MASTERS AND PhD ADMISSION IN 2014/2015 ACADEMIC YEAR

Dear,

The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is a Public Higher Learning Institution accredited by the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU). The NM-AIST operates in a network of Pan-African Institutions of Science and Technology located across the continent. These institutions envision training and developing the next generation of African scientists and engineers with a view to impacting profoundly on the continent’s development through the application of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET).

In the 2014/2015 academic year, the Government of Tanzania has granted permission for Tanzanian students that qualify for admission into Master’s and PhD programmes at NM-AIST to access loans from the Higher Education Students’ Loan Board (HESLB). The decision is intended to provide more opportunities for eligible Tanzanian citizens to pursue post graduate programmes offered at the Institution in order to increase the nation’s human resource capacity in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Information on admission requirements at NM-AIST is available on our website (www.nm-aist.ac.tz) and details on the conditions regarding issuance of loans to students that qualify for admission at NM-AIST is provided on HESLB website (www.heslb.go.tz).

We kindly request you to circulate this information together with advertisement to members of your institution, friends and relatives you think have academic qualifications and professional talents to benefit from the offer.

We have included the attachment of our Advertisement.

Very Kind Regards

 Gilbert.Kallagho

Senior Admissions officer I

Bookie-tiam? World Cup fever turns illegal at Geylang coffee shops

SINGAPORE - The streets of Geylang were almost like a ghost town after midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Except at some coffee shops, where the crowds were spilling into the lorongs.

World Cup fever has come to Geylang.
And where there's football, there's money to be made - and lost. It's a temptation that bookies and punters alike cannot resist.
BOOKIES' TABLE?
When The New Paper checked out a coffee shop showing the quarter-final match between Germany and France, it was initially not obvious that illegal betting was going on.
We approached a man and discreetly asked if he knew where we could place a bet. He looked at us, shook his head and said: "I'm here to watch."
Then, with his arms folded, he tilted his head in the direction of a table occupied by five middle-aged men.
After several minutes of observing them, it became obvious that we had hit the jackpot.
Other people, nearly all men, kept popping by their table. They were seen whispering into one particular man's ear.
They then passed him money and he in turn scribbled something on pieces of paper and handed them to his visitors.
Just as the match kicked off, the man could be seen sticking a thick wad of notes into his shirt pocket.
Some distance away were two men who kept looking around the lorong, as if they were looking out for anything unexpected, such as an approaching police patrol car.
Their attention was briefly diverted when a beer "auntie" shouted at some men who were watching the match without buying drinks from the coffee shop. They seemed to be foreign workers.
Most men in the coffee shop looked like locals.
Not even the sight of pretty women in figure-hugging outfits walking past the coffee shop could get their attention. Their eyes were glued to the action unfolding on TV.
But some men occasionally fiddled with their mobile phones or tablets. Were they placing bets online?
We then noticed another table closer to the road that was occupied by a group of younger men. They, too, were receiving money from people who went up to them.
An elderly man, who appeared to be drunk, approached a young man and said aloud in Hokkien: "How many balls you give, I will eat." He was quickly dragged away by his friends.
After the match ended with a 1-0 win for Germany, most of the customers dispersed, some cursing under their breath.
A few of them were seen heading to the two tables where money changed hands again, except that it was now the visitors receiving the cash, probably their winnings.
TNP's check on another coffee shop screening World Cup matches showed similar scenarios taking place there.

Students offered extra credits linked to armpit hair

Female students at a US university have been offered extra credits – if they don’t shave their armpit hair for an entire semester.
The offer was made by a professor at the Arizona State University (ASU) in a bid to challenge social norms, the Mail Online reported.
The boys can also apply for extra credit by going the other way – shaving all their hair from neck down.
Professor Breanne Fahs, director of the Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality, encourages her students to document their experiences in a journal for the 10-week semester.
She said the social experiment helps students analyse society’s attitude to genders, with female students facing ridicule for having hairy armpits.
At the same time, men get an insight into how much pressure is put on women to stay hair-free.
Prof Fahs told the ASU News: “There’s no better way to learn about societal norms than to violate them and see how people react.
There’s really no reason why the choice to shave, or not, should be a big deal. But it is, as the students tend to find out quickly.”
Many of the female students who took the hairy option told ASU News that they were shocked at the reaction from their partners, friends and family.
Student Grace Scale said some of the strongest reactions came from her male friends. “One of my dearest friends — at the time — compared my underarm hair to ‘the sludge in the bottom of the garbage can’.”

Don't panic when you stumble upon these sculptures

Cities around the world are full of majestic monuments, stunning sculptures and artistic statues, each having a story to tell.
Thousands of them have been made but only a few of them are really extraordinary and picture-worthy.
That's why our readers set out to find the world's most creative statues and sculptures, which add colour and emotion to the most boring areas of the cities.

Jokes, compassion, sadness, rage - gamut of emotions after Brazil loss

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil - "Brazil have Neymar; Argentina, Messi; Portugal, Ronaldo. Germany have a team." That was just one of a blizzard of sardonic comments doing the rounds on social media, a virtual meeting point for tens of millions of Brazilians, after Tuesday's 7-1 hiding by the Germans.

As Brazil crashed to an epic World Cup semi-final loss thousands of web users in a country with a voracious appetite for social media came up with the hashtag #vergonhabrasil (humiliation Brazil).
Some posts to sites depicted Rio's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue covering its face in shame - or even replaced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Can somebody explain to me how a knee in the back for (absent injured star) Neymar renders 11 (Brazilian players) paraplegic?" asked Twitter user #MonteiroLovato.

Some users scolded the critics, preferring to offer thanks to their players, including skipper David Luiz, for their World Cup effort which finally imploded spectacularly.
"Before the game everyone waqs talking about us winning a sixth title, you ungrateful lot who only back Brazil when they are winning," huffed @itspetrov4l.

However, most posts were humorous and ironic in nature.
"If we're going to lose then let it be by a margin that puts us in the Guinness Book of Records," was one such post accompanied by an image of the team holding a pitchside group hug as if aware of the German assault to come.

"There goes my re-election," was another post in allusion to President Dilma Rousseff, who faces general elections in October and whose chances many Brazilians felt took a knock with Tuesday's thrashing.
Still more posts alluded to the protests which have assailed the giant nation in recent months over the cost of staging the event rather than investing in poor public services.
"The worst thing is there are no hospitals to treat my depression" about the result, was how one internet user put it.
"It would have been better to build hospitals," was a comment put into the mouth of Brazil's 2002 champion Ronaldo.

As a member of the organising committee Ronaldo said the Cup required stadiums as opposed to hospitals.
Still more posts showed the Brazilian flag mocked up as a goal bulging with blue balls to represent Germany's goals.

One user had German coach Joachim Loew as asking Brazil's second-round victims Chile: "Will that do - or shall we score a few more?" Others showed an image from the City of God film about violent crime in Rio showing an armed gang with the caption: "The Cup doesn't leave here."

Israel 'to intensify Gaza attacks'

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "further intensify attacks on Hamas" in the Gaza Strip after talks with his defence chiefs.

He said the Palestinian militants would "pay a heavy price" for their rocket attacks on Israel.
Israel's military said Hamas had fired 72 rockets at Israeli cities on Wednesday, after dozens of air strikes were carried out in Gaza overnight.

Some 40 Palestinians are reported to have died in the recent hostilities.
The officials say half of the casualties were civilians, a number of them women and children.
Hamas has warned that all Israelis are now targets.

James Reynolds looks at where Gaza militants are aiming rockets

Israel earlier said it might send ground troops into Gaza. It has authorised the call-up of up to 40,000 military reservists.
 
'Aggression'
The Israeli military said its Iron Dome missile defence system had intercepted 14 of 72 rockets fired on Wednesday, including three above Tel Aviv, three over Ashkelon and three over Ashdod.
The town of Hadera 100km (60 miles) north of Gaza, was hit with an M-302 surface-to-surface rocket, the furthest target so far reached.

The Israeli military added that it had carried out 129 air strikes in Gaza on Wednesday, bombarding tunnels, rocket launchers and what it said were Hamas command centres.
It brings to 550 the number of sites in Gaza attacked as part of "Operation Protective Edge".

Somali president's palace under attack from al-Shabab

Islamist al-Shabab militants have attacked the presidential palace in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and entered the heavily fortified compound.

An al-Shabab spokesman said fighting was ongoing, but a government official told the BBC the attack was over and the militants had all been killed.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was not at the palace at the time.
The al-Qaeda-aligned al-Shabab group lost control of Mogadishu in 2011, but often carries out attacks in the city.

Al-Shabab in 60 seconds

The group has vowed to step up attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
On Saturday, a suicide car bomb exploded near the capital's parliament building, killing at least four people.
The BBC's Mohammed Moalimu in Mogadishu says President Mohamud was attending a function at the residence of the UN special envoy to Somalia, near the airport.

A large contingent of the Somali military police accompanied him, leaving the presidential palace, known as Villa Somalia, mainly under the protection of African Union soldiers, he says.
The presidential palace is the seat of government and many top government officials live and work there.

Brazil 1 Oscar 90′ Germany 7 Müller 11′ Klose 23′ Kroos 24′, 26′ Khedira 29′ Schürrle 69′, 79′

Brazil's World Cup dreams ended in humiliating and brutal fashion as Germany inflicted their heaviest defeat in the first semi-final in Belo Horizonte. 

A thunderous occasion that began with Brazil riding a tidal wave of emotion was reduced to a nightmare as Germany were 5-0 up inside 29 remarkable minutes in front of a disbelieving Estadio Mineirao crowd.
Brazil's players mourned the absence of the injured Neymar before kick-off, but captain Thiago Silva was an even bigger loss. The result was their first competitive home defeat in 39 years, and the end of their hopes of making it to the World Cup final at the iconic Maracana on Sunday.

Instead, Germany will meet either Argentina or the Netherlands, who play on Wednesday in Sao Paulo.
Thomas Muller gave the three-time winners an early lead before a period of utter chaos saw Miroslav Klose break the World Cup scoring record, Toni Kroos add two more in the space of 179 seconds and Sami Khedira net a fifth.

Netherlands vs Costa Rica: Best World Cup performance marred as three Costa Rican fans stabbed at match screening in country's capital

World Cup Players Are Using Hands More Than Ever (to Tweet)

World Cup 2014: Controversies Highlight Players’ Use of Social Media

RIO DE JANEIRO — Zinedine Zidane of France did not apologize on MySpace after his infamous head butt in the 2006 World Cup final. Diego Maradona of Argentina did not address his 1986 knuckle-assisted Hand of God goal on America Online, a digital community that did not become prominent for another five years.

Controversies have arisen in World Cups since a referee inadvertently blew the final whistle six minutes early during a match at the inaugural tournament, in 1930, but the dramas of this year’s event — including a bizarre bite and a backbreaking tackle — have played out with a remarkable immediacy on social media.

Over the last month, players like Neymar, Luis Suárez and the United States reserve forward Chris Wondolowski have offered confessions, explanations, interpretations and amplifications using services like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

“If they can jump online, say something, and see it traverse the world in real time, it makes life that much easier,” said Peter Shankman, a social media consultant in New York.

World Cup 2014 has been lots of fun but it is in danger of petering out

With no great teams and too many top players missing, Brazil 2014 does not bear comparison with Spain 1982

Paolo Rossi holds the World Cup after Italy's 3-1 win over West Germany in the 1982 final in Madrid. Photograph: Popperfoto

Neymar was supposed to define this World Cup and now the Brazilian has. Or rather his injury has. The tournament’s poster boy has been cruelly taken out and now there is a gaping hole on the home country’s bedroom wall. Which is sadly fitting, because a prominent theme of this World Cup has been absence; a vacuum where quality should be.

Getting carried away during the helter-skelter group stages was understandable but proclaiming this the ‘best World Cup ever’ can now be seen to have been premature. Draw up a list of the world’s most entertaining players and weep at how many of them did not make it to Brazil or arrived in a state that made them look like astronauts trying to take giant leaps for mankind on the well-trodden surface of the local bouncy castle.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Radamel Falcao, Marco Reus, Gareth Bale and Franck Ribéry had to stay at home. Sergio Agüero quickly got crocked, Yaya Touré was injury-worn and grief-stricken and Cristiano Ronaldo looked more patched up than a thief at a Nicorette factory. Luis Suárez tore a knee ligament but recovered just enough to knock out England before getting himself booted out – which, admittedly, is a tale with a certain beauty but, on balance, it would have been better to see one of the world’s most thrilling strikers fully fit and happy to let his feet do the biting.

Even the surprise package, Costa Rica, had to play with more inhibitions than usual due to injuries to Bryan Oviedo and their top scorer, Álvaro Saborío.

Of course, no World Cup can ever welcome all the top players – and the performances of James Rodríguez, Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben have shown that some of the elite have turned up and turned it on – but 2014 has still suffered from a shortage of ingenuity. It is hard to escape the suspicion that one of the reasons that goalkeepers have hogged so much attention is because of the dearth of outfield flair.

The lack of individual brilliance has helped cause and compound the lack of great teams. Some units have certainly tickled us – Mexico, Chile, Algeria, Colombia and France – but their limitations were quickly exposed and, in the case of France, the affection was only fleeting. Ultimately what those countries showed was more promise than prowess and that has contributed to the feeling that this is a tournament of transition. We have not witnessed the emergence of a great team – rather, thanks to Spain, the unravelling of one.

There has still been lots of fun, of course. The group stage offered drama and thrills. At times it served up the excitement of a Bruce Willis movie; but it never came close to a Casablanca. Some of the most impressive teams in that stage – such as the USA, Australia and Iran – were more gutsy than good.

The semi-finals look mouthwatering but the fear is that image is bogus, like pictures of a succulent steak on the windows of a greasy spoon. After all, they pit nowhere-near-the-best-ever-Brazil against nowhere-near-the-best-ever-Germany; and nowhere-near-the-best-ever-Holland against nowhere-near-the-best-ever Argentina. So let no more talk be heard of this being the best ever World Cup.

Which is not to say that Brazil 2014 has been bad. The World Cup is never bad, at least not if we are talking exclusively about sport. And this edition has been a darn sight better than the previous ones this century. But, from the vantage point of an armchair at least, it does not bear comparison with, say, the wonderful 1982 edition, a fact neatly reflected by how unsatisfying, relatively speaking, the France-Germany and Germany-Algeria remakes turned out to be after the hopeful build-ups.

1982 had classic clashes between great teams: such as France-West Germany in the semi-final or Brazil-Italy in the second round; devastating demonstrations of superiority like Hungary’s merciless 10-1 tonking of El Salvador or Brazil’s elegant destruction of talented Scotland and Soviet Union sides; plus a bumper crop of marvellous goals and baroque villainy; and Northern Ireland beating hosts Spain and Algeria blowing away West Germany, both shocks a class above Costa Rica’s defeat of Italy this time.

1982 dished up some rotten fare, too, of course, but there is no room to recall most of that when we have plenty of good memories to be getting on with. Even lesser tournaments than that have bequeathed matches to savour: Romania-Argentina from 1994, say, or Germany-Italy from 2006. Over which contests from 2014 will historians coo? The most memorable match of the tournament so far has been Holland’s thrashing of Spain but that cannot be classed as an epic meeting of lords of the ball, more a freakish re-adjustment of lenses.

Thirty-four years ago the quality became more rarefied as the tournament progressed, whereas the 2014 tournament is in danger of petering out. We need a glorious set of semi-finals and a conclusion at least on a par with Italy’s victory over West Germany in 1982. Failing that, as Scott Murray explained , we need Argentina to lift the World Cup at the Maracanã by hook or, perhaps even better, by crook. That would certainly leave a legacy to relish.

Germany make their move

• 
• Joachim Low's Germany squad is making its way to Belo Horizonte ahead of tomorrow's World Cup semi-final against Brazil.

Fann Wong bares her baby bump for her most daring photoshoot to date

She has done countless photoshoots in the course of a career as a model and actress that spans more than two decades.

But local star Fann Wong's recent photoshoot is her most daring to date.

The 43-year-old, who is nearly eight months pregnant, was recently photographed with only a blue cloth covering her chest and hips. In the picture, Wong, who has put on 17kg since her pregnancy, is seen holding on to her round belly while beaming and gazing into the camera.

She told The New Paper: "It's liberating. It's a bold move for me, but I was willing to do it as it was done very stylishly.

"I think the timing could not have been more perfect. I am at a wonderful stage of my life and it feels good to share that feeling of joy and blessing."

The photo is part of a shoot for slimming specialist Marie France Bodyline, which last month appointed Wong as its latest spokesman.

The mum-to-be, who is due to deliver next month, created a buzz when she uploaded the photo onto her social media accounts on Thursday night.

The photo has had more than 67,000 likes and 600 comments on her Facebook account.

The set was cleared for the photoshoot on June 23 so that Wong would feel at ease and comfortable. Her husband, local actor Christopher Lee, 42, was not present.

Wong, who prepared for the shoot by having a good night's sleep, said: "I was not at all shy during the photoshoot. The Marie France Bodyline team and the crew made sure I was totally at ease.

"I was excited upon learning the concept of the shoot. This is something I've never tried before and will be a good keepsake for me to remember this very precious moment of my life by."

Ms Aileen Chua, group marketing director of Global Beauty International, which owns Marie France Bodyline, explained the reason behind the photo: "We wanted a campaign that was bold and befitting Fann as she is one of the most iconic spokespersons we have had.

"She was game with the concept and the photo really captured her glow and beauty both as a woman and a mother-to-be."

Girl, 3, saved after being trapped in school bus

He had just parked his car and was getting ready for work when he noticed a commotion around a minibus two lots away.

Two police officers were at the bus, and a woman was taking photos of the vehicle on her mobile phone.

Mr Phillip Ngeow, 54, then noticed a little girl inside the bus. The bus doors were locked, the engine was off and she was trapped.

Despite this, she appeared calm.

DIDN'T CRY

"The girl was wearing a blue chequered uniform and wasn't crying. She must have been too young to understand anything," Mr Ngeow, the manager of an electronics shop, told The New Paper.

The incident happened at the open-air carpark at Block 503, Bishan Street 11, on Tuesday morning.

According to Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, it was speculated that the school bus driver had already dropped off the rest of the children on board at a childcare centre or kindergarten.

But he did not notice the sleeping girl in the bus, and had gone to park the minibus before presumably going for breakfast.

The pre-schooler had allegedly been left in the bus for about two hours.

A helper at a coffee shop in Block 503, Ms Liu, 51, told Lianhe Wanbao that she had seen the bus parked there as early as 9am, but only found out later that there was a girl inside.

Mr Wilson Ong, 41, an employee at Mr Ngeow's shop, told TNP that he noticed policemen asking around at the coffee shop for the driver of the school bus, and if there were any childcare centres in the vicinity.

Mr Ong also described vividly in Mandarin the sight of the girl in the bus: "She was seated just behind the driver's seat and there was condensation on the inside of the windows with her finger marks on it. "It meant she must have been inside for some time."

The Singapore Civil Defence Force confirmed that it was alerted at 10.43am and sent a fire engine, two fire bikes and an ambulance.

A spokesman said a cutter was used to cut through the vehicle's glass and a three-year-old girl was rescued unharmed. Her parents did not want her taken to hospital in an ambulance.

According to Mr Ng Kim Hock, a bus company owner, such incidents should not happen.

"For kindergarten and childcare centres, it is compulsory to have a bus attendant to make sure all the children have alighted," said Mr Ng, 52.

- See more at: http://transport.asiaone.com/news/general/story/girl-3-saved-after-being-trapped-school-bus#sthash.XlipCcvI.dpuf

Fairy tale wedding in Rome for Belgium prince

A royal wedding in one of Rome's oldest churches was held for Prince Amedeo of Belgium and Elisabetta Rosboch von Wolkenstein.

Guests arrived for the intimate wedding of Belgium Prince Amedeo, archduke of Austria-Este and Italian Elisabetta Rosboch von Wolkenstein on Saturday in the centre of Rome at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere that dates back to the 4th century AD and houses dazzling 12th century mosaics.

In the warm summer evening a crowd of curious onlookers gathered to wait for the young couple. The groom arrived accompanied by his mother Princess Astrid, and the bride came with her father Hector Rosboch Von Wolkenstein.

Both bride and groom were happy to pose and smile for photographers.

Inside the church all turned to catch their first glimpse of the smiling bride, dressed in a simple yet classic dress designed by Valentino complete with a veil held in place by a tiara that was loaned for the occasion by Amedeo's grandmother, Queen Paola.

She arrived at the ceremony with her father Ettore Rosboch von Wolkenstein, wearing a sweeping white wedding gown complete with veil and tiara. When the bride arrived at the altar she kissed her husband to be.

The 28-year-old Prince, son of Belgian Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz, announced his engagement to 26 year old journalist Elisabetta, also known as 'Lili' in February this year and because of Christian tradition, the couple are marrying in the bride's home town.

The happy couple came out of the church after the ceremony and were greeted with enthusiasm and a shower of rose petals from their families and guests. Lili will take on the title Her Royal Highness Princess Elisabetta of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este and they will live in Brussels, Belgium.

Company of 26-year-old Chinese 'millionaire' under investigation since February

PENANG -The Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry has been investigating the business model of Zhang Jian's company since February.

Its secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad said the ministry's Selangor office had opened two investigation papers on the Chinese national's company since Feb 7.

"We are now investigating if the company is practising multi-level marketing (MLM) or a pyramid scheme. For now, we are focusing on MLM. We will submit our findings to the DPP for further action," Alias said when contacted yesterday.

He was commenting on reports which questioned the business model of Zhang, who has proclaimed himself as the "future richest person in the world" on several billboards, including one on the Penang Bridge.
On Saturday, Gabungan Sukarelawan 1Malaysia (GS1M) adviser Datuk Ng Bong Ching said the NGO had received more than 60 complaints since April from the public who claimed they were approached to join the scheme.

The company's online advertisements tell people that they can earn big money without having to work.

By merely investing RM300 (S$117), members are guaranteed an income of between RM2,700 and RM6,800 per month - without lifting a finger.

"They were promised lucky draws and BMW with just a minimum membership fee of RM300," he said, adding that he lodged a police report in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Netizens were vocal on The Star Online Facebook page regarding the article on Zhang.

"Moral of business. If it desperately comes to you, it's most likely a scam," wrote Faizal Esa.

Yen Ping commented: "First of all (how could) the authorities approve this billboard? Well, nothing is free in the world and Malaysians are not that stupid to be fooled by this scam."

Things you didn't know about Amazon

The best word to describe the rise of Amazon.com is probably 'amazing'.

For a company that started out in a garage, Amazon has done tremendously well - it is now one of the richest companies in the world with a brand value of over US$45 billion (S$56 billion).

According to Reuters, Amazon.com Inc's revenue grew 23 per cent to US$19.74 billion in the first quarter of 2014 despite increased spending in technology and overseas.

With a no-nonsense CEO who leads by fear, the story behind Amazon road to success is unique and inspiring.