A senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party likened Italy's first black minister to an orangutan and only apologised on Sunday after a storm of criticism.
Cecile Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been the target of repeated racial slurs since her appointment as integration minister in April.
Roberto Calderoli, vice president of Italy's Senate, said on Saturday at a political rally in the northern town of Treviglio: "I love animals - bears and wolves, as everyone knows - but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I'm not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan."
He said the success of Kyenge encouraged "illegal immigrants" to come to Italy, and she should be a minister "in her own country", according to media reports.
Politicians, including some from his own party, lambasted Calderoli, with some calling for him to resign as Senate vice president. In an official statement and on Twitter, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the comments were unacceptable.
"They go beyond all limits. Full solidarity and support to Cecile. Forward with your and our work," Letta said. For most of the day, Calderoli said he had no intention of resigning and offered only a qualified apology.
"I did not mean to offend and if minister Kyenge was offended I am sorry, but my comment was made within a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her policies," he said.
But after hours of nearly universal condemnation and extensive coverage by the international media, Calderoli called Kyenge in the evening to apologise directly.
"I just spoke with minister Kyenge and I apologised," Calderoli told state news agency Ansa. Kyenge is campaigning to make it easier for immigrants to gain citizenship, and she backs a law that would automatically make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.
Last month, a Northern League member in the European parliament was expelled from the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group for making racist remarks about her.
Mario Borghezio had attacked Kyenge for wanting to impose "tribal traditions" in Italy as a member of a "bonga bonga" government, an apparent play on the so-called "bunga bunga" parties of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Opposition politician Calderoli, twice a cabinet minister under Berlusconi, has often caused offence. In 2006, he was forced to resign as reform minister after displaying a T-shirt mocking the Prophet Mohammad during a state news broadcast.
The same year, after Italy won the soccer World Cup, he disparaged the opposing French team, which he said had lost because its players were "niggers, Muslims and communists".
Before Calderoli's apology, Kyenge told AGI news agency he should think of his responsibility as a senior Senate member. "I don't want to address Calderoli the person, but as a representative of an institution: reflect on what you want to represent through your language," she said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/1861261/report-italian-lawmaker-roberto-calderoli-likens-black-minister-cecile-kyenge-to-orangutan
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Agropoli, campagna acquisti cominciata..........
Agropoli, campagna acquisti cominciata per la Scuola Basket Donato Avenia
Federico Martino • 26 agosto 2013 09:29
Grande organizzazione tra le fila della Scuola Basket Donato Avenia dopo la breve pausa estiva. Nel riprendere gli allenamenti il 28 Agosto, patron Ruggiero conferma l' acquisto a titolo definitivo l'atleta under Giovanni Rispoli nato nel 1993 , ruolo 3 , altezza 194 cm , con un passato di 4 anni nelle giovanili della Fortitudo Bologna e Solsonica Rieti. Mentre è in arrivo da Latina anche Chinonso Chukwubike , atleta del 1993 , ala -pivot di 200 cm. I due under erano già stati ad Agropoli lo scorso Luglio insieme ad altri 8 elementi per conoscere la fortissima dirigenza e familiarizzare con i ragazzi che hanno conquistato da poco la C.In attesa delle conferme dalla passata stagione , che arriveranno nei prossimi giorni , il presidente Ciro Ruggiero in sinergia con coach Lepre, Donato Avenia e tutto lo staff tecnico dirigenziale fa sapere che la Scuola Basket Donato Avenia nella prossima stagione sportiva parteciperà ai campionati under 17, under 19 e under 21 e che quest'anno più che mai l'entusiasmo è alle stelle.
Friday, August 23, 2013
As Akanu Ibiam Airport Enugu Welcomes International Flights
As Akanu Ibiam Airport Enugu Welcomes International Flights
11 Aug 2013
Ethiopian Airlines
On August 24, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu will receive the first international flight to the Coal City. Ethiopian Airlines issued a statement late last month indicating its readiness to be the first international carrier to fly to the airport.
The euphoria which has greeted the announcement, especially among Ndigbo and the nation in general, is understandable. It underscores the strategic nature of the development to the nation’s and the South East’s economy. The Deputy President of the Senate, who is also the highest political office holder from the zone, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in commending President Goodluck Jonathan over this, rightly described it as a “major milestone in the infrastructural renewal of the South East and a monumental boost for both trade and Direct Foreign Investment for the entire country”.
According to him, “For many decades, the people of the South East, the
local and international business community have waited seemingly
endlessly for the commencement of international flight operations at the
Akanu Ibiam International Airport, and the people of South East will
remain ever grateful to President Jonathan for the breakthrough.”
What a new dawn. For decades, successive administrations had exploited
the subject of international flight operations in the South East, to the
extent of making it a recurrent object of political rhetoric. They
promised more and delivered nothing. It was not because this is not most
deserving and needful. Ndigbo are known as great business people. From
Onitsha to Nnewi and Aba, the South East speaks of robust economic and
technological prowess, but which great potentials are abandoned to rust
in gross disuse.
Unfortunately, for ages, I dare say a combination of political
irresponsibility, assorted parochial interests and considerations,
promise and fail syndrome, and if you like, willful sabotage and
conspiracy, had kept the operation of international flight in the South
East far from reality. This had led quite many to conclude, rightly or
wrongly, that there was an unwritten code to ensure that the enclave did
not have direct contact with the outside world, even donkey years after
the civil war.
Thus, if the people of the South East took the November 14, 2007
statement by the then Minister of Aviation, Diezani Allison-Madueke
announcing President Yar’Adua’s approval of the upgrade of the Akanu
Ibiam Airport to the status of international airport with a pinch of
salt, they were not to blame. And when the former Minister of Aviation,
Babatunde Omotoba was credited with a statement during the flag-off of
rehabilitation work at the Akanu Ibiam Airport on November 30, 2009, to
the effect that the Federal Government had not given international
status to the Airport, the cloud of doubt and forlornness thickened.
However, all that has become mere part of the South East’s long walk to hosting an international aviation facility.
As Nigerians, especially the people of South East wait breathlessly for August 24, there are hallmarks in leadership by key players in pursuit of this breakthrough that need to be highlighted.
As Nigerians, especially the people of South East wait breathlessly for August 24, there are hallmarks in leadership by key players in pursuit of this breakthrough that need to be highlighted.
First, we must note that the more we have Presidents who see the whole
country as their constituency through equitable development and
opportunities, the less likely Nigerians are to clamour for Presidents
of their own ethno-religious extraction. It must not be lost on us that
the late President Yar’Adua who took the initial practical steps towards
the realization of this dream was from Katsina State, while the
incumbent President who has boosted and guided the initiative to
fruition, though closer home, is from Bayelsa in the South South.
Yar’Adua not only pronounced Enugu an international airport, but also
awarded the first contract in the sum of about N4.1 billion towards the
project. Who knows what contrary pieces of advice and even hushed
protests both Presidents might have contended with? Much as leadership,
especially in a pluralistic society like ours should go round to give
each section a sense of belonging, it will always be more important to
have a fatherly “Nigerian President”.
The second lesson is the sense of policy and project continuity shown
by President Jonathan. Discontinuity syndrome is one of the major banes
of development in Nigeria. And it is driven mainly by politics of ego,
vendetta, and corruption. Laudable projects have been abandoned because
incumbents were no longer on good terms with their predecessors or the
projects were cited in “wrong places” or someone just wants to feather
his/her nest. The Projects Assessment Committee set up by President
Jonathan in 2010 to take census of all abandoned and ongoing Federal
Government projects across the country identified a whooping 11,886
projects. The states do not fare better either. This is calamitous.
In contrast, the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by
President Jonathan on October 19, 2010 reaffirmed the upgrade of Enugu
Airport to an international facility and awarded a reviewed contract of
about N6.1billion to bring the total cost to about N10.03 billion. Under
Jonathan, the Airport was finally gazetted as an international airport.
The gazette was important to lay to rest the initial fears caused by
Omotoba’s statement. Just last May, Mr. President commissioned the
remodeled Enugu Airport and laid the foundation for a new international
terminal.
As also rightly observed by Senator Ekweremadu, the project has gone on
smoothly under the tenures of Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke who was
Minister of Transport at the time discussion was opened with late
President Yar’Adua on this project, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze who sustained the
actual construction as Minister of Aviation, and the current Minister
of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah who has driven this vision with
tremendous commitment, passion, and vigour to the point of reality
today.
Importantly, the actualisation of the Enugu Airport dream is a
testimony in leadership, synergy, and legislative masterstroke on the
part of Senator Ekweremadu and the South East Caucus of the 6th National
Assembly, NASS, which opened the request with a letter to President
Yar’Adua signed by Senator Ekweremadu on behalf of the rest. Thus, the
Caucus, with the Deputy President of Senate in the driver’s seat, began
the legislative diplomatic rounds to the Villa to drive the dream.
The meetings were fruitful from the outset as President Yar’Adua was
said to be seriously touched over the absence of an international
airport in the South East that he, there and then, minuted approval on
the letter of request. It was on the strength of this that Mrs.
Allison-Madueke also issued a statement announcing the designation Akanu
Ibiam an international airport. The release of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike,
leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, MASSOB, was discussed at the meeting. Yar’Adua honoured this
request too.
Meanwhile, the commitment of the Chairman of the Committee on Aviation
in the 6th Senate, Senator Anyim Udeh and his House of Representatives
counterpart, Hon. Bethel Amadi as well as their successors, Senator Hope
Uzodinma and Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha have helped to push the dream in
no little measures. With the concerted lobby and efforts the South East
Caucus in both the 6th and 7th National Assembly, it has never been
difficult for their fellow federal lawmakers to see the economic
reasons, the equity and justice in ensuring adequate budgetary
provisions for the project from the days of late President Yar’Adua till
date.
Worthy of special commendation are the uncommon wisdom, unity of
purpose, and sense of sacrifice shown by the Enugu State Caucus in the
6th NASS. With eyes fixated on the bigger picture, the Caucus, at a
point, channeled the entire funds for Constituency Projects that would
have accrued to Enugu Federal Constituencies and Senatorial Districts in
one fiscal year to the project. This, they told President Yar’Adua, was
to shore up budgetary provisions for the upgrading project. Which
President would not be moved by such show of commitment? The
masterstroke worked like magic as the Federal Executive Council under
President Yar’Adua subsequently broke the jinx by awarding a contract in
the sum of N4.1 billion to upgrade the Akanu Ibiam Airport.
In all, the deftness displayed by the South East federal lawmakers led
by Senator Ekweremadu, the great support shown by the South East
Governors (especially Governor Peter Obi both in his official capacity
as Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and his personal capacity
too), political stakeholders, and indeed numerous others towards the
actualization of the vision shows how much a people can achieve if they
work together in articulating and pursuing common, legitimate agenda.
There is also a big lesson in smooth executive/legislature relations as
well as intra-executive and intra-legislature synergy.
Indeed, it is an uncommon breath of fresh air as Enugu and the South
East is opened up to the outside world. Peaceful repose Yar’Adua; long
live Jonathan; well done Stella-Oduah et al; and kudos Ekweremadu (the
silent achiever), and the entire South East compatriots in the 6th and
7th NASS.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/as-akanu-ibiam-airport-enugu-welcomes-international-flights/156006/
Mr. Anichukwu is Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate
Mr. Anichukwu is Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Italian lawmaker Roberto Calderoli likens black minister Cecile Kyenge to orangutan
Italian Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge gestures during a news conference in Rome. - Reuters
Monday, July 8, 2013
BOKO HARAM, TOMATOES AND BIAFRA lessons (first things first)
Tomatoes ,Biafra and Boko
Haram
Buyer: how much your tomatoes cost?
Vegetable seller; 100
Naira
Buyer: for this small
thing?
Vegetable seller; na sooh;
you no sabi say boko haram dey?
Buyer.: Boko haram ..wetin
be there own there now?
Vegetable seller; it scars
now becos dem talk say na from them
tomatoe dey come ooh
Buyer: so if book haram say make we no chop tomatoe again for
Owerri we no go chop be that?
Vegetable seller; Oga na so I see amoooo
A waiting customer: and them dey talk of Biafra !! small time dem go look
for somebody we take hunger
quench dem.
...by chukbyke.....
BEFORE I REST MY PEN... FELIX & I....AHIARA DIOCESE
(READ MY LAST REPLY BELOW THE FACEBOOK PASTE)
Cardinal John Onaiyekan appointed apostolic administrator of troubled Diocese of Ahiara.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Ahiara.
Founded in 1987 and located in the Mbaise region of Imo State in southern Nigeria, the diocese was governed by Bishop Victor Chikwe from its inception until his death in 2010.
In December 2012, Pope Benedict appointed Father Peter Okpaleke, a priest of the Diocese of Awka in neighboring Anambra State, as the diocese’s new bishop. 400 priests, angered that a Mbaise priest was not appointed, protested the decision.
The appointment “sends a very reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of about 500 Catholic priests that trace their origins to the soil of Mbaise, a diocese that has been globally acclaimed as the Ireland of Nigeria,” the priests said in a statement.
Some priests and lay protesters saw Cardinal Francis Arinze, the retired prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as the force behind the appointment of Father Okpaleke. Cardinal Arinze comes from Anambra State.
“Awka has five bishops, Mbaise has no bishop,” said a placard at the priests’ protest. “We want Mbaise son as Mbaise bishop.”
Father Okpaleke was ordained bishop of Ahiara on May 21, but the ordination took place at a seminary in another diocese amid heavy security. At the time of the ordination, youth locked the cathedral of Ahiara in protest. Some protesters placed a coffin with the new bishop’s name at diocesan headquarters.
The Holy See has not announced Bishop Okpaleke’s resignation from his see. Typically, the Pope appoints an apostolic administrator when a see is vacant (sede vacante), but a sede plena appointment is not unprecedented: Archbishop Joseph Miot served as apostolic administrator of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 1997 to 2008, while Archbishop François-Wolff Ligondé remained archbishop, and Bishop Thomas Olmsted was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Gallup in 2008 while Bishop Donald Pelotte remained diocesan bishop.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Ahiara.
Founded in 1987 and located in the Mbaise region of Imo State in southern Nigeria, the diocese was governed by Bishop Victor Chikwe from its inception until his death in 2010.
In December 2012, Pope Benedict appointed Father Peter Okpaleke, a priest of the Diocese of Awka in neighboring Anambra State, as the diocese’s new bishop. 400 priests, angered that a Mbaise priest was not appointed, protested the decision.
The appointment “sends a very reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of about 500 Catholic priests that trace their origins to the soil of Mbaise, a diocese that has been globally acclaimed as the Ireland of Nigeria,” the priests said in a statement.
Some priests and lay protesters saw Cardinal Francis Arinze, the retired prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as the force behind the appointment of Father Okpaleke. Cardinal Arinze comes from Anambra State.
“Awka has five bishops, Mbaise has no bishop,” said a placard at the priests’ protest. “We want Mbaise son as Mbaise bishop.”
Father Okpaleke was ordained bishop of Ahiara on May 21, but the ordination took place at a seminary in another diocese amid heavy security. At the time of the ordination, youth locked the cathedral of Ahiara in protest. Some protesters placed a coffin with the new bishop’s name at diocesan headquarters.
The Holy See has not announced Bishop Okpaleke’s resignation from his see. Typically, the Pope appoints an apostolic administrator when a see is vacant (sede vacante), but a sede plena appointment is not unprecedented: Archbishop Joseph Miot served as apostolic administrator of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 1997 to 2008, while Archbishop François-Wolff Ligondé remained archbishop, and Bishop Thomas Olmsted was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Gallup in 2008 while Bishop Donald Pelotte remained diocesan bishop.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Oooh Felix, I
beg to withdraw from this ‘debate’ before it gets to other levels!!!! You are almost taking it personal.
Who are my
people? Catholics, Nigerians, Igbos, Enugu etc? Do you read my posts or replies at all? Read them once more
or invite a third party (i.e non prejudiced person) to read the whole posts on
this issue and analyze. I adopt this some times.
The
penultimate bishop of Enugu was from Delta; on his arrival years back many people may have wished an Enugu person
on that seat but they never
locked off the CATHEDRAL NOR PLACED A COFFIN SOME SOMEWHERE WITH HIS NAME ON IT. We accepted him, obeyed, worked with him , loved him, prayed and asked for our wish to be satisfied one day; One day came, and we
had a bishop from Enugu. If the new
bishop wasn’t still from Enugu I do not think we would still have … locked off the CATHEDRAL
NOR PLACED A COFFIN SOME SOMEWHERE WITH
HIS NAME ON IT nor allowed some
person/group to do so. My dear friend I
insist that that the catholic teachings taught us other ways of doing these
things.
I Know Mbaise
and Mbaise people; I know scores of Mbaise
religious people and have been
with them in many places outside Mbaise
where the have worked and
sacrificed, however you are the person who introduced Mbaise as a
people into an Ahiara diocese palaver
which is not a mistake per se but do
not get
it wrong if the debate takes that turn and tone.
I repeat, the
diocese should have a bishop and I support that any day. I am somehow ignorant
in the modalities of appointment of bishops, however from your report (if it is
not too sentimental) there might have been
some errors or omissions to
be corrected.
I am from a new diocese carved out from the great Enugu diocese. Our first bishop is
from the diocese, he was a student in
Rome when you and I were also there. We love him and work with
him but I do not think we would have loved a bishop from Ahiara diocese less nor
locked off the CATHEDRAL NOR PLACED A COFFIN SOME SOMEWHERE WITH HIS NAME ON IT nor allowed some person/group to do so.
If Boko Haram
or Al qaeda people do this we would cry to the whole world to
see the disrespect from other
religions. This action should be condemned first by all well reasoning people. This is my point.
I rest my pen here giving glory to Jesus and honor to Mary.
Charles
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SHAITSU
Il massaggio Shiatsu che si effettua tramite la pressione delle dita, dei palmi delle mani e dei piedi e dei gomiti su tutto il corpo, agisce sui punti energetici considerati dall'agopuntura. Stimola la circolazione sanguigna ed il flusso linfatico, agisce sul sistema nervoso allentando la tensione muscolare più profonda, rimuove le tossine dei tessuti, risveglia il sistema ormonale e sollecita la capacità di autoguarigione del corpo.
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