RUNDU: Small-scale horticulture farmers in the Kavango Region have appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to consider introducing horticulture subsidies and other schemes similar to what is being done for grain production.

Speaking during an information-sharing meeting between Minister of Agriculture John Mutorwa and Green Scheme managers and horticulture producers at Rundu yesterday, horticulture producer Rafael Kampanze said they feel left out in terms of various Government subsidies.

He thus pleaded with the Agriculture Minister to consider introducing such benefits, saying the horticulture farmers also need Government’s support in order to increase food production.

Mutorwa agreed that horticulture producers do need assistance from Government, similar to that provided for the production of grain.

The assistance to grain producers includes subsidised ploughing services, improved seeds as well as weeding services.

The minister said he presented the horticultural producers’ concerns to the Namibian Agronomic Board some time back, but is yet to receive any feedback.
2 (SOUTH AFRICA) – Charges were today withdrawn against the man who spraypainted part of the word ‘respect’ on the wall of the Goodman Gallery during the controversy over ‘The Spear’ painting.

George Moyo said outside the court he is ‘very pleased’ it’s over.

Standing quietly with two other people in the winter sun, the scene was a far cry from the bustle outside the Goodman Gallery on May 23.

It was at the height of a controversy over Murray’s painting hanging inside, which depicted President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed.

The ANC, which Zuma also presides over, had gone to court to have it removed and as the case was being postponed, word spread that the painting had been defaced.

That afternoon, while crowds gathered outside in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the defaced painting, Moyo unexpectedly moved out and began spraying the word ‘respect’ on a wall, but he only got as far as the letters ‘res’ before he was stopped and later charged with malicious damage.
3 (NAIROBI) – A grenade attack wounded four people in Kenya’s Wajir border region with war-torn Somalia, police said today, the latest in string of attacks in the volatile region.

Attackers in Wajir, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Somalia, hurled grenades into a restaurant and a shop late yesterday, said regional police chief Philip Tuimur.

He said none of the attackers have been arrested.

Kenya has suffered a spate of grenade attacks, shootings and bomb blasts since sending troops into southern Somalia in October to crush Shebab bases there, prompting warnings of revenge attacks by the Islamist fighters.

Last month attackers in the border garrison town of Garissa carried out Kenya’s worst attack in a decade, when they targeted worshippers as they held Sunday prayer services, killing 18.

4 (IVORY COAST) – Nine women have been sentenced to jail terms for the female circumcision of around 30 young girls, in what the UN said was the first criminal prosecution of its kind in Ivory Coast.

The women, aged between 46 and 91, were found guilty of ‘female genital mutilation’ or complicity yesterday and each sentenced to a year in jail and a 75- euro ($90-dollar) fine.

Although UN officials said they did not expect them to serve their sentences due to their age, they welcomed the convictions as an important first step.

The sentence is the first of its kind in Ivory Coast and would help to prevent future cases of female circumcision, Patrick Yedress of the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), told AFP at court.

The circumcisions were carried out during a ritual ceremony in the northern town of Katiola in February.

5 (PARIS) – The new 75-percent tax rate France will impose on top incomes will be temporary and could be reconsidered when the country balances its budget, Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac said today.

Cahuzac told Europe 1 radio when asked about the tax it seems necessary to him during a time of debt reduction, adding that once the country has been put back on track… ‘then the question can arise’ of dropping the tax.

But Cahuzac said the tax was also meant as a signal to the wealthy, adding that people can hope that thanks to the tax, the intolerable salary gaps seen today will be a thing of the past.

President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government plans to impose the tax rate on annual salaries in excess of one million euros ($1.2 million), possibly starting from next year, and to balance France’s budget by 2017.

The tax rate has come under fire from the right, who say it will lead to an exodus of top earners from France while doing little to address the country’s fiscal problems.
(edited)HERE IS TODAY’S BULLETIN FOR 13H00 THURSDAY, 19 JULY 2012 NAMIBIA PRESS AGENCY

1 (RUNDU) – Small-scale horticulture farmers in the Kavango Region have appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to consider introducing horticulture subsidies and other schemes similar to what is being done for grain production.

Speaking during an information-sharing meeting between Minister of Agriculture John Mutorwa and Green Scheme managers and horticulture producers at Rundu yesterday, horticulture producer Rafael Kampanze said they feel left out in terms of various Government subsidies.

He thus pleaded with the Agriculture Minister to consider introducing such benefits, saying the horticulture farmers also need Government’s support in order to increase food production.

Mutorwa agreed that horticulture producers do need assistance from Government, similar to that provided for the production of grain.

The assistance to grain producers includes subsidised ploughing services, improved seeds as well as weeding services.

The minister said he presented the horticultural producers’ concerns to the Namibian Agronomic Board some time back, but is yet to receive any feedback.

2 (SOUTH AFRICA) – Charges were today withdrawn against the man who spraypainted part of the word ‘respect’ on the wall of the Goodman Gallery during the controversy over ‘The Spear’ painting.

George Moyo said outside the court he is ‘very pleased’ it’s over.

Standing quietly with two other people in the winter sun, the scene was a far cry from the bustle outside the Goodman Gallery on May 23.

It was at the height of a controversy over Murray’s painting hanging inside, which depicted President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed.

The ANC, which Zuma also presides over, had gone to court to have it removed and as the case was being postponed, word spread that the painting had been defaced.

That afternoon, while crowds gathered outside in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the defaced painting, Moyo unexpectedly moved out and began spraying the word ‘respect’ on a wall, but he only got as far as the letters ‘res’ before he was stopped and later charged with malicious damage.
3 (NAIROBI) – A grenade attack wounded four people in Kenya’s Wajir border region with war-torn Somalia, police said today, the latest in string of attacks in the volatile region.

Attackers in Wajir, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Somalia, hurled grenades into a restaurant and a shop late yesterday, said regional police chief Philip Tuimur.

He said none of the attackers have been arrested.

Kenya has suffered a spate of grenade attacks, shootings and bomb blasts since sending troops into southern Somalia in October to crush Shebab bases there, prompting warnings of revenge attacks by the Islamist fighters.

Last month attackers in the border garrison town of Garissa carried out Kenya’s worst attack in a decade, when they targeted worshippers as they held Sunday prayer services, killing 18.
4 (IVORY COAST) – Nine women have been sentenced to jail terms for the female circumcision of around 30 young girls, in what the UN said was the first criminal prosecution of its kind in Ivory Coast.

The women, aged between 46 and 91, were found guilty of ‘female genital mutilation’ or complicity yesterday and each sentenced to a year in jail and a 75- euro ($90-dollar) fine.

Although UN officials said they did not expect them to serve their sentences due to their age, they welcomed the convictions as an important first step.

The sentence is the first of its kind in Ivory Coast and would help to prevent future cases of female circumcision, Patrick Yedress of the United Nations Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), told AFP at court.

The circumcisions were carried out during a ritual ceremony in the northern town of Katiola in February.
5 (PARIS) – The new 75-percent tax rate France will impose on top incomes will be temporary and could be reconsidered when the country balances its budget, Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac said today.

Cahuzac told Europe 1 radio when asked about the tax it seems necessary to him during a time of debt reduction, adding that once the country has been put back on track… ‘then the question can arise’ of dropping the tax.

But Cahuzac said the tax was also meant as a signal to the wealthy, adding that people can hope that thanks to the tax, the intolerable salary gaps seen today will be a thing of the past.

President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government plans to impose the tax rate on annual salaries in excess of one million euros ($1.2 million), possibly starting from next year, and to balance France’s budget by 2017.

The tax rate has come under fire from the right, who say it will lead to an exodus of top earners from France while doing little to address the country’s fiscal problems.