Archive
African Nations Surge Up Ranks of World’s Worst Christian Persecutors
Persecution of Christians is rising in at least eight African countries, according to the latest Open Doors USA list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
“Africa, where Christianity spread fastest during the past century, now is the region where oppression of Christians is spreading fastest,” the group noted.
On the 2013 World Watch List (analysis and Top 10 country summaries at bottom), which ranks the 50 countries where Christians face the most religious persecution, Mali has skyrocketed from being unranked to No. 7 this year, joining Somalia (No. 5) and Eritrea (No. 10) among the top 10.
“Mali used to be a model country. … Christians and even missionaries could be active,” said Jerry Dykstra, spokesman for Open Doors. “[But] currently the situation in northern Mali is Read more…
Nigeria: ‘Biometric Data Will Control Crime in FCT’
This will be the excuse that many governments around the world will use. Gather biometrics from everyone for their own safety and to be monitored while reducing crime…
The FCT Police Commissioner, Michael Zuokumor, yesterday said that capturing cab driver’s biometric data in the territory will tremendously reduce crime.
Zuokumor stated this in Abuja, during the official flag-off of the biometric data capturing of FCT cab drivers, an event organised by Painted Abuja Taxi Nigeria Limited (PAT).
He said the FCT Police Command in partnership with cab drivers in the territory have been able to reduce the incidences of car snatching and ‘one chance operators’ to the barest minimum in recent time.
“The command is developing strategies that will ensure that the issue of car snatching becomes a thing of the past in Abuja within the next three to six months,” he said.
Earlier in his remark, Chairman of Painted Abuja Taxi Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Shugaba Yar’Adua, said the essence of capturing cab drivers biometric data is to tackle the incidence of ‘one chance operators’ in order to guarantee the safety and security of commuters.
He said that the exercise will enable the government monitor the activities of taxi drivers in the territory and urged all cab drivers to key into the scheme.
Yar ‘Adua disclosed that Painted Abuja Taxi Ltd has signed an MoU with FCT Transportation Secretariat to provide them with 300,000 new vehicles in order to remove all rickety commercial vehicles from Abuja road.
He said the FCT Transport Secretariat has equally promised to create taxi racks in all the six area councils, where cab drivers can conveniently carry out their activities.
On his part, Representative of FCT Transport Secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, urged cab operators in the territory to strictly follow the rules and regulations laid down for their operations for smooth transport operation.
Boko Haram’s Rise in Nigeria Sparks Civil War Fears
Friday’s deadly bomb attacks in Nigeria’s second largest city, Kano, are the latest in a series of spectacular strikes by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. The coordinated series of assaults on police stations and other government offices killed at least 200 people. The rise of Boko Haram is sparking concerns that Africa’s most populous country may be edging closer to civil war.
Nigeria’s Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka predicted it; political analysts are regularly asked about it; and the Kano attacks prompted the Leadership newspaper to run as its weekend edition headline, “Finally, Boko Haram Launches War.”
The radical Islamist Boko Haram has made headlines with increasing frequency lately for a series of audacious terrorist strikes. Among them, a Christmas Day bomb blast that Read more…
Our Perspective on the 8 Strategic Factors Shaping Oil Price in 2012
The price of oil is still one of the most important factors shaping the economy. It can determine not just how much you’ll pay for a gallon of gasoline but also how fast the American and the eurozone economies will recover. It even has a say in who will be the next American president. This is why many people and companies try to predict the price of oil and better understand the events that influence its volatility.
Two people that tried to give it a shot are Gregory Copley and Yossef Bodansky, who are editors at GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs. They published a list of 8 strategic factors that will likely to influence the price of oil in 2012. This is a very interesting list, although it comes from a business-as-usual perspective, which doesn’t look much beyond the price volatility implications of geo-political events. Adding the green energy market point of view might provide an even more comprehensive picture of the upcoming year, so here’s our take on 2012: Read more…
Strike call as Nigeria doubles fuel price
Nigeria’s main trade unions have called for a nationwide strike and mass demonstrations from Monday to protest over the government’s scrapping of fuel subsidies.Petrol prices have more than doubled since Sunday, when the subsidy was withdrawn. Taxi, bus and motorcycle fares shot up similarly, causing widespread anger and sparking two days of small but vocal protests in the major cities.
Cheap petrol – a litre cost 65 naira ($0.41), before January 1 – has for years been one of the only benefits most Nigerians get from the government. The National Labour Congress and Trades Union Congress said on Wednesday that if the subsidy was not reinstated they would launch “indefinite general strikes, mass rallies and street protests”, starting on January 9.
“All offices, oil production centres, air and sea ports, fuel stations, markets, banks, among others will be Read more…
Nigerian flooding claims 102 lives: Red Cross
LAGOS — At least 102 people were killed when a dam burst in torrential rain and flooding in southwest Nigeria, a local Red Cross official told AFP Wednesday.
“The death toll for now… is 102,” said Umar Mairiga, disaster management coordinator for the Nigerian Red Cross Society.
He said the Eleyele dam collapsed and several bridges were swept away at the weekend after heavy rains fell for more than seven Read more…
Nigerian Radicals Say They Bombed UN Center, Killing 18
SaharaReporters, New York.©
A radical Islamic group in Nigeria says it carried out a car bombing that killed at least 18 people at the United Nations building in Abuja.
Witnesses said a vehicle forced its way past security gates at the sprawling complex and exploded inside the compound at about 11 a.m. Friday .
Rescuers raced to pull bodies and survivors from the rubble.
A spokesman for the radical group Boko Haram telephoned a VOA reporter (Hausa service) in Nigeria and said the bombing “is just the beginning.”
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he did not have exact casualty figures but predicted the toll would be “considerable.”
Mr. Ban told a meeting of the Security Council such “acts of terrorism are unacceptable,” and he warned the bombing signals that militants around the world increasingly view U.N. sites as “soft targets.”
About 400 Read more…
OP-ED Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables and Toxins Driving People from Homes
Saharan dust blowing off west coast of Africa, over the Canary Islands, Nov. 11, 2006. Image credit:NASA
WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2011 (IPS) – People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.
Advancing deserts are now on the move almost everywhere. The Sahara desert, for example, is expanding in every direction. As it advances northward, it is squeezing the populations of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria against the Mediterranean coast.
The Sahelian region of Africa – the vast swath of savannah that separates the southern Sahara desert from the tropical rainforests of central Africa – is shrinking as the desert moves southward. As the desert invades Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, from the north, farmers and herders are forced Read more…
Religious violence, abuse growing: world study
WASHINGTON — Religious-linked violence and abuse rose around the world between 2006 and 2009, with Christians and Muslims the most common targets, according to a private US study released Tuesday.
“Over the three-year period studied, incidents of either government or social harassment were reported against Christians in 130 countries (66 percent) and against Muslims in 117 countries (59 percent),” said the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life study.
In 2009, governments in 101 nations, more than half the globe, used at least some measure of force against religious groups. A year earlier only 91 nations had done so, the report said.
As of 2009, more than 2.2 billion people, or nearly a third of the world’s population of 6.9 billion, lived in countries where religious restrictions had risen substantially since Read more…
World Population to Hit Seven Billion by October
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 7, 2011 (IPS) – The United Nations commemorates World Population Day next week against the backdrop of an upcoming landmark event: global population hitting the seven billion mark by late October this year.
According to current projections, and with some of the world’s poorest nations doubling their populations in the next decade, the second milestone will be in 2025: an eight billion population over the next 14 years.
Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS seven billion represents a challenge, an opportunity and a call to action.
On World Population Day Jul. 11, he will be Read more…
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
crisisboom
CRISISBOOM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.