Rival protesters face off in gritty Hong Kong neighborhood

"Rival protesters face off in gritty Hong Kong neighborhood" - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0HN03Q20141004

Kenya Chief Justice Dr.Willy Mutunga In Trouble

I don’t think Willy Mutunga knew what he was getting into when he packed his personal belongings and left his cushy offices at the Ford Foundation in Nairobi early in 2011 to join the Judiciary as Chief Justice and President of the Kenya Supreme Court. If he thought by leaving a relatively safe job at an international Non-Governmental Organisation for the coveted position he would get an easy ride, he must now be having different thoughts. Dr. Mutunga joined the Government at a time when the dignity, the reputation and the respect for the third Branch of Government were at their lowest ebb. Kenyans had lost confidence in the Judiciary. The morale of judges and magistrates was zero. Corruption and nepotism were rampant. Hundreds of cases were pending, and prisoners were languishing in remand prisons because there were no judges to conclude their cases. Bottom line: the Judiciary was no longer a place where citizens could go to find justice. Enter Dr. Willy Mutunga, a political activist, human rights lawyer, pro-democracy crusader and an intellectual per excellence. Conformists took one glimpse at him and saw a stud on his left ear and they went beserk. But Mutunga’s academic and social credentials carried the day. He impressed the majority of Kenyans and received thumbs-up from the international community. Finally, and for the first time, the country had a real reformer at the helm of the Judiciary. That was then. Today, the Chief Justice is so mired in controversies that Kenyans may want to take another look at the man who was detained for almost a year by President Daniel Arap Moi for agitating for political reforms. Soon after taking over, Dr. Mutunga issued a well-documented road map that was to yank the department from years of inertia, ignominy and compunction. But two years down the line, his comprehensive reforms and anti-corruption agenda appear bogged down in mud. From the controversial vetting of judges, to the dispute over the presidential petition ruling, to the Gladys Shollei affair, to claims of death threats made by the Chief Justice himself, things have, as someone once said, become elephant for the soft-spoken former law professor. What all these events prove is that the office of the Chief Justice is hot, and requires a dose of tact, a bucket of diplomacy and a tonne of guts for its occupier to stay sane. At one time when Mutunga was under siege, he took to the social media to make his views known, but he was quickly reminded that his position called for a better method of communication. Considering his age, at 67, Mutunga has a few more years before he retires at 70 years old. That means three more years of hard knocks, controversies, abuses and humiliation. Mutunga’s latest battle with the judges over office space is likely to lead to a showdown that could disrupt the activities of the Judiciary. Appelant judges have refused to move to their new offices at Upper Hill claiming they would be in danger of radiation from nearby communication masts. Although the Commnication Commission of Kenya has said the premises are safe, some judges have reportedly threatened to resign if Mutunga insisted on their relocation. He will need Solomonic wisdom to deal with this one. The Chief Justice is currently on a tour abroad. When he returns another fight will be waiting for him, this time from the floor of the National Assembly. A Member of Parliament has asked the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to summon the Judicial Service Commission to question its members about Mutunga’s current overseas trip. The MP is questioning not only the rationale of Mutunga and two of his top officials being away at the same time, but he wants Parliament to get answers about his alleged frequent visits overseas. Ndung’u Gethenji, the MP for Tetu cites the present office space stalemate and the issues surrounding the Chief Registrar who was briefly suspended and then recalled to duty by the JSC over matters of precurement, as some of the reasons that should have kept the Chief Justice at home. The Shollei issue is not over A lot more is on the way. Constitutionally, it would be difficult for a committee of the House to summon the JSC to explain anything. The Judiciary and Parliament are parallel bodies with independent powers. The JSC has refused to appear once before, and I see no indication that it will offer itself this time around. And that is my say.

Deputy President Ruto's Ksh.100M jet report delayed

The office of the Auditor General is yet to complete investigations into the government’s controversial leasing of a jet for the Deputy President William Ruto during his West African tour in May this year, on grounds of technicalities. The Auditor General once again failed to give satisfactory reasons for the delay and failure to beat the three week deadline issued by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.

Tunisian Education Minister resigns,pressure on government grows

Tunisian Education Minister Salem Labyedh has resigned, the prime minister's spokesman said on Wednesday, as pressure mounted on the Islamist-led government to step down. Protests against the moderate Islamist Ennahda party intensified after last week's killing of a leftist politician, the second to be slain in six months, disrupting a political transition that began when Tunisians toppled an autocratic leader in 2011. Opposition parties, the largest labor union and the secular Ettakatol party, the ruling Ennahda party's junior coalition partner, have all demanded the government's departure. Labyedh, a secular independent, had said he was considering resigning after fellow leftist Mohamed Brahmi was shot dead on Thursday in an assassination the government has pinned on hardline Salafi Islamists. The opposition blames Ennahda. The minister of culture, Mehdi Mabrouk, also told local media he was hoping to convince all ministers to resign. "I hope to see the resignation of all members of the government in the coming days," he told the local Shems radio station. "I hope these will be the last days I spend as the minister of culture." While politicians feud, the army is struggling to contain Islamist militants, who killed eight soldiers on Monday in a mountainous region near the Algerian border in one of the bloodiest attacks on Tunisian troops in decades. A small roadside bomb exploded on Wednesday south of the capital as a police patrol passed, but no injuries or damage were reported. Last Saturday, the day of Brahmi's funeral, the capital Tunis was hit by its first car bomb, but again no one was hurt. "We are facing two choices. Either we confront terrorism together, or we will distract the army and security forces with political battles that are much less dangerous than terrorism," Noureddine Bhiri, the prime minister's spokesman, told a news conference. Ennahda has softened its rejection of opposition demands in the face of increasing pressure. It said on Tuesday it was open to the possibility of a new government, but has firmly rejected the opposition's demands that the transitional Constituent Assembly also be disbanded. The body is just weeks away from completing a draft of a new constitution to be put to a popular referendum. Prime Minister Ali Larayedh will meet the head of the powerful Tunisian General Labor Union on Thursday to discuss the political crisis and a new initiative to deal with the situation, the prime minister's office said. The 600,000-strong union is calling for a compromise that would remove the current government and put a technocratic government in place, but would not dissolve the Assembly.

Egypt says to 'put and end' to Muslim Brotherhood vigils.

Egypt's new rulers declared two Cairo vigils by supporters of the deposed president threats to national security on Wednesday and instructed the interior ministry to "put an end" to them. Thousands of supporters of the Islamist Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood have been staging sit-ins at two locations in the Egyptian capital for the past month, protesting against his overthrow by the army on July 3. The Brotherhood says its supporters will stay put until Mursi is reinstated. At least 80 of them were shot dead by security forces at dawn on Saturday in the second mass killing of Mursi supporters since his overthrow. Wednesday's statement by the cabinet raised the specter of yet more bloodshed. In a televised statement, an interim cabinet installed by the military said the "terrorist acts" and traffic disruption stemming from the protests were no longer acceptable and "represent a threat to Egyptian national security". "The cabinet decided to begin taking all necessary measures to address these dangers and put an end to them, commissioning the interior minister to do all that is necessary regarding this matter within the framework of the constitution and the law," it said. Minutes before the statement, authorities said they had referred the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, and two other senior movement officials to a court on charges of inciting violence.

Israel,Palestinians deeply divided despite renewed peace talks

Israel and the Palestinians remain far apart over terms of any peace deal, officials from both sides made clear on Wednesday, a day after talks resumed in Washington for the first time in nearly three years. Israel's lead negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said the parties "need to build confidence" after what she called an encouraging start in Washington, and disputed a Palestinian demand to focus first on agreeing the frontiers of an independent state. "The goal is to end the conflict," Livni said on Israel Radio. "It cannot be ended merely by setting a border." Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is close to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, forecast "huge difficulties" for the talks begun after intense diplomacy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Abed Rabbo, speaking on Voice of Palestine radio, cited Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and said any further building there would scupper the negotiations. He was alluding to Israeli media reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cajoled far-right allies to back the talks by pledging to permit more settlement expansion. Kerry has said the negotiators will reconvene in August, aiming to achieve a "final status" deal within nine months. Previous peace talks collapsed in 2010 over settlement building in the West Bank, which Palestinians see as grabbing land they want for a state that would include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, all territories captured by Israel in 1967. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move never recognized internationally. Palestinians want it for their capital. Abed Rabbo said borders, which the Palestinians say must be based on pre-1967 war lines, were "the first issue that must be resolved", countering Israel's demand that all issues, including refugees and Jerusalem, should be tackled simultaneously. "Putting all the dishes on the table at once may be an attempt to undermine the process," Abed Rabbo said. Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid defined the ultimate goal of negotiations as the creation of a Palestinian state in "the majority" of the West Bank, but said Israel would keep three large settlement blocs there, as well as East Jerusalem. The Palestinians might eventually accept this "because they will have no choice", the centrist minister said. "What we are looking for is a fair divorce from the Palestinians, so that we can stand on one side of the border and they on the other." Decades of peace negotiations sponsored by the United States, Israel's main ally, have failed to resolve the conflict.

Family of Egypt's Mursi threaten legal action over 'abduction'.

The family of Egypt's ousted Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, said on Monday it would take legal action against the army for abducting him. Mursi has been held at an undisclosed military facility since the army deposed him on July 3 and suspended the constitution in the wake of huge street protests against his one-year rule. The army says Mursi is being held for his own safety. His detention and the arrests of numerous senior members of his Muslim Brotherhood have fuelled fears of a broad crackdown against a group banned during Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of autocratic rule, until he was toppled by street protests in 2011. "There is no legal or constitutional basis ... for detaining someone not accused of a crime for his own safety," Mursi's son, Osama, told a news conference. He said the family would take immediate legal action "inside Egypt and at an international level" against Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army commander and defense minister who played a central role in forcing Mursi from office. The Muslim Brotherhood accuses the army of orchestrating a coup that has triggered violent clashes and exposed deep fissures in the Arab world's most populous nation, a strategic hinge between the Middle East and North Africa. The Brotherhood says it has had no contact with Mursi since he was overthrown, and that it believes he has not had access to a lawyer. Osama said the family had also not been able to contact him and had no information on the state of his health or where he was being held. "WILL OF THE PEOPLE" He described Mursi's removal as "nothing less than the abduction of the will of the people and the entire nation". Mursi's supporters are maintaining a round-the-clock vigil in a Cairo suburb, now in its third week. They say they will stay put until Mursi is returned to office. A few thousand of his supporters protested outside the High Court in central Cairo on Monday. The military has installed an interim cabinet and promised a new election under a constitution now being amended to replace one drafted last year by a body dominated by Islamists and approved despite objections from Christians and liberals. Egypt's public prosecutor's office launched a criminal investigation against Mursi on July 13, saying it was examining complaints including spying and inciting violence. It did not specify who had filed the complaints. No formal charges have been announced. Mursi's daughter, Shaimaa, told the news conference that the family held the army responsible for his safety. Heba Morayef, Egypt director of Human Rights Watch, said that, without a detention order from the prosecutor's office, there were no grounds to hold Mursi without charge beyond a maximum 48 hours. "(Mursi's)arrest and that of his advisers is completely illegal," Morayef said. Gamal Abdel Salem, a doctor who spoke alongside the Mursi family, said Mursi suffered from diabetes, and that a doctors' union had asked for access to him