Traffickers kill Egyptian officer

EL-ARISH – Human traffickers shot dead an officer in Egypt’s border patrol yesterday as they tried to smuggle a group of African immigrants into Israel, security officials said.

“The officer and his colleagues were on patrol at Bir Mouin (south of the Gaza border post at Rafah) and tried to intercept illegal immigrants seeking to cross the border with Israel,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “The traffickers opened fire on the patrol,” he said.Another security official said the officer, Mohammed Farul Ali al-Kersh, was hit in the chest and taken to Rafah hospital where he died.He said the six armed and masked Egyptian traffickers fled back into Egypt with an unknown number of African immigrants after the shooting.Exams drive students to suicide * CAIRO – Soad Ahmed Hassan paces anxiously outside the school where her daughter is sitting Egypt’s end-of-year exams.So far the test has driven two pupils to suicide and sparked a wave of corruption claims.At the Gamal Abdel Nasser school in central Cairo a dozen mothers wait for their children to finish the dreaded “thanawiya amma” – Egypt’s equivalent of A-levels or SATs – that largely determined a child’s future.In a country rife with corruption where some 20 per cent lived below the poverty line, a university education, especially a degree in medicine or engineering, could help to break down rigid class barriers.The stakes were high for most parents, who poured much of their meagre salaries into private tuition to compensate for a crumbling education system in which classrooms were overcrowded, teachers frustrated and under-paid and schools under-resourced.’I will rather die than resign’ * NAIROBI- Kenya’s Finance Minister Amos Kimunya on Sunday said he would rather die than resign in a controversy over a hotel sale, despite growing pressure for him to leave the cabinet.The row, over whether the minister sold off Nairoibi’s Grand Regency Hotel below the market price, had the potential to split the fragile power-sharing government of President Mwai Kibaki, of whom Kimunya was a close ally, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.In an unprecedented move last week, parliament voted a no-confidence motion against Kimunya over allegations of corruption in the sale of the luxury hotel.Kimunya denied any wrongdoing.”One thing I am not prepared to do and I will not do, I will not resign.I will rather die than resign,” Kimunya told a rally in central Kenya.Kimunya, 46, had been at the helm of East Africa’s largest economy since 2006 and was seen as a member of President Mwai Kibaki’s inner circle.UN condemns Somali killing * NAIROBI – The United Nations yesterday condemned the killing of one of its top officials in Mogadishu as an “outrageous” act aimed at undermining humanitarian work at a time of growing need.Gunmen shot and killed Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of UN Development Programme in Mogadishu, and wounded his brother and son as they left a mosque on Sunday.”If this is indeed another example of a targeted killing of UN and non-UN humanitarian and development workers in Somalia, it is particularly outrageous and worrying at this critical time when the need for humanitarian assistance is rapidly increasing,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden said in a statement.”We know that the Somali communities have been very supportive of our work in the past.We now ask them to redouble their efforts to provide an environment in which aid and services can be delivered,” Bowden added.UN officials have repeatedly appealed to the Somali government and Islamist militants, who are fighting for the control of the country, to spare aid workers, many of whom have been killed or kidnapped in the recent months.Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia owing to increased insecurity, largely blamed on Islamist militants who are waging a guerrilla war.”The traffickers opened fire on the patrol,” he said.Another security official said the officer, Mohammed Farul Ali al-Kersh, was hit in the chest and taken to Rafah hospital where he died.He said the six armed and masked Egyptian traffickers fled back into Egypt with an unknown number of African immigrants after the shooting.Exams drive students to suicide * CAIRO – Soad Ahmed Hassan paces anxiously outside the school where her daughter is sitting Egypt’s end-of-year exams.So far the test has driven two pupils to suicide and sparked a wave of corruption claims.At the Gamal Abdel Nasser school in central Cairo a dozen mothers wait for their children to finish the dreaded “thanawiya amma” – Egypt’s equivalent of A-levels or SATs – that largely determined a child’s future.In a country rife with corruption where some 20 per cent lived below the poverty line, a university education, especially a degree in medicine or engineering, could help to break down rigid class barriers.The stakes were high for most parents, who poured much of their meagre salaries into private tuition to compensate for a crumbling education system in which classrooms were overcrowded, teachers frustrated and under-paid and schools under-resourced.’I will rather die than resign’ * NAIROBI- Kenya’s Finance Minister Amos Kimunya on Sunday said he would rather die than resign in a controversy over a hotel sale, despite growing pressure for him to leave the cabinet.The row, over whether the minister sold off Nairoibi’s Grand Regency Hotel below the market price, had the potential to split the fragile power-sharing government of President Mwai Kibaki, of whom Kimunya was a close ally, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.In an unprecedented move last week, parliament voted a no-confidence motion against Kimunya over allegations of corruption in the sale of the luxury hotel.Kimunya denied any wrongdoing.”One thing I am not prepared to do and I will not do, I will not resign.I will rather die than resign,” Kimunya told a rally in central Kenya.Kimunya, 46, had been at the helm of East Africa’s largest economy since 2006 and was seen as a member of President Mwai Kibaki’s inner circle.UN condemns Somali killing * NAIROBI – The United Nations yesterday condemned the killing of one of its top officials in Mogadishu as an “outrageous” act aimed at undermining humanitarian work at a time of growing need.Gunmen shot and killed Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of UN Development Programme in Mogadishu, and wounded his brother and son as they left a mosque on Sunday.”If this is indeed another example of a targeted killing of UN and non-UN humanitarian and development workers in Somalia, it is particularly outrageous and worrying at this critical time when the need for humanitarian assistance is rapidly increasing,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden said in a statement.”We know that the Somali communities have been very supportive of our work in the past.We now ask them to redouble their efforts to provide an environment in which aid and services can be delivered,” Bowden added.UN officials have repeatedly appealed to the Somali government and Islamist militants, who are fighting for the control of the country, to spare aid workers, many of whom have been killed or kidnapped in the recent months.Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia owing to increased insecurity, largely blamed on Islamist militants who are waging a guerrilla war.