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Am 25. Februar werden die Oscars verliehen. Die Vorbereitungsphase der Stars für diese Nacht dauert aber schon etwas länger an. Denn einfaches Nägel lackieren oder Kleid shoppen, reicht für die wohl wichtigste Preisverleihung nicht.

Acquis par la commune en 1978, l’ancien camp militaire de Ludelange intéresse un acheteur. Le conseil municipal a pris la décision de répondre favorablement à la demande. L’emprise de l’ancien camp militaire occupe une surface d’environ 4 hectares. Mis en vente par les Domaines, la commune l’avait acheté en 1978 dans la perspective d’y créer ...

Wegen ihrer Rolle als Aushängeschilder des Katastrophen-Festivals Fyre müssen Kendall Jenner und Bella Hadid vor Gericht.

Während sich der Nordosten der USA auf den schlimmsten Frost seit Jahrzehnten vorbereitet, leiden Australien und Neuseeland unter einer historischen Hitzewelle.

Agence Ecofin - La compagnie minière Aura Energy a annoncé, mardi, qu’elle a conclu avec Curzon Uranium Trading un accord pour lui vendre une...

Au moins quatre soldats burkinabè ont été tués lundi dans une attaque à Nassoumbou, dans le nord du Burkina. C’est la deuxième fois que cette position avancée de l’armée est la cible de groupes armés, dont les attaques visant les forces de sécurité sont de plus en plus fréquentes et meurtrières. La province du Soum ...

Plus de peur que de mal dans le district de Tsaratanàna. Un hélicoptère transportant des hauts responsables de la gendarmerie de ce district et ceux de la région de Betsiboka a fait une chute grave à Anadabo, commune rurale d’Isinko hier matin. Le lieu du crash se situe plus précisément à Manakana Pilopilo entre les ...

Flüchtling Awet Ghebrehiwet (27) soll die Schweiz verlassen. Der Entscheid sorgte für viel Unverständnis. Sein Chef kämpfte für ihn – bis jetzt. Denn nun kommt aus: Der Eritreer ist wegen sexueller Belästigung verurteilt. Und er hielt das Vergehen geheim.

Ex-Nati-Star Ramon Vega prüft laut «Sueddeutscher Zeitung» eine Kandidatur als Fifa-Boss. Bis zum 5. Februar braucht er die Zusage von fünf Nationalverbänden. Kommts zum Fifa-Showdown zweier Schweizer?

Tűz ütött ki kedden délután az északnyugat-szlovéniai Jasenice településen működő kórházban, két ember meghalt - közölte a szlovén rendőrség.

ALGER – Quatre chercheurs issus d’universités algériennes ont fait partie de la liste des chercheurs les plus cités en 2018, selon la société indépendante de propriété intellectuelle « Clarivate Analyties Highly Cited Researchers », a indiqué mardi un communiqué de la Direction générale de la recherche scientifique et du développement technologique.

Il s’agit de Benchohra Mouffak, El Abbas Adda Bedia et Abdelouaheb Tounsi, professeurs à l’Université Djilali Liabès de Sidi Bel Abbès et de Houari Mohamed Sid Ahmed, Professeur à l’Université Mustapha Stambouli de Mascara, a précisé la même source.

Les données de Clarivate Analyties Highly Cited Researchers constituent un élément clé du classement académique des universités mondiales, l’un des sondages annuels le plus anciens et le plus influent sur le classement des meilleures universités dans le monde.

Cette liste reconnait les chercheurs de classe mondiale sélectionnés sur la base de leur performance scientifique exceptionnelle, se traduisant par la production de plusieurs publications scientifiques avec de nombreuses citations qui se classent dans le top 1% des citations dans leurs domaines de recherche par la prestigieuse banque de données de « Web of Science ».

Il convient de noter que pour la région Maghreb, seuls les chercheurs algériens figurent dans la liste. La reconnaissance des scientifiques algériens dans « ce prestigieux classement démontre que la recherche en Algérie est en train de s’orienter vers la recherche d’excellence, notamment dans les mathématiques et l’engineering ».

The post Des chercheurs algériens reconnus parmi les scientifiques les plus cités en 2018! appeared first on .

Suspected jihadists at Mogadishu Central Prison were behind the attack on the security firm employee.

The Presidency and the EP reach provisional agreement on carcinogens.

Council and Parliaments agree on a directive on contracts for the supply of digital content and services and on a directive on contracts the sales of goods.

The Presidency and the EP reach provisional agreement on carcinogens.

Council and Parliaments agree on a directive on contracts for the supply of digital content and services and on a directive on contracts the sales of goods.

The Presidency and the EP reach provisional agreement on carcinogens.

Council and Parliaments agree on a directive on contracts for the supply of digital content and services and on a directive on contracts the sales of goods.

FrontPageAfrica publisher Rodney Sieh, pictured on his release from prison in November 2013. Sieh says journalists in Liberia continue to face threats and harassment for their critical reporting. (AP/Mark Darrough)

By Angela Quintal, CPJ Africa Program Coordinator
Jan 29 2019 (IPS-Partners)

(CPJ) – Rodney Sieh, editor-in-chief and publisher of Liberian investigative outlet FrontPageAfrica, knows first-hand the harassment and risks critical journalists in his country face. In 2013, CPJ documented how he was sentenced to prison over unpaid fines in a criminal defamation case.

Sieh served three months of the 5,000-year sentence before being released after an international outcry. He has written about his experiences in his book, Journalist on Trial: Fighting Corruption, Media Muzzling and a 5,000-Year Prison Sentence, published in late 2018.

Sieh told CPJ this month that he and his journalists continue to be targeted. He is currently working with the London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative to file a lawsuit at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in Nigeria over the harassment of his newspaper, staff, and other media in Liberia.

Sieh, a member of CPJ’s Africa advisory group, spoke with CPJ about his experiences and the current climate for Liberia’s press in the year since George Weah became president.

[This blog has been edited for length and clarity]

Looking back on President Weah’s record so far, would you describe his administration as a friend or enemy of press freedom?

To be honest, it is rather difficult to say whether President Weah is a friend or an enemy to the press. Personally, I was grateful that he paid me a visit during my incarceration when I was sentenced to 5,000 years in prison. As head of the leading opposition party, I think his visit showed that he means well and his presence showed a commitment to free press and a means of identifying with me during my struggles with the former regime of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. However, since assuming the mantle of authority of the country, I have been a bit disappointed over the manner in which some of his supporters and officials of government have come after me and my newspaper for simply reporting the ills in society such as corruption, greed, misuse of public resources, the president’s failure to declare his assets, and the construction of several multi-million dollar properties.

I would like to hold him to his word that he is committed to a free press and want to believe that he is sincere and is truly a friend–and not an enemy of the press, but the actions and public statements he has made in recent time by labeling journalists as “enemies of the state” makes it difficult to conclude that this administration is sincere about its relationship with the press.

How does Weah’s record on press freedom compare with that of his predecessor, Sirleaf?

On paper, Sirleaf signed Liberia on to the Table Mountain Declaration, which calls for the repeal of criminal defamation and insult laws across the African continent. In reality, my 5,000-year sentence blemished that. Sirleaf herself was critical of investigative reporting and her supporters were often found on social media attacking critical media and journalists when stories did not sing to the government’s tone. I would though give Sirleaf the edge on the level of tolerance. She managed to withstand a barrage of criticisms and investigative reports. She had a tough skin on that end, something I think President Weah and his officials and followers could take a cue from. President Weah’s labeling of the press and critics as “enemies of the state” and investigative reports as “fake news” in the shadows of U.S. President Donald Trump, in my view, dampened whatever efforts or overtures he is trying to make toward the press in his quest to soften some of the negative reporting against his government.

The government invited David Kaye, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, to visit Liberia in March 2018. In his subsequent report, Kaye identified the decriminalization of defamation and the transformation of the state broadcasting system as a priority. Has the Weah administration followed through on any of this?

Looking at the tone of unfriendliness toward the media I have seen so far, I don’t see this government working toward making the state broadcaster independent. The president and his supporters, including senior officials, are more keen to hear positive and favorable stories being reported than having critical and constructive critical reporting. So, the idea put forward by Mr. Kaye is a good one and it’s been floated around for some time, but I do not see any signs of it being implemented in the near future. On a lighter note, we are all still eagerly anticipating full passage of the bill aimed at decriminalizing speech. Sirleaf initiated the process but it remained lingering in the corridors of the national legislature. It has been fine-tuned under Weah and renamed in memory of the late Press Union of Liberia president, Abdullai Kamara. The Lower House has signed off on it and the Senate is weighing in before it hits the president’s desk. If it does complete the process, it would be a landmark for the press in Liberia.

Information Minister Lenn Nagbe suspended all new broadcasting licenses issued from January 1 to June 18, 2018. What do you believe was the reason for this and what has happened since?

I really believe this strategy was aimed at broadcast journalist and talk show host Patrick Honnah, who was on the verge of launching Punch FM. Honnah, a former deputy managing director of Liberia’s state radio, was openly critical of Weah during the election campaign, because he felt he was anti-media. He had met all the requirements, registered his entity, and did all that is required by the government, only for the Ministry of Information to come out with that pronouncement. It is saddening to note that several new radio stations and newspapers have opened since that mandate, but Punch FM has not hit the airwaves. This is one of the reasons why I said earlier that the government is not sincere in its quest to make amends with the press.

[Editor’s Note: Nagbe did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment on January 29, and also at the time of the license suspension.]

The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs last year called FrontPageAfrica a criminal entity and said he would sue for defamation. Has he followed through on this and what does the president have to say?

The president has not said anything about those threats made by his senior minister, who is considered to be one of the most powerful members of his Cabinet. We are still waiting to receive the writ or summons from the court. I’m used to being labeled a criminal, so I am not deterred. All this has done is make me much stronger in my resolve to continue speaking truth to power. FrontPageAfrica has a track record of exposing corruption, we have a track record of holding government feet to the fire, and we have a track record of ensuring that the voices of those languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder are heard.

What other threats does your paper, or Liberia’s press as a whole, face?

We continue to receive threats and insults daily in the open on social media by supporters and sympathizers of the Weah-led government and we continue to receive baits from senior officials of government on Facebook, dissecting our reports and raining public ridicule of our work.

The most visible these days [are] threats on Facebook and other social mediums. Late last year [government sympathizers] went as far as posting a photograph of my home on Facebook, I guess to give sympathizers of the government ammunition or motivation to attack me. They’ve tried everything, including creating fake Facebook profiles in my name with attacks on the president aimed at stirring anger among the president’s sympathizers to come after me. I have made several inquiries to Facebook but so far nothing has been done. One of the fake pages in my name has been removed, but at least two others are still there–the last time I checked. Social media is good, but the emerging trend has made journalists like me easy targets for those in power.

The post Q&A: Rodney Sieh on how Liberia’s press is faring under Weah presidency appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Cent cinquante trois (153) postulants à la candidature à l’élection présidentielle du 18 avril prochain, dont 14 chefs de partis politiques, ont procédé au retrait des formulaires de souscription de signatures individuelles, a indiqué le ministère de l’Intérieur, des Collectivités locales et de l’Aménagement du territoire dans un communiqué rendu public mardi.

Selon le ministère de l’Intérieur, 153 lettres d’intention de candidature ont été déposées au ministère, dont 14 émanant  de présidents de partis politiques et 139 de prétendants indépendants, ajoutant que « les concernés ont pu bénéficier des quotas de formulaires de souscription, en application des dispositions légales en vigueur ».

Les opérations se poursuivent au fur et à mesure que les demandes soient formulées », a précisé la même source relevant que l' »opération se déroule dans de bonnes conditions ».

Les présidents de partis politiques qui ont postulé à la candidature à l’élection de la présidence de la République sont Belaïd Abdelaziz, du Front El-Moustakbel, Adoul Mahfoudh, du Parti de la victoire nationale (PVN), Ali Benflis, du parti Talaie El Hourriyet, Ahmed Gouraya, du Front des jeunes démocrates pour la citoyenneté (FJDC), Ali Zeghdoud, du Rassemblement algérien (RA) et Guerras Fethi, du Mouvement démocratique et social (MDS).

Il s’agit également de Ali Faouzi Rebaine, du parti Ahd 54, Omar Bouacha du Mouvement El Infitah, Mohamed Hadef, du Mouvement national de l’espérance (MNE), Abdelkader Bengrina, du Mouvement El Binaâ, Salim Khalfa, du Parti de la jeunesse démocratique (PJD), Aissa Belhadi, du Front de la bonne gouvernance (FBG), Abderazzak Makri, du Mouvement de la société de la paix (MSP) et la secrétaire générale du Parti des Travailleurs (PT), Louiza Hanoune.

Le Conseil constitutionnel avait rappelé que le dernier délai de dépôt des dossiers de candidature pour l’élection du président de la République est fixé au 3 mars 2019 à minuit.

The post Présidentielle: 153 prétendants retirent les formulaires de souscription appeared first on .