Egyptians living in Turkey are set to start a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest the violations of human rights, unlawful prosecutions and death penalties of anti-coup activists in Egypt.

#Achmetow #Ukraine

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The FCC is proposing new rules that will be great for Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, but terrible for the rest of us. This agency has been surrounded by corporate lobbyists for too long. Help us surround FCC headquarters with people who love the Internet and want to keep it open.

The Internet is one of the greatest engines for economic growth, freedom, and prosperity the world has ever known thanks in large part to its multistakeholder governance model. As we
shape what the Internet will become, one of our top priorities must be preserving this open, bottom-up system that ensures global citizens are able to access and take advantage of an ever-growing platform. Preserving a free Internet is essential to the preservation of political and economic liberty for global citizens. We do not believe inter-governmental bodies are the right way to govern the Internet. Instead, we should look for innovative solutions involving the breadth of the Internet community. A global Internet that is not constrained by geographic boundaries should not be governed solely through institutions defined by them.

Wende im Streit um die Netzneutralität? Nach massiver Kritik von Internetfirmen und -nutzern will die US-Netzaufsicht FCC ihre Pläne für ein Zwei-Klassen-Internet abschwächen – allerdings nur ein bisschen.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, is revising the commission‘s proposal to regulate broadband internet in response to enormous public outcry. The WSJ says the altered report will offer „assurances that the agency won‘t allow companies to segregate web traffic into fast and slow lanes,“ but may not appease the huge number of people who feel the FCC‘s plans will allow internet service providers to dictate consumer web usage.

Prime Minister in Tokyo for four-day working visit ‚intended to strengthen the financial and business ties‘, calls for closer Israeli-Japanese ties.

(11.05.) Finance Minister says government waiting to see formation of Palestinian unity government before deciding how to restart peace talks; claims he will not quit government over talks‘ failure.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet on Tuesday in London with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the faltering Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

RADDATZ: Should Russia be considered an enemy?

HAGEL: Well, you know, it‘s easy to categorize an enemy. We‘re not at war with Russia.

So do you find — do you define an enemy as being at war or not at war?

Obviously, we…

RADDATZ: Adversary?

HAGEL: — an adversary in Ukraine, sure. But — but I — I think that‘s a little simplistic to get into — to either enemy, friend, partner, so on.

“Athens is very likely to be the venue of these talks, as an informal meeting of EU energy ministers will be held there May 16,” Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov says

We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.

But beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that the US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.

(05.05.) Recent moves by Nigeria’s legislature to make the governor of the central bank answerable to a politically appointed chairman might also spell trouble. Yvonne Mhango of Renaissance Capital, an emerging markets investment bank, says the issue is cause for concern. “When we first heard about it, it did raise questions about the independence of the central bank,” she said.

(08.05.) The 24th World Economic Forum on Africa kicked off yesterday, May 7, in Abuja, Nigeria. More than 900 global leaders from the spheres of government, business, academia and civil society are attending the three-day gathering focusing on the theme Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs. (…)

This said, the series of recent attacks by Boko Haram have highlighted the array of security issues facing WEF host country Nigeria. While the U.S. prepares to deploy military, intelligence and law enforcement advisers to assist in finding the 270 teenage girls kidnapped last month, investors in Nigeria seem undeterred by the surge in violence. As Africa’s largest oil producer, largest economy and most populous nation, the long-term investment situation remains appealing despite these underlying tensions.

(02.05.) The West African nation is hosting the World Economic Forum on Africa next week in Abuja.

(06.05.) The extent of central bank independence – and of the judicial arm of the state – has come under question in a series of court cases pitting the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) against President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Mr Jonathan suspended Lamido Sanusi from his position in February…

Earlier this week as many as 300 people may have been massacred by Boko Haram in a town along the border with Cameroon.

In the aftermath of the mass kidnapping, the Nigerian government first insisted it had rescued the girls before admitting it had no idea where they were. Nigeria‘s first lady wondered if the incident hadn‘t been staged in an effort to embarrass her husband.

(06.05.) It seems almost beyond belief that more than 200 girls can be kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria, held by the terrorist group Boko Haram, and threatened on a video – shown worldwide – with being sold into slavery by their captors. The disbelief is compounded by today‘s news that, overnight, eight more girls have been kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in north-east Nigeria.

“For a good 11 days, our daughters were sitting in one place,” he told The Associated Press. “They camped them near Chibok, not more than 30 kilometres [away], and no help was in hand.” (…)

In what may be an attempt to frustrate efforts to rescue the girls, militants carried out further attacks in north-east Nigeria yesterday, blowing up one of the main bridges into the region.

The findings by human rights group Amnesty International echo accounts of a number of the parents and villagers, who have described to CNN an ineffective military response in the days and weeks after the girls were abducted.

Up to 200 armed Boko Haram fighters abducted a total of 276 girls at about 11:45 p.m. after fighting a small number of police and soldiers stationed in the town.

(08.05.) There is an unmistakable similarity between this campaign, with its use of social media around the hash tag #BringOurGirlsBack, and the one organized in 2011 around the demand for the capture of Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which was responsible for abducting hundreds of children across Central Africa.

That campaign, which attracted the support of everyone from Christian fundamentalists to “humanitarian” imperialists like Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, has resulted in the deployment of hundreds of US special operations troops in Uganda and neighboring countries, which were reinforced and backed up last March by advanced CV-22 Osprey warplanes, capable of vertical takeoffs and landings. After two-and-a-half years of US military operations, Kony remains at large.

Ukrainian troops are waging a mortar fire on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk from Karachun Hill, ITAR-TASS reported from the scene on Monday.

The mortar shelling started at around 5am local time (2am GMT). Blasts are heard with an interval of one minute. The mortar shelling is being waged from a TV broadcasting tower on Karachun Hill. National guard is shooting at checkpoints, but there are some reports that shells had hit residential houses. No casualties were reported yet.

Damning testimonies gathered by Amnesty International reveal that Nigerian security forces failed to act on advance warnings about Boko Haram’s armed raid on the state-run boarding school in Chibok which led to the abduction of more than 240 schoolgirls on 14-15 April. (..)
Amnesty International has confirmed through various sources that Nigeria’s military headquarters in Maiduguri was aware of the impending attack soon after 7:00 PM on 14 April, close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town.

Is it a coincidence that Africa’s most troubled region is also its least integrated? SIMON ALLISON explores why central Africa has failed to make any progress on regional unity, and what this means for its future (no, it’s not good news). After all, a region is only as effective as the sum of its parts.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has intensified collaboration with Nigeria’s government to combat cross border terrorist activities carried out by Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, says ECOWAS communication director Sonny Ugoh.
Ugoh says the regional bloc is also working with other neighboring regional organizations including the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to improve security in their member states…

Frankreichs Präsident Francois Hollande will ein Gipfeltreffen mit Nigeria und dessen Nachbarstaaten.

Frankreichs Präsident Hollande hat ein Gipfeltreffen zu Boko Haram in Paris vorgeschlagen.

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