Two horrific train accidents occurred in Yaounde over the weekend, leaving ten people dead and hundreds wounded.
The
first of the accidents took place at Obogobo neighbourhood after a
train carrying patrol with 15 wagons derailed, causing four of the fuel
carrying wagons belonging to Societé Camerounais de Depot Petrolier,
SCDP, to explode, sparking a conflagration.
The considerable
amount of patrol that spilled from the wrecked tankers and the huge
fire that ensued did not spare the neighbouring houses around the scene
Burning Petrol-Carrying Train Wagon
of the accident.
7 morts, près de 300 blessés. Depuis la catastrophe de Nsam, un certain
14 février 1998, Yaoundé, la capitale camerounaise n’avait pas connu de
week-end aussi sombre que celui qui vient de s’achever. Vendredi, alors
que les Yaoundéens s’apprêtent à entamer une fin de semaine tranquille,
un nuage de fumée attire l’attention, en provenance d’Obobogo. Les
radios FM de la place commencent à donner l’information à tous ceux qui
s’interrogent. On l’apprendra plus tard, c’est le déraillement d’un
train marchandise chargé de produits pétroliers. L’indicent débouche
sur une explosion, suivie d’un incendie. Deux personnes meurent. Mais
ça aurait pu être pire. Le pire qui survient quelques heures plus tard.
People say stupid things on Facebook.
The other day, this male Facebook friend of mine who is also a well
known Nigerian writer posted on his Facebook profile the following yeye
quote by Norman Mailer: "Writing books is the closest men ever come to
childbearing."
His Facebook account lit up
immediately. He was assaulted by a million female Facebook warriors led
by the mother of all generals, a smart, sexy and pretty Facebook
Nigerian writer friend of mine, who, you guessed right, is female.
Norman Mailer you will recall was a great American writer. He tended to
drink lots of cheap booze and get into fights and say a lot of stupid
things.
Think about it; only a drunken male
would make the stupid assertion that writing books is the closest men
ever come to childbearing. The person has obviously never given birth
to a baby! And is definitely not married. Otherwise he would know to
shut his yeye mouth.
You know the story already. 18 year old Mokgadi Caster Semenya won gold in
the 800m competition at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin: shaving off
a substantial part of her former record, and emerging the fastest woman in the
800m. But while the world erupted in admiration for Usain Bolt, this one's
taken into a room and almost stripped of her clothing.
The reason is simple: some people think she was too good to be a girl.
Evidently, analysis prior to the championships and massive gallops on Semenya's
part prompted calls for a gender test from the sport's governing body: if she
was that good, she had to be a man. Not surprisingly, her South African
compatriots, especially the ANC (which increasingly sounds like the PDP) have
cried foul: It is because she's black! It is because she's African! But that's
just dumb.
In May 2000, the Economist magazine published a provocative front page cover titled ‘Hopeless Africa'.
In response, the African intelligentsia, rose in an orchestra of
vitriolic criticisms alleging racism, Afro-pessimism and
neo-colonialism as the only reasons why a major international magazine
would label an entire continent of over 700 million people as
‘hopeless'.
Many on the African side of the debate argued that Africa, if
anything at all, should be dubbed the ‘resilient continent,' citing its
lack of implosion in the face of the multifarious historical and
contemporary challenges that have besieged it.
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An inside-the-boardroom survey of attitudes toward corporate investment
in Africa among leading U.S. corporations. The information was gathered
between January and November 2008 in a series of closed door interviews
with senior officers of 30 American Fortune 100 corporations by senior
associates of Baird’s CMC.
Please got to http://www.usafricainvestment.com/ to get a full report on this research and other statistics. The findings are quite interesting and eye openers to the social realities and socioeconomic progress of the continent i view of the global economy.
“The most important thing for us is to grow our business profitably.
The question we ask is: ‘Do we believe there is a positive probability of securing a profit in the next couple of years?’
“We
are a stock listed company so the first thing is return on investment.
Can we make money? And can we get the money out? For instance you can
make money in Zimbabwe but you cannot get the money out. So it doesn’t
make sense for us.”
I
have not been to the market in quite a while. I have left that duty to others
in my household. After all, I believe in devolution and delegation, especially
of disagreeable duties.
And since the chore of shopping wasn't one I was sure
of, I gladly left that chop to others. Mine is to eat what they bought from the
market and cooked. I refuse to delegate that.
And
so it was that for a many a year, I had no idea what it was like to be in the
marketplace. Until that fateful day that is, when my sister insisted that I
accompany her to the market.
"Energy independence" has become a byword on the American political scene, and invoking it is now as essential as baby-kissing. All the recent U.S. presidential candidates employed it, and to this day, the White House Web site lists as a guiding principle the need to "curb our dependence on fossil fuels and make America energy independent." Expect a whole new round of such rhetoric when the global economic recovery begins, and with it, higher oil prices return.
BY PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL
In
January 2008, I wrote about influence peddling by the brood of leaders
of Africa who by reason of their parent’s office have amassed to
themselves, wealth and the arrogance of power to topple any due process
exacted against them. Brood of Vipers or Leaders? 18-Jan-2008 Nigeria: An Exposé on influence peddling 11-Jan-2008.
The
Foreign Policy magazine ran two articles The World’s Worst Daughters
and The World’s Worst Sons, I saw the former first and a sixth sense
gave me the impression that I would find a familiar face amongst them.
When models are smarter than diplomats and presidents, is the end of the world near?
I jest of course, but seriously, the complaint about the fear of
rigged elections, by Gabon’s most famous beautiful woman, deserves a
wide hearing — and reminds that the political charades in Africa may be
tolerated by the great and the good but that even an “ordinary” fashion
star perceives the folly that often goes under the name of “elections.”
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