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Telecoms Operators of Nigeria confirmed Saturday that they had complied with the government's directive to suspend access indefinitely to Twitter.
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
[This Day] Abuja -- About 400,000 barrels of crude oil is lost daily to theft, according to data from the federal government.
Outrage and anger in Nigeria continue to grow as the #EndSARS protests expand and contend with outright violence from the Nigerian army and police force, according to The Associated Press, New York Times and social media reports. As Blavity previously reported , peaceful protesters have been incensed since army officials opened fire on them on Tuesday at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, killing at least seven people under the shroud of darkness, according to local news outlet Punch. Dozens of other protesters were killed across the country that same day, the newspaper reported. The violence, covered extensively on social media, has largely been ignored by Nigerian elected officials and even president Muhammadu Buhari, who made no mention of it during his address to the nation on Thursday night. Thursday was Buhari's first appearance since the Lekki Gate shooting, but he only tacitly mentioned the actions of his armed forces, only threatening protesters to not continue their...
[This Day] Lagos -- The media played a central role in the country's return to democracy, writes L
[AI London] The UN Security Council must extend the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) by at least six months in light of failure by government security forces to protect civilians in recent months, said Amnesty International, with weeks left to the end of the mission's mandate.
Following a five-day visit to the southeast of Sierra Leone, Hon. Kandeh Yumkella – leader of the national Granf Coalition (NGC) in parliament, has completed his coronavirus disease sensitization tour.
In Pujehun, and in his capacity as chairman, Hon. Yumkella attended the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) parliamentary oversight committee meeting hosted by Dr. Francis Kaikai, minister of planning and economic development.
In Kailahun, the DICOVERC coordinator Mr. Morie Feika, informed the NGC delegation that the district currently had no COVID-19 positive case.
“Kailahun District seems to have put into practice the vast knowledge and experience garnered from the fight against the Ebola virus disease scourge which ravaged the district years ago,” said Hon. Yumkella.
At the Kailahun Police Station, the NGC delegation donated bags of rice and other items.
The seditious libel case involving Sierra Leone’s former minister of social welfare and journalist – Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, was adjourned today to Friday 12 June 2020, after prosecution witness who is the lead police investigator – Detective M.K. Alieu, was cross-examined by Blyden who is representing herself in court.
On Friday, 22nd May 2020, Dr Blyden was charged with seditious libel under Sections 33, 32 and 27 of the notorious Public Order Act No 46 of 1965, which successive governments of Sierra Leone have used to harass, intimidate and persecute those with whom they disagree, especially journalists.
According to Section 33 (1): “Any person who (a) does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act with a seditious intention; or (b) utters any seditious words; or (c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication; or (d) imports any seditious publication, unless he has no reason to believe it is seditious shall be guilty of an offence and liable for a first offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to a fine not exceeding one thousand leones or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding seven years, and every such publication shall be forfeited to the government.”
Section 32 (1) states: “Any person who publishes any false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear or alarm, to the public or to disturb the public peace shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred Leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
Section 27 states: “Any person who maliciously publishes any defamatory matter shall be guilty of an offence called libel and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding seven hundred leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre will return to prison in Senegal on Sunday after a two-month release aimed at protecting him from the coronavirus.
Habre seized power in Chad in 1982, fleeing to Senegal in 1990 after he was overthrown.
But on April 6, a judge granted Habre a 60-day release from prison after his lawyer argued that his age left him particularly vulnerable to coronavirus.
However, Babacar Dione of Senegal’s justice ministry told AFP that Habre would return to prison on Sunday.
A lawyer who represented Habre’s victims said in a statement on Sunday that “no one wants to see Habre himself unprotected,” despite atrocities committed under his rule.
[Nation] The Ethiopian government on Monday refuted claims of planned talks with the Tigray People's Liberation Front, mediated by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala.
\tTwo men were arrested yesterday after attempting to rob a Western Union location on Hope Road.\tMillions of dollars in various currencies was recovered at the scene.\tReports from the Half-Way Tree police are that about 9:40 p.m., a team responded to...
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has congratulated Nigeria for blocking Twitter and further called for more countries to follow suit.
Having been a bad sensation for authorities in his home country over his constant criticism, Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono has now become an internet sensation. But this time for a song about corruption in Zimbabwe.
The NCAA asked the court to put the lower court ruling on hold while it appealed the decision. A panel of judges on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling earlier this year that the NCAA violated federal antitrust law when it barred schools from certain expenditures for student athletes.
The case marks the latest battle concerning student athlete compensation.
The lawsuit was brought by former West Virginia running back Shawne Alston in 2014 when he and his attorneys argued that NCAA rules that place any limit on compensation from universities to athletes violated antitrust law. The NCAA has argued that additional compensation beyond scholarships blur the line between college and professional sports. The association also said its rules are necessary to maintain the tradition of amateurism in college sports.
\"Each year, nearly half a million student-athletes play two dozen sports on nearly 20,000 teams at about 1,100 NCAA member schools and 100 member conferences in three divisions across the country,\" Seth Waxman, attorney for the NCAA argued in court papers.
Donald Remy, chief legal officer for the NCAA, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that the NCAA \"will comply with the injunction as required.\"
CNN reached out to Waxman for comment Tuesday.
This latest challenge now allows schools to give money to athletes for expenditures like computers, study abroad scholarships, paid internships, musical instruments and other products and services related to academic pursuits. Bans against direct cash payments remain in effect.
A class of college football players and Division I basketball players brought the challenge. CNN reached out to Jeffrey L. Kessler, an attorney for the athletes, for comment on Tuesday.
While the stay on the lower court's decision has been denied, the NCAA is appealing to the Supreme Court which will decide whether to take up the case.
\"Indeed, the Division I Council will meet tomorrow to put in place an immediate implementation plan. Given the adverse impact of the 9th Circuit's decision on college athletics, the legal reasoning of the lower courts' decisions, and the conflict created with other federal circuits, notwithstanding the failure to secure a stay, we will ask the Supreme Court to review the legal errors,\" Remy said in a statement.
In 2016, the Supreme Court let stand an opinion that said the NCAA could not limit schools from giving scholarship funds including costs of attendance at schools.
CNN's Ariane de Vogue and Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.
The post SCOTUS won't step in to halt ruling that allows compensation for student athletes appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
[Daily Trust] The Federal government has accused the Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, of being liable for some of the losses recorded during the #ENDSARS protest in Nigeria.
[This Day] Human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has warned the federal government to respect the rule of law and international human rights law in handling the cases of secessionists, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Chief Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
Since Magufuli was elected in 2015, Lissu has made it his job to fearlessly challenge the autocratic leader - and more than a dozen bullet wounds were not enough to shut him up.
Almost three years ago, Lissu, the former president of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS), was en route to his home in Tanzania's capital Dodoma at around 11am for a lunch break during a parliamentary session.
The changes to Tanzanian society were \"immediate\" following Magufuli's election win almost five years ago, Lissu says.
According to Lissu, Magufuli, quite simply, needs the money to implement dozens of national megaprojects he has spearheaded, while Magufuli's fledgling attempts at revamping Air Tanzania, the country's flag carrier, have alone cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
What's unique under Magufuli, according to Lissu, is that the arrests are being made solely for criticising the president.
Dear Editor,
Your excellent editorial of 30th August 2020 - entitled `The Death Penalty’ - states that, “Amnesty International has found, for example, that the murder rates in US states which do not have the death penalty are no higher than in those which do”.
The article Capital punishment reduces respect for sanctity of human life appeared first on Stabroek News.
Uganda's 2021 election candidates will have to campaign online and through the media to reach voters as part of new rules to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Uganda's electoral commission banned mass gatherings during campaigning, which critics say will disadvantage opposition parties and voters, and may be unconstitutional.
Simon Byamukama, chairman of the electoral commission, says his team will meet with the minister of information, the Media Council and the Uganda Communications Commission about the guidelines.
The RDCs, along with the police, have been known to deny members of the opposition access to the media – which has Uganda election observers worried.
Sarah Birete, associate director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, a Ugandan NGO, says the new campaign rules put older and rural voters – who are less likely to be online or have access to electronic media – at a disadvantage during an election campaign.
An immense blanket of dead fish stretching across three states has sparked anger and frustration among communities along the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Nigeria. The area is known for oil spills that have polluted the [...]
[Nation] Two human rights lobbies and five victims of alleged police brutality have sued the government for killings and use of excessive force allegedly perpetrated by security agencies while enforcing the dusk-to-dawn curfew meant to contain coronavirus spread.
Makila James is currently serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland. James was nominated by President Barack Obama early in 2012. Following confirmation by the U.S. Senate on July 31, 2012, James arrived in Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland and presented her credentials to the King of Swaziland on September 20, 2012.
Makila James, one of ten children born to Albert and Eddie Mae James, was born in July 1957 in New York. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1979, double majoring in Africana Studies and American History. She was one of the few African Americans inducted into Cornell’s Quill and Dagger Honor Society at the University. Three years later James received a Juris Doctor (law degree) from Colombia Law School and in 2010 she received a Master’s Degree in National Security from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
James’s career as a diplomat began when she joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1988. Her first overseas posting was as a Consular Officer in Kingston, Jamaica from 1989 to 1992. From 1993 to 1995 she was a Political/Economics Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Kaduna, Nigeria and she later served as Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Ambassador James also held positions at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. including Watch Officer at the Operations Center, Desk Officer for Sierra Leone and Gambia in the Office of West African Affairs, and International Relations Officer in the Department’s Office of International Organization Affairs. She was the State Department representative in the International Relations Office for Africa at the United Nations Security Council in New York City, New York. From 2002 to 2003 James was a Research Fellow at the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in Washington, D.C.
From 2003 to 2006, James served as a member of the U.S. State Departments Policy Planning Staff. She returned to Africa between 2006 and 2007, to become the first full time Principal Officer at
[AI London] Amnesty International has graded Twitter on progress to keep women safe on platform
[East African] Nigeria may be Africa's most populous country. But its troubles are also colossal, as it is turning out.
The area is known for oil spills that have polluted the waters and left fish and other wildlife inedible.
The massive die-off was first reported in February when community people in Delta State complained of the schools of dead fish floating and littering their shores.
Samples of the fish were taken by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
Idris Musa, head of NOSDRA, declared the die-off had nothing to do with the continual oil leakages from offshore platforms as claimed over the years by Amnesty International, the U.N. Environmental Program, the Fishnet Alliance, and dozens of other groups in and outside of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) this month said that the dead fishes floating and littering the Niger Delta coastline had nothing to do with its operations.
… investigation into police violence against Black Americans.
Family members of 165 victims … officers to kill and torture African Americans with little to no repercussions …
[Ghanaian Times] The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has challenged media practitioners in the north to concentrate much on developmental challenges of the area.
“Sistas, how y’all feel? Brothas, y’all alright?” –Erykah Badu, singer-songwriter, actress, legendContinue reading on ZORA »
[Premium Times] The presidency says the ban is temporary and not a retaliatory reaction to the deletion of a post by President Muhammadu Buhari by Twitter.
At least four people were killed as protests spread across several Ethiopian cities on Tuesday after a prominent singer from the country's largest ethnic group was shot dead, according to medical sources and a relative.
With his political lyrics, he was seen as a voice of the Oromo people during years of anti-government protests that swept Abiy to power in 2018.
On Tuesday morning, large crowds of protesters poured into the capital Addis Ababa from the surrounding Oromia region, snarling roads with stones and blocking traffic.
A resident of Western Hararge, in Oromia told AFP on condition of anonymity that his cousin had been killed by young Oromo nationalists known as Querroo, because he was from the Amhara ethnic group.
The US embassy said Tuesday that it was \"monitoring reports of protest and unrest, including gunfire throughout Addis Ababa\".
