Feed aggregator

Officials say they are concerned that they will spread the contagious disease to the wider community.

Le lancement officiel du livre « Vers le miracle béninois, l'épreuve du pouvoir et de la démocratie », écrit par l'ancien président de la République du Bénin, Nicéphore Soglo a eu lieu, jeudi 27 février 2025, à l'hôtel Golden Tulip à Cotonou. La cérémonie s'est déroulée en présence de plusieurs personnalités dont l'ancien président Boni Yayi, le président de l'Assemblée Louis Vlavonou, le ministre Jean-Michel H. Abimbola représentant le gouvernement béninois et autres.

« Vers le miracle béninois, l'épreuve du pouvoir et de la démocratie », c'est l'intitulé de l'ouvrage de l'ancien président Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo lancé jeudi 27 février 2025. L'ouvrage fait part du parcours et de l'engagement politique du premier président du Bénin à l'ère du Renouveau démocratique. L'ouvrage a été présenté par le Père Eric Aguénounon.

Pour le représentant du gouvernement béninois, le ministre du Tourisme, de la Culture et des Arts, cet ouvrage n'est pas seulement un livre. « C'est un témoignage d'histoire, une réflexion sur le destin d'un peuple et une immersion dans l'expérience d'un homme d'État confronté aux réalités complexes de l'exercice du pouvoir », a déclaré Jean-Michel H. Abimbola.

Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo a été l'un des principaux architectes du Renouveau démocratique au Bénin. Il a accédé à la magistrature suprême, au lendemain de la Conférence des forces vives de la Nation en 1990. « Vous avez hérité d'un pays en quête de repères, à reconstruire sur les bases d'une gouvernance démocratique et d'une économie à relancer », a affirmé le ministre du Tourisme, de la Culture et des Arts.

A travers son ouvrage, l'ancien président Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo met en lumière les défis, les choix et les sacrifices qu'exige la charge de l'État. Il éclaire également sur les luttes menées, les réformes entreprises et les résistances rencontrées. « Vous y explorez avec lucidité les liens entre le passé colonial, les mutations post-indépendance et les défis contemporains, mettant en perspective le Bénin dans l'histoire globale. Et dans cette perspective, l'ouvrage propose une vision intéressante du développement culturel comme moteur de la renaissance nationale, à travers des initiatives comme Ouidah 92 », a ajouté Jean-Michel Abimbola. Cette approche, poursuit-il, qui lie économie, culture et politique, montre votre volonté de placer le Bénin sur la carte du monde à travers son identité et son histoire. Le ministre a salué cette contribution majeure à la construction de notre mémoire collective. L'ouvrage « Vers le miracle béninois » paru aux Editons Harmattan est préfacé par l'ancien premier ministre français Jean Marc Ayrault.

A.A.A

Quelques photos de la cérémonie

The Holy Bible, Trump Edition: "They shall beat their swords into nine irons." Credit: Shutterstock.

By Peter Costantini
SEATTLE, USA, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

Like any self-respecting don of a powerful crime family, Donald Trump – AKA “Don the Con” – always gets a taste of any action going down on his territory. And that territory, as recent events have made clear, knows no borders. (I mean, except for the southwest one.)

The capo di tutti capi of TrumpWorld says that he wants to acquire Gaza and turn it into “The Riviera of the Middle East”. And it’s no secret what the jewel in the crown has to be: a magnificent golf course. [Shear et al 2/5/2025] [Baker 2/5/2025]

Given conditions in Gaza, this will be a challenge. But a leaked and probably apocryphal memo from the TrumpWorld real-estate division (formerly the U.S. Department of State), lays out an ingenious strategy for the centerpiece of the rebranding of Gaza.

 

———-

 

To: Gaza Desk

 

OK, campers, minimize PornHub and listen up.

I’m working on some promotional material for the Riviera project. Please return any comments yesterday.

——

 

Trump Links Gaza at Rubble Beach

Welcome to a whole new dimension in golfing adventure: Trump Links Gaza. Here, you can tee off into a breathtaking new experience: rubble golf. We found a strip of land short of water, vegetation and soil, but with plenty of gravel, broken concrete, and twisted rebar. So we had to think outside the box of grassy fairway | water hazard | putting green.

Our solution? If life gives you rubble, make rubble golf. At Trump Links Gaza, the whole length of the 18 holes will be one big rubble trap. We’re working to make it the Pebble Beach of Middle Eastern war zones, so we’re dubbing it Rubble Beach.

For chipping out of bomb craters and demolished building foundations, your pitching wedge will be your best friend. You may lose a few more balls than usual, but looking for them will be like a treasure hunt: you’ll never know what you may find.

Our attorneys tell us we are required to warn you about the unexploded ordnance. No worries, this is where the adventure really begins, and the risk just heightens the excitement. Accidental death and dismemberment insurance is available in the clubhouse.

For small mines or unexploded shells, simply plant one of the skull-and-crossbones flags we’ve provided nearby – but not too close.

If you happen to uncover a large bomb, about the size of a Fiat 500, do not take the time to plant a flag: run for your life. Those bunker-busters weigh 2,000 pounds and have a blast radius of three football fields. Best of all, we’re proud to say they’re made in the U.S. of A. Now we’re talking real adventure golfing. (Not to worry too much, the previous owners assure us that all such bombs dropped on Gaza did detonate – creating much of the rubble you will be enjoying.)

You may unearth piles of bones, but don’t be alarmed. They are probably sheep or goat bones. If they seem a little larger, they could be – Who knows? – calves or llamas.

Golfers may occasionally come upon torn or burned children’s books in Arabic, pieces of stuffed animals, shards of plates or glasses, and shreds of kaffiyehs or hijabs. In a small number of cases, visitors have also noticed what seem to be small children with distended bellies wandering around outside the razor wire perimeter.

The previous proprietors explained that the area had been taken over by squatters, who were very messy and did not keep track of their children. Their security forces removed nearly all the offenders and tried to eliminate any traces of them, but may have missed a few here and there.

We apologize for any unpleasant experiences that may keep looping in your head. (Although as you may not have noticed, on page 9 of the visitors’ waivers you agreed not to hold us liable for any PTSD or recurrent nightmares that may result from what you see here.)

Allow us to put you at ease on one other point: because conditions are so rough, it’s no big deal if you lie about your score. In fact, it’s an official Trump Links Gaza policy: falsifying scorecards and telling tall tales about your eagles and birdies are encouraged. There’s so much latent creativity out there, we don’t want to inhibit it with the buzzkill of fact-checking.

This adjustment will also keep Trump Links Gaza in step with the rest of TrumpWorld and its wholly owned subsidiary, the U.S. government. The corporate guidance on truthiness was enunciated most eloquently by Vice President J.D. Vance.

He was asked by reporters why he and President Trump kept saying that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were illegal immigrants who had stolen and eaten pet cats and dogs, even after the false story had been debunked by Republican officials and the Wall Street Journal. Vance, apparently speaking in tongues, told National Public Radio: “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” [Garrett 9/15/2024]

So don’t worry about handicaps or pars. We’ve created an arithmetic-free zone here to let you celebrate your fairway prowess with your most improbable golf memes – and to emulate the liberating example of our leaders in the Oval Office.

Stop by the clubhouse afterwards for a complementary house cocktail: an ivermectin sour with a splash of hydroxychloroquine.

The Trump Links Gaza Management

 

—–

 

So let me know what you think. There are no stupid comments – well, actually, there are a few. You’ll know if yours is one when HR tweets you your pink slip and the security guards bring you a cardboard file box.

Breaking news for your eyes only: Bibi told the transition team that the squatters who were in the area of Trump Links Gaza before the transformation are now in custody.

They will be charged as criminal aliens and most will be deported to permanent camps in Rwanda and El Salvador. But in the interim, TrumpWorld has signed a contract with a U.S.-based private prison firm to build facilities to hold them until they can be shipped out.

However, we are considering keeping a small number of them in Gaza as guest workers, much like the H-2B workers long used by Trump enterprises in the U.S.

These will be lodged in the immigration prison and let out only to work as dishwashers and laborers at the new Gaza minimum wage (lol it’s negative – they will be charged ten dollars a day for the privilege of getting out of their cells for healthy exercise). Meals, rent and utilities will also be deducted. Hey Elon, can your boyos from the Department of Government Efficiency match that?

As exciting as it is, Trump Links Gaza is only the beginning. Think glacier golf in Greenland -your ice axe doubles as a putter – and aquatic links on jet skis in Panama.

But Canada is le grand prix, as the snail-sucking surrender monkeys put it. The Boss may have to drop a few bunker-busters on the tundra to nudge them towards statehood. The Canucks may complain about losing their health insurance and being tased for saying “Eh”. They may gag at having to call Hudson Bay “MAGA Bay”.

But once True North has been downgraded to Magnetic North and welcomed into the Union, TrumpWorld will buy up some well-known golf course, tart it up, and lean heavily on the new “governor” (actually, proconsul) to have the Canadian Open moved to it – as Beloved Leader tried unsuccessfully to do in Scotland with the British Open. (Don’t breathe easy yet, haggis-eaters – Donald Trump has a long memory.) [Landler et al 7/16/2021]

I’m proud to say that golf diplomacy has become the linchpin of our transition from the “No more forever wars” foreign policy to a new one: “Many short and sweet annexations”. Who’s next?

As the Good Book, Trump Edition, says: “They shall beat their swords into nine irons.” Fore!

ArnoldPalmersJunk (Like my new handle?)
Vice President for Golfing Anschluss

Trump Links Gaza at Rubble Beach: Come for the adventure, stay for the gaslighting.

 

References

Peter Baker. “An Unbound Trump Pushes an Improbable Plan for Gaza”. New York Times, February 5, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-gaza-netanyahu-takeover.html

Mohamad Bazzi. “Trump is using the presidency to seek golf deals. Hardly anyone’s paying attention.” London: The Guardian, February 27, 2025.
https://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/27/trump-pga-liv-saudi-arabia

Jonathan Freedland. “Trump is fueling lethal fantasies of driving people from their land”. London: The Guardian, 7 February 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/07/middle-east-land-people-donald-trump-gaza

FXB Center for Health & Human Rights. “Press Release: New study shows Israel air-dropped 2000lb bombs within lethal and damage ranges of hospitals in Gaza”. Boston, MA: Harvard University, October 10, 2024.
https://fxb.harvard.edu/2024/10/10/new-study-shows-israel-air-dropped-2000lb-bombs-within-lethal-and-damage-ranges-of-hospitals-in-gaza

Luke Garrett. “Vance defends spreading claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets”. National Public Radio, September 15, 2024.
https://npr.org/2024/09/15/nx-s1-5113140/vance-false-claims-haitian-migrants-pets

Mark Landler, Lara Jakes & Maggie Haberman. “Trump’s Request of an Ambassador: Get the British Open for Me”. New York Times, July 16, 2021.
https://nytimes.com/2020/07/21/world/europe/trump-british-open.html

Michael D. Shear, Peter Baker & Isabel Kershner. “Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave”. New York Times, February 4, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/politics/trump-gaza-strip-netanyahu.html

Le président français Emmanuel Macron a appelé, ce vendredi, l’Algérie à « réengager un travail de fond » avec la France sur les accords d’immigration […]

L’article Crise Algérie – France : Emmanuel Macron veut calmer le jeu est apparu en premier sur .

The tropical cyclone left more than 180,000 homes without power and 170,000 without running water.

Les services de sécurité de la wilaya d’Alger ont mis en place un dispositif spécial à l’occasion du mois de Ramadan afin d’assurer la protection […]

L’article Renforcement de la sécurité à Alger pendant le mois de Ramadan est apparu en premier sur .

People use plastic containers to collect drinking water in Havana. Water supply problems have worsened in recent months in Cuba, partly due to power outages that interrupt water pumping through hydraulic networks and, at times, equipment breakdowns. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

By Dariel Pradas
HAVANA, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

Problems such as hydraulic network breakdowns, water lost through leaks, power outages, and even fuel shortages are making access to water supply services difficult for the population in Cuba

“Terrible,” is how Mariam Alba, a café employee and resident of Manzanillo, a city 750 kilometers east of Havana in the eastern province of Granma, described the water supply situation to IPS.“In my neighborhood we have water almost every day, but I know places that go months without it. In the early hours, you see people carrying water from a hole filled by a leak. It’s not drinking water:” Mariam Alba.

“In my neighborhood, Reparto Gutierrez, we have water almost every day, but I know places that go months without it. In the early hours, you see people carrying water from a hole filled by a leak. It’s not drinking water. On some blocks, they’ve placed tanks: they fill them in the morning, and by night they’re empty. Then they refill them a month later,” she added.

In this province with 804,000 people, only 76% receive piped water in their homes, and just 38.7% have access to water at least once every three days. Meanwhile, over 66,000 residents depend on water delivered by tanker trucks, as confirmed by Granma’s Hydraulic Resources authorities in an interview with IPS in August 2024.

A month after that interview, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) announced that over 30,000 people in the province lacked access to water services, out of a total of more than 600,000 nationwide.

In Havana, where supply issues may not be as prolonged as in Manzanillo, they are more widespread: around 130,000 “customers” were affected last September.

“I’ve gone up to two weeks without water due to a supposed break in the (hydraulic) network. Then the issue gets fixed, but comes up again soon after. In the 40 years I’ve lived here, there hasn’t been a single day when I wasn’t unsure if the water would come or not,” Flora Alvarez, a 43-year-old accountant living in Centro Habana, told IPS.

A worker from Aguas de La Habana supervises the filling of a water tanker truck that supplies drinking water to residents of Havana communities. By early February 2025, over 600,000 people in Cuba were receiving water permanently through tanker trucks. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

An Infrastructure Problem

Cuba lacks large rivers and, being an island, faces the constant risk of saline intrusion into its groundwater. It relies heavily on rainfall, so droughts severely impact water supply, especially in the agricultural sector.

However, 2024 was not as marked by this climate change effect as previous years: accumulated rainfall reached 97% of the national historical average, and reservoirs were at 63% of their total capacity, or 98% of the usual level for early February, when the INRH presented its annual report.

The problem begins with over 40% of pumped water being lost due to leaks in major pipelines, hydraulic network branches – sometimes visible on dozens or hundreds of Havana streets – and even from dripping faucets in homes.

Hydraulic sector officials acknowledge the existence of 2,500 to 3,000 such leaks.

Secondly, pump equipment breakdowns or interruptions due to frequent power outages, characteristic of Cuba’s energy crisis, also degrade service quality, which not everyone has access to.

In this Caribbean island nation of about 10 million inhabitants, only 83.9% are supplied water by public Water and Sanitation companies, 4.5% more than at the end of 2023, according to the annual report.

The INRH acknowledged in its report that this improvement is largely due to a decrease in population.

Meanwhile, investment in creating new connections to hydraulic networks and other sanitation work has slowed, reaching only 45% of the planned target, due to the negative impact of U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba and unpaid debts to creditors.

Additionally, only 61.2% of the population has access to “risk-free” drinking water services, 1.6% more than in 2023.

The “risk-free” definition aligns with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “safely managed” standard, which refers to access to “drinking water from an improved water source that is located on premises, available when needed, and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.”

By early February, over 600,000 people were receiving water permanently through tanker trucks, and nearly 1.5 million through “easy access” points, where people can fetch water in less than 30 minutes, including travel and waiting time.

However, these figures do not account for the thousands affected by “temporary” pipeline breaks, who must then carry water from easy access points or rely on tanker trucks that arrive as frequently as fuel supplies allow –  another recurring issue in Cuba.

The company Aguas de La Habana lays a high-density polyethylene pipe as part of the installation of new hydraulic networks in the Cuban capital. In 2024, the government installed 241 kilometers of new water supply networks, mains, and connections to alleviate chronic water supply issues. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

Slow Progress

“The goals and targets planned for 2024 were met at an acceptable level, considering the adverse scenario,” summarizes the INRH’s annual report.

This optimism is based on the fact that, despite only resolving around 60% of public complaints or reports in several provinces, 241 kilometers of networks, mains, and new water supply connections were installed.

Or an average of 512 liters of water per inhabitant per day, representing 91.8% of the planned amount, though distribution remains uneven, as the figures show.

The INRH also worked on installing 32 water treatment plants, 10 wastewater treatment plants, and 9 desalination plants, as well as replacing pumping equipment and installing nearly 25,000 water meters, useful for promoting water conservation with tariffs based on actual consumption. Without these, many households pay a fixed monthly fee.

However, authorities predict that the core water problems will continue to “flow” through 2025, despite the government’s multimillion-dollar investments to improve the situation.

 

Egy 43 éves drogdílert vettek őrizetbe a rendőrök Léván, a férfi főként metamfetamint és marihuánát árult.

Le Ministère des Affaires religieuses et des Wakfs a annoncé ce soir l’observation du croissant lunaire, confirmant ainsi que le mois sacré de Ramadan 2025 […]

L’article Samedi 1 mars, 1er jour du Ramadan 2025 en Algérie (Officiel) est apparu en premier sur .

Már nincs költségvetési provizórium Somorján, 2025-ben közel 23,14 millió eurós, kiegyensúlyozott költségvetéssel gazdálkodhat a város.

Közfeladatot ellátó személy elleni támadás bűncselekményével gyanúsították meg azt a 29 éves férfit, aki szerdán este Kassa Saca városrészében bozótvágó késsel támadt az őt üldöző rendőrökre. A bíró a férfi előzetes letartóztatásáról döntött, közölte Facebook-oldalán a rendőrség.

"You are gambling with World War Three," Trump told Zelenskyy at one point, urging him to be more thankful.

"You are gambling with World War Three," Trump told Zelenskyy at one point, urging him to be more thankful.

Alors que la saison des carnavals bat son plein, l’Office de la sécurité alimentaire et des affaires vétérinaires met en garde contre des tenues facilement inflammables.

Ce vendredi soir, la Grande Mosquée de Paris a confirmé que le Ramadan 1446 débutera en France ce samedi 1ᵉʳ mars 2025. Cette annonce fait […]

L’article Ramadan 2025 en France : la Grande Mosquée de Paris officialise le début du jeûne est apparu en premier sur .

Kigyulladt egy vegyi anyagokat szállító tehervonat Dél-Morvaországban, miután a szerelvény több kocsija ismeretlen okokból kisiklott - jelentette pénteken délután a cseh rendőrség. Személyi sérülésről nincs hír.

The US axes vital HIV/Aids funding, which South Africa's health minister says is a "wake-up call".

Aláírta a krasznahorkai vár felújításának felügyeletéről szóló szerződést a Szlovák Nemzeti Múzeum.

2-3 ezer ember tüntetett a Fico-kormány, és Szlovákia EU- és NATO-tagságának megkérdőjelezése ellen Besztercebányán. Idén ez a kilencedik tüntetés a városban. Az esemény szervezői, a Nem a mi városunkban kezdeményezés tagjai szerint a kormány a polgárok érdekei ellen cselekszik, a parlament pedig hónapok óta megbénult. (denníkN)