Kikwete`s trick averts graft in NEC elections

By Dickson Ng`hily

13th November 2012

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President Jakaya Kikwete

The ghost of bribery and fraud in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) National Executive Committee (NEC) elections failed in its bid yesterday following unexpected changes to the election’s schedule.

According to a reliable anonymous source at the CCM Headquarters here, some candidates who were out to bribe their way into NEC were left flabbergasted after hearing the changes.

“Some of the candidates knew that the election would have been held today (yesterday) as set on the schedule, but when the chairman arrived he advised the Central Committee (CC) to move the vote back one day,” he said.

“The change was a big blow as the candidates as well as the delegates were informed on Sunday that the election would be held on the very same day…so there was no room for the candidates to grease the palms of the delegates,” said the source.

It was reported that Kikwete’s trick was aimed at fighting corruption which was witnessed during elections in the party’s Women Wing (UWT), Youth Wing (UVCCM) as well as the Parents Wing (Wazazi).

Graft allegations in this year’s elections were first heard from candidates who lost the battle and in speeches by President Kikwete during the opening and the closing of UWT, UVCCM and Wazazi election meetings.

Kikwete warned members that the scourge of corruption threatened to tear apart the country’s oldest political party.

“A party whose cadres are alleged to have been elected through bribery have no place as citizens will look down on them as bad leaders,” he said.

According to unofficial results, 10 seats for the NEC Tanzania Mainland known as ‘The Group of Death”, have been won by Stephen Masatu Wassira followed by Mwigulu Nchemba, Martin Shigela, William Lukuvi, Bernard Membe, Dr David Mathayo, Jackson Msome, Wilson Mukama and Dr Fenela Mukangara.

Those who lost out include Otieno Baraka, Shy-Rose Bhanji, Hadija Faraji, Nicholaus Haule, Dr Hussain Hassan, Rashid Kakozi, Godwin Kunambi, Twalihata Kakurwa, and Anna Magowa.

Others are William Malecela, Salehe Mhando, Ruth Msafiri, Assumpter Mshama, Kesi Mtambo, Christopher Mullemwah, Mwanamanga Mwaduga, Fadhiri Nkurlu, Innocent Nsena, Nussura Nzowa, Richard Tambwe, and Tumsifu Mwasamale.

President Kikwete told the delegates that the winners will be declared today after voting for the national chairman and the two vice chairmen.

Earlier, CCM’s spokesman Nape Nnauye told journalists: “We started our meeting yesterday (Sunday), and so far everything has been conducted the way we planned and we hope to finish tomorrow (today) after we have voted in the Chairman and his two lieutenants.”

The early years (1991-1998)

Sky Television did not originally launch with a sports channel of their own - though sports programmes were occasionally broadcast on Sky Channel - but instead chose to invest in Eurosport instead, which was marketed as one of Sky's four channels upon its launch on 5 February 1989.
On 20 April 1991 - when the channel debuted on the SES Astra 1B satellite - it was started as Sky Sports. Eurosport and the Sports Channel both discontinued their partnership upon the launch of Sky Sports, even though Eurosport continued to be available on the Astra platform.
The channel was sold as one of the major draws of the Sky system and from 1 September 1992 Sky Sports was sold as a subscription channel and encrypted using the VideoCrypt system. It was the second Sky channel to be encrypted (following Sky Movies in 1990). It initially aired sports such as rugby and golf in 1991, before acquiring rights to German and Italian league football in 1991 (both carried over from The Sports Channel).
However, it was following the formation of the Premier League for the 1992/93 football season, believed to have been assisted by the promise of higher TV payments, that Sky Sports became well known. By bidding £302m, BSkyB beat the BBC and ITV to acquire the live and exclusive Premier League football broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland for a five-year period. In doing so, they had taken live top-flight English league football from terrestrial and free-to-air television for the first time in its history.

More sports channels

Sky launched its second sport-dedicated channel, Sky Sports 2 on 19 August 1994, three years after the original channel launched on the Marcopolo satellite on BSB. Sky Sports Gold, a channel dedicated to classic sport, in a similar vein to ESPN Classic, launched on 1 November 1995, but ceased broadcasting after only a year on the air. On 16 August 1996, Sky Sports 3 was launched. The launch promotion involved many top sporting figures such as Dennis Bergkamp and Ryan Giggs to help the launch of the channel. Sky Sports also acquired the rights to Scottish football and the Coca-Cola Cup.

Sky Digital (1998-present)

Sky Sports share of viewing 2000-07

October 1998 saw BSkyB launch Sky Digital from a new satellite, Astra 2A at 28.2° east. The move to Sky Digital saw the launch of two new sports channels in quick succession. First Sky Sports News, a 24-hour rolling sports news channel launched. This was followed by Sky Sports Xtra, in March 1999. The channel was initially available exclusively on Sky Digital. However, by summer 2003, the channel had launched on Virgin Media.
On 22 August 1999, Sky utilized a feature of the, then new, Sky Digital system to allow an interactive football match to be shown. Viewers were given the ability to choose the things such as which camera they viewed during the Arsenal vs. Manchester United. The concept proved popular^[2] and soon Sky used the new interactive service, known as Sky Sports Active, for other sports.
Around 2001, a cross-branding deal ensured that a quiz under the name of the Championship Manager series was produced with the Sky Sports name on it. Kirsty Gallacher was the host of the PlayStation 2 quiz.
In 2004, Sky signed an exclusive deal to broadcast live English cricket matches for four seasons from 2006 to 2009 for a fee of £55 million a year.^[3] As with their other exclusive deals this caused some controversy, as the matches were no longer available on terrestrial TV.^{[citation needed]} Sky also signed an exclusive deal with the BCCI to televise the tour of India.^[when?]
Following its earlier collapse, Sky purchased the majority of Channel 4's stake in horse racing channel, At the Races (the remainder of the stake went to Arena Leisure, the other partner in the channel and owner of Ascot Racecourse). At The Races was insolvent, and despite being promoted as part of the Sky Sports line up, had failed to turn a profit. It remains a provider of live coverage to betting shops, however.
Prior to the start of the 2004-05 season, Football First, an interactive football programme was launched. The show typically airs at 8.25pm and replays full coverage of the day's featured Premier League match, followed through the night by highlights from every Premier League match played on the day, which gives the viewer a chance to see a match of their choice. Sky Sports won the rights to air 'near-live' coverage of the Barclays Premier League, permitting Football First to air for another three years.
Sky Sports also snapped up the rights for the A1 Grand Prix and has won the rights to Speedway, for the next five years. The channel also has the rights to American sports, including NFL and WWE.
In 2007, a rival pay television operator, the Irish network Setanta Sports, acquired a share in the British rights to live Premier League matches, breaking Sky's long-standing monopoly. Setanta bought up various other rights such as PGA Tour golf and some top boxing matches, giving Sky a significant rival in the pay television sports market for the first time, but Sky remained the market leader by a wide margin. On 22 June 2009, Setanta's British operations went into administration and ceased broadcasting, which saw ESPN enter the UK market.
Owing to an Ofcom review of premium services, Sky Sports 1 and 2 launched on digital terrestrial television through BT Vision on 1 August 2010 and Top Up TV the following day.^[4] This marked the first time Sky Sports premium channels have been shown via DTT since ITV Digital collapsed in May 2002.
On 28 April 2011, Sky Sports' interactive features were made available on Virgin Media,^[5] following Virgin's sale of Virgin Media Television to BSkyB.^[6]

Queens Park Rangers

Sterling joined the academy at Queens Park Rangers at the age of 10.^[3] At the age of 14, he was featured on the front cover of Jamaica's national newspaper The Gleaner who hailed his progress and reported that he had "dazzled the English football world with his prodigious talent".^[3]

Liverpool

Sterling warming up before the game against Vålerenga in August of 2011

Sterling was signed in February 2010 by Rafael Benítez for an initial fee of £600,000, which could rise to £5 million depending on how many appearances he makes for the first-team.^[4][5] He made his first appearance for the first team in a pre-season friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany on 1 August 2010.
Sterling scored his first goal for Liverpool's youth team in a friendly against Hibernian in a 2–2 draw, coming off the bench and scoring a late equaliser. After all the friendlies, Sterling's first Premier Academy League match was a 2–2 draw against Aston Villa. His first league win was at home to Bristol City in a 3–0 win on 28 August 2010. On 15 December, Sterling scored his first FA Youth Cup goal for Liverpool's youth team in a 4–0 win over Notts County with Sterling netting the third. On 14 February 2011, Sterling scored five goals for Liverpool's youth team in a 9–0 win over Southend United in the FA Youth Cup.^[6]
On 24 March 2012, Sterling made his senior Liverpool debut as a substitute in a league match against Wigan Athletic aged 17 years and 107 days, becoming the second-youngest player ever to play for the club.^[7] On 1 May he made his second appearance, again as a substitute, against Fulham.^[8] On the final home game of the season, he made another substitute appearance in a 4–1 win against Chelsea.^[9]
In August 2012, he made his European cup competition debut for the club, coming on as an 23rd minute substitute in a UEFA Europa League qualifying match against Gomel, replacing Joe Cole in a 1–0 win.^[10] The following week Sterling scored his first goal for the senior team with a brilliant first-half strike in a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen. On 23 August 2012, he started his first game for Liverpool in a Europa League qualifying match away to Hearts in a 1–0 win.^[11] He was given his first start in the league three days later in a 2–2 draw at Anfield to Manchester City.^[12] He played the full 90 minutes in the loss to Arsenal on 2 September, and the draw with Sunderland on 15 September, where he registered one assist and was named man of the match. On 19 September, Sterling was one of the group of teenagers that travelled to Switzerland to play Young Boys in a Europa League group game. He replaced Stewart Downing in the second half as Liverpool won 5–3.^[13] On 20 October, Sterling scored his first senior competitive goal for Liverpool in the 29th minute in a 1–0 league win against Reading with a strike from the edge of the box. As a result he became the second-youngest player ever to score in a competitive fixture for Liverpool, behind only Michael Owen.^[14]

International career

Sterling has represented England at Under-16, Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 level.^[15] He is also eligible to play for Jamaica, his country of birth, and his mother Nadine has stated that she would like to see him play for Jamaica at international level.^[16] Speaking of the possibility of playing for Jamaica, Sterling said: "When it comes to that decision, that is when I will decide but if Jamaica calls for me, why not?"^[3]
Sterling was selected to play for England for the 2011 U-17 World Cup. He scored a long-range goal in England's opening 2–0 win against Rwanda in Pachuca.^[17] He also scored against Argentina in the second round in a game where England won 4–2 on penalties.^[18]
On 10 September 2012, Sterling was called up to the senior England squad for the first time for a 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine, where he was an unused substitute.^[19][20] In early October he was called up for the first time to the Under-21 squad^[21] and made his debut as a substitute during a match against Serbia on 16 October.^[22]

Personal life

Sterling grew up in the Maverley area of Kingston, Jamaica and was raised by his grandmother.^[23] At the age of five Sterling emigrated to London, England with his mother.^[3] Once arrived, he attended Copland High School in Wembley, North West London.^[24]

LeBron James says Mike Brown didn't get 'fair shake' from Laker

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When something big happens in the NBA, Mark Cuban, Kobe Bryant, a Van Gundy brother and LeBron James get to weigh in.
James, the Miami Heat star, was asked Friday about the firing of Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown, completing the due process. But James also had a lot to add about Brown, who coached him for five years with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I think it's unfortunate," James said after a win at the Atlanta Hawks (via ESPN). "I just don't think he got a fair shake, honestly. With the shortened season last year, and five games into this year, he didn't really get a full season."
Brown coached the Lakers for 71 games, so James has a point. But he and Brown have a long and convoluted history. The Cavaliers fired Brown after the 2009-10 season, in which Cleveland posted an NBA-best 61-21 record but collapsed in the second round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics.
One reported reason behind Brown's firing was James' distaste for the coach's system. James was a free agent, and Cleveland wanted to keep the NBA MVP. Tell us if you've heard this story.
"I've got a lot to say, but I'm not going to say it right now," James said. "I wish him the best, but I just think it's unfortunate and it's just, you know, how the league is. They can do what they want to do."
James and Brown took an otherwise-weak Cavs team to the 2007 NBA Finals, where it was ripped apart methodically by the San Antonio Spurs in a four-game sweep.

West Africa bloc Ecowas agrees to deploy troops to Mali

Militant Islamists in northern Mali are imposing strict Sharia law despite opposition from the local Muslim population

West African regional leaders have agreed to deploy 3,300 soldiers to Mali to retake the north from Islamist extremists.

At a summit of Ecowas, the group's chairman said it was ready to use force to "dismantle terrorist and transnational criminal networks".
The soldiers would be provided mainly by Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels took control of the north after Mali's president was overthrown in March.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Outtara told reporters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, that the soldiers could be deployed as soon as the UN approved the military plan.
He said he hoped the Security Council would approve the plan by late November or early December.
'Threat to security' According to a Malian army source quoted by Reuters, the plan covers a six-month period, with a preparatory phase for training and the establishment of bases in Mali's south, followed by combat operations in the north.

The UN had given African leaders 45 days from 12 October to draw up a plan for military intervention to retake the north.
In a statement, the grouping of West African states said that while dialogue remained the preferred option, force might be needed to break up the networks controlling Mali which "pose a threat to international peace and security".
Foreign powers are divided on the best approach to the crisis in Mali.
On Sunday, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that if nothing was done to tackle the situation in Mali it would make the area a "terrorist sanctuary".
"In Mali, it is our own security that is at stake: the security of France, the security of Europe, because if we don't move a terrorist entity will take shape which could hit this or another country, including France, and including Europe," he said in interviews published in French media.
France has said it will offer support but not troops for intervention in its former colony.
But a top advisor to Algeria's president said on Saturday that an international military intervention in the country would be useless.
"The question in Mali is an internal matter and there is no need to further internationalise it," terrorism and security advisor Kamal Rezzag Bara said, according to the Associated Press.
The UN has warned that the Islamist militias are imposing a harsh version of Sharia law on the areas they controlled and that forced marriage, forced prostitution, and rape are becoming widespread.

• ---

C.RONALDO VS LIONEL MESSI MOST WANTED TO PSG

Ce vendredi Carlo Ancelotti a accordé une interview à France Info dans laquelle le technicien italien a évoqué plusieurs sujets.



Un bloc français au PSG
Il doit y avoir un bloc de joueurs importants parce que nous sommes en France. Paris est une équipe française. La culture doit être française comme à Chelsea la culture doit être anglaise, avec les joueurs anglais comme Terry et Lampard.
La formation
Il faut avoir une attention particulière aux joueurs de l’Académie. Barcelone en ce moment a une académie fantastique. Il a obtenu beaucoup de victoires parce qu’il y a beaucoup de joueurs formés au club. Les joueurs de l’Académie sont des joueurs plus motivés pour porter le maillot.
Ibrahimovic
Je connais très bien Ibrahimovic. Il a joué à Milan. J’ai été un peu surpris par son caractère. Beaucoup de gens n’ont pas connaissance du caractère d’Ibrahimovic. C’est un gagneur, il est très très professionnel. Il demande beaucoup à lui-même et après naturellement aux autres. Il est égoïste mais tous les attaquants sont égoïstes, ils veulent marquer. Mais il aime donner les passes pour les coéquipiers comme lors du dernier match
Pas là pour l’argent
Tout le monde a dit que j’avais choisi Paris pour l’argent. Avant d’arriver à Paris, j’étais en vacances six mois. Chelsea a payé la même somme d’argent que Paris pour ça. Ma motivation, c’est le projet, l’ambition d’un club qui veut arriver à être un des clubs les plus importants en Europe. Quand Leonardo m’a contacté, je n’étais pas surpris parce que j’ai une très bonne relation avec Leonardo. Avant ça, je parlais souvent avec Leonardo, une fois par semaine, parce que nous sommes amis.
Messi ou Ronaldo ?
''Messi. Je vote Messi. J’aime l’image de Messi, une image positive dans le foot. L’image de Messi est meilleure que celle de Ronaldo, en général.'
CR7
Je ne sais pas si nous sommes en contact avec Ronaldo, avec l’agent. Je n’ai pas parlé avec le club de cette chose. Aujourd’hui, tout le monde est focalisé sur sa saison et rien de plus. »

Van Persie is United's talisman and can lead us to Champions League glory, says Rooney

When Robin van Persie nipped downstairs at Manchester United's team hotel in Braga just before midnight on Wednesday, he was quickly besieged by fans. 
What was meant to be a brief inquiry at reception into a 10-minute autograph and photo session.
The Dutchman duly obliged. But if he is accustomed to the adulation of supporters, being lauded as United's 'talisman' by Wayne Rooney is something else altogether.

RVP, MVP! The Dutchman has made a flying start to life at Old Trafford

 

It is a measure of the impact Van Persie has made since moving to Old Trafford in the summer following a 37-goal season at Arsenal that he is being talked about by his new team-mates in such terms.
After all, isn't Rooney meant to be United's talisman?
Van Persie certainly deserves that mantle at the moment. It’s not just his record of 11 goals in 14 games, but the importance of those goals in rescuing United from some very tricky situations.
From the equaliser after Fulham took a shock lead in the opening home game of the season to the hat-trick when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were two down and heading for an embarrassing defeat at Southampton, the nerveless late penalty to beat Liverpool at Anfield and his two goals as United came back to win in Cluj, RVP has become the MVP.
No wonder Ferguson was so determined to sign him ahead of Manchester City.
In Wednesday's 3-1 win over Braga, United could not have been more impotent until Van Persie replaced Danny Welbeck.

Reigning in Braga: United came from a goal down to win 3-1

The 29-year-old not only scored the equaliser but once again showed his importance to the team by giving United the forward momentum they had been missing for more than an hour.
It meant that Ferguson's side qualified for the knockout stages with two games to spare, and Rooney believes Van Persie’s impact has helped turn them into genuine Champions League contenders.
'I think he's great for the whole team – he's our talisman,' said Rooney, who scored United's second from the spot in Portugal.
'Everyone knows he’s a fantastic player. He's obviously a great finisher but he has a calmness about him, holds the ball up well and brings players into play. If you can get players around him and feeding off him, it’s great for us all.

'When you look at all the teams who have won this competition, they've all had those individuals who can do a bit of magic and win the competition.
'I think we've got as good a chance as anyone. We're good as a team but we've also got some great individual players who can win games for us.'
The last time United won their first four group games they went on to lift the European Cup in 2008. But surely they will have to stop conceding the first goal to have a chance this season.

Master blaster: RVP also bagged a goal against his former club, Arsenal

It has happened nine times in 16 games so far, including three of their four Group H ties. On seven occasions United have come back to win, but Van Persie can only come to the rescue so many times and the best teams in Europe will not be so forgiving.
'Of course,' said Rooney. 'We're not happy when we concede goals. We need to be more solid as a team and make sure we get the first goal and kick on from there.
'We know we're capable of playing better, but results are the most important thing.'