Tag Archives: careers
Army ousts, detains Mursi
Army ousts, detains Mursi (AFP) / 4 July 2013 Egypt’s army ousted and detained the president Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday after a week of deadly clashes and mass protests calling for him to go after a year in office. His defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, announced Mursi’s overthrow on state television, even as police began rounding up key Mursi aides and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of a total of 300 Brotherhood officials, state media reported. The news that Mursi had been forced out drew a rapturous reception from thousands of protesters camped out on the streets of Cairo for days, some of whom celebrated with fireworks. But at least seven of Mursi’s supporters were killed in clashes with security forces in Alexandria and the eastern city of Marsa Matrouh, security officials said. Mursi and his senior aides were placed “under house arrest” in a military facility, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member said. The ousted president was later taken to the defence ministry, Gehad El Haddad added. His father, Essam El Haddad, a senior Mursi aide, is one of those detained. Mursi issued a defiant call for his supporters to defend his elected “legitimacy” in a prerecorded speech that appeared online after Sisi’s statement. Thousands of his supporters remained camped out in northern Cairo, but Egyptian television stations stopped broadcasting live feeds of the pro-Mursi rally after the military announced his overthrow. US President Barak Obama said he was “deeply concerned” over Mursi’s ouster and called on the army to refrain to “arbitrary arrests” of Mursi and his supporters. In May, Washington approved $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt. That was now under review, said Obama, as he called for a swift return to democratic rule. Police also began arresting leaders of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, an interior ministry general told AFP. Saad Al Katatni, head of Mursi’s Freedom and Justice Party was already in custody , he added. In his speech, Sisi laid out details of the roadmap for a political transition. The armed forces, which had deployed troops and armour across the country, would “remain far away from politics,” he stressed. In the streets of Cairo, the response was immediate. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital to celebrate, cheering, whistling, letting off firecrackers and honking car horns in several hours of celebrations. “It’s a new historical moment. We got rid of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood,” said one celebrator, Omar Sherif. In an amateur video posted online, Mursi declared: “I am the elected president of Egypt” and urged people to “defend this legitimacy”. Earlier, Mursi’s national security adviser Essam Al Haddad, said on Facebook: “For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: military coup.” But the opposition Congress Party of Amr Mussa insisted “this is not a coup”. Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, came under massive pressure in the run-up to Sunday’s anniversary of his maiden year in office. His opponents accused him of failing the 2011 revolution by concentrating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood. His year in power was marked by a spiralling economic crisis, shortages in fuel and often deadly opposition protests. The embattled 61-year-old had proposed a “consensus government” as a way out of the crisis, the worst since the 2011 uprising that ended three decades of authoritarian rule by Hosni Mubarak. But it failed to satisfy his critics and the army stepped in. Its commander named the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Al Mansour, as interim leader of the Arab world’s most populous country. Mansour, a previously little known judge, is expected to be sworn in on Thursday. Opposition leader Mohamed El Baradei, former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, sat beside army chief Sisi as he announced on state television that Mursi’s rule was over. So too did the heads of the Coptic Church and Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning. The choreography was designed to show broad civilian support for the military’s move against Mursi. It was a heavy blow to Mursi’s supporters, who a year ago saw his election as president one of the key achievements of the 2011 revolution. Already, the security forces had shut down broadcasts from a Muslim Brotherhood television channel, a Mursi aide told AFP. Continue reading
Cyber security risks on the rise, study reveals
Cyber security risks on the rise, study reveals Issac John / 28 June 2013 Cyber security risks in the UAE are potentially increasing with social media becoming more available within companies, new study reveals. While 65 per cent of IT experts in the UAE believe the region is a prime target for cyber criminals, 63 per cent believe that the number of “successful cyber attacks” will decrease in the next 12 months, the research conducted by Gulf Business Machines (GBM) said. Across the globe, cyber crimes are growing and by 2017, the global cyber security market is expected to skyrocket to $120.1 billion. The estimated annual cost over global cyber crime is $100 billion, latest data reveals. The total global volume of cybercrime in 2011 was $388 billion, and in 2012, consumer cybercrime alone caused losses of $110 billion. In the UAE, experts estimate that three-quarters of Internet users in the country will become victims of cybercrime. Of that figure 75 per cent of the hacking is slated to happen around our bank accounts. And only one out of 10 is estimated to have installed anti-virus software on mobile phones. The GBM survey results reveal that 35 per cent of incidents are staff related, which can be avoided by increasing employee awareness. “ The security landscape in the UAE has continually evolved in recent years, largely due to the increase of cyber crime. The results of the research also highlights that 21 per cent of respondents said their organisations have not been conducting regular proactive screenings to ensure that their IT infrastructure and critical data are protected. Respondents are expressing a false sense of security as the survey shows that 63 per cent of respondents believe that the number of successful attacks will decrease in the next 12 months,” the GBM report said. “Companies are more aware of IT security issues than ever before. Although organizations are showing more interest in pre-emptive measures against possible cyber threats, they are not always taking the appropriate measures,” said Hani Nofal, director of Intelligent Network Solutions (INS) at GBM. “Nearly half of the organizations polled spend up to 10 per cent of their IT budget on security. However, we expect this number to increase in the future,” said Nofal. Similar GBM research conducted last year showed that just over a third of those polled claimed that their organisations’ IT policies completely prohibited access to social networking websites. Today, this number has been cut in half, indicating that more businesses are adopting and embracing social media. “Companies in the region have been exploring social media as a new way of communicating with the public. Enterprises are, therefore, opening their internal networks and allowing access to social media. This is increasing the potential of cyber risks for organizations and making them more vulnerable to cyber security attacks,” said Nofal. A report published in the January issue of 999 Magazine, the official English monthly of the Ministry of Interior, revealed that cyber-attacks had mostly targeted the banking sector, including both the ATM and Internet banking applications, in the UAE. The banking sector topped the list of the most eyed target (35%) while the remaining 65% attacks were launched against the government’s e-services, telecommunication systems, and educational institutions’ systems, according to the report. To address this problem, most of police general headquarters in the UAE have established cybercrime and organisational security units. They also have computer forensics teams that specialise in obtaining, recovering, examining, analysing, and presenting electronic evidence stored on computers or other electronic devices. Cloud computing has also become an ideal target because of its reliability and scalability. In 2012, a new legislation came into force in the UAE codifying the full range of cyber crimes that can be committed and the resulting penalties. The UAE is the first country in the Middle East to implement such a wide-ranging cyber crime law. The law has been introduced in response to increasing levels of cyber crime in the UAE, brought about by rapidly evolving technology and the growth of transactions conducted via the internet. The new law, which builds on the previous 2006 law, is far more comprehensive in its nature and scope. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Obama heads to South Africa with Mandela on his mind
Obama heads to South Africa with Mandela on his mind (Reuters) / 28 June 2013 US President Barack Obama heads to South Africa on Friday hoping to see ailing icon Nelson Mandela, after wrapping up a visit to Senegal that focused on improving food security and promoting democratic institutions. Obama is in the middle of a three-country tour of Africa that the White House hopes will compensate for what some view as years of neglect by the administration of America’s first black president. Before departing Dakar, Obama was scheduled to meet with farmers and local entrepreneurs to discuss new technologies that are helping farmers and their families in West Africa, one of the world’s poorest and most drought-prone regions. But it was Mandela, the 94-year-old former South African president who is clinging to life in a Pretoria hospital, who will dominate the president’s day even before he arrives in Johannesburg. Asked on Thursday whether Obama would be able to pay Mandela a visit, the White House said that was up to the family. “We are going to completely defer to the wishes of the Mandela family and work with the South African government as relates to our visit,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in Senegal. “Whatever the Mandela family deems appropriate, that’s what we’re focused on doing in terms of our interaction with them.” Obama sees Mandela, also known as Madiba, as a hero. Whether they are able to meet or not, officials said his trip would serve largely as a tribute to the anti-apartheid leader. “I’ve had the privilege of meeting Madiba and speaking to him. And he’s a personal hero, but I don’t think I’m unique in that regard,” Obama said on Thursday. “If and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we’ll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages.” The president arrives in South Africa on Friday evening and has no public events scheduled. He could go to the hospital then. Obama is scheduled to visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent years in prison, later during his trip. On Friday morning, Obama will take part in a “Feed the Future” event on food security. That issue, along with anti-corruption measures and trade opportunities for US companies, are topics the White House wants to highlight on Obama’s tour. Obama, who has been in office since 2009, has only visited Africa once in his presidential tenure: a short trip to Ghana at the beginning of his first term. While acknowledging that Obama has not spent as much time in Africa as people hoped, the administration is eager to highlight what it has done, in part to end unflattering comparisons to accomplishments of predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Food security and public aid are two of the issues the Obama team believes are success stories. “Africa has seen a steady and consistent increase in our overall resource investment each year that we’ve been in office,” said Raj Shah, head of USAID. “And sustaining that in this political climate has required real trade-offs to be made in other areas, but we’ve done that.” Continue reading
