Nightmare over Mali as uncertainty of battle outcome looms

Events in Mali despite the stride of France in stamping out militants from major cities are still uncertain. Young girls, some as low as 13 years, have reportedly taken to sex work to fend for themselves and survive in a country where the war has displaced up to 475,000 people.

According to a UN report, peacekeepers to be deployed in Mali next month could face serious risks from armed groups, Reuters reported. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the situation in Mali remains volatile, “with sporadic clashes between armed groups and continued asymmetric attacks across the three regions of the north."

France, which launched a military intervention in Mali in January, has begun troop withdrawals and will gradually hand over security responsibilities to UN peacekeepers by July 1. The Malian debacle has always been the likely resultant effect of any foreign intervention in countries across the globe taking Afghanistan and Iraq as studies.

France itself was part of the initial problem through an indirect funding of the militants.

Iran announces new Security-oriented 'space tracking centre'

The Iranian defence minister revealed that a new Iranian space monitoring centre will track orbiting objects. It is the latest of Iran's space programme claims, which include sending a monkey into orbit.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad praised the new centre as a benchmark in the country's space programme.

“This is a highly great achievement and we are among the few countries with such a centre and if we send a satellite into the space, we can receive its information in our country,” Ahmadinejad said in an address inaugurating the centre in Markazi province on Sunday.  He added that the "inauguration of this centre has brought us one step closer to the complete use of space."

Defence Minister General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters that the centre would mostly be used to monitor satellites passing overhead using radar, electro-optic and radio systems.

Iran already maintains a number of command and control stations around the country, and one inside the territory of its regional ally Syria.

The US has voiced fears that developments in space technology could bring Tehran closer to making long-range missiles. This is the main reason while it is targeting her and her oil industry with crippling sanctions to crumble her muscle to develop nuclear missiles.

Tehran has denied these claims, maintaining that the space programme is purely civilian-orientated. Of particular concern to Washington is Iran’s ambition to put more satellites into orbit, which Tehran says are aimed at monitoring earthquakes, improving security and increasing military surveillance.

Iran regularly boasts about its many technological advances. In March, the Aerospace Industries Organization claimed it sent a monkey into space aboard a Pioneer explorer rocket. The monkey allegedly returned to Earth alive after being sent into orbit at an altitude of 120 kilometers.

Iran has claimed it sent a number of smaller animals into space, including a rat, turtles and worms aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Director of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, hailed the mission as a huge success and said it was a prelude to sending a human into space.

One Dead, Several Others Injured in anti-Hezbollah Protest in Lebanon

As activists gathered to protest the involvement of the Islamist group in Syria, violence broke out. At least one person has been killed and several others injured in gunfire during an anti-Hezbollah protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. .

Men in black shirts began to scuffle with protesters as they arrived in front of the Embassy in preparation for the demonstration, reports Lebanese publication the Daily Star. They also fired gunshots into the air to disperse the activists.

Lebanese state news reported that the army quickly restored calm and cordoned off the area following the outbreak of violence.

Hezbollah helped Syrian government forces to expel armed rebels from the strategic region of Qusayr on Saturday, a move that was criticised by Washington.

"Hezbollah and Iran should immediately withdraw their fighters from Syria," State Department spokesperson Jay Carney said, accusing the two of aiding the Syrian government in its battle for Qusayr. The US regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The head of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, has justified the group’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, maintaining they are defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites.

Hezbollah has vowed never to allow Syria fall into the hands of Israel and the United States. It says it is ready to defend Syria and avoid the planting of a stooge of the two countries in Damascus.

Angolan President says it’s Human to think about Succession

Perhaps, the thinking of succession blindfolded Maummar Gaddafi to the reality when  protests began and he felt Libya will be left in no capable hands on his departure if sudden and swift as the revolution came, hence, he was extremely defiant.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Africa’s second-longest serving ruler, said he has thought about a transition of power almost 12 months after winning another five-year term.

“Yes, of course, it’s only human to do that,” Dos Santos said in an interview with Portuguese television channel SIC posted on the broadcaster’s website. The full interview is set to air today after 8 p.m. in Lisbon.

The 70-year-old won a new term at the helm of Africa’s second-largest oil producer in August 2012 in the first national elections to determine a president in 20 years. Manuel Domingos Vicente, the former head of state oil company Sonangol EP, was named vice president.

Dos Santos, who came to power in 1979 and is currently the longest serving ruler in Africa after President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, said he is in favour of growing Angolan investment in Portuguese companies.

“Sonangol has taken the first steps and in some cases it has been successful and in others not, but what matters is that it advances,” Dos Santos said. Sonangol is Banco Comercial Portugues SA’s biggest shareholder with a 19.4 percent stake, according to the website of Portugal’s second-biggest publicly traded lender by market value.

Angola seems the only African country that appears to be more of a real trading partner now to its erstwhile colonial master than been looked upon as a 'colony' like in the case of former French colonies and indirectly, the former British colonies. Portugal ran to Angola during the financial downturn.