Around the world in 60 seconds - 13 August 2010

This week’s events include:

• Suspiciously overwhelming victory for Kagame in Rwandan elections
• Mudslide adds to region’s tragic weather caused by jetstream
• BP investigates possible fraudulent fishing claims in Louisiana

Suspiciously overwhelming victory for Kagame in Rwandan elections

On Monday, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was re-elected in the central African nation’s presidential elections by an overwhelming 93%, causing election observers to be suspicious.

The three other candidates were all believed to be his allies, while true opposition candidates were banned from participating because either they had legal charges against them or their parties had not been able to register in time.

The mostly peaceful victory (a grenade attack injured seven) has given Kagame and his Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front party another seven-year term in office.

Kagame is certainly a popular and competent leader. He has led the country through the aftermath of the horrific genocide of 1994 with stability, low corruption and strong economic growth.

As a result, international donors have been willing to donate large sums of money to the government given that it has been spent relatively effectively and honestly.

Mudslide adds to region’s tragic weather caused by jetstream

It has been a terrible summer for parts of the Eurasian continent this year.

Having already suffered from the Russian wild fires and flooding in Pakistan and China, Mother Nature has dealt another cruel blow to the region with a heavy mudslide in western Gansu province in China.

Heavy rain and years of deforestation caused severe mudslides to demolish parts of Zhouqu town on the weekend, killing 1,117 people. Another 700 are still missing, presumed dead.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is desperately trying to prevent more deaths from its heaviest flooding in living memory after water continues to surge down the Indus River.

The UN has appealed for almost US$500 million in aid after food resources were getting low.

Russia has succeeded in halving the area engulfed in flames over the past week, although more than 600 fires still rage.

Meteorologists believe the heavy rain and high temperatures are a result of irregular wind patterns ‘blocking’ the flow of the jetstream – the high-altitude winds that circle the globe from west to east.

BP investigates possible fraudulent fishing claims in Louisiana

So far BP has paid out over US$305 million in claims to businesses and individuals for lost income due to the oil spill.

Initially, in a rushed effort to ensure locals could afford food and bills, fishermen in Louisiana just had to provide a commercial fishing license to prove ‘economic loss’.

It is now believed that fraudsters have been obtaining false licenses in order to claim the money.

Licenses are obtained from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, who has now revealed that since the spill 2,200 more licenses have been sold than during the same period last year, despite many fishing grounds being closed.

One fisherman says he was approached by people he didn’t know asking him to sign a form saying they had worked on his boat as deckhands before. Other fishermen said they had been offered part of the first payment as a condition for signing.

Three arrests have been made and BP is tightening up the claims process while they investigate several hundred further cases of possible fraud.

Photo – Rwandan President Paul Kagame