A human rights group wants Nigeria to stop executing people immediately, because hundreds on death row might actually be innocent, reports the BBC. According to a report by Amnesty International, many of Nigerian prisoners on death row did not have a fair trial; in addition, many confessions came after officials tortured the suspects, and they were able to use that confession alone to sentence people to death, which is against the law. “The judicial system is riddled with flaws that can have devastating consequences,” Aster va Kregten, a spokesman for the rights group said. “It is truly horrifying to think of how many innocent people may have been executed and may still be executed,” he said in a statement. A staggering 80 percent of prisoners say they’ve been beaten, threatened or tortured while they have been in police custody, says the report. Nigeria’s State prosecutor, Williams Ashu, says the report brought important issues to light. “We’re working on trying to resolve the problem,” he told the BBC. He also suggested the nation’s prison workers are not as well trained as they can be. “The work they are doing is very hard work that some of them are not adequately trained for it,” Ashu said. Many prisoners also said that when the police arrested them, they asked for money to let them go, says the report.

Could there be another Darfur war in Sudan? Disputes in another region of Sudan could grow into another war as big as the one in Darfur, a group warns. “South Kordofan is a Sudan in miniature, with heavily armed African and Arab tribes living side by side,” a spokesman from the International Crisis Group told the BBC. The international community, as well as the country’s political parties, need to intervene in the crisis before elections next year. Southern Kordofan borders Darfur and was contested during the north-south war. While the Sudanese government and rebels signed a peace agreement saying they will share power and oil profits, leaders of the two factions (President Omar al-Bashir’s NCP and an ex-rebel) have been “dangerously engaged in ethnic polarization” ahead of next year’s elections, says the report. “There is frustration everywhere; there is frustration among the Arabs; there is frustration among the Nuba tribes; and with all this frustration, there is no adequate responses to it - they can all converge and [be] expressed through violence,” a spokesman told the BBC. If they want to calm the situation in the region, they still have time if they act now, says the group. The conflict in the western Sudan region of Darfur, where government-backed militias known as Janjaweed killed hundreds of thousands of people and made millions homeless, started more than five years ago.

World Lens: Colin Powell comes out for Africa, Dominican model hits the runway, Obama fever heats up the Caribbean. See pics.

Nigerian man is put in jail for being lazy.

To all the lazy young people out there: Lying around the house and doing no good could get you jailed in Nigeria. A 20-year-old Nigerian man was sentenced to six months in jail and 30 strokes from a cane for being idle, reports the BBC. And it was the young man’s own father who turned him in. Jamilu Samaila refused to attend school or look for a job and joined a gang, his father told the court in the country’s Bauchi state. He was “bringing shame on the family,” said the father, Samaila Tahir. He also told the court that his son wouldn’t listen to him and that he’d grown “sick of his nefarious deeds.” “Please put this boy in prison so that I can be free,” he pleaded, adding that his son should be jailed “for as long it deems fit.” Jamilu was ultimately sentenced for “having no job and also for associating with bad friends, which is an offense contrary to the Sharia penal code,” according to the court’s clerk. Jamilu got the 30 cane strokes immediately. Bauchi, along with several states in the nation with mostly Muslims, re-introduced the Islamic Sharia law eight years ago. The penalties under this system are a lot harsher than those in the previous system.
 Zimbabwean opposition leader can’t attend talks. Zimbabwean opposition leader and designated Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can’t attend negotiations with leaders. The talks, which will be held Monday with other regional leaders in Swaziland, will focus on breaking through the deadlock in the country’s power-sharing negotiations. But Tsvangirai didn’t have all of the travel papers he needed to travel to the nation, reports the AFP. Member countries of the Southern African Development Community’s Organ on Defense, Politics and Security - which include Swaziland, Mozambique and Angola -  are attending the meeting. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating power-sharing talks between Tsvangirai and longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, will brief attendees on progress.  Members of Tsvangirai’s party, Movement of Democratic Change, have cited Mugabe’s unwillingness to fairly divide key cabinet posts as the reason for the standstill.

World Lens: The Obama craze is on in Kenya, transgender pageant in the Philippines and Venus Williams faces disappointment in Germany. See photos.
 

Nigerian police raid a baby-selling hospital. Nigerian authorities raided a hospital where they believe newborns were being sold, reports the BBC. They discovered the private hospital when a pregnant 17 year old girl escaped. There are now seven young women, found during the raid, that are now in the government’s care. They were kept in the hospital for months, waiting to give birth. The babies they would give birth to could have been sold for just $127 (or 15,000 naira) to traffickers known for selling children into slavery or prostitution. Police have arrested the hospital’s owners along with two nurses for their connection to the illegal activity. The country, unfortunately, is no stranger to such baby selling schemes, reportedly. Several other such cases have emerged in recent years. Pregnant women, who aren’t married and are living in poverty, are faced with desperate circumstances, reports the BBC. In Nigeria, abortion is illegal for the most part.

Haiti’s president to U.S.: Stop deportation! The president of Haiti, Rene Preval, has asked the U.S. to stop deporting Haitian illegal immigrants, reports the Caribbean News. Instead, he’d like the country to grant them temporary protected status (TPS). The Caribbean nation was already declared the poorest in the western hemisphere before being hit by four consecutive storms that killed 800 people and devastated several towns and infrastructure. Because of the hardships his country is facing Preval told the Americans Conference in Florida that the U.S. would be making a mistake if they continued deporting Haitians. “This is a chance for the U.S. administration to put in place for Haitians, the temporary protected status,” he said at the conference. In addition, even though he already talked to President George Bush about the situation, he will also write him a letter. Two U.S. congressmen from Florida have also been urging Bush to permanently stop deporting Haitians in light of the nation’s difficulties.  

Kenya deports American author who criticized Obama. Kenyan authorities questioned then deported an American author who was in the nation to promote a book criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, reports the BBC. Jerome Corsi was going to hold a news conference about his book “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality” before Kenyan authorities brought him in for questioning at immigration headquarters and took him to the airport and deported him. According to Corsi, his book would “expose deep secret ties between U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and a section of the Kenyan government leaders.” The book also accuses Obama of contributing $1 million to Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga during Odinga’s run for president. (Odinga is from the same town as Obama’s father.) The book further claims that Obama was raised as a Muslim. Obama denies these charges. Obama, whose father was from Kenya, is wildly popular in the country so some are questioning the timing of immigration officials. Kenyan officials contend he was deported for not having all of his immigration papers. Corsi was taken in right before a press conference for the controversial book, but had already been in the country for a week.
 

Nigeria set to honor Black Americans. The west African nation of Nigeria will honor such Black Americans as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Marcus Garvey by renaming streets after them in the nation’s administrative capital. Federal Capital Territory Minister Aliyu Umar said the roads to be renamed, about 80 of them, had been “inappropriately named.” Many of them were named after former military governors, he said. “Some of the names have no relevance or affinity to our existence, history or culture,” he said during an event celebrating the nations 48 years of independence. “The occasion is to celebrate names which have contributed to Nigeria’s democracy,” he continued. Other legends in the nation such as Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe will also be honored by having a street named after them, along with several other noted countrymen in sports in music. “We honor Malcolm X, who taught Black people to stand up for their dignity wherever they are, Rosa Parks who single-handedly confronted discrimination and Martin Luther King [whose] dream lives on.”

World Lens: Barack Obama’s Kenyan grandma shows her support, flood waters leave Haitians stranded and Usain Bolt is still dominating. Get these pictures and more here.

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Nigeria is hooking up HIV positive couples. One Nigerian state has decided to match up HIV positive couples in an effort to slow the spread of the disease. “Suitors who have tested positive and are willing to wed each other, can reduce the spread of the virus and also cushion the psychological trauma of isolation,” the executive secretary of the Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS, Dr. Lirwan Mohammed, told the BBC. In recent weeks, about 70 couples have been matched by the country’s Bauchi state government. The couples are (confidentially) hooked up during counseling sessions and have the freedom to accept or reject prospective mates.  Under the Islamic laws the state operates under, condom use is not encouraged. But members from UNAids not only think this is a bad idea, but also a dangerous one. “There may be a very big danger in terms of the spread of the disease,” a spokesman said. Since two people could have differing strains of HIV that could interact, they should still use condoms, he added. He also believes it would be bad for kids. “The chances are that child would become a double orphan, they would lose both parents.” At least one HIV groom is happy, though. “If we should fear God, we should stop spreading the HIV virus through indiscriminate marriage, thereby infecting innocent people,” he told the news service anonymously. An estimated 2.4 million Nigerians are living with HIV.

Thousands of Zambians mourn late president. Thousands came out in Zambia Wednesday to pay their final respects to late President Levy Mwanwasa. After suffering a stroke in June, Mwanwasa passed away at age 59 last month in a French hospital. The ceremony brought the country to a standstill - businesses closed and millions of Zambians watched a live telecast of his funeral on state television, reports Reuters. As he was buried, Mwanawasa was honored with a 21-gun salute by five air force jets. “The flag has been lowered and a gallant fighter is gone, but Zambia must pick up the bits and pieces and forge ahead so that his legacy can live on,” Zambian pastor, Peter Ndhlovu said. Mwanawasa, respected for his strong financial reforms in his country, was a strong critic of longtime Zimbabwe leader, Robert Mugabe, whose country is in financial crisis. Mugabe, along with other African leaders (including presidents of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Malawi) attended Mwanawasa funeral. “Mwanawasa was a very courageous leader. He was very frank and wanted to change not only his country but the entire southern African region. We will greatly miss him,” Mugabe told a Zambian radio station. Mwanwasa left behind his widow Maureen and six children. At the service, she spoke of her late husband’s willingness to take care of orphans at his church. “He was the father of all. It is the orphans he took care of that bring pain to my throat, they are orphaned again,” she said. Rupiah Banda, the country’s vice president, is currently serving as acting president.

Nigeria confiscates cash from Africans for Obama. The Nigerian government seized $630,000 (74m naira) raised by Africans for Obama, a group that backs U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, reports the BBC. The country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that while the group did not break any laws, it will be giving the money back to the people who went to the organization’s fundraising gala dinner in Lagos last month.  Campaigns or political parties from the United States cannot receive contributions from groups overseas and the Obama campaign publically distanced themselves from the organization, according to reports.  Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, who leads the group (and is also chairman of the Nigerian Stock Exchange) insists the media got the group’s motives all wrong. The money, she says, actually was intended to be spent encouraging Nigerians in the United States to vote for Obama. “We never said we were going to donate money for the campaign. We paid for the hall and the entertainers and the surplus; we said it would be spent on advertisements aimed at persuading Nigerians to tell their relatives in America to register to vote,” she said, adding “There is not one Nigerian who doesn’t have a relative or friend in America.” But advertisements for the Aug. 11 gala (where it cost more than $21,000 for an eight-person table) didn’t really say what the group was going to do with the money. And, according to the EFCC, officials had told Okereke-Onyuike to “steer clear of such activities in future.”

South Africa signs oil agreement with Venezuela. South Africa and Venezuela signed a huge and historic oil agreement Tuesday, reports CNN. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez met up with South African leader Thabo Mbeki to sign a deal involving oil and gas. While both sides are mum about specific details surrounding the agreement, reports speculate that it probably involves Venezuela providing South African oil company PetrosSA crude at lower rates. “It will be a wonderful day, the day when the first Venezuelan tanker will stop by to leave oil for South Africa,” said Chavez. At the news conference announcing the agreement, Chavez applauded unity between the southern nations, saying that with times being hard worldwide, it was necessary for the countries to use a “new strategic agenda, to conduct a true strategic change in international relations.” He also said he would like to examine the African nation’s “gas-to-liquid” technology and is looking to use the nation’s oil storage facilities (capable of holding 45 million barrels). Mbeki said the agreements added to “the further empowerment of the countries of the south.” He also hinted at the motivation behind the agreement saying, “The object is to assist in reducing the costs of energy.”

As it batters Jamaica, Haiti’s death toll from the storm passes 50.
Tropical Storm Gustav batters the Caribbean. Tropical Storm Gustav slammed the island nation of Jamaica Thursday and ripped through its Caribbean cousin, Haiti, claiming more than 50 lives in its wake, reports CNN. The storm, whose intensity in Jamaica came just short of hurricane strength, was 15 miles away from Kingston (although residents report suffering little physical damage from the storm). Before it hit, Jamaican authorities evacuated residents in low-lying areas, said a spokesman for the military. But Gustav was a full-fledged hurricane when it hit Haiti Tuesday. Haitian officials announced Thursday that the country’s death toll rose from 14 people to 51.  Six children are among the dead, according to the government, and 6,500 residents are living in shelters. The storm lost its strength over Jamaica, but it could pick up strength and become a hurricane by today, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters say the storm could dump 2 to 4 inches over Cuba and 6 to 12 inches over Jamaica. The Hurricane Center’s projection models illustrate the storm could hit Louisiana by Sunday afternoon, almost three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. The National Guard is sending 3,000 members there to get ready for the storm.

Co-ed schools banned in part of Nigeria. A Nigerian state has decided to get rid of co-ed schools, citing teen pregnancy and low-academic achievement as reasons, reports the BBC. The ban, which would affect all junior and senior schools, was passed last week by lawmakers in the country’s Bauchi State. Private schools are not affected. Teens have a hard time controlling sexual urges, said Aminu Tukur a Bauchi lawmaker in favor of the ban. Bauchi is governed by the Islamic Sharia law (under the frame of this system, courts recently ruled a Nigerian man with 86 wives had to choose only four and repent, or face death). Christians, a minority in the state, are against the ban, saying teens are able to meet up at other places too, not just schools. No word yet on when the co-ed schools will have to turn single sex. Students will head back to school next week

Nigeria hands over land to neighboring Cameroon. Nigeria officially agreed Thursday to hand over claims to a peninsula to neighboring Cameroon, reports The Associated Press. Ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula had been disputed for years. In fact the two nations almost went to war during the 1990s over the peninsula that is said to contain possible energy reserves since it is in an oil-rich area. But in 2002, an international court ruled that Cameroon should get the land, which is why officials from both Cameroon and Nigeria signed an agreement stating that Nigeria would withdraw their claims to the land, reports the news service. “As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community, promote international peace and cooperation and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighborliness,” Michael Aondaokaa, Nigeria’s attorney general, said. Many Nigerian citizens, though, are very unhappy with giving the land to Cameroon. According to Nigeria, about 300,000 citizens live on the peninsula. Before Thursday’s ceremony, security was increased throughout southeast Nigeria, and officials changed the location of the ceremony from the peninsula to the city of Calabar at the last minute and did not give an explanation.

Zimbabwe opposition leader gets his passport back.

After confiscating his passport Thursday, Zimbabwe authorities then returned it to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai the same day, reports Reuters. Tsvangirai was on his way to the Southern African Development Community summit in South Africa when he was held up by authorities. Members of his party are still in the dark about why his passport was taken in the first place. “The passport situation has just been resolved,” said an official from Tsvangirai’s party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). “They have their passports now. They will be leaving [for South Africa] on the 6 p.m. flight. There was no explanation.” This weekend’s conference in South Africa is hosted by the country’s president, Thabo Mbeki, who is also helping mediate power-sharing negotiations between Tsvangirai and longtime leader Robert Mugabe. Even though the two leaders haven’t reached a deal yet after three days of meetings in the country’s capital, Tsvangirai told reporters at the airport that he remained optimistic. A smaller, breakaway faction of MDC (a group that has 10 seats in Parliament) recently reached a power-sharing deal with Mugabe.

Police are wondering how he got his hands on that much money.
Nigerian official allegedly spent $4 million on a witch doctor. Nigerian police arrested a government employee for allegedly hiring a witch doctor to kill a fellow employee, reports CNN. Sam Edem, the head of the Niger Delta Development Corporation, was suspended after the local press got word that he allegedly spent $4 million on the witch doctor to hex and kill another official in his agency. Edem wanted him killed because he believed the employee had ill will against him, police say. He also wanted the witch doctor to influence a state governor to give him “juicy contracts,” said a police statement. Edem became upset when none of the things he asked the witch doctor to do actually happened, and demanded a refund which the witch doctor refused to give him. Both police and those in the federal government are trying to figure out how Edem got his hands on that much money to give to the witch doctor in the first place. He, although not available for official comment, has not denied any of the charges against him, according to the government. Since the nation’s independence from Britain in 1960, about $400 billion of the Nigerian government’s money has been stolen or wasted, according to investigators.

Rival Zimbabwe leaders will resume talks later today. This weekend’s power-sharing negotiations between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ended without an agreement, reports CNN. But they are scheduled to resume the talks later today. “We have not finished. We obviously have sticking points like in any talks, but we look forward to overcome them,” Mugabe told the press after talks adjourned early on Monday. Tsvangirai did not answer any questions, instead referring reporters to the meeting’s mediator, South African President Thabo Mbeki who also had no comment. In June, following violent weeks which saw people killed and beaten, longtime leader Robert Mugabe was re-elected in a runoff election that many in the international community dismissed as a sham. Tsvangirai had dropped out of the runoff days before voting, saying that he was fearful for his life and the lives of his supporters. Tsvangirai’s party, Movement of Democratic Change, says that 100 of its supporters were killed by members of the president’s political party, Zanu-PF. But just last week, in a written statement, both parties took responsibility for the violence that occurred ahead of the runoff and pleaded with their supporters to stop fighting, reports the news service. “We further reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the law is applied fairly and justly to all persons irrespective of political affiliation, to take all necessary measures within our power to eliminate all forms of political violence,” the said statement.

Star-studded line-up in Africa runs short on stars

Music and fashion celebrities including local performers, Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, were slated to appear at last week’s “ThisDay Music and Fashion Festival” to help bring attention to Nigeria’s tourism industry. But only Rihanna, Jay-Z and Usher performed at the first night of the event, despite fans having paid as much as $508 per ticket for a star-studded line-up. Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and rapper Fat Joe appeared before the event’s conclusion.

Laurence Fishburne could join the cast of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”

The man who played such popular film characters as The Matrix’s Morpheus and Boyz N the Hood’s Furious Styles could soon become a TV crime investigator. Laurence Fishburne is a front-runner, along with John Malkovich, for a role on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” Fishburne could replace William Petersen, who’s set to leave the show this season.

Coolio helps youth understand the environment
Grammy-winning rapper Coolio has joined the Environmental Justice and Climate Change organization, helping to raise awareness of global warming among HBCU students. Teaming up with jazz saxophonist Jarez, the West Coast performer will be a part of a sustained campaign to increase stewardship in the Black community. The campaign’s focus is on recruiting a “diverse group of African American youth in the fight for climate justice,” a spokesman says.