Dimonds from Sierra Leon.......against all right

In 1935 the diamond history of Sierra Leone began when De Beers legally took absolute control of the dining prospects in Sierra Leone for the subsequent 99 years. Despite De Beers presence, Lebanese traders within Sierra Leone quickly discovered the vast profits that could be made by smuggling diamonds out of the country. As a result, illegal mining and trading increased throughout Sierra Leone.

In 1961, Sierra Leone gained its independence from Great Britain. Since then, diamond smuggling became both political and economical problem.

In 1968, when populist Siaka Stevens became prime minister, he was the first to connect the illicit diamond mines to political power and profit officially. To nationalized the diamond mines and De Beers' SLST, he created the National Diamond Mining Co. Through this company, Stevens and his key advisor, Lebanese businessman Jamil Mohammed, controled the diamond mines. It was not before the end of Stevens' rule, when De Beers removed itself from Sierra Leone.

In 1984, De Beers' sold its remaining shares to the Precious Metals Mining Co., controlled by Mohammed. A year later, Joseph Momoh, took power of Sierra Leone. With little political or leadership skills, he placed even more responsibility in Mohammed's hand. As a result illegal diamond mining within Sierra Leone prospered resulting in to a corrupted government by 1991.


On March 23, a civil war began when the Revolutionary United Front, a group of 100 fighters from Sierra Leone and Liberia, occupied east Sierra Leone. At that time, RUF leaders were alert that whoever controls the diamond mines will be able to control Sierra Leone itself.

Finally, in July 1999, under pressure from the U.N. and the U.S. government Sankoh and Sierra Leone's president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, signed the Lome Peace Accord. RUF agreed to surrender its forces for a share in Sierra Leone's government. As a concession to RUF, Sankoh was released from the death sentence he earned for his war crimes and made chairman of the Strategic Mineral Resources Commission, a position that controlled most of Sierra Leone's diamond exports.

JRMC 460 Journal Two: BBC World News

On BBC yesterday I heard the latest news on radio. Here are some news from several countries.

Chile: Dozens of people were arrested after looters fought over goods and set fire to a department store. An 8.8 magnitude earth quake killed more than 700 people last Saturday. Many residents are short of food, water, electricity and others. So several military Lorries distributed goods until the curfew was lifted.

Uganda: More than a hundred people have been killed in a landslide in the mountains eastern region of Buddha in Uganda. Over 60 children are missing.
The government had provided hundred coffins to provide these families with respectable burial.

France and Rwanda: Agathe Habyarimana is accused by the current Rwandan government of helping to plan the 1994 genocide, and has long been hunted by prosecutors there.
Mrs Habyarimana, who has been living in France for several years, denies the accusations.

Srebrenica: Mr Karadzic is accused of orchestrating a campaign of "ethnic cleansing". Mr Karadzic told his trial at The Hague that Sarajevo, where some 12,000 people died in 44 months, was "not a city under siege" by Bosnian Serb forces.
He said claims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were based on "false myths".
He is accused of genocide and war crimes devoted during the conflict.

Pakistan: Muslim scholar Dr Tahir ul-Qadri, from Pakistan attracted the interest of policymakers and security chiefs with his way of thinking. He believes that Islam prohibits the massacre of innocent citizens and suicide bombings. He developed his document last year as a response to the increase in bombings across Pakistan by militants.

Yemen: An explosion took place in the town of Taiz, killing at least ten people including two children so far.

BBC: Mr Thompson also announced that half of the websites on BBC online will close by 2013. Among the closures will be teen services Switch and Blast, with Mr Thompson admitting Channel 4 should lead the way with these audiences.
The strategy review has now been submitted to the BBC Trust and a public consultation period will take place.

The quality of sound is clear and pure. All words and letters were clear. Yet the announcer talked very slowly at times and faster in other times. The length of sentences varied from one to another. The best thing about the news cast is its duration. It was neither short nor long. Moreover, each story took almost the same time as other stories. The news cast was smooth at that point.

Regarding Chile story, I disliked the part when a NAT sound of a Chile woman was talking while a translator was translating.
Concerning France story, The French man who was interviewed talked in a French accent, which I liked.

Haiti considers Future Quakes While Rebuilding

Haiti considers Future Quakes While Rebuilding
Announcer: Peter Harris
Duration: 4:15

It seems that there is a new aspect that is concerning Haiti’s population more than the homeless people and the dead. More earth quakes are expected to occur sooner or later. This issue was addressed on the National Public Radio few days ago in depth, and the following is a summary of the news.

Both scientists and seismologists are studying what happened during the earth quake and the rupture in addition to how much slip there was at depth. According to Richard Harris “Rough estimates now show that six miles underground where the quake started, the fault slipped 15 feet. At the surface, the north of Haiti moved about three feet relative to the south. Calais will nail down those numbers once he measures the exact positions of more than 30 of these benchmarks around Haiti”.

The rapture was going to the west, hitting in less degree the east parts like Port-au-Prince. However, this will not last for a long time, since the earth quake changed a two percent of a magnitude seven quake on this length of the fault from January to February. Thus, the rapture might be directed to the densely populated parts of Port-au-Prince.

All of these changes are driving scientists and geologists to explore possible ways for future safety against coming earth quakes.

I believe that the new cast was interesting, because it did not come to my expectations that some parts in Haiti would be damaged more than other parts. Yet, it can be more interesting for engineers in terms of statistics than other people like me.

The quality of the sound was good, but the announcer’s voice was somehow low. One must follow up by reading the script. It was not only the announcers but people being interviewed like Mr. Calais and Mr. Claude.
I liked the natural sounds that were heard in the background. I heard stones being dragged and hammering. These sounds gave sense of belonging to the place. I felt as if I am with them in the place.

My favourite Quotes

Each person is touched by certian quotes, where he either beleives in them, or experienced them before. Here are some quotes i like, maybe you will have a hint of my personality.

"He, who has a why to live for, can bare almost any how" -Nietzsche.

"The best way of revenge is not to be like him...the one who did the injury" -Marcos Aurelius.

"A day is sometimes our mother, sometimes our step mother" -Hesiod.

"Beleive those who are seeking the truth, doubt those who find it" -Andre Guide.

"The unexamined life doesnt worth living" -Socrates.

"War is peace, Freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength" -George Orwell.

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality" -Max Dupree.

Podcast: Changing eating habits

Five years ago, i formed a very bad eating habit, where i gained about fifteen kilos. Since then, i feel depressed from the weight i gained, which makes me eat like a pig.
So i decided to change my eating habit in to a better one, putting in to consideration that i should continue on this for several months. It is not an easy task at all, but i have a motive to reduce weight and live a healthy life.
After several reserches on the internet, i found the following information as the most useful.

First of all, Reducing weight comprises reducing the amount of adipose tissue in the body. To achieve this, one can establish a negative energy balance in which energy expenditure exceeds energy intake. This imbalance exploits energy stored in body, which are the fats. There are two determinants of size loss; First the energy value of the weight loss, and the size of energy imbalance.

One way to change eating habits is to start substituting or limiting fatty food such as oven-backed potatoes instead of fried potatoes and grilled chicken instead of fried or pane's chicken.

"The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) updated Food Guide Pyramid is the best source for meal planning--whole grain breads and cereals, an abundance of fruits and vegetables, low fat milk and cheeses, legumes, lean meats, fish and poultry" (Eating Healthy)

Moroever, i found a clear association between soft drinks consumption and increased energy intake. The increase in energy intake results in to weight gain and risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Consuming more water and decreasing soft drinks will facilitate weight loss.

Besides, physical exercise increases the energy expenditure causing negative energy balance. It helps a lot in losing weight, however, it need to be supported with food control. So far, I did not go to gym or play any sports. However, I decided to go to nearby places by foot instead of car. The distances were not far, ranging from 5 to 35 minutes walk like from Heliopolis to Korba for example. I did not lose much at all, however I felt lighter than before. It helped my build some muscles in my legs and arms.

The best way of dieting that I experienced was through dancing. I started dancing ChaCha, and it helped me lose my tummy, and more than one kilo in a month.

So all girls who want to lose weight, try to adapt this healthy eating behaviour, and i beleive that yu will look thinner, more beautifull and healthy.

Street Children in Egypt

The phenomena of street children have started to increase during the past couple of decades, which caught the government recognition very recently. Street children are the causality of economic growth, poverty, high fertility, war, physical and sexual abuse. Some of these children are excited for having gained their freedom, while others are pushed on to the streets due to ill-treatment or death of parents. As a result of harsh circumstances faced by these children and inability to make ends meat, they involve in to 'bad hands' that exploit them in all wrong doings. Most of them fall under the law and end their life in prison. Hence, they live all their life being abused in different kinds, from different people weather from parents, from street criminals or from the police.
As media tackle this issue, many people began to perceive those street children in a bad way, either treating them harsher or avoiding them. These actions complicated the problem even further for the children who started losing hope for help. In addition to the low response of the Egyptian government, street children number is growing year by year in a higher rate than the number of orphanages and Child care organizations. All of these factors deteriorated the case, naming It the temporarily bomb, that if exploded, it will damage huge part of the Egyptian society and the well being of the country.
Children who live in the streets are either abandoned by their family, have homeless families or are forced to spend time in streets and return back home late at night. And if they did not come up with the expected amount of money, they can be beaten harshly.
Usually, street children are boys because they are more likely to have behavioral problems with their families than girls, who tend to be supportive. Girls are also invisible in the streets because they are usually uneducated and not part of the labor force. As a result, they either work in prostitution or as household maids.
The major problem that leads to street children is poverty. Children work either to gain money for themselves, or to support their families. There are several ways to bring up money like begging, washing cars, selling drugs or through prostitution.
Many children leave their homes, to give more space for their family members to live, especially younger siblings. This occurs since the average number in a family is almost six persons. Other children are forced to live on the streets as a result of family breakdown like divorce, separation, or death of one or both parents. Children may prefer to work in order to support the rest of their family, rather than going to orphanages, believing that they can manage to live and be attached to each other because orphanages tend to separate siblings, especially adolescents.
Physical and sexual abuse and neglect are some of the major factors that impel children to escape from home. Such abuse makes them feel humiliated and they have low self-esteem. They are also emotionally and psychologically affected. The problem with sexual abuse, in particular, is that no one knows about it until the child had been raped and killed and perhaps killed. Usually, sexual abuse is caused by family member or relative. Children may also be tempted to escape home in case of parents’ neglect as they may be working a lot and not spending any time with their children.

Personally i wish that all wealthy Egyptian people take an action towards this disaster, because the government is taking very slow steps that will not make a difference at all.

JRMC 460 NAT Sounds

This is a quick overview of things i do everydqy thqt gives sound:

My provokitive alarm rings, and i chose this alarm so i can wake up to shut it, putting in to consideration that the ararm is put far away from my bed!



I wake up, wash my face



I do a nice cup of tea in order to wake up



I put my high heal shoes on, I adore high heal shoes :D



And finally, receive a phone call from my friend, asking me where iam!