to stop stalling on setting climate change goals, and instead become "ambitious and visionary."

The UN Secretary General, while acknowledging the Stephen Harper government pledged $300 million dollars to the UN's Green Climate Fund that helps developing countries fight climate change, said there's more to be done by Canada at home.

Canada lost 10,000 jobs in November

After two straight months of large gains, Canada's economy lost more than 10,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate inched up to 6.6 per cent.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that there were 10,700 fewer jobs in November than there were a month earlier. The economy actually added more than 5,000 full-time jobs, but that was offset by a decline of 16,000 part-time positions.

USA: Club America put one foot in Apertura final

© Getty Images

Club America have taken a major step towards the final of the Mexican Torneo Apertura following a 3-0 triumph at 10-man Monterrey in the semi-final first leg.

Luis Mendoza but the visitors ahead after 32 minutes before Hiram Mier was sent off for the home side three minutes later.

USA: The exhausting task of being black in America

Do you know how exhausting it is to be black in America? Do you have any idea?

Do you know what it's like to be …

... followed in a store.

… "mistaken" for the help.

... petted like a dog because your hair is "interesting."

… told to "get over" the wholesale trade and trafficking of your ancestors?

I do.

And so do millions of other black Americans. Rich and poor. Uneducated and those with a Ph.D. Famous and anonymous.

USA: Eric Garner's Death Was 'Legal' in the United States. America Killed Him, Not Police.

I know good cops in Los Angeles. They're good people who risk their lives daily to protect other human beings. That being said, what happened to Eric Garner in New York could have easily taken place in Los Angeles. It could have happened to you as well, in your city, if you didn't "comply" with a police officer's demands. Our society has become one giant Stanford Prison Experiment for a reason.

Tanzania says no to common East African tourist visa scheme

By Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome,
eTN Africa Correspondent | Jan 19, 2014

Tanzania’s latest snub towards the Coalition of the Willing came late last week when officials called the recently launched common tourist Visa for Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya a ‘security risk’ and a threat to its economy, reasons immediately dismissed as laughable and a blatant attempt to discredit the fast tracking of a number of objectives, where the entire East African Community of five members failed to make progress over a number of years.

‘The Tanzanians have dragged their feet for too long, they are spoilers and just envious of the success of others where they have failed They are trying to dictate the pace of things or rather, throwing spanners in the works of increased cooperation’ blasted a regular source in Nairobi when the news broke of the rejection, while other cooler heads still tore into the reasons offered by Dar, though using more diplomatic language.

‘They only understand harsh measures’ said a source from Kigali before adding ‘When they slapped Rwandan trucks with high transit fees and we answered like with like by raising fees for Tanzanian transporters, they quickly rescinded their little scheme to extort us.

They behaved very uncivilized when they expelled thousands of people, many of them in fact Tanzanians, to Rwanda last year and stole a lot of these people’s property. Let 2014 be the year when they declare where they stand and either pull alongside the majority in the East African Community or else leave. The EAC is no place where those unwilling are holding everyone else back, it is no longer a place where the slowest and most reluctant can dictate the speed of things and it is no longer a place where anyone who wants out is kept by force’.

Meanwhile has a source from Arusha also commented on the rejection of the common Visa project by arguing: ‘Tanzania on her own is getting 50 dollar for each Visa they issue. Why now should they settle to get a much smaller part by sharing the 100 dollars with three other countries.

If those are happy to get only 30 for an entry instead of 50, that is ok for them but our tourist numbers have gone up and we expect more this year, so why let go of such important revenue. We Tanzanians pay through the nose when we need a Visa for Schengen [The European Union’s common Visa scheme] or the UK or the US so 50 dollars for them is even cheap. Admittedly we also have internal issues because Zanzibar may also start to claim get a share from a common Visa but in principle the main issue is the loss of revenue. I don’t think our officials really meant to highlight that there is a security risk when the first entry Visa is issued in Kigali or Entebbe for instance, that may have been a bit of a lapse’.

This latest spat is seen in some quarters as a continuation of the confrontational if not outright divisive developments of last year, when the formation of the Coalition of the Willing by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda ruffled Tanzania’s feathers after the three signed wide ranging cooperation agreements for a common customs clearance pact, to be undertaken at the port of Mombasa, agreed on the Common Tourist Visa and the use of ID cards for citizens to cross borders and launched a new standard gauge railway system which will connect Mombasa with Uganda and Rwanda, leaving out Tanzania – by choice – and Burundi – reportedly as a result of intense diplomatic and economic pressure brought to bear by Tanzania on them.

A Ugandan regular source, who participated in the some of the meetings to introduce the common Visa for Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, added his own voice when saying: ‘It is not correct to say that the three are closing out Tanzania and Burundi. In fact the door is open for them to come on board. In all the meetings it was made clear that the two are part and parcel of the EAC and therefore no one should antagonize the two partners. They might not be ready to join now but can join when they are ready’. However that plays out in 2014, as with many other cases time will tell which way the EAC is heading and how successful the CoW will be in actually implementing their fast tracked projects, as political declarations – from experience – are never quite the same as what is happening on the ground.

Top 16 Social Network Sites

1 | Facebook

2 | Twitter

3 | LinkedIn

4 | Google Plus+

5 | Pinterest

6 | Tumblr

7 | Flickr

8 | VK

9 | Instagram

10 | DeviantArt

11 | MySpace

12 | CafeMom

13 | Tagged

14 | Meetup

15 | LiveJournal

16 l Umugenzi