TUMERUDI

Read More

respect 2 sauty byego

Read More

AUDIOS - PNC HARUDI KWA KASI AACHIA NGOMA MBILI KWA PAMOJA

Mkali katika gemu hapa Tanzania aliyewahi kutingisha na bado anaendelea kutingisha katika gemu la Bongo Flava mkali kutoka Mwanza PNC sasa amerudi tena kwa kasi na ngoma mbili kali akidhihirisha kwamba yeye ni msanii ambae hawezi kupotea na kipaji ni chake alichopewa…

festo and folly bliz

Read More

New Hit: Darasa Ft. Ditto - Weka Ngoma

Read More

Kaa Tayari kwa Ujio Mpya wa Msanii Nyemo "The Sound of Africa" ft B skills & Mabeste

Read More

Clinton amtumia Mandela heri ya kuzaliwa

Rais Mstaafu wa Marekani, Bill Clinton
BIG 4 MILL BY FESTO ERNESTY,

Johannesburg. Siku chache kabla ya kusherehekea siku yake ya kuzaliwa, Rais Mstaafu wa Afrika Kusini, Nelson Mandela, Rais Mstaafu wa Marekani, Bill Clinton, amemtumia salamu maalumu za kumtakia sherehe njema.

Clinton ambaye ni rafiki wa karibu na familia ya Mandela,  aliyeungana na Dalai Lama na Askofu wa nchi hiyo, Desmond Tutu, walituma  salamu kwa njia ya video kwa vyombo vya habari jana. Julai 18, Mandela anatarajiwa kutimiza miaka 95.

 Mandela, ambaye alilazwa hospitali ya magonjwa ya moyo tangu Juni 8 mwaka huu, anasumbuliwa na ugonjwa wa mapafu. Hata hivyo,  hali inatajwa kuwa siyo mbaya wala nzuri.

Maelfu ya Waafrika Kusini wamekuwa wakiomba usiku na mchana kuomba walau afikie miaka 95. 

Hali hiyo inajionyesha hasa kutokana na watu wengi kufika hospitalini kumtakia kheri, licha ya hali yake kuwa  mbaya.

“Ni taharuki tu hapa, sioni kama kuna hali ya kawaida,” alisema Irene Lambert, Mwalimu mwanafunzi kutoka Johannesburg.

Mwalimu huyo na mpenzi wake, walifika hospitalini hapo wakiwa na picha ya Mandela na kadi yenye ujumbe kwake na kusema: “Tumekuja na ujumbe huu kwa ajili ya Mandela, lakini tutawapa familia kwa kuwa yeye hawezi kuusoma.”

Read More

Kenya yaongoza kwa ufisadi

. 

Yaongoza kwa ufisadi kati ya nchi 107 ambako utafiti huo ulifanyika,jambo ambalo limewasikitisha waken

Kwa mujibu wa ripoti ya Shirika la Transparency International, Kenya imeshika nafasi ya nne kwa ufisadi ikiwa ni  miongoni mwa nchi 107 ambako utafiti huo ulifanyw.

Ripoti hiyo ilibaini kwamba Wakenya saba kati ya 10 waliohojiwa walisema wamewahi kutoa hongo maishani mwao ili waweze kupata huduma moja hadi nane kati ya zilizochunguzwa.

Kulingana na utafiti huo, maofisa wa polisi ndio waliopatikana kuwa mafisadi zaidi nchini wakifuatiwa na wabunge, vyama vya kisiasa, mahakama na wafanyakazi wa Serikali.

Wakenya wengi walisema vyombo vya habari, mashirika yasiyo ya kiserikali na taasisi za kidini hazina ufisadi mwingi.

Nchi fisadi zaidi duniani ni Sierra Leone ambako asilimia 84 ya watu waliohojiwa walikubali kwamba wametoa hongo. Sierra Leone inafuatwa na Liberia (asilimia 75) na Yemen (asilimia 74).

Nchi ambazo zilipatikana kuwa na ufisadi finyu ni Finland, Japan, Australia, Denmark, Uhispania, Canada, Ureno, Uruguay, Norway, New Zealand, Korea Kusini na Malaysia ambako watu zaidi ya 95 kati ya 100 waliohojiwa walisema hawajaona ufisadi wowote nchini mwao.

Katika eneo la Afrika Mashariki, Kenya ndiyo nchi fisadi zaidi ikifuatwa na Uganda (asilimia 61) na Tanzania (asilimia 56). Kulingana na utafiti huo ambao watu 114,000 walihojiwa, Rwanda ilipatikana kuwa na ufisadi mdogo zaidi katika eneo la Afrika Mashariki. Raia 13 pekee kati ya 100 wa nchi hiyo walikubali mwamba wametoa hongo. Ufisadi ulipatikana kukithiri zaidi barani Afrika. Baadhi ya nchi fisadi zaidi Afrika ni Zimbabwe, Msumbiji, Libya na Cameroon (zote zikiwa na asilimia 62) na Nigeria (asilimia 44).

Read More

Mghana alivyouawa kinyama Bagamoyo

 

Mbali na Marwa, ambaye amesoma kozi ya urubani, mshtakiwa mwingine katika kesi hiyo ni Peter Charles Mayalla, ambaye ni mshtakiwa wa pili katika kesi hiyo

Dar es Salaam. Salimu Mohamed Marwa (25) ni mshtakiwa wa kwanza katika kesi ya mauaji ya mfanyabiashara wa magari, raia wa Ghana, Jose ph Opong.

Mbali na Marwa, ambaye amesoma kozi ya urubani, mshtakiwa mwingine katika kesi hiyo ni Peter Charles Mayalla, ambaye ni mshtakiwa wa pili katika kesi hiyo.

Washtakiwa hawa hao, ambao wote ni wakazi wa Bagamoyo mkoani Pwani wanakabiliwa na kesi hiyo katika Mahakama Kuu Kanda ya Dar es Salaam, inayosikilizwa na Jaji Njengafibili Mwaikugile.

Wanadaiwa kuwa Septemba 10, 2010, walimuua kwa makusudi Opong, kwa kumkatakata sehemu mbalimbali za mwili, baada ya kumlewesha kwa dawa za kulevya na kisha kwenda kumzika katika msitu wa Kaole.

Awali Marwa, alitiwa mbaroni kwa tuhuma za kujipatia fedha kwa njia za udanganyifu, baada kukamatwa akiwa na nyaraka za magari ya marehemu Opong katika harakati za kuyauza magari hayo yaliyokuwa Bandarini.

Alikamatwa baada ya mke wa marehemu Opong kutoa taarifa Kituo Kikuu cha Polisi, Septemba 22, kuwa mumewe alikuwa hajaonekana tangu Septemba 9, na kwamba aliondoka kwenda kushughulikia magari yake yaliyokuwa bandarini.

Baada ya taarifa hizo, Polisi walitoa taarifa bandarini kuwa mtu yeyote atakayefika kutaka kutoa magari hayo asiruhusiwe, na Septemba 28, ndipo Salim alipokamatwa akiwa na nyaraka za magari hayo, mkataba wa mauziano na kitambulisho cha marehemu Opong.

Kwanza alipoulizwa kuhusu mahali alipozipata nyaraka hizo alisema kuwa ameuziwa na Joseph Opong, lakini alipoulizwa mahali alikokuwa Opong alijibu kuwa hajui na kwamba baada ya kuuziana, waliachana.

Kuhusu kitambulisho ambacho kilikuwa na jina la Opong lakini kikiwa na picha yake, alishindwa kueleza lolote.

Hivyo kesho yake Septemba 29, timu ya Upelelezi kutoka Polisi Kanda ya Dar es Salaam ikiongozwa na Inspekta (Mkaguzi wa Polisi), Saidi Mohamed Mwagara ilikwenda na mtuhumiwa nyumbani kwake Bagamoyo, kufanya ukaguzi ambao ungewezesha kubaini alikokuwa Opong.

Inspekta Mwagara alidai kuwa hata hivyo katika ukaguzi wao hawakuweza kupata kielelezo chochote cha kuwasaidia, na kwamba wakati wakiwa kwa mtuhumiwa huyo, alimtaka mtuhumiwa awaeleze ukweli kwa kuwa walikuwa wameshachoka
.

Alidai kuwa mshtakiwa huyo alisema naye ameshachoka kuzunguka na kwamba sasa anataka awaeleze ukweli, na ndipo akasema kuwa Opong tayari wameshamuua, na kwamba yuko tayari kwenda kuwaonyesha walikomzika.

Read More

Baghdad ft Chid Benz & Ney wa mitego - Waambie Nipo

 …

Read More

Comming Soon kutoka Endeless Fame Production

Read More

Hivi ndivyo Jay Z alivyosherekea uzinduzi wa Albam yake - Magna Carta Holy Grail

Adrienne Bailon…

A

Read More

BAUCHA HIVI KARIBUNI KUACHIA TRACK YAKE MPYA IITWAYO ZUM ZUM

Read More

QUEEN DARLEEN: KWENYE MAPENZI UBABE NAUWEKA PEMBENI

Mwanahawa Abdul ‘Queen Darleen’.

STAA wa muziki wa Bongo Fleva, Mwanahawa Abdul ‘Queen Darleen’ amesema pamoja na…

Read More

NEW AUDIO: WYNEM - "MWANAMBUZI"

Msanii anayekuja kwa kasi katika muziki wa Bongo Flava hapa nchini Tanzania, ambae pia amaeshafanya colabo na wasanii wakali katika gemu akiwemo Linex, Suma Mnazareth, Nick Maujanja na wengineo muite Wynem jina halisi anaitwa Mahamud Issa. Gemu la muziki wa kizazi…

Read More

FBI wakagua ofisi ya Kova kwa mbwa

 

. Ofisa mmoja wa Usalama wa Marekani (FBI), akiwa na mbwa jana aliingia Makao Makuu ya Polisi Kanda Maalumu ya Dar es Salaam na kufanya ukaguzi.

Tukio hilo lilitokea muda mfupi kabla ya msafara wa magari ya Marekani kupita yakitokea Ikulu kwenda Uwanja wa Ndege wa Julius Nyerere kumlaki Rais Barack Obama.

Polisi ambaye hakutaka kutajwa alisema ofisa huyo  aliingia na mbwa hadi maeneo ya mapokezi, lakini muda mfupi walitoka.

“Walikwenda moja kwa moja mapokezi wakafanya ukaguzi,  kisha wakatoka nje ya jengo na kama hiyo haitoshi, ofisa huyo akiwa na mbwa alikwenda sehemu ya kuegesha magari yenye kesi na yale ya kawaida na kuanza kufanya ukaguzi, baada ya hapo waliondoka,” alisema polisi huyo na kuongeza:

“Licha ya mimi kutokuwa na  cheo pale, lakini hili la kutukagua na mbwa, ni kama wametudhalilisha... sisi ndiyo tunaaminika kwa usalama, leo hii wanatukagua na mbwa. Tena Kituo Kikuu.”

Hata hivyo, usalama kwenye vituo vingi ikiwamo Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Juliusu Nyerere, vilikuwa chini ya usimamizi na uangalizi wa makachero wa Marekani.

Read More

Mandla: Mjukuu anayeinyima usingizi familia ya Mandela

Mjukuu wa Rais mstaafu wa Afrika Kusini, Nelson Mandela, Mandla Zwelivelile Mandel

Johannesburg. Mjukuu wa Rais mstaafu wa Afrika Kusini, Nelson Mandela, Mandla Zwelivelile Mandela ambaye ameibua mgogoro mkubwa katika familia ya shujaa huyo wa Afrika katika mzozo wa makaburi amekuwa na mlolongo wa visa katika maisha yake.

Visa hivyo kwa sehemu kubwa vinahusu maisha yake ya ndoa kwani ameoa na kuacha mara tatu huku akikabiliwa na kisa kingine cha kudaiwa kuuza haki za televisheni za kuonyesha mazishi ya Mzee Mandela.

Mandla ambaye jana aliamriwa na Mahakama kurejesha mabaki ya miili ya watoto watatu wa Mandela, alizaliwa mwaka 1974 na kwa sasa ni Chifu wa eneo la Mvezo. Ni msomi mwenye shahada ya kwanza ya siasa aliyoipata katika Chuo Kikuu cha Rhodes mwaka 2007.

Chifu huyo wa Kabila la Xhosa amekuwa na vituko vingi katika maisha yake. Mwaka 2009 alizua utata baada ya kuuza haki ya kutangaza mazishi ya Mandela atakapokufa kwenye kituo cha televisheni cha SABC kwa Rand 3 milioni (Sh481 milioni).

Hata hivyo, suala hilo lilifikishwa katika Mahakama Kuu ya Mthatha ambako hukumu ilitoka na alipewa siku 15 kutangaza kama kweli ameuza haki ya matangazo ya mazishi ya Mandela au akanushe taarifa hizo.

Taarifa zilisema kuwa kutokana na shinikizo la baadhi ya wanafamilia na mkazo wa hukumu ya Mahakama, Mandla alilazimika kukanusha kuuza haki ya matangazo ya mazishi ya Mandela kwa kituo kimoja cha televisheni.

Mandla ambaye ni mtoto wa Makgatho Mandela aliyefariki dunia mwaka 2005 baada ya kuugua maradhi yanayofanana na ya Ukimwi, alipata hadhi ya uchifu baada ya kifo cha baba yake mwaka 2007.

Mandela ambaye alikabidhiwa uchifu wa uongozi wa watu wa Kabila la Xhosa takriban miaka 70, ndiye aliyempendekeza Mandla kuchukua wadhifa huo. Alikabidhiwa wadhifa huo mwaka 2007 wakati huo akiwa na umri wa miaka 32. Majukumu yake yalikuwa kuongoza sherehe za kimila, kutatua matatizo ya ndani ya ukoo wao na kuwakilisha Kabila la Xhosa katika masuala ya kisiasa.

Kutokana na majukumu hayo, Mandla alichaguliwa kuwa mbunge mwaka 2009 kupitia Chama cha African National Congress (ANC). Mke wake wa kwanza ni Tando Mabuna-Mandela aliyemuoa mwaka 2004. Hata hivyo, mwaka 2009, mwanamke huyo aliomba talaka mahakamani akidai kuwa mumewe huyo ni mgumba.

Mke wa pili wa Mandla ni Anais Grimaud aliyezaliwa mwaka 1990 huko Reunion ambaye alibadili jina lake na kuitwa Nkosikazi Nobubele. Walioana Machi 2010 katika ndoa ya kimila.

Septemba 2011 alipata mtoto aliyepewa jina la Qheya II Zanethemba Mandela na alikaribishwa kwa Mandela kijijini Qunu kwa taratibu za kimila. Hata hivyo, Agosti mwaka 2012, Mandla alimkataa mtoto huyo akidai mkewe alikuwa ana uhusiano na kaka yake, kesi ilifika mahakamani na waliachana kutokana na sababu hiyo.

Mkewe wa tatu ni Nodiyala Mbali Makhathini ambaye walioana Desemba 24, 2011, lakini tayari amefungua kesi ya kudai talaka.

Read More

Michelle Obama: Acheni kufuatilia mavazi yangu

“Watu wanapaswa kuelewa, wake za marais nao hufanya mambo mazuri ya jamii na kazi yao siyo kubadili staili za nywele na mavazi tu,” Michelle Obama

Dar es Salaam. Michelle Obama na Laura Bush walikuwa kivutio jana kwenye Mkutano wa wake wa marais wa Afrika unaoendelea Dar es Salaam, pale walipoongelea kwa mzaha jinsi vyombo vya habari vinavyoshupalia kuandika kuhusu staili za nywele na  mavazi ya wake wa marais, huku vikiacha masuala ya msingi.

Mkutano huo uliofunguliwa jana na Rais Jakaya Kikwete, ni maalumu kwa ajili ya kusaidia wanawake wajasiriamali wa Afrika, unatarajiwa kumalizika leo
.

Wakizungumza kwenye mjadala ulioongozwa na Mwandishi wa Habari wa Marerkani, Cokie Roberts,  Michelle, ambaye ni mke wa Rais wa Marekani, Barack Obama, alisema alifurahia kupata nafasi ya kufanya majadiliano na Laura, ambaye ni mke wa Rais wa zamani wa Marekani.

“Ninampenda mwanamke huyu,” alisema Michelle kwa utani kama vile hamfahamu.  

“Sishangai sana maana tuko klabu moja nadhani,”  alijibu Laura kwa utani akiwa na maana kuwa,  wao wote wana uzoefu wa kuwa wake wa marais.

“Unajua tunaishi maisha ya shida, maana wenzetu wa habari wanaangalia zaidi staili za mavazi na nywele zetu badala ya kuangalia mambo ya msingi,” alisema Michelle.

 

 Alisema mwanzoni mwa mwaka huu, alibadili staili ya nywele lakini alishangaa jinsi suala hilo lilivyokuzwa na vyombo vya habari.

Read More

Pinda aisaliti kauli yake, aruhusu tena sherehe

Waziri Mkuu, Mizengo Pinda, 

Dodoma. Waziri Mkuu, Mizengo Pinda, amewaagiza Watanzania kuwa na uzalendo wa kuwaenzi na kuwakumbuka wenzao ambao wamefanya kazi  muda mrefu kwa kuthamini mchango wao.

Pinda alitoa kauli hiyo juzi katika viwanja vya Bunge, aliposhiriki hafla ya kuwaaga wafanyakazi waliostaafu utumishi na wale waliohamishwa kutoka Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu Tawala za Mikoa na Serikali za Mitaa (Tamisemi) kuanzia 2010.

Hata hivyo, Pinda alisema  yeye ndiye aliyemwagiza Waziri wa Tamisemi, Hawa Ghasia kuandaa hafla hiyo ili kuwatunuku zawadi na kula nao chakula pamoja na watumishi hao, ambao idadi yao ilikuwa 59 kutoka sehemu mbalimbali nchini. Hata hivyo walihudhuria 35.

Juzi ilikuwa ni siku ya pili mfululizo kwa Pinda kushirikia warsha katika viwanja hivyo, siku iliyotangulia alikuwa ameshiriki  sherehe kubwa iliyoandaliwa na Bunge kumwaga Spika Mstaafu ambaye pia ni Waziri wa Ushirikiano wa Afrika Mashariki, Samuel Sitta ambaye alitumikia nafasi ya Uspika kwa miaka mitano 2005/10.

 Sherehe ya juzi ambayo iliandaliwa kwa agizo la Pinda, inapingana na kauli na maagizo yake ambayo amekuwa akitoa kwa nyakati tofauti kwamba, makongamano na warsha zisizo na tija ni ufujaji fedha za umma.

“Mimi ndiye niliyeamua kufanya hivi na huu ni ubinadamu tu nikaona nimtume mama Ghasia afanye maandalizi hayo, lengo kuu la hapa ni kukaa pamoja na wenzetu na kuwaambia kuwa tunashukuru kwa kazi yenu nzuri na pia tunathamini michango yenu,” alisema Pinda.

Alisema huo ulikuwa ni mwanzo, lakini Tamisemi itakuwa ikifanya hivyo kila mwaka  kuwaaga watu wanaostaafu na wanaohamia wizara zingine.

Kuhusu wastaafu hao, alisema Serikali inapaswa kuwathamini na kutambua michango yao wakati wote kuliko kuwatelekeza kama ilivyo sasa.

Alisema kustaafu kwa mtu sio kwamba anakuwa amepungukiwa hekima na maarifa, bali ni utaratibu ukifika wakati fulani anatakiwa kupumzika.

Licha ya hilo,  aliwaagiza viongozi wa Tamisemi kuangalia uwezekano wa kuwasaidia watu wanaojiandaa kustaafu ili wajenge nyumba za kufikia na familia zao, kwani wengine humaliza muda  na kushindwa  kujenga. 

Tangu kuingia ateuliwe, Pinda amekuwa akipiga vita sherehe na ununuzi wa magari ya kifahari kwa madai kuwa, ni ubadhirifu wa fedha za umma.

Hatua hiyo inaonyesha ameanza kubariki fedha hizo kufanya sherehe.

Read More

DIMOND KTK SPORAN SHOW

diamond platinum with sporah

 da prezident aka sukari ya warembo mwenyewe anajiita  sugar

 with da crew

 WASAAAAAFI

HAWA NDIO MANIGAZ WA DIAMOND

Read More

BLOG YA NESTY BOY TWIST YAMNASA WEMA JINSI ALIVO JIPIGA TATOO

ni mtoto wema akiwa ktk harakati za kuamka.lakinBIG 4 MILLyamnasa jinsi alivo jipiga tatoooo

Read More

KATIKA BLOG YA NESTY BOY TWIST.DIAMOND AONESHA HADHARANI SIMU ZAKE ZA GARAMA

huyu  ndiye diamond mijisimu anayo tumia ni garama tupu .ni mamkwanja tuuuuuuuuuu yaliyo mjaaaa.BIG 4 MILL.0718718290.

Read More

Maelfu wajitokeza barabarani kumuaga Rais Obama

Rais Obama akiwaaga watanzania waliofika katika Uwanja wa ndege wa kimataifa wa Mwalimu Julius Nyerere jijini Dar es Salaam  

Dar es Salaam. Rais wa Marekani Barack Obama amehitimisha ziara yake ya Afrika mapema leo, kwa kutembelea mradi wa uzalishaji umeme wa Symbion Ubungo, jijini Dar es Salaam.

Katika hotuba yake Ubungo, Rais Obama alielezea jinsi mkakati wa serikali yake wa kuhakikisha Afrika inapata umeme utakavyoboresha maisha ya wakazi wa bara hili.

Mapema leo asubuhi, Rais Obama aliungana na Rais wa zamani wa Marekani George Bush kuweka shada la maua kuwakumbuka wahanga wa shambulizi la kigaidi la ubalozi wa Marekani mwaka 1998.

Katika ziara yake ya siku mbili iliyoanza jana nchini Tanzania, Rais Obama amesisitiza umuhimu wa kuboshesha mahusiano ya kibiashara kati ya Afrika na Marekani.

Wakati wa ziara yake, Obama aliahidi kutilia mkazo vipaumbele vinne vya Marekani kwa Tanzania.

Marekani itaisaidia serikali ya Kikwete kuboresha miradi mbalimbali ya umeme, miundombinu ya barabara, maji na programu za kielimu kwa  vijana kwa lengo la kuongeza ajira.

Jijini Dar es salama, Barabara za Ally Hassan Mwinyi, Mandela, Sam Nujoma na ile ya Morogoro zilifungwa kwa muda kuanzia majira ya saa tatu asubuhi huku maelfu ya wananchi wakitanda barabarani kwa lengo la kumuaga rais huyo
.

Mara baada ya kufika katika  uwanja wa Ndege Rais Obama na Mkewe walitumia  muda mfupi kuagana na mwenyeji wao Rais Kikwete na mkewe ikiwa ni pamoja na kuwaaga mamia ya viongozi waliofika uwanjani hapo.

Mikakati ya Marekani Afrika

Kiongozi huyo aliwasili Dar es Salaam jana mchana ikiwa ni nchi ya mwisho katika ziara yake barani Afrika ikitanguliwa na Senegal na Afrika Kusini
.

Akizungumza na waandishi wa habari pamoja na Rais Jakaya Kikwete Ikulu, Rais Obama alisema aliainisha mambo hayo wakati alipozungumza na mwenyeji wake huyo.

Alisema katika mazungumzo hayo, waligusia mradi wa mkubwa wa umeme uitwao Power Afrika wenye lengo la kuongeza kiwango cha umeme kinachozalishwa nchini na barani Afrika ili kupata umeme nafuu na wa uhakika utakaochagiza kuongeza uzalishaji na kukuza ajira.

Read More

REDDS MISS TEMEKE GROUP PHOTOS.

REDDS MISS TEMEKE GROUP PHOTOS.

 kutoka kushoto Margreth Olotu, Narietha Boniface, Latifa Mohamed, Mutesa George, Naima Ramadhan, Margreth Gerald, Mey Karume, Esther Muswa, Aksaritha Vedustus &Svtlona Nyameyo

Group photos Redds Miss Temeke 2013.BY FESTO ERNESTY THE OWNER OF BIG 4 MILL BLOG

Read More

KING PLATNUM TOGETHER WITH HIS BABY MAMA PENIIII KATIKA MNUKIO WA NDOA

So after all the guessing & rumors at last our boy Diamond Platnumz decides to give in and introduce us to his baby mama the beautiful VJ Penny. Via his facebook fan page he simply captioned the pic above by writing "#ssssshhhh.... #somewheredinnerwithHER #udotheguessing." The pic below appeared first with the captions saying it all. So ladies stay away cause he's already taken.  I'm so in love with this new couple in town! 

Too Busy..... Paper chasin wit Her ... #Money'z Evrytin.

Read More

Novak Djokovic performs on-court impression of Maria Sharapova - video

The amazing world of sport index

Previous |

The men's world No1, Novak Djokovic, risks the ire of Maria Sharapova's boyfriend when he does an impression of her tennis playing style at a warm-up tournament for Wimbledon. Djokovic spends a long time fiddling with his hair before mimicking Sharapova's trademark yelp as he serves the ball. Sharapova's boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov is Djokovic's opponent and appears to be amused

Read More

Primark backs safety drive in wake of Bangladesh factory disaster Retailer warns it may pull its clothing manufacturing operations out of Bangladesh if standards fail to improve

Primark backs safety drive in wake of Bangladesh factory disaster

Retailer warns it may pull its clothing manufacturing operations out of Bangladesh if standards fail to improve

• FESTOERNESTY@GMAIL.COM

The rubble of collapsed Rana Plaza garment factory building in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, earlier this year. Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP

Primark has warned that it could pull its clothes manufacturing operations out of Bangladesh if a safety drive fails to improve standards in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in April, which claimed 1,129 lives.
Primark is one of 50 brands, including Next and Zara, that have agreed to contribute up to $500,000 (£324,000) a year towards rigorous independent factory inspections and the installation of fire-safety measures under a five-year plan. The scheme will sit alongside the Bangladeshi government's new programme to improve safety.
"By signing up to the accord, we are all committing to at least maintaining the level of business we have in Bangladesh for five years. After that period, we will have to re-evaluate our position. We don't want to be in unsafe factories," said Katherine Kirk, Primark's ethical trading director.
Primark was one of around 40 brands producing clothes within Rana Plaza. The disaster highlighted the working conditions in Bangladesh's £13bn-a-year garment industry and the plight of millions of workers who are paid as little as £25 a month.
Rana Plaza was built on unstable ground using poor-quality materials, while two floors were added to a design that had been approved for six storeys only. Kirk said that Primark tried to safeguard the workers producing its clothing, but admitted that it had not carried out structural surveys of buildings. The firm keeps eight permanent staff in Bangladesh to monitor conditions in its factories, and works with local partners to train factory owners in safety. But Kirk said brands needed government support to ensure that safety laws were being enforced.
"When you look at the ethical audits that we are carrying out, the majority of what we are checking is that factories are meeting legal requirements. We would hope that governments are supporting an infrastructure that is monitoring those requirements as well," she said.
The Bangladeshi government has admitted it needs to recruit hundreds more factory inspectors. Just 51 inspectors issue factory operating licences in the country, which has more than 3,000 garment plants.

Read More

Iran: vote early, and vote often The election is not going to be boycotted by the opposition, and this can only be good news

A young girl holds a photograph of Saeed Jalili, Iran's lead nuclear negotiator and a candidate in the country's presidential election on 14 June. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

However far elections in Iran fail the basic test of being free and fair, they are not, paradoxically foregone conclusions. Last month, as hundreds registered to stand for the presidential election, everyone groaned as the two heavyweights who could have counterbalanced the overarching power of Iran's supreme leader, former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, either refused to run or were disqualified. Countering rumours that he was too old and thus unfit for the presidency, Rafsanjani revealed this week that the guardian council had been swayed in its deliberations by a senior security figure, reinforcing the notion that his exclusion was politically motivated. So much for the predictable.
But now for the opposite. Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, who many saw as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's preferred candidate, has performed terribly, particularly on his special subject – the handling of Iran's nuclear negotiations. It has come under fire from all sides – moderates and conservatives alike. Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric and former chief nuclear negotiator himself said it is great to have the uranium enrichment centrifuges spinning, providing that Iran keeps its economy spinning too. Ali Akbar Velayati, a conservative who advises Khamenei on foreign policy, also laid into Jalili during a television debate, saying that the art of diplomacy was to preserve Iran's nuclear rights, not to see sanctions increase. Jalili's star is falling, but under this system there are still five of the original eight who made it through the guardian council hurdle whom Ayatollah Khamenei would be comfortable with as president.
But that is not all. Iran's beleaguered reformists have thrown their weight behind Rouhani. To avoid splitting the vote , the other reformist candidate, Mohammad Reza Aref, withdrew on Monday in what appeared to be a coordinated plan. In addition, a consensus is now forming within what remains of the green movement, whose leaders are under house arrest, and among prisoners a no-vote or a spoiled vote is a vote for conservatism. They well remember that in 2005 more people did not vote than voted for the regime candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The election is not going to be boycotted by the opposition, and this can only be good news.
Elections are run by the ministry of interior, part of the government dominated by the outgoing president. He has become an opponent of those around Ayatollah Khamenei, although he has not attacked the supreme leader himself. All this points to a more freewheeling event on Friday than anyone could have imagined last month. The current conservative favourite is Tehran's mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. A further runoff vote would favour his side, but anything is still possible.
• This article was amended on 13 June 2013. The original misspelled "foregone" as "forgone".

Read More

Comment is free Iran: an opportunity to be seized This is about more than one man – the way he came to power matters, too

Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has come across as strongly critical of his country's current trajectory at home and abroad. Photograph: Corbis

Amid the storm clouds thickening and darkening over Syria, there was one shaft of sunlight at the weekend: the election of a moderate cleric as Iran's president. Whether it is because of the west's bungled intervention in Iraq, or simply the law of unintended consequences, Iran's influence has indisputably grown. Today its decisions affect Arab lives from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, from the Turkish border to the Gulf. Of all the options available to the US in trying to roll back this power – punitive sanctions, military confrontation or arming the Gulf states – negotiation is still the most attractive. In Hassan Rouhani, a partner for negotiation may have finally arrived.
This is about more than one man – the way he came to power matters, too. To take one small snapshot, Qom, a city full of clerics, voted for him, not against. To have Qom vote against the five regime candidates left in the race, defying the will of the guardian council who vetted them, sends a powerful signal in its own right. Mr Rouhani's warning that Iran's stand over nuclear fuel must not come at the cost of its economy plainly won the backing of a broad swath of Iranian opinion, transcending conservative and reformist camps. In 2009, Iran's nuclear policy was not centre stage of the election campaign; this weekend it was. This alone should put the ultra-conservative group around the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the defensive.
Mr Rouhani's victory also showed that the reformist camp had learned the lessons of the stolen election in 2009. The two reformist leaders backing him, Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, showed their hand for Mr Rouhani only at the eleventh hour. This took skill. Until then, the regime had no idea who really lay behind his candidacy. Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Khatami did not go for the most outspoken reformist in the race. By persuading Mohammad-Reza Aref to stand down, they showed the reformists could play Iranian politics. Since the crackdown which followed the election of 2009, they have lowered their expectations, deciding that small steps forwards are better than large steps backward.
The character of Iran's new president also matters. Unlike his confrontational predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Rouhani is a consensus builder. He is a seasoned diplomat who knows the west. Under him, Iran suspended enrichment and allowed international inspectors in. Full suspension of the uranium-spinning centrifuges is unlikely to be repeated, and the west must understand that much power still lies in the hands of Mr Khamenei and Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Mr Rouhani clearly represents an opportunity to unwind Iran's ticking nuclear clock. But the US and its allies must also learn important lessons from years of stalemate. The draconian sanctions need to be reversible: for Mr Rouhani to be able to make concessions, he must be able to go back to his people with tangible economic gains. Iran's sovereignty must be respected, including that which relates to properly monitored civil nuclear power, and it must also be engaged in a growing non-nuclear agenda, principally Syria.
The clearest indication of that came not from the wary G8 leaders assembled yesterday, but from Cairo. President Mohamed Morsi cut diplomatic relations with Damascus, while calling both for Hezbollah to leave Syria and for a no-fly zone. The man who tried and failed to convene a conference including Iran and Saudi Arabia was expressing his frustration with Shia-led attacks on Sunni Muslims. Before Sunni jihadis start flocking into Syria, Iran must realise what is at stake – and back down. Posing as a champion of the Shia is one thing; fighting a war with Sunni Arabs is another – and it is not a fight Iran will win.
Russia cannot be counted as an intermediary on Iran. Vladimir Putin has not got the strategic vision to do that in his current mood. Few other countries have got the clout. Thus it is only America which can engage Iran. If it does so, Barack Obama's prematurely outstretched hand might finally find a recipient.

Read More

The body of a female Big Brother winner becomes public property Being a lapsed Big Brother fan allows you to look at the show from the outside – and wonder about the real price the winners pay. Witness Josie Gibson and her ever-changing body

'The worst thing Josie Gibson could do now is stay happy. Something must change, otherwise we lose interest and her career in bodychange will end': Gibson entering the Big Brother house in June 2010. Photograph: Getty Images

And once more Big Brother rolls into town, with a strangled whimper and the small sad fart of a family pet on its final walk to the vet's. But in the same way that we suddenly understood the earth when we saw it from a distance, all blue and green, it's only now that I've stopped watching Big Brother that it's possible to see the shape of it. Specifically, the effect it has on the celebrities it produces, who went into the house as one thing and came out as quite another.
The last winner of note (the last winner before it slithered to Channel 5) was Bristol sales rep Josie Gibson in 2010, who was popular with viewers in part because she was so beautiful and at ease in her "comfortable size 16" skin. And then she emerged from the Big Brother house, and changed. As a female Big Brother winner, your life becomes your job. And your body becomes your life.
The September after Josie won Big Brother, the National Enquirer put her arse on the cover of its magazine. It was a paparazzi picture, taken from behind, of Josie in a bikini. That was how it started. These photos (first published in the Sun) led to her losing more than 6 stone and releasing a bestselling fitness DVD. It's through her column in Now magazine that we can follow the changes she's made to her body – the first cosmetic treatments she discussed were her dermal fillers, later her teeth. Soon after the Enquirer splash, she revealed that she had a stalker. "It started with a text: 'No wonder John James left you with your fat c**t vile body,'" she said, "and it got worse from there."
Her documented dieting and exercise continued – Josie Gibson's 30-Second Slim is the fourth-bestselling fitness DVD on Amazon; its cover, like Chantelle's Boot Camp Workout and Five-Step Fat Attack with Claire Richards from Steps (full title), shows before and after pictures in a neon bikini. When Josie dropped to a size 8 she told New! magazine: "I went to the National History Museum and [my boyfriend] Luke pointed out that my tits looked like a Neanderthal's. That's when I thought: 'He's right. I've got to do something about it.'" At the end of May she wrote: "I had my boob job last Thursday and am recovering at home… My biggest worry is that I will put on weight during my recovery period."
The terrible thing is that I feel complicit in the overhaul of her body. As a Big Brother fan, it was me and my co-watchers who propelled her to this odd non-place where your job is just teeth and air. Where, when the wound is fresh, you put your name to a sugary perfume. A smell that works as a half-metaphor about ambition and invisibility and how things run out.
Somebody told me about another ex-Big Brother contestant whose money comes now purely from pap pictures. A guest at her recent baby shower in a restaurant in central London, she watched the celebrity open her gifts in slow motion to allow the photographers outside the window to get convincing reaction shots.
What, I wonder, is the psychological effect of a job that requires you to simply continue existing? Unlike an athlete, for whom the body is a tool to win things with, a Big Brother winner's body is its own race track. So the worst thing Josie Gibson could do now is stay happy. Something must change – the boobs must rupture, she must get "too thin", her relationship must end and lead to comfort eating– otherwise we lose interest and her career in bodychange will end.
"My fitness DVD has sold over 120,000 copies and I've got plans for a second DVD next year, plus a fitness website and an app," said Gibson, now 28. "But if this all runs out," she added, "who will employ me?"

Read More

Chancellor Jeffrey Osborne: Barack Obama confuses George with soul star US president reportedly called George Osborne 'Jeffrey' three times during chancellor's G8 presentation on tax avoidance

The chancellor of the exchequer and the American R&B star - it's easy to get confused, isn't it?

As swingeing government cuts bite, critics may have questioned George Osborne's soul, but Barack Obama appears to have no such doubts about the chancellor.
During Osborne's briefing to G8 leaders on plans to cut down on tax avoidance, the US president reportedly called the him by the wrong name, later explaining that he had confused him with his favourite soul star, who shares a surname with the chancellor, if perhaps not much else.
While Osborne set out his proposals, Obama interjected three times with the intention of offering his support to "Jeffrey". After realising his mistake, according to the FT, he told the chancellor: "I'm sorry, man. I must have confused you with my favourite R&B singer."
The singer in question is the 65-year-old soul star Jeffrey Osborne, perhaps best known for his 1982 hit On the Wings of Love.
The chancellor George Osborne (left) and the US R&B star Jeffery Osborne. Photograph: Getty The American Osborne made a career out of his rich, expressive baritone. By contrast the British Osborne, son of the 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon in County Waterford, Ireland, was described as having "high-pitched vocal delivery" by senior Conservatives, according to the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables.
Whether the chancellor is a fan of the soul star is unclear, but one suspects the latter's 1988 hit She's on the Left, which topped the US R&B charts, might not be to his taste.

Read More

G8 summit: Cameron has misjudged by putting Syria on the agenda Discussing Syria is likely to result in discord between Russia and the west which could sour the atmosphere of the summit

British prime minister David Cameron and Russian president Vladimir Putin in London ahead of the G8 summit. Photograph: Aleksey Nikolskyi/Pool/EPA

For once a G8 summit has a good idea on the table. David Cameron's call for today's Ulster meeting to agree action against tax havens is original, sensible and needs international concord to push it through. Success would be a real triumph for him. A treaty will take time, but it is good to start now.
So why spoil it with Syria? Syria is a racing certainty to result in discord. It is bound to lead the west and Russia to squabble with each other. Disagreement has already erupted, even within the west's camp. Worst of all, Syria could only sour the atmosphere at the summit itself and reduce the chance of agreement elsewhere.
For Cameron to put Syria on the agenda was a sure-fire own goal. Russia's Vladimir Putin even did him the courtesy of passing through Downing Street yesterday to tell him so. Russia might be at blame for supporting Assad, an old and disreputable ally, in his time of need. But to Putin, Britain and America were supporting a bunch of rebellious – even cannibalistic – fanatics. As for America, Barack Obama has enough trouble with his tub-thumping arms suppliers back home without having Cameron screeching on about war.

Read More

Barack Obama describes Northern Ireland as 'blueprint' for peace

US President uses opening of G8 to deliver impassioned speech urging young Belfast listeners to 'face the future united'

•  

In his speech, Barack Obama noted it had been 15 years since the Good Friday agreement that paved the way for power sharing. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Barack Obama made an impassioned plea on Monday for the walls still dividing Belfast to come down, while describing the Northern Ireland peace process as a blueprint to end other conflicts around the world.
In an address made inside the Waterfront Hall, in Belfast, the US president urged his mainly young audience from a range of secondary schools in the city to break down the barriers that still divide Catholic from Protestant in the city.
Speaking before the formal opening of the G8 summit at the Lough Erne resort, in county Fermanagh, Obama argued it was up to individuals to decide whether "your communities deal with the past and face the future united, together," which, he added "isn't something you have to wait for someone else to do – that's a choice you have the power to make".
He said it was up to people to choose whether to act as good neighbours or let their children "play with kids who attend a different church", before making one last plea: "And whether you reach your own outstretched hand across dividing lines, across peace walls, to build trust in a spirit of respect – that's up to you."
Obama also singled out a community project in Alexandra Park, north Belfast, which has helped create a breach in one of the 30-plus barriers that for the last 20 years has separated a public park into Catholic and Protestant zones. Last year community activists on both sides of the divided park agreed to put a gate inside the wall which is opened during the day to allow the public access to the entire park. Community workers from either side of the line have a set of keys and close the gate at night.
Politicians who were once bitter enemies, like the Democratic Unionist MP Sammy Wilson and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, sat together in the hall, laughing and joking before his speech. They heard him praise them too, with the president noting that it had been 15 years since the Good Friday agreement that paved the way for power sharing at the devolved assembly.
"Understand how extraordinary that is. For years, few conflicts in the world seemed more intractable. And the world rejoiced in your achievement. Especially in America. Pubs from Chicago to Boston were scenes of revelry, folks celebrating the hard work of Hume, Trimble, Adams, Paisley, and so many others," Obama said.
Michelle Obama introduced her husband to the hall after 16-year-old Hannah Nelson read a poem for peace. The first lady said: "Wherever we go, no matter what's on our plate, we do our best to meet young people like you. You are the most important people we talk to on our visits because in just a couple of decades you will be the ones in charge. When I look around this room I just don't see a bunch of teeangers, but future world leaders."
Security was tight around the riverside venue and only one demonstrator picketed the event, holding up a poster stating: "Obama is the anti-Christ".
Inside the hall the reaction to the president was little more than rapturous. Euan Loughrey, 15, from St Malachy's College, in Belfast, had a copy of Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, hoping to get it signed.
"I loved that part of Michelle's speech when she reminded everyone that she and her husband came from nothing. That was a wonderful point to make and gives us all hope we can do anything," he said.
Later Obama and David Cameron visited an integrated primary school in Enniskillen where Protestant and Catholic pupils are taught together

Read More

UTALII TANZANIA: Viboko wa ajabu wasiojulikana kwa watalii

Viboko wakijidai majini 

Ni kilometa 123 kutoka Kilwa Masoko yalipo makao makuu ya Wilaya ya Kilwa. Katika wilaya hiyo kuna Kijiji cha Makangaga na kuna kivutio kizuri cha utalii kwa mfano viboko wa ajabu ambao wanatii amri mbalimbali.

Wakazi wa kijiji hicho chenye wakazi wapatao 1525 wanaotokana na makabila ya Wamwera, Wangindo, Wamakonde, na Wamachinga ambao wanalitumia eneo hilo kama kivutio cha utalii ambalo linachangia pato la wakazi wa eneo hilo mpaka taifa kutokana na watalii wa ndani na nje.

Viboko wa ajabu

Katika Kijiji cha Makangaga, kilometa tisa kutoka kijijini hapo, kuna Mto Nyange uliosheheni viboko wa ajabu ambao wana tabia ya ‘kucheka’ na kutii amri zinazotolewa, hakika ukifika unajua wamefundishwa, ni fursa nzuri ya utalii kama itatumiwa vyema.

Majira ya usiku viboko hao wanapenda kutembea kando ya maeneo yao kwa ajili ya kujipatia vyakula na sehemu kubwa wanakula majani na pia wana tabia za ziada.

Zaidi ya miaka 100 iliyopita mto huo uliotengeneza bwawa na haukuwa na kiboko hata mmoja, wakazi wa maeneo hayo walitumia bwawa hilo kwa shughuli za uvuvi na mahitaji ya maji kwa kazi za kawaida.

Mkazi wa eneo hilo Yahaya Selemani Engema anaeleza chanzo ni mkazi mmoja aliyetajwa kwa jina la Kimombo ambaye alikuwa mvuvi hodari kwenye bwawa hilo.

Lakini siku moja alipokwenda kuvua hakurejea na historia kuanzia hapo baada ya wananchi kuona kiboko mmoja kwenye bwawa hilo.

“Ndugu zake baada ya kusubiri kwa siku sita wakiamini atarejea, waliamua kwenda bwawani hapo kwa nia ya kumtafuta, walimwita kwa kutumia lugha ya kabila la Wamachinga, ajabu baada ya kutokea Kimombo kama walivyotarajia alitokea kiboko ambaye alicheka kama ishara ya kuitika, kutokana na hali hiyo ndugu wa familia ya mvuvi huyo waliamini ndugu yao alizama kwenye bwawa hilo na kubadilika kuwa kiboko ambao wanatabia ya kucheka,”anasema Omari Yanda mmoja wazee maarufu kijiini hapo.

Kila mwaka hivi sasa inakadiriwa kuwa wanafikia zaidi ya viboko 300, na kwamba wanatii amri ya ukoo wa Kimombo.

“Familia iliyoshikilia wanyama hao ni ya Kimombo wanarithishana kwa kuwa kiboko wa kwanza alitoka katika familia hiyo, wageni wanaofika kuwaona viboko hao huwaita viboko hao kwa kutumia jina la Kimombo ndipo viboko hao hujitokeza wakicheka,” anasema Yanda.

Miongoni mwa maajabu ya viboko hao ni kuwa wana uwezo wa kujitokeza pindi wanapohitajika kwa maana wakitakiwa wajitokeze wadogo wataibuka wadogo na wakitakiwa wajitokeze wazee watajitokeza wazee wote waliomo bwawani

Read More

Lisa Ho shuts up shop

Sydney designer famous for dressing stars such as Delta Goodrem and Jennifer Lopez suffers financial collapse

• BIG 4 MILL 0718718290

Models show off a Lisa Ho collection. Photograph: AAP

She’s a 31-year veteran of the Australian fashion industry, with a coveted regular spot on the runway at Australian fashion week, and an impressive celebrity following, but that was not enough to save designer Lisa Ho from financial collapse.
Sydney-based Ho, who started her career selling her wares at Paddington market, announced on Tuesday via her long-time publicist, Adam Worling, that the business, which includes standalone boutiques in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, an online store, exclusive distribution throughout David Jones and a dedicated bridal collection, would close its doors forever on 30 June.
The Lisa Ho Group reported a $2.4m loss last financial year and was put into administration last month. Administrators Barry Taylor and Todd Gamme of HLB Mann Judd, reportedly attempted to secure a private equity deal in a last-ditch effort to save the business but, despite “considerable interest” according to Worling, no sale resulted.
“It’s a very sad old day for her and a very busy one for me,” said Worling, head of AWPR, who shares a Surry Hills office building with Ho.
Ho was reportedly too upset to comment. She is known for her use of vivid prints, sharp tailoring and glamorous evening gowns and has created red-carpet designs for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Wynter and Delta Goodrem. She famously made the pink beaded dress Goodrem wore to the Arias in 2003 while undergoing cancer treatment.
Faced with burgeoning competition in the retail market – notably the arrival of international high street stores Zara and Top Shop, the online threat and the emergence of a new breed of Australian designers such as sass & bide and Josh Goot revered on the world stage – the Lisa Ho brand has been plagued by rumours of financial crisis for several years.
The first cracks started to show in 2009 when Smoucha Fabrics, owned by Ho’s then husband, Philip Smoucha, was placed into administration reportedly owing $26m to the St George bank. Quick to distance herself, Ho issued a statement saying her company operated as an “entirely separate” business. The couple however were forced to sell their Bellevue Hill home for considerably less than initial expectations of over $20m as well as their farm in the Southern Highlands. And in August 2011, it was noticed that Ho’s personal collection of antiques, vintage fashion and art – five containers’ worth, including a wall-mounted stag deer, a gilt Chanel chain bag and a rare Fendi bag – went under the hammer.
“Lisa Ho is an icon in the Australian market and it’s a real shame to see a brand with only a few stores, well-placed ones at that, not being able to generate the sales. I suspect it’s been coming for a while and you could argue is a combination of younger people migrating online and the state of the market,” said retail strategist Stephen Kulmar of Retail Oasis. He said that “no traditional retailer is travelling well right now” and added: “I suspect this is only the start of the casualties.”
Questioned as to whether Ho would re-emerge in some capacity, Worling’s response was that “he couldn’t say”.
Fans of the label seeking to snap up collectable pieces can now buy the current season, evening and bridal range at slashed prices in store and online until the final day of trading.

Read More

Richard Nieuwenhuizen: Dutch football and the death of a linesman

A memorial to Richard Nieuwenhuizen in the clubhouse at SC Buitenboys. All photographs: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

It is a bitterly cold evening in Almere, a sprawling city about 15 miles to the east of Amsterdam. A biting wind sweeps across the six pitches at SC Buitenboys, where boys and girls from a couple of junior teams, training under the floodlights, tear around with a ball at their feet, seemingly oblivious to the freezing conditions.
For a club run solely by volunteers and which started 27 years ago with a small wooden hut, it is an impressive setup. Almere, where the first house was built in 1976, is one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe, which helps to explain why Buitenboys has become so popular. These days they have 1,175 children and 225 adults playing across 110 teams. Annual membership costs between €200 and €255 and the only person on the payroll is the cleaner. Everyone else, including all four board members, works for free.
Richard Nieuwenhuizen was among those parents who liked to help out at the club. A popular, football-mad father of three, Nieuwenhuizen lived in Almere with his wife, Xandra, and their two youngest sons, Mykel, 15, and Alain, who recently turned 18. Jamie, the eldest son and a former coach at Buitenboys, lived nearby with his girlfriend.
Mykel played for one of Buitenboys' eight under-17 teams and his father enjoyed running the line in those matches, which was what he left home to do on 2 December for a fixture against Nieuw-Sloten, a club from Amsterdam. It was a normal Sunday morning; father and son heading off to football together. By the end of the day Nieuwenhuizen was fighting for his life. The 41-year-old collapsed three hours after he was brutally attacked by a group of Nieuw-Sloten players. The following evening he died.
Alongside 4,000 red roses next to the pitch where Nieuwenhuizen fell to the floor sits a banner with a tribute written by Richard's second son, Alain. It reads: "Dear Daddy, senseless it was, for sure. It will never be better. Once the wounds will heal. But we will never forget you. We will miss you."
"When the one minute's silence was done in the professional stadiums [the weekend after the incident], they showed that banner," Rob Mueller, Buitenboys' secretary, says. "Alain made it and we printed it so that they could take it with them on the silent march in Almere."
Mueller walks across to another artificial pitch, about 200 yards away, to show where Nieuwenhuizen was attacked at the end of the game between Buitenboys B3 and Nieuw-Sloten B1 (the B denotes it was an under-17 game and the number reflects the ranking of the team within that age group). The game finished 2-2, with Nieuw-Sloten coming back from two goals down. Those that were present recall a couple of incidents when Nieuw-Sloten players bickered among themselves during the game but say nothing happened to suggest there could be a flashpoint with Nieuwenhuizen after the final whistle.
Yet moments after the players started shaking hands with the three volunteer officials, Nieuwenhuizen was knocked to the floor, then punched and kicked in the head by several of the Nieuw-Sloten team. Parents immediately ran on to the pitch to try to defuse the situation and get some control. Nieuwenhuizen eventually got back to his feet but he was knocked to the floor for a second time. Witnesses report that one of the Nieuw-Sloten players then took off his shirt, presumably to make it harder for him to be identified, before kicking Nieuwenhuizen while he was on the ground and then running off. Mykel, Nieuwenhuizen's son, saw everything.
Although clearly badly shaken, Nieuwenhuizen was able to stand up. He said he did not wish to involve the police. He decided to go home and returned to Buitenboys later in the afternoon to watch another under-17 game, which kicked off at 2.45pm. Mueller, who was standing on the opposite side of the pitch, watching one of his two sons play, recalls looking across at about 3pm and seeing Nieuwenhuizen get out of the dugout where he had been sitting, stand up and then fall to the floor.
"We immediately called for an ambulance and they drove on the pitch and took him to the hospital in Almere," Mueller says. "I later went to see Richard. I said: 'Hi Rich, how are you doing?' He said: 'Hi Rob.' And he was very emotional. But at that stage, which was around 7pm, he still recognised me. I saw him once again at around 10pm, when he was still recognising me but he was getting worse. It became really bad so he had to be brought to another hospital, with a neurosurgeon specialist.
"In the meantime, we were called by the police to say that Mykel had to make a statement because he was a witness of the incident. So we took him to the police station to make his statement, but we said if we got one call from the hospital we would drive back. At 1am, we got the message from Richard's wife, Xandra, who said: 'It's not going OK, bring Mykel here.' So the police took him with sirens and lights on, I drove behind.
"We stayed there in the waiting room and at around 4am we came to see him once again. He was still in a kind of coma, didn't recognise anything any more, and that was the last time I saw him alive, knowing already that he would die within six, 12 or 18 hours, because they explained clearly what happened – the brain was deprived of oxygen.
"I went home at about 5am and tried to sleep for a couple of hours. By 9am, I had 71 unanswered phone calls and then the rollercoaster nightmare started. Press came here, television and radio, so we had a small discussion with the board, the president did the television and I did the radio, both knowing that Richard would die but we couldn't say it. At 5.30pm, we got the call to say that he had died. Then it was not only news in Holland, it was news all over the world. So a healthy guy, 41 years old, was kicked to death in a few seconds."

Read More

Boys and coaches in one of the changing rooms at SC Buitenboys Boys and coaches in one of the changing rooms at SC Buitenboys Nieuw-Sloten is a relatively new town, which was originally intended to be the site of the Olympic Village for the 1992 games only for Amsterdam to lose out to Barcelona. It has about 15,000 inhabitants and, according to Achmed Baadoud, the chairman of the council of the Amsterdam borough Nieuw-West, it is regarded as "one of the example areas of our district." Although the teenagers that were arrested played for Nieuw-Sloten, some of them lived in other parts of Nieuw-West, an area with a diverse ethnic mix and not without its problems. Baadoud, who was born in Morocco, says that parental responsibility is a big issue there. "We have a group of parents that when they come with their children [to football], you really don't want to have them there. And we have another group of parents, they don't come. They even don't know in which team their children are playing; they deliver them at the door and they drive away. There are people who don't even know the teacher of their son or the team leader of the club. There is a lot of work to be done." He will not, however, accept that the finger of blame can be pointed at one group of people. "It's very easy to scream and to say it's a Moroccan problem. On the other hand, I don't want to say we have no problems. I am very open and clear that we have to discuss. Families really need help and I'm trying to open their eyes. But if you stand outside and you scream it's a problem, it won't be solved and it might create another problem – people will feel: 'We are not welcome.'" One thing that just about everyone in the Netherlands seems agreed on is that the country has a major issue with parental behaviour at children's matches. There is even a television programme, Heibel langs de lijn (Trouble Along the Field), where children can ring up and ask for their parents to be secretly filmed. The footage is then shown back to the parents, who sit alongside their son or daughter and, generally, cringe with embarrassment when they see themselves behaving hysterically and barking at their offspring from the sidelines. Things got so bad in 2007 an organisation called Sire, which is funded by the media industry and tries to raise awareness of social issues in the country, ran adverts on television showing parents behaving badly while watching their child play football. There was a growing feeling in the Netherlands that parents had become preoccupied with seeing their child win, rather than having fun. The campaign slogan was: "Give children their game back." Four years later, realising things had got little better, Sire carried out further research and released two more adverts, this time showing parents having a bad week at work and then taking out their frustration on their children on a Saturday. A spectator was filmed asking the angry parent: "Hey, how bad was your week?" The slogan at the end said: "Leave Monday to Friday at home on Saturday." Buitenboys have had their own issues with parents. "Before the incident with Richard we were already discussing here, around the table, the question of whether we should organise a weekend of games without any parents because some of the parents are crazy," Mueller says. "They don't know how to behave. They shout and they make arguments to the linesman and the referee. I know for sure that if we had games here without parents, 90% of the incidents would disappear. "We have boys and girls playing here, they are five- and six-year-olds, so they just want to kick the ball, they don't even know what winning is, but even there you get the parents shouting. We try to say to the parents: 'That's the wrong behaviour, be enthusiastic, be positive.' They don't listen. And we don't have the time to continue to watch them." Van der Burg, who is speaking in his office at Amsterdam's City Hall, accepts that parents must take a large share of the blame but also believes that those at the top of the game could help to improve standards by being better role models. "It's more than only parents. I think that professional football gives a bad example," he says. "If you see European games, international games, matches in Dutch football and the UK, you see bad examples not only of the players but also of the coaches. And there it starts, because all of those little boys see their heroes misbehave and they think it's normal." He also has another interesting theory for the lack of respect shown to referees and other people in positions of authority in the Netherlands. "The way we talk to our prime minister – I shouldn't think we should have to call him 'your excellency', but in the Netherlands everyone says 'Mark' [even in talk shows]. Yet in France, it's Le President. In the United States, it's Mr President," Van der Burg says. "In the Netherlands we certainly say more to a policeman than in a lot of other countries, so when it comes to authority we don't have the same respect. And I think one of the things we have to get back is respect for authority. It was better at one time and we lost it to policemen, personnel of the ambulance, the fire department – we have had some incidents there as well. That makes it a bigger problem than football. But, on the other hand, when you compare football with other sports, and even when you correct it for the figures because there are many more football players than in other sports, it's much more of a problem in football in terms of the number of incidents.

Boys and coaches in one of the changing rooms at SC Buitenboys

Nieuw-Sloten is a relatively new town, which was originally intended to be the site of the Olympic Village for the 1992 games only for Amsterdam to lose out to Barcelona. It has about 15,000 inhabitants and, according to Achmed Baadoud, the chairman of the council of the Amsterdam borough Nieuw-West, it is regarded as "one of the example areas of our district."
Although the teenagers that were arrested played for Nieuw-Sloten, some of them lived in other parts of Nieuw-West, an area with a diverse ethnic mix and not without its problems. Baadoud, who was born in Morocco, says that parental responsibility is a big issue there. "We have a group of parents that when they come with their children [to football], you really don't want to have them there. And we have another group of parents, they don't come. They even don't know in which team their children are playing; they deliver them at the door and they drive away. There are people who don't even know the teacher of their son or the team leader of the club. There is a lot of work to be done."
He will not, however, accept that the finger of blame can be pointed at one group of people. "It's very easy to scream and to say it's a Moroccan problem. On the other hand, I don't want to say we have no problems. I am very open and clear that we have to discuss. Families really need help and I'm trying to open their eyes. But if you stand outside and you scream it's a problem, it won't be solved and it might create another problem – people will feel: 'We are not welcome.'"
One thing that just about everyone in the Netherlands seems agreed on is that the country has a major issue with parental behaviour at children's matches. There is even a television programme, Heibel langs de lijn (Trouble Along the Field), where children can ring up and ask for their parents to be secretly filmed. The footage is then shown back to the parents, who sit alongside their son or daughter and, generally, cringe with embarrassment when they see themselves behaving hysterically and barking at their offspring from the sidelines.
Things got so bad in 2007 an organisation called Sire, which is funded by the media industry and tries to raise awareness of social issues in the country, ran adverts on television showing parents behaving badly while watching their child play football. There was a growing feeling in the Netherlands that parents had become preoccupied with seeing their child win, rather than having fun. The campaign slogan was: "Give children their game back."
Four years later, realising things had got little better, Sire carried out further research and released two more adverts, this time showing parents having a bad week at work and then taking out their frustration on their children on a Saturday. A spectator was filmed asking the angry parent: "Hey, how bad was your week?" The slogan at the end said: "Leave Monday to Friday at home on Saturday."
Buitenboys have had their own issues with parents. "Before the incident with Richard we were already discussing here, around the table, the question of whether we should organise a weekend of games without any parents because some of the parents are crazy," Mueller says. "They don't know how to behave. They shout and they make arguments to the linesman and the referee. I know for sure that if we had games here without parents, 90% of the incidents would disappear.
"We have boys and girls playing here, they are five- and six-year-olds, so they just want to kick the ball, they don't even know what winning is, but even there you get the parents shouting. We try to say to the parents: 'That's the wrong behaviour, be enthusiastic, be positive.' They don't listen. And we don't have the time to continue to watch them."
Van der Burg, who is speaking in his office at Amsterdam's City Hall, accepts that parents must take a large share of the blame but also believes that those at the top of the game could help to improve standards by being better role models. "It's more than only parents. I think that professional football gives a bad example," he says. "If you see European games, international games, matches in Dutch football and the UK, you see bad examples not only of the players but also of the coaches. And there it starts, because all of those little boys see their heroes misbehave and they think it's normal."
He also has another interesting theory for the lack of respect shown to referees and other people in positions of authority in the Netherlands. "The way we talk to our prime minister – I shouldn't think we should have to call him 'your excellency', but in the Netherlands everyone says 'Mark' [even in talk shows]. Yet in France, it's Le President. In the United States, it's Mr President," Van der Burg says.
"In the Netherlands we certainly say more to a policeman than in a lot of other countries, so when it comes to authority we don't have the same respect. And I think one of the things we have to get back is respect for authority. It was better at one time and we lost it to policemen, personnel of the ambulance, the fire department – we have had some incidents there as well. That makes it a bigger problem than football. But, on the other hand, when you compare football with other sports, and even when you correct it for the figures because there are many more football players than in other sports, it's much more of a problem in football in terms of the number of incidents.

Read More

CCM yazoa viti vingi vya udiwani

 

Nassari 

• Nassari alivamiwa, kupigwa na kujeruhiwa sehemu mbalimbali mwilini na watu wanaodaiwa kuwa viongozi na wafuasi wa CCM.
  

0
inShare

Chaguzi ndogo za udiwani zilizofanyika sehemu mbalimbali ziligubikwa na vurugu wakati hali ilikuwa mbaya zaidi huko Makuyuni mkoani Arusha ambako Mbunge wa Arumeru Mashariki, Joshua Nassari alipigwa na wafuasia wa CCM na kulazimika kulazwa hospitalini.

Pamoja na vurugu hizo, CCM iliendelea kudhihirisha umwamba wake katika ulingo wa siasa baada ya kujizolea viti vingi vya udiwani wakati wa chaguzi ndogo zilizofanyika sehemu mbalimbali nchini.

Wafuatiliaji wa mambo ya kisiasa walikuwa wanafuatilia kwa kina chaguzi hizo ili kupima joto la kisiasa nchini.

Uchaguzi uliokuwa unasubiriwa kwa hamu ni ule wa Makuyuni wilayani Monduli ambako Mbunge wake ni mwanasiasa maarufu Edward Lowassa.

CCM iliibuka kidedea huko Makuyuni na kufanya maneno ya Rais Jakaya Kikwete kuwa Lowassa ana misuli ya kuifanya CCM ishinde huko Monduli.

Lowassa alikuwa na kibarua cha kukabiliana na Chadema waliokuwa wanataka kujipenyeza Monduli ambako hawajahi kuwa na kata tangu mfumo wa vyama vingi uanzishwe.

Hata hivyo, bado CCM haijapata dawa ya ushindi Pemba kwani kilishindwa vibaya na CUF kwenye uchaguzi wa ubunge wa Chambani.

Chadema kwa upande wake kilitoa changamoto kwa CCM katika chaguzi hizo za kata na hata kujizolea kata mbili za Iyela huko Mbeya na wilayani Hanan’g huko mkoani Manyara.

Nassari apata kichapo Makuyuni

Nassari alivamiwa, kupigwa na kujeruhiwa sehemu mbalimbali mwilini na watu wanaodaiwa kuwa viongozi na wafuasi wa CCM, akiwa katika harakati za uratibu wa shughuli za upigaji kura za udiwani katika Kata ya Makuyuni, wilayani Monduli.

Nassari aliyekuwa wakala mkuu wa Chadema katika kata hiyo alivamiwa na kundi la watu zaidi ya 30 waliomshambulia kwa fimbo na

Tukio hilo lilitokea jana kati ya Saa 3:00 na 4:00 katika kituo cha kupigia kura cha Kwa Zaburi wakati mbunge huyo alipofika kuangalia maendeleo ya zoezi la kura

Read More