Category: World

Rare nut all the rage in face-oil boom

For decades, if not centuries, the Amazon dwellers of southern Colombia didn’t make too much of the cacay nut. They fed it to their livestock, used it to treat wounds and chopped down its trees for firewood.

But then, a few years ago, the global jet-setting crowd found out what the yellow-ish oil from the protein-rich nut could do for their skin. And suddenly, the cacay (pronounced kahk-ai) has become a red-hot commodity, providing the key ingredient to anti-aging facial creams that can fetch $200 an ounce in beauty shops in Los Angeles and London.

While most of the nuts come from wild trees in remote areas, new plantations are popping up in impoverished parts of Colombia that were better known for cocaine and anti-government rebel groups. Vitaliano Ordonez, a farmer who used to give the nuts to his cows, sold eight of the animals to buy 120 saplings. Because only a few are mature enough to produce this year, he’s scavenging every kernel from two old trees on his small dairy farm in Puerto Rico, Colombia, 300 kilometers (190 miles) southeast of Bogota.

“I won’t let even one nut go to waste,” said Ordonez, 70. Each apple-sized nut pod contains three seeds, each bigger than an almond. He expects to collect about 60 kilograms (133 pounds) of cacay kernels this year. That may generate as much as 300,000 pesos ($198), or the equivalent of almost half the country’s minimum monthly wage.

The boom is in part the work of Alberto Jaramillo. While scientists have highlighted the nut’s virtues for more than a decade, it was Jaramillo, the head of Bogota-based Kahai SAS, who found a market for the oil after attending trade shows and hiring a trial study of the oil’s use in skincare. Kahai, which buys nuts from growers and scavengers, including Ordonez, expects to double sales this year.

Sales of face oils are rising, sparking new products from cosmetics-maker L’Oreal SA and Procter & Gamble Co.’s Olay brand made of everything from grape and apricot seeds to lavender and marjoram. Beauty-oil sales at retailer Sephora SA tripled in three years.

In the U.S., where high-end facial skincare sales have largely been flat over the past year, face-oil sales surged 24 percent to $42 million, data from NPD Group show. They’ve more than doubled over the past two years.

The small but growing appeal of cacay in the $465 billion personal-care market has been fueled by the increased popularity of Morocco’s argan oil, which got picked up by hair-care makers such as L’Oréal and Unilever NV, and is now included in 14 percent of new hair treatments, according to market research from Mintel. Cacay contains key ingredients in anti-aging products, including antioxidants and retinoids, according to Kahai.

Source: Bloomberg

007 gets license to save

As secret agent James Bond, Daniel Craig has a license to kill, but on Tuesday the United Nations gave the British actor a “license to save” by appointing him as the first global advocate for the elimination of mines and explosive hazards.

Craig, who has been filming his fourth movie as the dapper,martini-drinking agent 007, will spend the next three years raising awareness for the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and political and financial support for the cause.

“You have been given a license to kill (as James Bond), I’m now giving you a license to save,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Craig at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The United Nations said 162 States are parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Last year, the United Nations said it destroyed more than 400 000 land mines and explosive remnants of war and more than 2 000 tons of obsolete ammunition.

China may build rail tunnel under Mount Everest

China may build rail tunnel under Mount Everest, state media reports.

China is considering extending a railway line linking the country to Nepal via a tunnel under Mount Everest, according to Chinese state media.

The proposal is the latest in a series of ambitious rail schemes Beijing is reportedly examining. It comes amid scepticism about whether some of the projects will ever get off the ground and at a time of a growing Chinese presence in Nepal, which has caused some concern in rival regional power India.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway already links the rest of China with the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, and beyond, and an extension running as far as the international border is already being planned “at Nepal’s request”, the China Daily quoted a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering as saying.

The project is expected to be completed by 2020, the newspaper cited a Tibetan official as saying. Extending the line would potentially forge a crucial link between China and the huge markets of India. It was raised by the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, on a visit to Kathmandu in December, according to Nepalese reports.

“The line will probably have to go through Qomolangma so that workers may have to dig some very long tunnels,” railway expert Wang Mengshu told the China Daily, referring to Mount Everest by its Tibetan name.

Owing to the challenging Himalayan terrain, with its remarkable changes in elevation, trains on any line to Kathmandu would probably have a maximum speed of 75mph (120km/h), he added.

Beijing’s increasing role has raised alarms in New Delhi that China, already closely allied to Pakistan, is forging closer economic ties with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal in a deliberate strategy to encircle India.

In an apparent counter-move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged late last year that South Asia’s largest economy would fund a series of regional investments and free up its markets to its neighbours’ exporters.

Source: investmentwatchblog.com

Significant oil discovery in England

There could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil onshore beneath the South of England, says exploration firm UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG).

Last year, the firm drilled a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport, and analysis of that well suggests the local area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per square mile.

But only a fraction of the 100 billion total would be recovered, UKOG admits.

The North Sea has produced about 45 billion barrels in 40 years.

“We think we’ve found a very significant discovery here, probably the largest [onshore in the UK] in the last 30 years, and we think it has national significance,” Stephen Sanderson, UKOG’s chief executive told the BBC.

UKOG says that the majority of the oil lies within the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge formation at a depth of between 2,500ft (762m) and 3,000ft (914m).

Most experts believe fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, will be needed to get commercial quantities of oil from the region.

Concerns over fracking led to large-scale protests when Cuadrilla drilled at Balcombe, West Sussex, in 2013.

Source: BBC

Tensions mount over Falklands

Tensions over the Falklands/Malvinas were ratcheted up last night when Argentina and Britain summoned each other’s ambassadors. Argentina said it would sue UK oil firms, while Britain is boosting its defenses on the contested islands.

The UK’s ambassador to Buenos Aires was summoned Thursday and less than 24 hours later Alicia Castro, Argentine ambassador to Britain, was called in for a meeting at the Foreign Office.

The latest spat comes against a background of heightened tension fueled by oil, military buildups and colonial history.

As the UK general election approaches, Britain has very publicly reinforced its garrison in the contested South Atlantic archipelago over which the two countries fought a short but vicious war 33 years ago this month.

The redeployment last month of two Chinook helicopters, withdrawn in 2006, and a pledge by Defense Secretary Michael Fallon to spend £180 million over the next 10 years on upgrading the Falklands’ defenses, both come at a time when advancing UK oil exploration has become a central component of the 182-year-old colonial dispute.

The litigation centers on three UK oil exploration firms: Premier Oil, Falkland Oil and Gas and Rockhopper.

Earlier this month the firms involved reported they had discovered 27.9 meters of net-oil bearing reservoir and 18.5 meters of net gas-bearing reservoir.

The license area being explored – which lies to the north of the Falklands – is 40 percent owned by Falklands Oil and Gas, 36 percent by Premiere Oil and 24 percent by Rockhopper Exploration.

“This is a fantastic start to the 2015 Falklands drilling campaign and provides early proof of the significant remaining potential of the North Falklands Basin,” said Samuel Moody, CEO at Rockhopper, in a statement.

Tensions between the countries have waxed and waned in the three decades since Argentine forces were driven out by a British task force, but recent leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate a secret intelligence war has been waged throughout the intervening period.

The intelligence data released by Snowden suggests Britain spied on the Argentine authorities since at least 2009, preparing offensive cyber operations to change public opinion regarding the Falklands, according to the Intercept.

British spy agency GCHQ had allegedly been preparing a bold, covert plan called “Operation QUITO.” It involved the Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group (JTRIG), a classified unit that spread misinformation.

The leaks describe the mission as a “long-running, large scale, pioneering effects operation,” with surveillance on several platforms a “high priority” task.

Arabian media reports ties between ISIS and US

Arabian media have reported Wednesday about ties between Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the US. The reports appeared in response to US Senator John McCain’s attempts to deny his communication with al-Baghdadi.

The main evidence is the picture taken in 2013 in Syria, where Senator McCain met with opposition representatives whom the US supported in their fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Elaph newspaper published an article titled “Photo of A-Baghdadi and McCain Adds Uncertainty to Relations between Washington and ISIS,” stating that the American politician held talks with al-Baghdadi at the meeting with the Syrian opposition.

Elaph noted that the photo triggered an “uproar” in social networks, with users claiming it provides a significant proof that there is secret connection between the US and the Islamist leader. Internet users say that the US, declaring the group its enemy number one in public, in reality provides financial and surveillance assistance to ISIS. Some users even go as far as claiming that the Islamic State, like al-Qaeda, was created by Americans.

The media wonder – why has not America destroyed al-Baghdadi and released him from a US prison? Elaph wrote that this proves there are ties between the Islamist and the White House, reminding readers that al-Baghdadi was released “in odd circumstances”. However, not long after releasing him, Americans declared al-Baghdadi “terrorist number one.”

Egyptian daily Al-Wafd published an article titled “Islamic State – America’s Mad Wolf,” saying Washington created the organization with the support from British and Pakistani special services. The main aim of Islamic State is to destroy Syria and Iraq, and the daily claims that US war on Islamism is “a big lie” that is used to justify Washington’s involvement in the framework of its military strategy. Militants’ attack on Iraq in 2014 is described by the newspaper as one of the operations planned with the participation of McCain and with the support of US and NATO.

Source: Itar-TASS

‘Reclaim Australia’ attracts large crowds

The ‘Reclaim Australia’ protests on Saturday were held in 16 cities and towns nationwide, attracting hundreds of demonstrators, who said they are against the imposition of Sharia law, and the wave of multiculturalism that has swept the country.

Muslim community leaders expressed fear and bewilderment after protesters gathered in over a dozen Australian cities at the weekend to express their opposition to minority groups, who want to ‘change the cultural identity of the country.’

Randa Kattan, CEO of Arab Council Australia, warned such racist type of events could quickly spiral out of control.

“In terms of numbers they might be insignificant, but in terms of damage, it is significant,” she told the Guardian.

She called the protesters “squeaky wheels grabbing attention,” but was careful not to underestimate such groups for attracting interest to their cause.

“It only takes one incident,” she warned.

However, the anti-Islam protesters met stiff opposition from the left-wing umbrella group ‘No Room for Racism.’ Tensions peaked in central Melbourne, where police struggled to keep anti-Islam and anti-racism protesters separated. Medical officials said four people were treated for minor injuries, while police spokeswoman Belinda Betty said two men and a woman were arrested following the violence.

More than 100 police were deployed, with almost a dozen mounted police also helping to keep the situation under control.

Genocidal ISIS cultists target Christians

Thousands of Christians have fled their historic cities, towns, and monastic communities for safety in other countries outside the rule of the self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” of ISIS.

The Middle East’s ancient Christian communities are targeted by Islamic State violence and have suffered more than Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, Shi’a Muslims, Syrian Alawites, moderate Sunni Muslims, and Palestinian refugees.

One of the first Christian communities to the flee from the pseudo-Muslim ISIS blood cult was that of Raqqa, Syria.

Raqqa was the first major city to fall to ISIS after the Israel and the CIA permitted arms allegedly destined for the almost-nonexistent Free Syrian Army to fall into the hands of ISIS and their Jabhat al-Nusra allies.

Although Christians represented only one percent of Raqqa’s 300,000 population, almost all fled or were killed after ISIS burned down and defaced churches and imposed a confiscatory religious tax on Christians of 17 grams of gold from each Christian male.

In all, half a million Syrian Christians have had to flee their country thanks to Saudi, Western, and Israeli support for ISIS advancing in their new Toyotas.

Mosul, in Iraq was the first major Christian population center to fall to ISIS, prompting most of the city’s 80,000 Christians to flee the region. ISIS destroyed churches of the Assyrian Orthodox diocese in Mosul. The Assyrians speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has denied that Aramaic was Jesus’s mother tongue, maintaining that Jesus spoke Hebrew, but Christian scholars have proven Bibi wrong.

In July 2014, ISIS leaders proudly proclaimed that Mosul had been cleansed of Christians.

There were three large Assyrian Christian denominations active in Mosul before the city’s fall to the new cultists, and priceless religious artifacts were smashed and burned by the marauders.

There was nary a peep from Israel about the religious cleansing of Mosul even though its propaganda machine conveniently ensures that the Nazi cleansing of Jews from Europe receives front page attention every time Israel faces criticism about the Palestinians.

ISIS terrorists kidnapped 300 Assyrian Christians in Iraq in February – including many children – from their villages along the Khabur River. The kidnapping sent some 1300 additional Assyrians fleeing for their lives.

ISIS then detonated the 4th Century Mar Benham Christian monastery in Bakhdida, near Mosul. The 1600 year-old building was built by Assyrian king Senchareb and was a UNESCO-protected World Heritage Site.

As ISIS approached the outer edges of Baghdad, many of the 100,000 Christians fled. Iraq’s Christians thrived before the US invasion and occupation. Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister under Saddam Hussein, was a Christian.

The fanatically pro-Saudi CIA director, John Brennan, has, in addition to permitting weapons and financial aid to reach ISIS and allied forces in Syria and Iraq, provided intelligence, materiel, and propaganda support to the Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi and patriotic Yemeni forces in that nation’s multi-sided civil war.

Last month ISIS cemented ties with like-minded cultists in Libya, many of whom were propelled into power by the NATO intervention.

Thanks to the efforts of Israeli-French «philosopher» Bernard-Henry Levy, who shuttled between rebel-held areas of Benghazi and Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, the most radical Islamist jihadi factions took over power from Qaddafi in and around Benghazi.

These factions ultimately swore allegiance to the Islamic State, which, in February 2015 carried out the mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian oil workers on a Mediterranean beach near Tripoli.

On April 3, 2015, Maundy Thursday, when Christians were celebrating Jesus’s Last Supper, cultists of the ISIS-aligned Al Shabaab group, stormed into the campus of Garissa University in Kenya and massacred 147 Christian students.

The attackers ensured that the Christians were singled out from other students before they were executed.

Pope Francis, in his Good Friday message, warned against the advance of ISIS: “We risk, all of us, the institutions and the people of the Western world, to be Pontius Pilate who wash their hands of such atrocities.”

Israelis, strangely, take pleasure in the fact that ISIS has declared Christianity, not Judaism or Shi’a Islam, to be its “Number 1 enemy”. This is spelled out in the ISIS propaganda booklet titled “Dabiq”.

ISIS says it will soon fly its black flag over Italy, Spain, the Balkans, and Austria.

China spoils Washington’s war against Venezuela

In the coming months China will lend Venezuela, which faces bankruptcy, ten billion dollars. These funds are part of a bilateral agreement. For China it’s a way to quench its energy needs, while the US continue the confrontation line with Venezuela.

Venezuela is under the threat of soverign default. In providing two five-billion dollar loans, China has become an important partner for the struggling country. The first part of the loan is the joint Chinese-Venezuelan Fund, and will be directed into major projects, CNBC reported. The agreement will be signed later this month. China extended the terms of the loan to five years, giving Venezuela more breathing room, as the terms are typically limited to three years.

The second part of the loan will be used in the oil industry. China will support investments in oil fields, intended to help Venezuelan oil company PDVSA increase production, the official said. 96 percent of Venezuela’s foreign exchange revenue comes from the export of raw materials.

The recent fall in oil prices is one contributor to Venezuela financial pressure. Interest rates on bonds have risen again. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed the US is responsible for the fall in oil prices late last year. “Are you aware that an oil war rages?” said Maduro on Monday in a broadcast speech to businessmen. “This war has one goal – to destroy Russia.” In addition, it is also directed against Venezuela “to destroy our revolution and bring about a collapse of the economy.”

In March Obama called Venezuela a threat to the US national security. Domestically Venezuela is well under pressure. There were regularly scheduled demonstrations against the government of the country last year. In February 2015, a 14-year-old died in protests. Last week there were protests in Caracas again.

Venezuela is extremely lucrative for China’s investment interests. This is the country with the highest oil reserves in general, and China’s energy demand will increase with the increasing rural-urban migration in the coming years. China has already given Venezuela $45 billion in exchange for oil and fuel. With the new loans for Venezuela, China finds itself in opposition to the United States.

Translated from German

Source: http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/

Islam to catch up with Christianity by 2050

As of 2010, Christianity was by far the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third (31%) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. Islam was second, with 1.6 billion adherents, or 23% of the global population.

But, if current demographic trends continue, Islam will nearly catch up by the middle of the 21st century.

Between 2010 and 2050, the world’s total population is expected to rise to 9.3 billion, a 35% increase.

Over that same period, Muslims – a comparatively youthful population with high fertility rates – are projected to increase by 73%. The number of Christians also is projected to rise, but more slowly, at about the same rate (35%) as the global population overall.

As a result, according to the Pew Research projections, by 2050 there will be near parity between Muslims (2.8 billion, or 30% of the population) and Christians (2.9 billion, or 31%), possibly for the first time in history.

Source: Pew Research

Oil tumbles as Iran, China discuss supply

Brent crude oil fell below $58 a barrel on Tuesday on signs of growing oversupply as Iranian officials visited Beijing to seek more oil sales following the framework nuclear deal that could lead to the lifting of sanctions.

China is Iran’s largest trade partner and has bought roughly half of its crude exports since 2012, when sanctions against the Islamic Republic were tightened.

Oil markets were also pressured by a Goldman Sachs report saying prices needed to remain low for months to slow U.S. oil output growth.

Brent LCOc1 was down 70 cents at $57.42 a barrel by 1335 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 75 cents at $51.39 a barrel.

Representatives of state-run National Iranian Oil Company will meet China’s biggest crude buyers including Unipec, the trading arm of top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp (0386.HK), and state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, officials told Reuters.

Global oil markets already face a supply glut with producers pumping over 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) more than demand in the first half of this year, analysts say.

“There is a massive oversupply. Stocks are rising and now we have the prospect of more Iranian oil coming onto the market,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Goldman said in a research note it expected U.S. crude inventories to top out in April and subsequently be drawn down at 350,000 bpd during the May-September period, when demand for fuel to power cars and air-conditioners is at its greatest.

Still, the bank said it saw little upside for its $40-a-barrel forecast over the next three months, anticipating inventories would rise again by October, pressuring prices into 2016.

“Prices need to remain low in coming months to achieve a sufficient and sustainable slowdown in U.S. production growth,” the bank said, adding that the U.S. outlook for 2016 made its forecast for $65-a-barrel oil next year look too high.

Source: Reuters

Witch hunt against Ukraine-born pianist over anti-Kiev posts

A Ukrainian-born pianist was barred from playing at Canada’s Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) for expressing views on the situation in Ukraine via Twitter, according to the soloist herself. The move led to a social media storm tagged #LetValentinaPlay.

The orchestra has officially announced its decision to drop pianist Valentina Lisitsa from its Rachmaninoff Concerto #2 program earlier this week. TSO President and CEO Jeff Melanson cited “ongoing accusations of deeply offensive language by Ukrainian media outlets,” adding that Lisitsa’s “provocative comments” had allegedly “overshadowed past performances.”

In the statement, Melanson seems to be referring to Lisitsa’s Twitter posts, in which she expresses her views on the situation in Ukraine.

Lisitsa turned to Facebook on Monday with a plea, asking her fans for support to “tell Toronto Symphony that music can’t be silenced.”

“Someone in the orchestra top management, likely after the pressure from a small but aggressive lobby claiming to represent Ukrainian community, has made a decision that I should not be allowed to play,” she wrote, referring to her TSO performances on Wednesday and Thursday. “I don’t even know who my accusers are, I am kept in the dark about it.”

Lisitsa said she took to Twitter to shed some light on the other side of the story, “the one you never see in the mainstream media – the plight of my people, the good and bad things that were happening in Ukraine.

Some of her work included translating Ukrainian-language websites and eyewitness accounts.

“I became really good in unmasking fakes published by Western media,” Lisitsa said.

Her statement also gives a brief summary on her actual views: “The worst thing that can happen to any country is fratricide war, people seeing each other, their neighbors as enemies to be eliminated …[a] Year later, we have the same rich people remaining in power, misery and poverty everywhere, dozens of thousands killed, over a million of refugees.”

After expressing her views, Lisitsa claimed to have received numerous death threats.

The last straw was the decision to drop her performance: “My haters didn’t stop there. Trying, in their own words, to teach me a lesson, they have now attempted to silence me as a musician.”

Lisitsa revealed that TSO offered to cover her entire fee for the canceled program, if she chose to stay silent about the reason behind the decision.

“They even threatened me against saying anything about the cause of the cancellation … If they do it once, they will do it again and again, until the musicians, artists are intimidated into voluntary censorship,” she wrote.

The reaction on Twitter was massive, with the hashtag #LetValentinaPlay surging in popularity and thousands of supporters speaking out.

International concert violinist and recording artist Hannah Woolmer tweeted: “To me, this IS a VITAL campaign pls can all my followers retweet if they agree that @TorontoSymphony should #letvalentinaplay.”

Seventy-two-year old Hana Ustohal wrote on Facebook: “What kind of monsters are in power of this country to make such an insane and sadistic decision to not allow you to play. I’ve cancelled my ticket for Wednesday concert.”

Twitter user Ike Hike warned that the TSO’s decision “looks bad,” adding: “Would you seek fame as silencing art for partisan politics and smear Canada? You should #letvalentinaplay.”

Lisitsa maintained on her Twitter account that she does not mix music with politics, and does not “preach” during performances. Her opponents, however, accused her of being a “Kremlin mouthpiece” and a “hate monger.”

Maria Kolos wrote on Facebook, supporting the TSO’s decision: “Thank you TSO for not tolerating this offensive Kremlin mouthpiece.” Mat Babyak also said: “Thank you for not giving a platform to a racist hate monger! Keep her out of Canada!”

Lisitsa has a substantial following on YouTube and Twitter. One of her most popular videos – Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ – has over 9 million views. Due to her successful online career, she is sometimes referred to as “the web’s favorite pianist.”

Her career was successfully launched through a YouTube channel, which now has received around 43 million visitors. Lisitsa now travels around the world performing classical pieces.

British firms linked to severe human rights abuses

Hundreds of British firms operating abroad may be implicated in severe human rights abuses such as modern slavery, poverty-level wages, beatings, killings and environmental damage, an international NGO warns.

The NGO probed one such British firm, Glencore, regarding its conduct in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

A report released by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre on Wednesday found that British businesses impact heavily on communities and individuals around the globe.

The NGO’s research suggests UK firms are linked to human rights scandals worldwide, many of which occur in developing nations.

This improper conduct is compounded by “critical weaknesses” in UK regulation that leave victims in foreign states defenseless against firms’ “negligent or reckless” practices, the research found.

Out of sight, out of mind?
The Resource Centre monitors the human rights impacts of more than 6,000 firms in over 180 states. When human rights concerns are raised by civilians, it approaches the firms in question and sounds them out.

Since 2005, the Resource Centre has contacted 303 UK-based firms across the world about allegations of human rights violations.

The NGO’s report says the majority of these allegations center on UK firms’ practices abroad, particularly in the Global South. Its research uncovered “critical weaknesses in UK Government policy and action on business and human rights.”

While firms’ conduct in Britain is regulated, improper practices of UK companies operating abroad regularly “go unpunished,” the NGO said.

The Resource Centre warned that victims of “corporate abuse” face diminished access to justice in Britain, particularly since the coalition government introduced the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

The NGO’s report said UK firms operating within the extractive industry require particularly “urgent attention.”

“Allegations against extractive companies were 47 percent of the total against UK companies,” it said. The NGO probed Glencore in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

“While London has become a global hub for mining and extractive industries, these companies are often implicated in some of the most egregious allegations of human rights abuses, including displacements, killings, and large-scale pollution.”

Among the charges leveled at the firm were claims it had contaminated local communities’ water supplies, and was linked to brutal beatings and killings by police.

Glencore insisted it “is committed to upholding human rights,” and refuted allegations that it “manipulates DRC regulation to suit its interests.”

The Resource Centre’s report also uncovered UK firms’ links to allegations of labor rights abuses, particularly within the fashion industry. Allegations of modern slavery also surfaced in its study.

“UK companies are linked to allegations of labor rights abuses and modern slavery, particularly through complex global supply chains,” the report said.

“Among non-extractive companies, these issues emerged as the key area of concern, particularly for apparel companies.”

“Allegations [also] linked UK companies to forced labor, union busting, poverty wages, and workplace deaths – like the Rana Plaza factory collapse that took the lives of 1,129 workers in 2013,” it added.

The Resource Centre’s report called upon the next government to encourage and compel British companies to respect their staff’s basic human rights, and ensure abuses are met with accountability.

Economic Relations Programme Director Peter Frankental of Amnesty International UK, said the message of the Resource Center’s report is clear.

“When it comes to respecting human rights, businesses need to raise their game and the government needs to hold them accountable when they don’t.”

Phil Bloomer, director of the Resource Centre, said UK businesses severely impact upon communities worldwide.

“As a leading economy our companies should be setting the standard for corporate conduct on human rights, not being implicated in everything from poverty wages to beatings and killings,” he said.

“The next government must encourage and push companies to respect human rights and ensure abuses do not go unpunished.”

Nigeria elects Muslim president

Former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria’s presidential poll by 2.57 million votes, the country’s electoral commission announced on Wednesday, ending Jonathan’s rule of Africa’s most populous nation.

Three decades after seizing power in a military coup, Buhari became the first Nigerian to oust a president through the ballot box, putting him in charge of Africa’s biggest economy.

The Independent National Electoral Commission said the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate won 15,424,921 votes, or 53.95 percent of the 28,587,564 total valid votes cast.

Jonathan, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won 12,853,162 (44.96 percent).

As the scale of this weekend’s electoral landslide became clear, Jonathan called Buhari on Tuesday to concede defeat to the opposition leader, an unprecedented step that should help to defuse anger among Jonathan’s supporters.

Jonathan’s quick concession could help alleviate fears of a repeat of post-election violence that saw 1,000 killed after Jonathan defeated Buhari in 2011.

As vote counts rolled in and Buhari’s victory looked ever more assured, thousands of people spilled into the streets of northern Nigeria’s biggest city Kano to celebrate.

For Buhari, 72, it has been a long road back to the pinnacle of Nigerian politics. A former army general, Buhari overthrew president Shehu Shagari – widely seen as inept and corrupt – in a military coup in 1983. As the head of a military government in the 1980s, he earned a reputation for his tough stance against nepotism and fraud.

Voter dissatisfaction with Jonathan – whose time in office has been marked by the rise of militant Islamist group Boko Haram and allegations of failing to tackle endemic corruption in the oil-rich country.

He also promised to stamp out Boko Haram’s insurgency in the north, which has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people and left some 1.5 million homeless.

Buhari has also managed to bridge the traditional ethnic and religious fault lines of Nigerian politics – typically divided between the mainly Christian south and Muslim north.

As a Muslim from the north, Buhari for the first time won states in the southwest and even took one-third of votes in a southeastern state – an unprecedented development that some say reflects voter dissatisfaction with Jonathan more than it does enthusiasm for Buhari.