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Foreign companies are involved with “unconscionable” practices in Africa’s mining sector, according former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.  His conclusions are based on the annual Africa Progress Report released on Friday. “Some companies, often supported by dishonest officials, are using unethical tax avoidance, transfer pricing and anonymous company ownership to maximise their profits, while millions of Africans go without adequate nutrition, health and education,” Annan wrote in the report’s forward.  

Foreign companies are involved with “unconscionable” practices in Africa’s mining sector, according former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. 

His conclusions are based on the annual Africa Progress Report released on Friday. “Some companies, often supported by dishonest officials, are using unethical tax avoidance, transfer pricing and anonymous company ownership to maximise their profits, while millions of Africans go without adequate nutrition, health and education,” Annan wrote in the report’s forward.  

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thepoliticalnotebook: This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email. This round-up will be on hiatus next Friday, but will return!  Dexter Filkins’ longform inside look into the White House’s ongoing debate over what to do about Syria.  Robert Ford, the US Ambassador to Syria, slipped secretly into northern Syria on Thursday in order to speak with opposition leaders.  Syrian internet experienced a 19-hour blackout, but has been restored.  Turkey is testing Syrians who seek medical care across the border for the effects of chemical weapons use. PKK rebels have begun to leave Turkey following a truce.  Four Filipino UN peacekeepers were seized in the Golan Heights. Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi reshuffled his cabinet, increasing the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. A new hearing was held on Benghazi attacks. Kenya has asked the ICC to halt the court proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta. A UN peacekeeper was killed in eastern Congo. Nigeria’s hunt for Islamists is highly costly to civilians, whose bodies are pouring into Nigeria’s morgues. The US expanded its Iran sanctions again. Iran unveiled a new drone. Karzai has said that the US military is allowed to continue to keep bases in Afghanistan after the end of the combat mission.  In the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, direct accusations of cyberattacks were made against China.  Thousands protested in Moscow against politically-motivated prosecutions.  Northern Ireland’s leaders make plans for the peace walls to come down by 2023. The upkeep for Guantánamo Bay comes in at $900,000 an inmate. Military photos from inside the prison’s hunger strike. The chief of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kusinski, was arrested for… sexual assault. A new report on sexual assault in the military shows a 6% increase in reported sexual assaults in 2012 and Pentagon estimates say that 26,000 women were sexually assaulted (up from estimates of 19,000 in 2011).  17 nuclear missile launch officers at Minot Air Force Base have been removed from duty. The question of where deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev would be buried has been answered. He is apparently buried at a mystery location outside of Massachusetts. On the relationship between Russia and the FBI. The FBI is pushing for more eavesdropping and spying power, specifically more power to monitor online communication, a wish that seems likely to be granted.  If you would like to receive this round-up as a weekly email, you can sign up through this form, or email me directly at torierosedeghett@gmail.com. Photo: Relatives of Iraqi Shi’ite fighter Diaa Mutashar al-Issawi mourn him Monday in Basra. Nabil Al-Jurani/AP.

thepoliticalnotebook:

This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.

This round-up will be on hiatus next Friday, but will return! 

If you would like to receive this round-up as a weekly email, you can sign up through this form, or email me directly at torierosedeghett@gmail.com.

Photo: Relatives of Iraqi Shi’ite fighter Diaa Mutashar al-Issawi mourn him Monday in Basra. Nabil Al-Jurani/AP.

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“To the best of our professional understanding, the regime used lethal chemical weapons against the militants in a series of incidents over the past months, including the relatively famous incident of March 19…Shrunken pupils, foaming at the mouth and other signs indicate, in our view, that lethal chemical weapons were used.”

Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of research and analysis in Israeli military intelligence, told a security conference in Tel Aviv that Assad has used chemical weapons multiple times. Among the incidents were attacks documented by the French and British near Damascus last month. It was the first time that Israel has accused the embattled Syrian leader of using his stockpile of nonconventional weapons.

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“I barely notice all of my medical ailments any more – the back pain from the beatings I have taken, the rheumatism from the frigid air conditioning, the asthma exacerbated by the toxic sprays they use to abuse us. There is an endless list. And now 24/7, as the Americans say, I have the ache of hunger…I hope I do not die in this awful place. I want to hug my children and watch them as they grow. But if it is God’s will that I should die here, I want to die with dignity. I hope, if the worst comes to the worst, that my children will understand that I cared for the rights of those suffering around me almost as much as I care for them.”

More than half of the remaining detainees at Guantánamo Bay are now on a hunger strike, US military officials confirmed Sunday. Double the figures released previously. Amongst those refusing food is Shaker Aamer, who has spent 11 years at Guantánamo. He remains behind bars despite being cleared for release six years ago.

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“It was like a nuclear bomb went off. Big old mushroom cloud. There are a lot of people that got hurt. There are a lot of people that will not be here tomorrow.”

The mayor of West, Tommy Muska, told reporters of a massive explosion at a fertiliser plant  in the town of West near Waco in Texas, severely damaging a nursing home, schools and houses. Casualties could run into the hundreds.

Edit: correction thanks to jaysnn

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