LAGOS, Nigeria (AP)—More than 200,000 people could lose their homes and livelihoods if an oil-rich Nigerian state proceeds with a mass eviction of its waterfront slums, a report released Thursday by Amnesty International warned. OPPOSITION—Wole Soyinka, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African honored with the award, is shown after launching a newly formed political party in Lagos, Nigeria, to challenge apathetic voters in the oil-rich nation to overcome a government he called cynical and brutal. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) The threatened evictions come as Rivers state looks to build an amusement park and other attractions where informal settlements now stand along the waters of oil city Port Harcourt. Already, a forced eviction carried out in 2009 left at least 12 people seriously wounded, Amnesty International said, with locals telling the organization they saw dead bodies carried away in the back of police pickup trucks.
(NNPA)—Zimbabwe teen and songbird Gamu Nhengu, who gave a standout performance for the British “X Factor” reality show, is bearing up under trying times. After getting cut by one vote by the Factor’s panel of four White judges, she is now threatened with deportation by order of the United Kingdom Border Agency. GAMU NHENGU After her recent showstopping performance on X Factor, judge Cheryl Cole gushed: “I thought you were adorable, I got you. I love your style of song and how you perform.” “But I’m sorry Gamu,” the judge told the 18-year Zimbabwean student who lives in Scotland before delivering the bad news.
by Godfrey Olukya KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) —The front-page newspaper story featured a list of Uganda’s 100 “top” homosexuals, with a bright yellow banner across it that read: “Hang Them.” Alongside their photos were the men’s names and addresses. UNDER SEIGE—A Ugandan man reads the headline of the Ugandan newspaper “Rolling Stone” in Kampala, Uganda, Oct. 19, in which the papers reveals the identity of allegedly gay members of Ugandan society and calls for public punishment against those individuals. (AP Photo) In the days since it was published, at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding, according to rights activist Julian Onziema. One person named in the story had stones thrown at his house by neighbors.
by Gregory Katz LONDON (AP)—Tentative links are developing between supporters of the Tea Party movement in the United States and right-wing fringe groups in Britain that are opposed to what they call the “Islamification” of Europe. CLASH WITH POLICE—A man is bitten by a police dog as police clash with EDL supporters in Leicester, central England, Oct 9. (AP Photo/Rui Vieria/PA) The movements are not formally aligned, but the relatively new English Defense League—which warns that Islamic fundamentalism will soon engulf Britain—is seeking guidance and inspiration from some U.S. figures taking a similar stance. The British activists are less drawn to the anti-tax, anti-big-government Tea Party message and more attracted to elements taking an active stance against the spread of Islam, like Rabbi Nachum Shifren, a long-shot Republican candidate for the California state legislature who plans to visit England next week. The trip was organized by Roberta Moore, an English Defense League activist who has formed a “Jewish division” of the group. She said the rabbi will speak at an Oct. 24 rally in London.
by Godfrey Olukya KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) —If Ugandan police investigators are right, the size of the conspiracy behind the twin bombings during July’s World Cup finals could hardly have been bigger. Ugandan police—with help from the FBI and Kenyan police—have arrested 36 people from seven countries in the wake of blasts that rocked Uganda’s capital, killing 76 people. PLANS TO SUE—Top Kenyan human rights lawyer Mbugua Mureithi says he plans to sue the American FBI after being unlawfully detained by Ugandan authorities and accusing American authorities of directing his detention, over the July 2010 bomb attacks that killed 76 people who were watching live TV showing the World Cup final played in South Africa. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi) The suspects hail from at least three countries with known terror links: Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan. At least one suspect said he was recruited and trained by al-Qaida. The Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for the blast, al-Shabab, has known links with the international terror group.
by Angus Shaw HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Zimbabwe’s president on Sept. 30 told foreign investors that they must accept Black Zimbabweans as the major shareholders in their projects—or stay away from the southern African nation. FIERY SPEECH—Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, Sept. 30. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Strict empowerment laws scheduled for phased enforcement over the next five years require Black Zimbabweans to control 51 percent of each business.
(NNPA/GIN)—All South Africans will enjoy national health insurance under a program scheduled to kick off in 2011 and be implemented during a period of 14 years. Details of the program were discussed recently at the mid-term conference of the African National Congress. Thousands are attending the week-long review of the party’s progress in the port city of Durban which featured health care high on the agenda.
by Donna BrysonAssociated Press Writer JOHANNESBURG (AP)—A 16-year-old who believes she was kicked out of class for speaking her first language at school has prompted government investigations, and the case is demonstrating how volatile the issue of language in education remains in South Africa. School officials insist a disciplinary problem and not racism sparked the case, but it’s now making headlines a generation after hundreds here were killed when students revolted over being forced to learn in Afrikaans, the language of their White oppressors under apartheid. VOLATILE SITUATION—This photo taken Sept. 22, shows 16-year-old twin sisters Luthando and Lusanda Nxasana in their Johannesburg home after a day at school. (AP Photo/Tawnada Mudimu)
by Bashir Adigun ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)—President Goodluck Jonathan announced Sept. 15 on Facebook that he will run in the oil-rich nation’s January election, ending months of speculation over his plans after he assumed power following the death of Nigeria’s elected leader. ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY—In this May 31 file photo, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan waves as he arrives for a dinner at the Prefecture in Nice, southern France, during the 25th Africa-France Summit. Jonathan’s announcement, as well as a campaign rally last Wednesday by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, signaled the start of campaigning ahead of the Jan. 22 presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Sales of beer have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes. BEER SALES SURGE—A man drinks a beer in Harare, Sept, 9. Beer sales have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes. Health authorities also are reporting increases in illnesses linked to the consumption of illegal, homemade drinks with a high alcohol content made from potatoes, rags, chemicals, rotting vegetables and sugar. One illegal liquor distilled over wood fires in the bush around Harare is known as “Take Me Quick.”
