Politics

Spain denies asylum request by Cameroonian woman who claims she is at risk of being sent to prison because of her homosexuality

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Ngwa Bertrand

14.Apr.2015

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(Reuters) - French oil services company Bourbon said on Monday that three Nigerian crew members had been kidnapped after one of its speedboats was boarded off the Nigerian coast in the night of April 8.

"An emergency unit based in Nigeria has been immediately activated," the company said in a statement.

Bourbon operates a fleet of light, fast cruisers it calls Surfers that are used to move professionals to offshore oil and gas sites, especially in West Africa.

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Apr.2015

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Italy’s coastguard and navy have rescued nearly 6,000 migrants since Friday, as warm weather and improving sea conditions prompted an even higher number of boats than usual to set off from north Africa.

Rescue operations are still under way and at least nine migrants have died after their boat capsized about 80 miles off the coast of Libya, according to reports on Monday morning. About 144 people were saved in that operation.

Concerns have already been raised about the logic and morality of Europe’s decision to cut back maritime rescue operations in the Mediterranean last autumn. The EU is expected to announce a review of its policies in early May.

The new arrivals bring the total number of migrants who have entered Italy to more than 15,000 since the start of the year, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which tracks the figures closely.

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Apr.2015

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The party of Nigeria's outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan has won back the governorship of the country's oil hub. The gubernatorial elections come two weeks after the opposition's Buhari won the presidential vote.

Nyesom Wike of President Goodluck Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) won the Rivers state elections by securing 1,029,102 votes, Nigeria's electoral commission said Monday. Dakuku Peterside, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, came second.

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari's APC, however, retained the governorship in the West African country's commercial hub Lagos and gained governorships in the northern states of Kaduna and Katsina.

The new governors will take office on May 29, alongside Buhari.

Former army general Buhari defeated outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan in presidential elections last month.

A crucial state

Rivers vote was crucial for both the PDP and the APC as Nigeria's governors control huge budgets and hold great influence on the country's politics. The PDP was particularly desperate for the victory after losing the presidency to Buhari.

In 2013, Rivers' outgoing governor, Rotimi Amaechi, joined the APC from the PDP after becoming critical of President Jonathan's policies.

The APC said the elections were marred by irregularities and fraud.

"What happened on Saturday was a rape of democracy. There was no election in Rivers," said Ibim Semenitari, the state's information commissioner. "The PDP, in connivance with INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and the security agencies, merely wrote figures which they have churned out to the public," she told the news agency AFP.

"We are going to challenge the results," she added.

According to the PDP, the gubernatorial elections were "a reflection of the people's confidence" in the party. "The people have spoken. We urge the APC to accept the results in good faith," said Emmanuel Okha, a local PDP spokesman.

Violent elections

At least nine people were killed as Nigerians voted for state governors, their deputies and local assemblies on Saturday. Most of the violence was reported in the fiercely contested Rivers state.

Peterside said eight of his supporters died and police said an officer was killed. Witnesses also reported shooting in the streets of several Rivers towns.

"A lot of gunshots in the air as I speak to you, but the military is trying their best to bring the situation under control," Livingstone Membere, president of the Kalabari Youth Federation told The Associated Press news agency, from Asari Toru area in Rivers.

Membere also said a polling station was burned down, along with the house of the state commissioner for women's affairs.

Eight youth corps polling agents were kidnapped Saturday morning, and police had only succeeded in rescuing four of them by afternoon, an electoral official told news agency AP, on condition of anonymity.

In addition, a crowd of some 2,000 protesters delayed distribution of materials in the state capital Port Harcourt, causing the ballots to open hours later than planned.

The most populous African nation remains burdened by corruption and torn by Boko Haram uprising, with the jihadists allegedly killing 10,000 people last year alone.

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Apr.2015

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(Reuters)Voting for Nigeria's powerful state governors was extended on Sunday in several states after ballot box snatching and violence in some districts, particularly in oil hub Rivers state, electoral commission officials said. The 36 governors are among the most influential politicians in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer and economy, with budgets larger than those of small nations. Observers and voters said the turnout to elect 29 governors and state assemblies on Saturday was low compared with the presidential vote last month, which was considered the freest and fairest yet and has paved the way for the first democratic transfer of power in the country.

"The election in some units of 6 councils was inconclusive and a fresh election will be held today," Rivers resident electoral commissioner Gesila Khana told journalists. In the presidential poll, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) beat President Goodluck Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) with 15.4 million votes to 13.3 million. A written statement from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers said the governorship election was "canceled in all the places where electoral materials were snatched".

INEC headquarters in the capital Abuja said the election went "very well" across the country but there were 66 instances of violence at polling units, with highest number seen in southern and south-eastern states. Rivers had the highest incident rate at 16, followed by Ondo, Cross River, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom. On Saturday, at least 10 people were killed in election-related violence across the country. On Sunday, a police spokesman in Ebonyi state said the PDP chairman of one government area was shot by thugs in his house.

More than a dozen people were killed during the presidential polls, mainly due to attacks by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has been waging a six-year insurgency in the northeast of the country. A large protest, shoot-outs in several towns and attacks on INEC property delayed the start of voting in Rivers. Gubernatorial candidates threatened to protest should INEC announce any results and current governor Rotimi Amaechi called the polls a "sham" after attending a 2,000-strong APC protest in the state capital Port Harcourt on Saturday.

INEC said 5.2 percent of polling units across the country did not open until 1 p.m. (1200 GMT). Polling in a few other states was also extended or was being debated, while collation and counting was still on-going in many others. Some results are expected to be announced on Sunday. Borno state INEC spokesman Tommy Magbuin said polls re-opened in three local government areas in the northeastern state after ballots were not delivered to polling stations in time.

INEC missed the name of one candidate and had to reprint them last week. In the south-eastern state of Imo, ballot boxes were stolen in three districts, which could mean a vote extension while in Anambra, polls in one area will be pushed back due to irregularities and violence, INEC officials said. In Bayelsa, where only state assembly elections were taking place, the vote was rescheduled in eight out of 24 constituencies due to insufficient electoral materials and other areas could be re-done as well due to skirmishes.

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Ngwa Bertrand

12.Apr.2015

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(Reuters) - Hundreds of mourners, including prominent South Carolina politicians, attended the funeral on Saturday of Walter Scott, an African-American father of four who was shot in the back while running from a white patrolman.

The body of the slain Coast Guard veteran, whose death was filmed by a bystander, was carried in a flag-draped casket past a crowd assembled outside the W.O.R.D. Ministries Christian Center in Summerville, north of North Charleston, where the shooting took place on April 4.

Scott's death reignited a public outcry over police treatment of African Americans that flared last year after the killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City and elsewhere.

"This is a sad day," said Rev. James Johnson, who is president of the local chapter of civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

"God has got a reason for what has happened," he told Reuters before the service. "Hopefully this will heal the world."

Michael Slager, the North Charleston officer who fired eight times at Scott's back as he fled from a traffic stop, has been charged with murder and dismissed from the police force.

Scott's family, who were escorted to the funeral by law enforcement officers, had changed their mind on allowing media to attend after a newspaper reported that the family wanted Sharpton to stay away, Johnson said.

Sharpton was always welcome, though the family had not scheduled him as a speaker, he said.

Sharpton said he had a scheduling conflict on Saturday, the last day of his organization's convention in New York, but would attend a vigil in North Charleston on Sunday and meet with Scott's family.

"People are close to the point of saying 'what is it going to take to see real change?'," Sharpton said. "This validates the need for a federal oversight of policing."

Scott, 50, was driving a black Mercedes-Benz when he was pulled over by Slager, 33, for a broken tail light. Video from the dashboard camera in Slager's police cruiser recorded a respectful exchange between the two men before the officer returned to his patrol car.

A few minutes later, after being told by Slager to stay in the Mercedes, Scott emerged from his car and ran off. He was apparently unarmed.

A cell phone video taken by a bystander showed the men in a brief tussle before Scott ran off again, Slager fired his gun and Scott slumped into the grass. There was a gap between the two videos, however, as the officer was not wearing a body camera.

Rep. James Clyburn, a U.S. congressman who among the 500 people at the funeral, said he wanted national strategies and standards for law enforcement to be considered.

"Body cameras are a good start. They're certainly not a panacea," said Clyburn, who was joined at the funeral by U.S. Senator Tim Scott and Rep. Mark Sanford.

Scott had a history of arrests for failing to pay child support and was forced out of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1986 after more than two years of service because of a drug offense.

He was nonetheless discharged under honorable conditions because he had a good record of service, the Coast Guard said.

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Ngwa Bertrand

12.Apr.2015

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