NEWSLINE

The head of a South Sudan disarmament campaign dismissed a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report saying soldiers had raped, beaten, tortured and killed civilians during the campaign in Jonglei, the country's largest state. 26 August 2012 Lieutenant General Kuol Diem Kuol, in charge of the disarmament process in Jonglei State speaking to the press in Bor after recovering arms in July 2012. By Mading Ngor JUBA, 26 August 2012 [REUTERS] - South Sudan seceded from Sudan a year ago under a 2005 peace deal and is awash with firearms after a decades-long civil war with Khartoum that killed an estimated two million people. Run mostly by former guerilla fighters, South Sudan's nascent government has struggled to assert control over its vast and restive territories since declaring independence. HRW , citing local officials, victims and witnesses, said soldiers in the national Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), have committed the ab

The South Sudan government has announced two days as national public holidays for the celebrations of the Muslims Eid ul-Fitr. Muslims at a Ramadan dinner organised by Western Bahr el Ghazal State Governor Rizik Zakaria Hassanlast week [Gurtong File] JUBA, 18 August 2012  - According to the Ministry of Labor and Public Service, Christians are designated to have a one day public holiday and Muslims two days. “The Ministry of Labor, Public Service, and Human Resource Development is hereby informing all the civil service institutions, Commissions, Diplomatic Missions, UN agencies, NGOs and the public at large that, 19 – 22 August will be a public holiday for marking Eid ul-Fitr,” said the release. Christians are given one day and are to resume duty on 21 August 2012 while Muslims are to report on 23 August 2012. Eid ul-Fitr is a Muslim holiday that is celebrated at the end of the holy month of Ramada

                                   Rule 1: Life is not fair; get used to it. Rule 2: The world does not care about your self-esteem.   The world expects you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 3: You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You will not be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. She does not have tenure. Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.   Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity. Rule 6: If you mess up, it is not your parents' fault, so do not whine about your mistakes. Learn from them. Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents were not as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rainforest from the

A very imp. lesson to learn n practice ...specially in today's time ... when most of us r so stressed n caught up with life's problems . Let's learn to put our glass down! and relax...   Once A professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students, "How much do you think this glass weighs?' 50gms!’?.... '100gms!' ......'125gms' ......the students answered.    ‘I really don't know unless I weigh it’, said the professor, ‘but my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?' Nothing' the students said. ‘OK what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked.  ‘Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the students. ‘You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?'   ‘Your arm could go numb; you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to

Nzara County School in Dire Need of Classrooms Pupils at Nabagou Primary and Nursery School in Nzara County are studying under a tree. Pupils at Nabagou Primary school where a tree serves as a classroom. [Gurtong] YAMBIO, August 2012 – The school in Western Equatoria State lacks crucial facilities to enable smooth learning. The headmaster Gelisama Andrew Mbikonigbia said the school faces a number of challenges, including lack of classrooms, since it was opened in 1996. Despite the poor teaching and studying environment, the school’s performance has been improving slightly over the years. Most pupils have been forced to drop out of the school due to lack of support from parents, most of whom who are poor and unable to educate their children. According to the headmaster, early pregnancies have also led to the dropping out of girls. “The unfortunate bit is that they don’t return to school after delivery”, said Mbikonigbia. The headmast