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Hundreds of children kidnapped by extremists in Nigeria
Over 300 children have been abducted at gunpoint in northern Nigeria in recent days. On Thursday, gunmen kidnapped at least 287 children from a school in Kaduna state, and another 15 pupils were taken on Saturday. Militants are suspected of kidnapping around 200 women and children from Borno state as well. No group has claimed responsibility, but the region is plagued by Islamic extremism.
Nigeria’s army is mounting an operation to locate and retrieve the victims, but locals fear their loved ones may never return. A decade after Boko Haram attacked and kidnapped 276 schoolgirls sitting their physics exams in Chibok, 100 remain missing, and over 1,400 children have been abducted since then.
Why schoolchildren? Boko Haram, the most menacing terrorist group in the region, targets Western-style schools, which they see as contrary to their radical Islamist beliefs, and often holds survivors for years, ending their education. Female survivors recount being repeatedly raped by militants they were forced to marry, and many fell pregnant. Copycat terrorists now also target schools to extract ransoms from families.
What we’re watching: President Bola Tinubu has sworn to rescue the children, and Nigeria’s army is the best in the region — but the local governor said there weren’t enough boots on the ground. Similar violence from Islamist extremists has driven coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which Nigeria and the regional bloc ECOWAS have struggled to contain.2023 game changers that weren’t
What we thought would stir up the political landscape in 2023… but didn’t.
1. Ron DeSantis
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was widely viewed as perhaps the only Republican who could give former President Donald Trump a run for his money in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He was seen as a younger, more polished version of Trump in many ways. But DeSantis’ heavy focus on fueling culture wars – his anti-woke crusade – fell flat with voters in 2023. His underwhelming and often awkward performances on the debate stage haven’t helped. Indeed, as the year comes to a close, there are few signs that DeSantis has any real shot of seizing the nomination over Trump – his approval has even fallen in Florida.
2. Yevgeny Prigozhin
Though he was 2023’s most colorful character, the exploits of this soldier of fortune, entrepreneur, media star, violent sociopath, and former hot dog vendor amounted to sound and fury signifying not much. He briefly led a mutiny that challenged the Kremlin’s power as bemused Russians and fascinated foreigners watched. Realizing too late he had too few friends in Moscow, he retreated, then later went down in a phony plane crash. Now, nothing is left but the noise.
3. The Earthquake in Turkey
In February, a massive earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey, killing 60,000 people, displacing 1.5 million, and exposing rampant corruption in the building safety bureaucracy. At the time, many thought President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s sluggish response would kill the strongman’s chances of reelection at a moment when the opposition was gaining momentum. Not so. Erdogan’s blend of Islamist populism and pugnacious foreign policy carried him comfortably back to the White Palace after all.
4. Nigeria’s youth voters
Since the country’s return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s politics have been dominated by two parties, the APC and PDP, and Nigerians were gearing up for another uninspiring choice in the 2023 elections — until dark horse candidate Peter Obi made his move. He broke with the PDP and threw in with the little-known Labour Party, launching an energetic campaign on social media that promised change. He captured the imagination of Nigeria’s booming youth cohort, and with the backing of ethnic Yoruba elders as well, Obi looked promising enough to make the powers that be sweat. But he came up short in an election he maintains was rigged against him, even after a court ruling upheld the results.
- How Turkey's earthquake may shape the future of its democracy ›
- DeSantis in a storm ›
- Nigeria elects political “Godfather" as president ›
- Prigozhin presumed dead ›
- GZERO End-of-the-Year lists: Top 5 political animals of 2023 ›
- 10 images that captured 2023 - GZERO Media ›
- GZERO 2023 political music playlist - GZERO Media ›
Africa's economy could rival China or India, says WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
The African continent has a population of 1.4 billion people, but it imports more than 90% of its medicines and 90% of its vaccines. WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says the time has come to open up the continent to globalization and encourage businesses to invest in African countries.
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Okonjo-Iweala makes the case for decentralizing and diversifying global trade to open up new markets, bring Global South countries into the mainstream of the world economy, and reduce reliance on any one country for crucial goods and services.
Africa hasn’t yet globalized, but when it does fully integrate into the world economy, it could create a domestic market of over a billion people that rivals that of China and India.
“Africa has about 3% of world trade, and that’s too small,” Okonjo-Iweala says. “When, not if, that experiment really gets going of Africans integrating better with themselves and trading, that is automatically very attractive for trade for the world.”
Watch the full interview: World trade at risk without globalization, warns WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
- G20 achieves consensus, but stays cool on climate and Ukraine ›
- The Graphic Truth: Russia vs. US trade ties in Africa ›
- What Africa has to say about climate change ›
- Putin hosts Africa summit ›
- Viewpoint: Is China the only reason the US cares about Africa? ›
- Women in power — the World Trade Organization's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ›
Hard Numbers: Trump liable for fraud, Kenya signs a big defense pact, Thailand jails king’s critic, Mexican exports get stranded, Nigeria rescues students
2.2 billion: Donald Trump was found liable for fraud Tuesday by a New York judge for lying about his wealth on financial statements to banks and insurers, inflating his net worth by approximately $2.2 billion dollars. Justice Arthur Engoron stripped the former president of control over some of his properties and sanctioned his lawyers for their behavior. Despite extensive legal troubles, Trump remains the frontrunner – and by a wide margin – for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination.
5: The US and Kenya have signed a 5-year defense agreement under which Washington will support the East African country’s security operations. Kenya has been battling al-Shabab jihadists in neighboring Somalia for years and is now poised — with $100 million in new US support — to lead an anti-gang mission to Haiti. Read more about why Kenya wants the Haiti assignment here.
4: A prominent Thai lawyer and activist who has called for reform of the country’s monarchy was sentenced to 4 years in prison under Thailand’s strict lese-majeste laws. Arnon Nampa was one of the leaders of the mass youth-led protests against the junta-dominated government in 2020. Thai politics were recently upended by the return of exiled former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Read more here.
125: At least 125 people were killed in an unexplained explosion at a crowded fuel depot in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on Tuesday. The victims were among thousands of ethnic Armenians fleeing Karabakh after Azerbaijan retook control over the Armenian-majority region last week for the first time in more than 30 years. Read more background here.
4: Nigerian security forces rescued 14 university students who had been abducted by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria. Half a dozen students remain unaccounted for. Kidnappings for ransom have grown common in the region in recent years, as part of a broader clash between nomadic and pastoral ethnic groups. It is the first major kidnapping of its kind since President Bola Tinubu took office earlier this year with promises to improve security.Nigeria goes dark
The lingering power predicament: Nigeria is the leading oil producer in Africa, and the 9th largest producer in the world, but the power supply is erratic at best. The grid failed at least four times in 2022, and less than half of Nigerians are even connected to it. Instead, most families and businesses rely on petrol and diesel generators. But prices for those fuels have doubled since the government slashed subsidies in May, and many Nigerians are now struggling to find affordable alternative sources of power.
The government promised to redirect the $10 billion annual fuel subsidies towards improving the power grid. Instead, President Bola Tinubu, facing outrage and a cost of living crisis, announced he would improve the energy supply by allowing state governments to build their own power plants. While more power plants will alleviate shortages, they wont be built overnight.
President Tinubu's subsidy slashing was an unpopular step that was seen as necessary to stabilize Nigeria’s economy in the long term, and it’s won him plaudits from investors and the IMF, raising hopes of more investment in Nigeria. And the decision to decentralize the power supply could also jumpstart stumbling economic growth.
But for now, with the Tinubu administration unlikely to revisit the subsidies decision, average Nigerians are in the dark and paying the price.
Hard Numbers: Sweden blames Beyoncé, Boris found to have misled parliament, EU threatens Google, Nigeria releases the Naira, forced displacements hit new high
0.2 The pop superstar who once sang about “Bills, Bills, Bills” is now blamed for bumping up inflation in … Sweden. Analysts say Beyoncé’s decision to launch her world tour in Stockholm in May created a scramble for hotels that drove up prices, adding 0.2 points to inflation.” Next up? “The Boss” is playing in Gothenburg for three nights later this month – Pay Me My Money Down indeed...
90: In a blistering report released Thursday, a cross-party committee in the UK’s House of Commons found that former PM Boris Johnson lied to parliament over the “partygate” scandal. The committee said it would have recommended a 20-day ban from the chamber, but upped that to 90 days after Johnson further breached parliamentary rules by leaking the report last Friday and tried to intimidate MPs on the committee before quitting politics in a huff.
10: The EU, the world’s strictest regulator of tech companies, has charged Google with violating antitrust laws in a case that could eventually lead to fines of 10% of the tech giant’s annual revenues or force a local breakup. At issue is Google’s dominance in online advertising – it is a key player both in placing ads and collecting data to target ads – which the EU says allows the company to squeeze out rivals and publishers.
36: Nigeria’s Central Bank allowed the official value of the naira to plummet by 36% on Wednesday, abandoning a costly and confusing defense of the currency that had long suppressed investment in Africa’s largest economy. The move was a bold stroke by newly elected president Bola Tinubu, who has pledged to shore up the country’s fiscal stability and boost foreign investment.
110 million: The number of people displaced from their homes by war, persecution, or economic desperation around the globe has reached a new high of 110 million, according to the UN. That's up by nearly 20 million since 2021, driven in particular by the war in Ukraine – which led to the fastest refugee movements since World War II – as well as fresh conflict in Sudan.Hard Numbers: Hiroshima’s delicacies, Italy’s first world problems, Durham's report, Russia’s military spending, Rudy's alleged pardons grift
800: Ahead of the G-7 summit later this week in Hiroshima, Japan, some 800 restaurants specializing in a local comfort food known as okonomiyaki are hoping to make a global splash. Okonomiyaki, which means “cooked as you like it,” is a savory pancake-shaped delicacy usually made with cabbage, noodles, batter, and meat. But locals are cooking up special editions for foreign dignitaries, including a sauerkraut one for the Germans, a carbonara one for the Italians, and a burger stuffed one for the Americans. Not all locals approve.
306: The FBI rushed its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 campaign to win the White House, according to Special Counsel Robert Durham. In a 306-page report, Durham says that the Feds pursued leads based on uncorroborated evidence and showed bias in their probe — although they did not commit the "crime of the century" that Trump often cites.
200 billion: Who among us has not struggled to spend 200 billion Euros? Just two years after receiving that amount in EU COVID relief funds, Italy can’t figure out how to make good use of it all by the 2026 deadline. About a third of it is earmarked for infrastructure and public health investment, but the rest is flowing to local governments that are trying to spend it on, say, artificial ski slopes, horseracing tracks, or — cheers to this last one — a grappa museum. Senior government officials now say they’ll overhaul how the money is allocated and spent.
282: Russia’s military spending soared 282% in just the first two months of 2023 to $26 billion. That’s about 40% of the Kremlin’s planned military spending for all of 2023. Meanwhile, Russia is already suffering a budget deficit of about $40 billion for this year, as Moscow continues to finance its invasion of Ukraine amid falling energy revenues.
2 million: A female ex-employee of Rudy Giuliani is suing the former New York City mayor and lawyer to Donald Trump for sexual assault and workplace harassment. According to the lawsuit, Giuliani once told the plaintiff that he was selling federal pardons for $2 million a pop, which he and Trump would split.The Graphic Truth: Ramadan celebrations now cost more
The holy month of Ramadan has begun for the world's roughly 1.9 billion Muslims. But for many, the joyous feasting with family before and after the Ramadan fast will be overshadowed by inflated food prices thanks to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Majority-Muslim populations in Asia and the Middle East, where many countries rely on food imports, will feel the economic pinch most. We take a look at countries with the largest Muslim populations and their corresponding food inflation rates.