Security beefed as Heads of State meet in Nairobi for Africa peace summit

Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya will Tuesday host a one day Africa Union Peace and Security Council Summit on Terrorism, to be attended by a number of Heads of State and Government from the continent. Six presidents have already arrived Nairobi for the meeting. These include Presidents of Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Prime Ministers of Namibia and Algeria will lead their countries’ delagations as will Burundi First Vice President. Security is tight in Nairobi as the meeting gets underway. The group had expressed deep concern over the continued threat posed by terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Sahelo-Saharan region, the Horn of Africa, including in Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, as well as in the Central African region with the attacks carried by the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The meeting is expected to agree on concrete steps meant to enhance the ongoing efforts to effectively address the threat of terrorism, including the early ratification and domestication of the relevant AU and international instruments.
The summit will also seek ways of mobilising for additional support to Africa’s efforts and the enhancement of international coordination and collaboration in the war against terror. It is also expected that during the meeting, regional leaders will agree on practical steps to enhance the implementation of the AU counter-terrorism framework at national, regional and continental levels. The summit comes at a time when radicalism, extremism and terrorism are on the rise in the continent.

Kenyans in the UK are trooping back home

An interesting phenomenon is taking place in Britain — many Kenyans are packing their bags to return home. Decades ago, when Britain was a land of opportunity, everyone took a flight to London and to enjoy a share of the UK’s cake but times have changed. The slow economic recovery in Britain has left many foreigners and Britons out in the cold. The cost of living has escalated four times than wages. The threat of job losses hangs over them. The rapid rise in poverty levels is giving rise to fears of a social crisis. A shock report by the food giant Kellogg reveals that hard-up families cannot feed their children properly.
POOR PARENTS One in eight school children are going hungry during the current six-week school holidays as poor parents, who depend on state-funded free school meals, cannot afford food. Children are not the only ones suffering. Their elders are as well. Poverty is rising rapidly. There has been a 600 per cent increase in food banks and the government has authorised over one million Britons to get free meals. Severe budget cuts have hit the National Health Service forcing patients to wait 14 weeks for medical care as austerity measures bite. Only the wealthy have escaped these problems. JOB LOSSES Some Kenyans are well-off but most are not. They are bearing the brunt of financial cutbacks, deteriorating social services, job losses and business failures. It is no surprise that many  are planning to return to Kenya to look for new opportunities. Take for instance businessman Joe Mwai. After being in the UK for two decades, he finally voted with his feet and left to set up home in Kenya. He could have stayed on but chose to return and happily calls himself a “returnee.” He has spent the past few years trying to find his footing in Nairobi, but shuttles between Britain and Kenya as his family is still here.

Meet the man born with his head upside-down

Monte Santo, Brazil: A man born with physical disabilities so severe his head is upside-down has defied the odds to become an inspirational public speaker. Claudio Vieira de Oliveira, 37, was born with his neck is folded back on itself, as well as badly deformed legs and almost no use of his arms and hands. Doctors told his mother to stop feeding him as a newborn as they believed he had no chance of survival. But Claudio from Monte Santo, Brazil, has overcome his extreme disadvantages to graduate as an accountant and become a public speaker. Claudio said: "Since I was a child I've always liked to keep myself busy and work - I don't like to depend totally on other people. "I do a bit of accounting, research for clients and consulting.
"I have learned to turn on the TV, pick up my cell phone, turn on the radio, use the internet, my computer - I do it all by myself." Claudio types with a pen held in his mouth, operates phones and a computer mouse with his lips and has specially made shoes that allow him to move around town.
His determined independence saw him succeeding at school and qualifying as an accountant from the State University of Feira de Santana. When Claudio was born, doctors told his mother Maria Jose he would not be able to survive. Maria Jose said: "People started saying 'the baby is going to die' because he could barely breathe when he was born. "Some people would say: 'Don't feed him, he is already dying'
"But there's only happiness now. Claudio is just like any other person - that's how he was raised in this house. "We never tried to fix him and always wanted him to do the normal things everyone else does. "That's why he is so confident. He is not ashamed of walking around in the street - he sings and he dances." At eight years old, Claudio, who had previously been carried everywhere, began to walk on his knees. His family had to change the floor of the house so he could walk around without injuring himself. Claudio's bed, plugs and lights had to be made lower so that he could do things for himself without asking for help.

IT IS A FACT - NETWORK MARKETING IN BUSINESS AVIATION IS THE XXl CENTURY TREND

Yes, the industrial era has gone. The information era is now ruling at Mach 1 speed, and you are making it to happen. Whether you are selling or buying aircraft, spare parts, involved in airframe and power plant engineering or other aviation-related avenue, there is something marvelous in the teams composed by people full of enthusiasm: the eagerness of feeling that you are constructing history through high speed communication, the fabulous atmosphere of anticipation, and the cohesiveness of collaborators who gather efforts to meet the same objective. People have to experience it to know how it feels. As a network marketing entrepreneur you need to know fast what works, what doesn't work, and why. Your focus on keeping all the arcs in green will give you the freedom to be yourself.

SKYTEAMRTW- THREE BATTERIES IN THE BAG

Sometimes the smallest items can make the difference between working on the road and searching for a power outlet so you can keep working on the road. Many travelers, traveling for work or pleasure, are tied to their mobile phones or tablets to be in touch, but overlook a basic and inexpensive accessory … a small battery pack to keep their phone or tablet up and running.

For ‪#‎SkyTeamRTW‬ three batteries are constantly in the bag, brand tends to be less relevant than capacity. Yes, $10 pocket batteries are available to keep your mobile phone juiced while out and about, but the capacity of those batteries tends to often not be enough to even provide one single recharge to a phone, so before selecting a battery do some homework.

The three batteries on the road, keeping #SkyTeamRTW up and running all day, every day, as we bounce around the planet, are all capable of not only providing more than a single full charge to an iPhone 5, but also charging the iPad Mini.

For what people spend on their phones, their tablets, the accessories for their phones and tablets, it is surprising how many travelers overlook the simple and cost effective accessory of a battery than can allow them to keep wandering, keep working, keep enjoying their day rather than frequently taking a break from their day to find an electrical outlet to recharge.

The World moves quickly, why waste your precious time sitting down tethered to a wall so you can keep charging your adventures when you can stay powered up and keep enjoying your adventures?

Below is a photo of the Innergie battery and two Energizer batteries that keep the two iPhones and iPad Mini going as #SkyTeamRTW explores the world.

Happy Flying!

- @SkyTeamRTW

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US targets Al-Shabaab leader in Somalia air strike

MOGADISHU,

US forces have carried out air strikes against the leader of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab rebels, with casualties reported but uncertainty hanging over the fate of the main target, officials said Tuesday.

The Pentagon confirmed an "operation" was carried out on Monday against the hard-line militia, and that it was "assessing the results".

"The Americans carried out a major air strike targeting a gathering by senior Al-Shabaab officials, including their leader Abu-Zubayr," said Abdukadir Mohamed Nur, governor of southern Somalia's Lower Shabelle region.

Abu-Zubayr is the often-used name for Al-Shabaab supreme commander Ahmed Abdi Godane, listed by the US State Department as one of the world's eight top terror fugitives.

If confirmed, Godane's death would be a major blow for the Al-Shabaab.

Washington has carried out a series of drone missile strikes in the past, including attacks reportedly targeting Godane.

"We are assessing the results of the operation," Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.

$7 MILLION REWARD

Al-Shabaab refused to comment on reports Godane had been killed.

"Let the Americans say that they have killed Al-Shabaab's leader," a senior Al-Shabaab official told AFPon condition of anonymity.

"So far the Americans just gave us rumours."

The air strike comes days after African Union (AU) troops and government forces launched "Operation Indian Ocean", a major offensive aimed at seizing key ports from the Islamist rebels and cutting off one of their key sources of revenue — multimillion-dollar exports of charcoal.

"They were meeting to discuss about the current offensive in the region," Nur said. "There were casualties inflicted on the militants, but we don't have details so far."

Nur said the strike hit an Al-Shabaab hideout used as a training camp for suicide bombers in a remote village of the Lower Shabelle region, south of the capital Mogadishu — the seat of Somalia's internationally backed but fragile government.

Somali Foreign Minister Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh, speaking at an African Union summit meeting on terrorism in Nairobi, said the government was "still waiting for information" on the strike.

AMISOM

On Saturday the AU mission in Somalia, Amisom, said it had captured the town of Bulomarer, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of Mogadishu.

The town was the scene of an attempted raid by French commandos in January 2013 to free an intelligence agent being held hostage. The bid failed and resulted in the death of two members of the French special forces as well as the hostage.

Amisom and Somali government troops were also seen on roads towards Barawe, the last major port held by the Islamists.

US special forces in October launched an attack on a house in Barawe targeting a top Al-Shabaab commander but were fought off, with several US Navy SEALS believed to have been wounded.

Godane, 37, who reportedly trained in Afghanistan with the Taliban, took over the leadership of Al-Shabaab in 2008 after then chief Adan Hashi Ayro was killed by a US missile strike.

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has recognised Godane as the head of the "mujahedeen" in East Africa, although letters released after Osama bin Laden's death show the late Saudi Islamist leader had lower regard for the Somali's abilities.

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