Shell settles Nigeria deaths case

Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose execution sparked a global outcry

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a $15.5m (£9.7m) out-of-court settlement in a case accusing it of complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria.

 

It was brought by relatives of nine anti-oil campaigners, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were hanged in 1995 by Nigeria’s then military rulers.

The oil giant strongly denies any wrongdoing and says the payment is part of a “process of reconciliation”.

The case, initiated 13 years ago, had been due for trial in the US next week.

It was brought under a 1789 federal law which allows US courts to hear human rights cases brought by foreign nationals over actions that take place abroad.

The case alleged that Shell was complicit in murder, torture and other abuses by Nigeria’s former military government against campaigners in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others were members of the Ogoni ethnic group from the Niger Delta. They had been campaigning for the rights of the local people and protesting at pollution caused by the oil industry.

They were executed after being convicted by a military tribunal over the 1994 murder of four local leaders.

The activists’ deaths had sparked a storm of international protest.

Gabon’s Bongo, confirmed dead

 

Late Gabon President, Omar Bongo

 Monday 8th June, 2009.

 

 

Gabon President Omar Bongo, the world’s longest-serving president whose 42-year rule was a throwback to an era when Africa was ruled by “Big Men,” has died of cardiac arrest in a Spanish hospital. He was 73.

Doctors at the Quiron Clinic in Barcelona announced Bongo’s death around 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT, 8:30 a.m. EDT) Monday, Gabonese Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong said. Bongo was admitted to the hospital last month.

Only hours earlier, Ndong had said he saw the president and declared him “alive and well.” Gabonese officials have become increasingly belligerent with journalists, including calling a meeting with the French ambassador in Gabon in order to discuss the coverage of the president’s death by French media outlets.

Bongo, who was believed to be one of the world’s wealthiest leaders, became the longest-ruling head of government , a category that does not include the monarchs of Britain and Thailand , when Cuba’s Fidel Castro handed power to his brother last year.

The country’s constitution calls for the head of the Senate, Rose Francine Rogombe, to assume power and organize presidential elections within 90 days of Bongo’s death. But there has been speculation that one of Bongo’s sons would try to seize power upon his father’s death, as happened in nearby Togo.

Bongo had kept a tight grip on power in the oil-rich former French colony since he became president in 1967, and his ruling party has dominated the country’s parliament for decades. Opposition parties were only allowed in 1990, amid a wave of pro-democracy protests.

Elections since then have been marred by allegations of rigging and unrest.

While most Gabonese genuinely feared Bongo and there was little opposition, many accepted his rule because he had kept his country remarkably peaceful and governed without the sustained brutality characteristic of many dictators.

Bongo, meanwhile, amassed a fortune that made him one of the world’s richest men, according to Freedom House, a private Washington-based democracy watchdog organization, although nobody really knows how much he was worth.

Earlier this year, a French judge decided to investigate Bongo and two other African leaders on accusations of money laundering and other alleged crimes linked to their wealth in France.

The probe followed a complaint by Transparency International France, an association that tracks corruption. French media have reported that Bongo’s family owns abundant real estate in France, at one time owning more properties in Paris than any other foreign leader.

Born Albert Bernard Bongo on Dec. 30, 1935, the youngest of 12 children, Bongo served as a lieutenant in the French Air Force, then climbed quickly through the civil service, eventually becoming vice president. He assumed the presidency Dec. 2, 1967, after the death of Leon M’Ba, the country’s only other head of state since independence from France in 1960.

NKorea hands 12 years jail sentence to US journalists

Laura Ling and Euna Lee

LoveWorld News room.

Monday, June 8th, 2009.

SEOUL – North Korea’s top court has convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a prison, intensifying the reclusive nation’s confrontation with the United States.

The sentencing came amid soaring tensions fueled by the North’s latest nuclear and missile tests. Many believe Pyongyang is using the journalists as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the unpredictable country for its latest military threats.

In a cryptic report, the state news agency said Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36 were sentenced after the five-day trial ended today. They were guilty of a “grave crime” against the nation and of illegally crossing into North Korea. The court “sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor,”

Ling and Lee, working for former Vice President Al Gore’s California-based Current TV, cannot appeal because they were tried in North Korea’s highest court, where decisions are final. The court “sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor.”

Some analysts however believe negotiations will now begin that will likely lead to the journalists’ release. North Korea refused to release them ahead of a court ruling because such a move could be seen as capitulating to the United States, said an informed observer who is a Professor of international relations and an expert on North Korea at the University of Shizuoka in Japan.

But now “North Korea may release them on humanitarian grounds and demand the U.S. provide humanitarian aid in return,” he said. “North Korea will certainly use the reporters as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States.”

Tensions have been running high since the North held its second underground nuclear blast May 25th and followed it up with several missile tests. U.S. officials have said the North appears to be preparing to test another long-range missile at a new launch pad.

The circumstances surrounding the trial of the two journalists and their arrest March 17th on the China-North Korean border have been shrouded in secrecy, as is typical of the reclusive nation. The trial was not open to the public or foreign observers, including the Swedish Embassy, which looks after American interests in the absence of diplomatic relations.

The two were reporting the trafficking of women at the time of their arrest, and it’s unclear if they strayed into the North or were grabbed by aggressive border guards who crossed into China.

Another American who was tried in North Korea in 1996 was treated more leniently. Evan C. Hunziker, apparently acting on a drunken dare, swam across the Yalu River — which marks the North’s border with China — and was arrested after farmers found the man, then 26, naked. He was accused of spying and detained for three months before being freed after negotiations with a special U.S. envoy.

The North Koreans wanted Hunziker to pay a $100,000 criminal fine but eventually agreed on a $5,000 payment to settle a bill for a hotel where he was detained.

 

 

Obama’s Cairo speech lauded by UN Chief

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday commended U.S. President Barack Obama for the speech he delivered at Cairo University in Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the speech outlined Mr. Obama’s vision for reconciliation and cooperation between the Muslim world and the West.

In a statement issued at the UN headquarters in New York,

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

  Mr. Ban said: “President Obama’s message will herald the opening of a new chapter in relations between the U.S. and the Islamic World.”

“I am strongly encouraged by the speech and also strongly welcome its message of peace, understanding and reconciliation,” the statement quoted Mr. Ban as saying.

“The secretary-general believes that President Obama’s speech is a crucial step in bridging divides and promoting intercultural understanding, which is a major objective of the UN,” it said.

“His message reaffirms our shared commitment to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, as enshrined in the Preamble of the UN Charter.

“I hope that this will have a positive impact on the peace process in the Middle East and the resolution of a number of conflicts in the Middle East and beyond,” the statement further quoted Mr. Ban as saying.

NAN reports that quoting from the Qur’an, Mr. Obama, in his speech, called for a “new beginning between the U.S. and Muslims,” saying “together, we could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East.”

Air France Suspicious Debris Not Valid?

 

Deep disappointment has been expressed over the news that ocean debris recovered by the Brazilian military this week appeared to be the remains of a shipwreck and not from an Air France jet that crashed in the South Atlantic on Monday as claimed.

In a radio interview, the transportation minister, Dominique Bussereau, urged “extreme prudence” about judging the source of any debris that is recovered until it could be properly analyzed. “The main objective is to get our hands on the black boxes, the flight data recorders,” Mr. Bussereau said.

The search for clues into the crash of Air France flight 447 was thrown into confusion Thursday, after the Brazilian military said initially that it had recovered the first piece of floating debris from the plane, a structural support piece about eight feet long that might have come from the jet’s cargo hold. But by Thursday evening, the military said that information had been incorrect, and that the debris had probably come from a ship or another source.

Based on the initial reports from the military, experts postulated that the plane had broken up in flight, an idea for which there is now less evidence.

The revelation came as Airbus, the manufacturer of the missing jet, issued a warning on Thursday to all its customers to follow established procedures when pilots suspect airspeed indicators are not functioning properly. The bulletin appeared to be the first hint that malfunctioning instruments indicators might have played an important role in the crash.

Sanusi Steps Into Soludo’s Big Shoes: Becomes CBN Gov

 

 

Lamido Sanusi, The New CBN Gov

 

From handling the rein’s of The First Bank Of Nigeria, Forty seven-year-old Lamido Sanusi on Thursday stepped into Soludo’s shoes as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor based on the nomination of president Yar’adua.

Reports have confirmed his arrival in the Unity state of Abuja to take over from Deputy Governor, Ernest Ebi, to whom Chukwuma Soludo handed over before his exit on Monday.

Sanusi would also hold meetings with top management, including Deputy Governors and departmental Directors, who would brief him on the state of affairs to enable him get a grip on his tasks, while all eyes are on him, waiting, to see how he will manage and surpass the legacy Soludo established during his tenure.

LoveWorld News Agency

150 break-out from Nigerian jail

Inmates Peeping from a Nigerian jail

Over 150 inmates have broken out of an overcrowded prison in Nigeria’s south-east during a midnight escape bid.The police and army have returned all but 20 of the inmates who jumped to freedom after making a hole in the cell ceiling. The prisoners climbed along inside the roof of a prison block to where it met the perimeter wall, the comptroller general of prisons told journalists. Enugu prison, one of Nigeria’s oldest, is overcrowded, authorities say. “The prisoners who escaped were agitated at the serious delays in the judicial process,” Comptroller General of Nigeria’s prison service Olushola Ogundipe told journalists. In Enugu prison, 724 prisoners out of the total prison population of 987 have not been convicted.

Madagascar Sentences Ex-President

Madagascan leader, Marc Ravalomanana

A Madagascar court has sentenced former leader Marc Ravalomanana in absentia to four years in jail for alleged abuse of office, a minister says.Justice Minister Christine Razanamahasoa told reporters it was for buying a presidential jet. The court also fined Mr Ravalomanana $70m (£42m).He is currently in South Africa seeking international support for a return to the Indian Ocean island. He lost power in March amid protests by opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. The army-backed takeover has been widely condemned as a coup d’etat.

Sourced from The BBC

Hazel Blears Resigns From Cabinet

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has resigned from the cabinet. She has been under fire over her expenses and was tipped for the axe in a reshuffle expected after European and English local elections on Thursday. The Salford MP, a former Labour Party chairman, paid back just over £13,000 after claims that she avoided capital gains tax over a property sale. She denied doing anything wrong but Gordon Brown described her expenses claims as “unacceptable”. In a resignation statement, Ms Blears said: “Today I have told the prime minister that I am resigning from the Government. “My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, given the right support and encouragement. “The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people. I’ve never sought high office for the sake of it, or for what I can gain, but for what I can achieve for the people I represent and serve. “In this next phase of my political life I am redoubling my efforts to speak up for the people of Salford as their Member of Parliament. I am returning to the grassroots (where I began), to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate. “Most of all I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values that their hopes and dreams are ours too. “I am glad to be going home to the people who matter the most to me: the people of Salford. “Finally, there’s an important set of elections tomorrow. My message is simple: get out and vote Labour.”

Brazilian Air Force Searching for Missing Plane Finds Wreckage

The wreckage of an Air France plane after it crashed at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in August 2005.

Brazilian Air Force planes searching for an Air France Airbus that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board found floating wreckage including a plane seat, oil and other debris.

The material was found as searchers focused on an area about 650 kilometers (400 miles) off the coast of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha island, Colonel Jorge Amaral told reporters in Brasilia. The find came after spotter planes, helicopters and navy vessels were dispatched by Brazil and France to locate the Airbus A330-200, which dropped from radar screens after hitting turbulence as it flew to Paris from Rio de Janeiro yesterday. The French government said there’s no evidence so far that points to terrorism.

Air France said it isn’t ruling out a lightning strike on the aircraft, which reported an electrical-circuit breakdown and sent 10 automated distress messages before it vanished. Amaral said the wreckage was found away from the flight path and that the plane may have attempted to turn back.

“That’s the kind of message you receive from a dying, breaking-up airplane,” John Nance, a pilot who runs an aviation-consulting business, said in an interview from Seattle.

The plane probably ran into a 300-kilometer-wide wall of thunderstorms and broke up before pilots could issue a mayday call, said Denny Fitch, a retired United Airlines pilot and consultant. “Whatever it was, it happened very quickly,” he said.

The Brazilian Air Force handed over its findings to the French accident investigator, a French Transport Ministry official said in a telephone interview today. The official, who cannot be named because of internal rules, declined to comment further.