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Day in Court The International Criminal Court on Friday convicted a militia leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo in an attack on a Congolese village in 2003 in which more than 200 people were shot and hacked to death, and women were raped and abducted to serve as sex slaves. The militia leader, Germain Katanga, was found guilty by two of the three judges at the court in The Hague of complicity in organizing the attack on the village of Bogoro and providing guns to speed the killing. He was acquitted of charges of rape and the use of child soldiers. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/africa/congolese-militia-leader-convicted-in-attack-on-village.html?referrer=
Exporting Hatred & Fear Ugandan gay rights activist Dennis Wamala (28) can pinpoint when "the war went from rhetoric to action". It was in early March 2009. Ugandan Pentecostal pastors such as Martin Ssempa and Solomon Moses Male had begun to make a noise a few years earlier about gays allegedly recruiting children at schools with Western help, according to Wamala. Later, three American evangelical Christians jetted into Kampala to be keynote speakers at the Seminar on Exploring the International Homosexual Agenda. They were Scott Lively, the co-founder of the international anti-gay extremist group Watchmen on the Walls, and the co-author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party; Don Schmierer, who has worked with "homosexual recovery groups" and has penned five books relating to "ex-gay therapy"; and Caleb Lee Brundidge, an "ex-gay" who is said to lead groups to mortuaries in an attempt to raise the dead and who has experience working as a "sexual reorientation coach". http://mg.co.za/article/2014-03-06-us-preachers-lit-homophobia-fuse
Day In Court II Oscar Pistorius pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day last year, marking the start of the Olympian's murder trial that had South Africans watching live broadcasting of the proceedings against their country's most famous living citizen. The trial started 90 minutes late with Pistorius pleading not guilty to all four charges against him: murder, two charges relating to discharge of firearm in a public place and one charge of illegal possession of ammunition. Before the trial started he walked past the victim's mother who says she came to court so she can "really look him in the eyes." The double-amputee athlete is charged with murder with premeditation in the shooting death of girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp in the predawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius says he shot Steenkamp by accident, thinking she was an intruder inside his bathroom. http://www.npr.org/2014/03/03/285083261/oscar-pistorius-murder-trial-to-begin-monday
But is it a Good Clean? Too lazy to have a shower? Worry no more, there's a lotion for that. DryBath is a germ-killing gel that allows you to take a bath without using a single drop of water or soap -- all you need is to apply the gel on your skin and then vigorously rub it off using your hands. "The special formula will cover the whole body with the cleansing gel, which will use the vigorous rubbing to lift the dirt off the skin," explains LudwickMarishane, the inventor of DryBath and founder of Headboy Industries. The 23-year-old entrepreneur came up with his revolutionary idea back in 2007, during a hot winter day when he was relaxing with some friends under the blazing sun in Limpopo, northern South Africa. "Man, why doesn't somebody invent something that you can just put on your skin and you don't have to bathe," quipped one of his pals, complaining that he didn't feel like having a shower -- and this got Marishane thinking. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/business/drybath-how-to-keep-clean/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Oil Makes the World Go Around A tanker that had been sitting for three days in a Libyan port controlled by a regional militia has what every refinery in Europe wants: some of the highest quality oil in the world, so sweet it needs little refining to process into high-grade fuel. The tanker reportedly left the port on Monday afternoon, but oil experts wondered where it went, while the Obama administration has promised to do what it can to make sure it does not sell its valuable cargo. Industry experts say it is hard to imagine a port that will accept the illicit fuel. The vessel, the Morning Glory, whose ownership is unclear, obtained the oil from militia groups that have blockaded several Libyan oil ports for more than six months, demanding more autonomy and oil revenues for the eastern regions of the country. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/world/africa/dispute-over-fate-of-mysterious-tanker-with-oil-from-libya.html?_r=0
Bad Journalists? Egypt's security forces have arrested four Al Jazeera journalists in Cairo. Correspondent Peter Greste, producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed as well as cameraman Mohamed Fawzy are being held in custody after arrested by security forces on Sunday evening. Human rights groups say conditions for journalists in Egypt have become difficult since former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was removed in a coup on July 3, 2013. The latest arrests come after a series of clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters across Egypt. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/12/al-jazeera-journalists-arrested-egypt-2013123052614437237.html
Bad Insurgents Suspected fighters from the insurgency Boko Haram entered dorm rooms where students slept early Tuesday and killed at least 29 of them, according to a military officer and a school employee, the latest attack in a continuing rampage that Nigerian troops have failed to halt. Gunmen filling about a dozen Toyota pickup trucks arrived around midnight at Federal Government College, a boarding school in the town of Buni, said administrator Ibrahim Abdul. He said they moved from building to building until almost dawn—shooting students in dormitories, setting fire to classrooms and burning down dozens of nearby homes. The town sits on a road that crosses over the hills and desert plains where Boko Haram has been waging five years of war to rid Nigeria's Islamic north of western culture, particularly English-language education. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304834704579405040507982558
So What Does Grow on Trees? The chocolate industry is worth an estimated $110 billion a year, and yet its key commodity is grown by some of the poorest people on the planet, in plantations that can hide the worst forms of child labour. Accurate figures are impossible to come by, but up to 800,000 children are thought to work in the cocoa sector across the Ivory Coast; children who are both a symptom of and a self-perpetuating factor in a much wider problem -- poverty. In 1980 the international cocoa price was $3,750 a tonne-- equivalent to $10,000 a tonne in 2013. Nowadays it is considered high at roughly $2,800 a tonne. http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/africa/cocoa-nomics-does-chocolate-grow-on-trees/index.html
Can’t We All Get Along? Police said the student was one of two taken to hospital, but gave no further details. Witnesses said police used tear gas and batons against around 200 students protesting against escalating violence in the Darfur region. There has been an upsurge in violence in the region where rebels are fighting forces of President Omar al-Bashir. Darfur has been wracked by conflict since 2003 when rebels took up arms. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26537882
Are You My Mother? Elephants are able to differentiate between ethnicities and genders, and can tell an adult from a child - all from the sound of a human voice. This is according to a study in which researchers played voice recordings to wild African elephants. The animals showed more fear when they heard the voices of adult Masai men. Livestock-herding Masai people do come into conflict with elephants, and this suggests that animals have adapted to specifically listen for and avoid them. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26488432
Problems with Fleeing Thousands of people forced to flee the violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) are now facing another humanitarian catastrophe in neighboring Chad, said Amnesty International. The rainy season is due to start shortly and unless shelter, food and medical facilities are urgently made available, their already desperate situation will quickly deteriorate. A delegation from Amnesty International has spent the last two weeks interviewing survivors of violence in CAR and visiting the sites where they are staying along the Chad / CAR border and in the capital N'Djamena. The delegates found thousands of people who had been neglected by the authorities and humanitarian agencies, many suffering from severe malnutrition and with no shelter other than the shade of trees. Among them were a large number of children, many separated from their families in the chaos, and in urgent need of assistance. http://allafrica.com/stories/201403060790.html
Uncomfortable Tourism African-American poet Maya Angelou once wrote: "Africa is a historical truth ... no man can know where he's going unless he knows exactly where he's been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.” This search for" historical truth" has led thousands of visitors to Cape Coast, in Ghana, a picturesque seaside town with stunning blue sea, serene beaches and pastel-colored fishing boats. Instead of idyllic days under the sun, they are looking for a glimpse into their dark ancestral past -- the harrowing experience of their African forebears who were sold as slaves. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/12/world/africa/on-the-road-ghana-roots-tourism/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2
Plug the Leaking Oil (Money) Nigeria’s president is ordering a forensic audit into some $20 billion allegedly missing from the petroleum earnings of Africa’s biggest oil producer. President Goodluck Jonathan’s announcement follows weeks of outrage expressed online by Nigerians complaining that previous investigations of billions in missing public funds have been shelved with no one held accountable and no money recovered. Jonathan also denied charges by ousted Central Bank Gov. LamidoSanusi that the money has gone to a cabal to fund the February 2015 presidential and legislative elections. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/03/13/nigerias_president_orders_audit_of_missing_20_billion.html
Thank Goodness No Tumble Dry A hardy lizard that stowed away in a tourist's suitcase survived a 3,000-mile flight from Cape Verde to the UK – and then endured a full cycle in a washing machine. Larry survived the six-hour flight in the luggage hold of a passenger jet and arrived back at Banwell-Moore's home in Somerset. But its ordeal did not end there. Banwell-Moore scooped up the hapless reptile in a pile of dirty clothes and stuffed it into her washing machine. She only spotted the lizard as she was hanging out the washing following the 30-minute delicates cycle. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/07/lizard-survives-suitcase-washing-machine
Someone Should Clean Up the Mess Never mind what the West thinks -- the Kremlin says Ukraine's Crimea region is now part of Russia. A signing ceremony Tuesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Crimea and the mayor of the city of Sevastopol made it official, the Kremlin said in a statement. The territory, ceded to Ukraine in the Soviet era, is now part of the Russian Federation, it said. The annexation -- which had not been expected to occur until Russian lawmakers met later this week -- was met with a howl of protest in Kiev, where Ukrainian Prime Minister ArseniyYatsenyuk called it "a robbery on an international scale." http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/18/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/
