Kenya: Most chaos victims now back home

More than half of the internal refugees in the North Rift have returned to their homes in the ongoing resettlement.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=124405

How the cancer of corruption in Nigeria has denied Africa a super state

In Nigeria, the life of Abdul Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi (popularly as Gani) has poked fun at those who insist that the country’s over 250 ethnic communities don’t make a nation but leave the country as a “mere geographical expression.”
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=124349

Civil War Threatens Sudan, Again

It may have lasted lasted 22 years, claimed 2 million lives and displaced 4 million people, but Sudan's north-south civil war that ended in 2005 was scarcely noticed in the West. But as the conflict threatens to resume, it could wreak havoc with U.S. and international efforts to stabilize the region.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810801,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

'Foreigner' Quota for Soccer?

When the English soccer team Chelsea took to the field in Moscow on May 21 for the final of UEFA's Champions League, Europe's biggest club competition, its West London roots were all but invisible. A Czech goalie backed up a Portuguese central defender. Players from France and Germany marshaled Chelsea's midfield. The lone striker was from Ivory Coast. In all, of the 11 players who kicked off that game at the Luzhniki Stadium, only four were English.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810639,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

Libya and the Ukraine…Oil for Nuke Power Technology

You give, we give, are the terms being discussed between Libya and the Ukraine. The two Governments are at the bargaining table deciding how each other’s national products can benefit the other. It is no secret that Moscow and the Ukraine have strained relations over oil supply issues, and Libya is in desperate need of foreign investment, after years of being ostracized by the global community because of reported ties to terrorism, so a partnership by the two countries would seem to make sense.
http://ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=194

Lake Kivu Methane Could Electrify Rwanda

In most cases, methane gases leaking up from the murky depths of Lake Kivu would not be the best news for the local anglers of Kigali, Rwanda, however, these gases “may rise to the occasion” and bring energy to the population. The Rwandan Government is now venturing to extract the methane and construct a methane-powered generation plant and use it to generate electricity.
http://ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=190

Net access for African universities would boost continent

African universities could be the continent's gateways into the global knowledge economy for local diffusion of new technologies. But this potential remains unrealized because universities and research institutes in Africa remain digitally isolated from the rest of the world. This is partly because of government neglect and lack of strategic policies on Internet access.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20080529TDY12002.htm

Fukuda outlines 'Century of African Growth'

The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) was held in Yokohama from Wednesday to Friday with the participation of heads of state or government and other representatives of African countries.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20080531TDY05001.htm

Africa: The Committed Intellectual - Reviving And Restoring the National Project

It is the combination of heart and mind that produces the balanced person who uses their mind to pursue their passion. Let us speak truth to power, but let us also speak the existential truth of our people's world to the negotiated truth of the diplomatic world.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805300034.html

Brazil May Bring Ethanol Technology to Tanzania

Brazil’s 30-year old ethanol fuel technology may soon be coming to Tanzania, if Mr. Appio Claudia Acquarone, Brazilian Ambassador to Tanzania, has anything to say about it. The ambassador informed the press in Dar es Salaam on Monday that he would be very happy to bring the technology to Tanzania, and furthermore feels as though the country is ready to commence adaptation of the ethanol technology.
http://ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=191

South Africa is all of us

South Africa especially represents a collective tragedy because, and perhaps naively, it has represented our collective hope for Africa. This land where, as of today, at least 42 Africans from other countries have been killed and thousands are fleeing, businesses destroyed and homes burnt, where the army is being deployed in the poor townships just like the days of apartheid, this is the land that produced Steve Biko, Chris Hani, Ruth First and others.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/48322

Xenophobia and the South African working class

The low-income black township here in Durban which suffered more than any other during apartheid, Cato Manor, was the scene of a fanciful test performed on a Mozambican last Wednesday morning.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/48365

African Liberation Day: the people must prevail

On May 25, 2008, peace loving peoples all over the world will celebrate African Liberation Day. This will be the fiftieth anniversary of the setting aside of a day to commemorate those who sacrificed for the liberation of the African peoples at home and abroad.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/48321

Foreigners return to South African township after apology for violence

It was one of many townships across South Africa hit by xenophobic violence but one of the first to say sorry and plead with its foreign victims to return home.
Yesterday, a trickle of Zimbabweans made their way back to Masiphumelele, on the Cape Peninsula – Xhosa for "new beginning" – after a public apology at a shabby tented village erected on an Atlantic beach.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/foreigners-return-to-south-african-township-after-apology-for-violence-835212.html

Murdoch says 'rock star' Obama will win election

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who has a history of subordinating his conservative instincts to pragmatism when it comes to choosing sides in national elections, has spoken up for Barack Obama, terming him a "rock star" who is "likely to win" the White House in November.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/murdoch-says-rock-star-obama-will-win-election-836772.html

Tutu: Silence on Gaza blockade shames us all

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has denounced the international community for its "silence and complicity" on what he called Israel's "abominable" 11-month blockade of Gaza.
The South African Nobel Laureate, who ended a three-day visit to Gaza yesterday, strongly condemned the blockade imposed after Hamas's enforced takeover of the Strip last June that has reduced electricity, severely cut fuel supplies and brought industry to a halt.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tutu-silence-on-gaza-blockade-shames-us-all-836771.html

What Obama Owes the Clintons

Obama's backers generally feel about the Clintons the way Reaganites felt about Gerald Ford and the way beer aficionados feel about Bud Light: that by compromising core principles, they watered down the brand.
As it shows Clintonism the door, however, Obama Nation should remember something: without that pair from Arkansas, it wouldn't be here.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1806811,00.html

Anti-Immigrant Terror in South Africa

Ten days of mob attacks on immigrants in townships around Johannesburg showed no signs of abating Tuesday, as the death toll reached 23 and South Africa's government faced growing calls to deploy its army. The attacks have mostly targeted impoverished migrants from neighboring African countries living (some legally, some illegally) in shantytowns around the business capital of Africa's wealthiest country.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1808016,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

William Gumede: Mbeki must face up to South Africa's xenophobia

Long-standing official denial of xenophobia is at the heart of the terrible violence against foreign African refugees spreading through Johannesburg. For years, warnings by local rights groups that the regular attacks in townships, rural towns and inner-city slums on foreign Africans will soon escalate have been ignored by the South African government.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/william-gumede-mbeki-must-face-up-to-south-africas-xenophobia-831476.html

I'm within reach of victory, says Obama

Barack Obama stepped to the brink of victory in the Democratic presidential race today, defeating Hillary Clinton in the Oregon primary and moving within 100 delegates of the total needed to claim the prize at the party convention this summer.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/im-within-reach-of-victory-says-obama-831523.html

Mbeki is to blame for xenophobic attacks, says watchdog

Aid workers in Johannesburg are struggling to feed and shelter the thousands of immigrants who have fled a wave of xenophobic attacks in which 24 people have been killed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mbeki-is-to-blame-for-xenophobic-attacks-says-watchdog-831521.html

What the Zimbabwean crisis costs South Africa

South Africa’s actions and interventions around Zimbabwe’s election will have a crucial influence on the developments there. While many question the role of South Africa and its right to intervene, the real question is whether we can afford not to intervene.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/sacost160508.htm

Microsoft is joining low-cost laptop project

After years of conflict, Microsoft and the computing and education project One Laptop Per Child, have reached an agreement that will put Windows on the organization's computers.
Microsoft long resisted joining the ambitious project because its laptops used the Linux operating system, a freely distributed alternative to Windows.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/16/technology/16laptop.php

Food crisis meets chaos in Horn of Africa

The global food crisis has arrived at Safia Ali's hut. She can't afford rice or wheat or powdered milk anymore. At the same time, a drought has decimated her family's herd of goats, turning their sole livelihood into a pile of bleached bones and papery skin.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/17/africa/17somalia.php

Libya Sours on U.S. Ties Amid Boom in Economy

Recently, Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Bush, asking: Where are we going with our relationship?
Five years ago, the Bush administration helped persuade Libya -- for decades one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism -- to scrap its nuclear ambitions and dismantle its terror infrastructure. It ranks as one of the president's signature foreign-policy successes and was supposed to blaze a path for other rogue states, principally North Korea and Iran.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121087944274396207.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Woman opens heart to man who slaughtered her family

What does Macy's have to do with healing from genocide? Nothing and everything. Iphigenia Mukantabana sits with Jean-Bosco Bizimana, her family's killer, at her home after church.
Fourteen years after Hutu extremists killed between 800,000 and 1 million people -- mostly Tutsis -- in a devastating slaughter, Rwandan women are weaving peace baskets for sale at Macy's in the United States. Not only does the work bring them a regular salary, the business is also fostering reconciliation between victim and perpetrator.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/15/amanpour.rwanda/index.html

Tsvangirai postpones Zimbabwe return after threat

Threats of assassination have derailed plans by Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to return home to campaign for the presidential runoff vote, a party spokesman said Saturday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/17/news/Zimbabwe.php

Thousands remain displaced months after Kenyan violence

The thought of going home terrifies Sarafina Nyambura. She was attacked, beaten and forced from home in the violence that convulsed Kenya after a disputed election nearly five months ago. The violence ebbed after a power-sharing deal signed February 28, but Nyambura and at least 200,000 others remain displaced despite calls for them to return home.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/16/kenya.displaced/index.html

Nigerian pipeline fire kills about 100 people

Rescuers worked Friday to reconnect family members and register any remaining missing victims from a Nigeria pipeline fire that killed 100 people.
Newly homeless people picked through the charred wreckage of their ruined homes.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/16/africa/AF-GEN-Nigeria-Pipeline-Fire.php

How one Liberian helps others speak out

Aloysius Toe's wife and children were crying, huddled together as a gang of armed men beat at the front door threatening to kill him. He could not call the police because the armed men were the police. Mr. Toe's crime was speaking out against Charles Taylor's violent regime in Liberia
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516/p04s01-woaf.html

India joins Africa's suitors

Everyone's been watching China's expanding role in Africa for some time, but now the other Asian economic boomer of the moment - India - has joined the race, and it's already being labelled "the new scramble for Africa".
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/47985/2008/03/11-153539-1.htm

Zimbabwe presidential run-off set for June 27

Zimbabwe said on Friday it would hold a delayed presidential election run-off on June 27 in which the opposition hopes to oust veteran leader Robert Mugabe after almost 30 years in power.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16830897.htm

Stop civil war lamentations, Ohakim tells Igbo

GOVERNOR Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State declared yesterday in Lagos that the Igbo must shun self-inhibition and other limiting traits if they must find their footing in modern Nigeria, pointing out that unless they did away with the memories of the civil war, the Igbo nation would not be able to record appreciable progress in the polity.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8264&Itemid=42

Nigeria pipeline blast kills at least 100 - Red Cross

At least 100 people were killed and scores injured when fuel from a pipeline ruptured by a bulldozer caught fire and exploded on Thursday in a village near Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos, the Red Cross said.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN623724.html

Investment into Africa still concentrated on resources, but some diversity emerging

oreign direct investment inflows into Africa increased from about $2-billion in 1990 to just over $18-billion in 2004 Shanduka Group executive chairperson and Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) board member Cyril Ramaphosa said at the sixth annual Africa Investment Forum (AIF) in Durban earlier this month.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=116995

High commodity prices to sustain Africa's growth

High commodity prices coupled with improvements in economic stability and structural reforms, would sustain Sub Saharan Africa's economic growth in the foreseeable future, despite the slowdown of the world economy, said ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P's) on Thursday.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=133435

23 finalists emerge in CNN MultiChoice African Journalist competition

Twenty-three finalists including four Nigerians have emerged in the 2008 edition of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist competition.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20080516333757

Nigeria moving backwards – Obasanjo

In what appears like a veiled jibe at the on-going probes by the National Assembly into activities of the past administration, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Thursday, proclaimed that the nation would not make progress unless it imbibed the spirit of continuity.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200805162423376

Zimbabwe’s Rulers Unleash Police on Anglicans

The parishioners were lined up for Holy Communion on Sunday when the riot police stormed the stately St. Francis Anglican Church in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Helmeted, black-booted officers banged on the pews with their batons as terrified members of the congregation stampeded for the doors, witnesses said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Tragedy in Lagos

IT was one disaster too many in Lagos yesterday as man-made error brought pain, anguish and sorrow crashing down on several families.
The tragedy, a fire out-break, which occurred at 11.00 a.m., was allegedly caused by an earth-mover grading a road in Ijegun, Ikotun in Alimosho Local Council, which ruptured a pipeline carrying fuel to a depot in Ogun State.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=160508&ptitle=Tragedy%20in%20Lagos

Etisalat, newest GSM firm, moves to acquire MTN

Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates’ telecommunications company, is evaluating South Africa’s MTN Group as a potential acquisition target. It is part of a drive to expand its operation in Africa.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/technology/9602.html

Africa's mobile phone subscription is 280.58 million

The African continent has recorded a total of 280.58 million mobile lines as at the end of December 2007.Of this figure, sub-Saharan Africa registered 135.31 million mobile lines out of which 46.97 million were resident in Nigeria.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/technology/200805/16262.asp

Banks aid looting of public treasury, says ICPC

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola on Tuesday in Kaduna, accused some commercial banks in the country of conniving with corrupt public and political office holders to cover up looted funds and assets fraudulently acquired while in office.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200805140393631

Colours of the Niger Delta

Various mediums of art have been used to tell the story of degradation in the Niger Delta. People like the late Ken Saro-Wiwa with his volume of writings and of late, fast-rising musician, Timaya readily come to mind. Each of them passionately deplored their creativity to the cause of their kinsmen.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/arts/2008/may/14/arts-14-05-2008-001.htm

‘You over-celebrate, But Under-Achieve’

I was going through some of my random jottings of encounters with remarkable people when I came across this quotation “You people over celebrate, but under achieve”. It is from my encounter with an Hong Kong based Chinese business executive who once worked in Nigeria. It was during a British Airways flight from London to Houston, Texas, last year August.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=111339

Analysis: Maybe Obama should worry

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is in hot pursuit of general election voters, hoping America won't notice he got his head handed to him in West Virginia.
The Illinois senator virtually pretended the primary didn't happen Tuesday, with no election night speech or any public appearance at all after the polls closed and gave Hillary Rodham Clinton a more than 2-1 victory even though her candidacy is likely doomed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/primary_analysis

After a Quixotic Attack in Sudan, a Question Lingers: Why?

The day after the Sudanese government quickly dispensed with an attack by Darfurian rebels on the capital, Khartoum, the question that many people are asking is, “What were the rebels thinking?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/world/africa/12sudan.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

Google Wants to Facebook Friend You

Upping the stakes in its ongoing battle with the popular social network, Google announced today that it was getting into the "social plumbing" business — giving every website a way to add a limitless number of applications and a means for those sites' users to communicate among themselves.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1739429,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

In Kenya, Violence Shakes Running Community

When Luke Kibet won the world marathon championship last August, he became a favorite to achieve what no Kenyan has despite this country’s distance-running brilliance — an Olympic gold medal in the 26.2-mile race.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/sports/othersports/13runners.html?th&emc=th

A soap opera and Nsukka’s salute to Achebe

Mr. Umar Yar’Adua, current resident of Aso Rock, was in Germany recuperating from an illness when I arrived in Nigeria. Despite his absence, his regime’s soap opera continued its (tragic) run. In fact, as one exasperated friend, a political scientist, put it, the Yar’Adua show is not a soap opera at all but a tragedy.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/okey-ndibe/a-soap-opera-and-nsukka-s-salute-to-a.html

MAN invests N4.8 bn on ethanol production

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has affirmed that its members are ploughing in about N4.8 billion ($40 million) through the use of locally sourced cassava as raw materials for the mass production of ethanol in Nigeria. This was made known in a speech read recently in Abuja by the Director-General of MAN, Mr. Jide Mike at the first national conference on ethanol.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8141&Itemid=0

NITDA to outlaw generic domain names for public office holders

Lawmakers whose names had been taken over by cyber-squatters may have no recourse but to migrate from generic domain names to the Nigerian top level domain, the National Information Technology Development Agency has said.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200805131481982

Battling to take death out of birth in Africa

Lying on a sagging mattress and wincing slightly, Anna Lado laughs at the idea that she should have been afraid of giving birth to her first child, now lying in a crib near her in a hospital in south Sudan.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=338912&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

Museveni Meets Kabila Over Border Dispute

President Yoweri Museveni met Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila in Dar-es-Salaam yesterday for crisis talks that aimed largely at resolving a new border dispute.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805120379.html

Zille: Mbeki should step down as president

President Thabo Mbeki must go, and he must go now, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Monday."In a constitutional democracy such as ours, it is untenable for a president with his track record to remain in office," she said in a statement.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=339017&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/

Obama camp: Clinton not looking for a deal

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign rejected suggestions Sunday that Sen. Hillary Clinton is staying in the race in hopes of brokering some kind of agreement with the likely Democratic nominee.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/11/clinton.obama/

David Bullard: The honesty of satire

I was struck by one sentence in the apology written by axed Sunday Times columnist David Bullard for the article that abruptly ended his tenure at the paper. "I can't claim to believe everything I have written because some columns were written purely for sensation," he wrote. Elsewhere, he has referred to his writing as "showbiz".
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=338514&area=/insight/insight__columnists/

Pinned and wriggling on the wall, by Binyavanga Wainaina

Mugabe is a haemorrhoid. He is not Aids, cancer, leukemia or malaria -- those things that can kill you. The haemorrhoid is an inflammation of veins in the rectum and anus. It seems like a fairly harmless thing to have. After all, what can an 80-something-year-old man with a Hitler moustache do to damage a country of more than 10-million?
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=338422&area=/insight/insight__columnists/

ANC: There's no bid to oust Mbeki

African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma has received support from alliance partners to run for presidential elections, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday."We will not only be accompanying him to court but to the Union Buildings as the next president of South Africa," he said, announcing the outcome of an alliance summit to journalists at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=338926&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/

Attorney General slams Soludo over AFC

THE ongoing investigations of the $462million invested in Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has taken a new turn following a letter from the Federal Ministry of Justice declaring the establishment of the corporation illegal.But the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has insisted that due process was followed.
http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=50738

Obasanjo’s greatest mistake in power - El- Rufai

IMMEDIATE past Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, over the weekend disclosed that he forewarned former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on the negative implications of procuring the controversial N200million shares of Transcorp Incorporation.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/11052008/news/news1.html

President Yar’adua: Why we can’t wait

I HAVE waited for almost one year since the president took office. During the time, this column had refrained, as much as possible, from any comments, either in support or in criticism of the president and his leadership.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6942&Itemid=76

Obama overtakes lead in superdelegates for first time

Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party's nomination for president.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080511/ap_on_el_pr/obama_endorsement;_ylt=AmgeFaoiC90IkwH3UklsmCOs0NUE

The African Writer Is An Orphan

In 2002, Chinedu Ogoke, a Nigerian writer and translator resident in Germany published his first novel, Under Fire. His second novel is being awaited. In this interview with UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE, Mr. Ogoke speaks on his work and the state of African Literature in relation to the still thorny issue of audience definition
http://www.globalpolitician.com/24611-africa

Niger-Delta crises--- ominous Yar-Adua

President Umaru Musa Yar”Adua yesterday lamented the situation in the Niger Delta, saying if oil exploration and production are not allowed and peace restored in the troubled region, the country stood the risk of losing its position in Africa to Angola.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8036&Itemid=0

Honour for Things Fall Apart, Achebe in Ibadan…

The Things Fall Apart (TFA) @ 50 train entered Ibadan penultimate Saturday with important scholars of the University and city gathering to celebrate in what Femi Osofisan, chairman of the Nigerian version of PEN termed as ”unprecedented celebration for a book”.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/literari/2008/may/11/literari-11-05-2008-001.htm

The five mistakes Clinton made

For all her talk about “full speed on to the White House,” there was an unmistakably elegiac tone to Hillary Clinton’s primary-night speech in Indianapolis. And if one needed further confirmation that the undaunted, never-say-die Clintons realise their bid might be at an end, all it took was a look at the wistful faces of the husband and the daughter who stood behind the candidate as she talked of all the people she has met in a journey “that has been a blessing for me.”
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20080511245660

Why hostage taking is increasing in Niger Delta ––Navy

AMIDST growing public anxiety, the Nigerian Navy on Friday in Abuja gave an insight into the spate of kidnappings and hostage takings in the Niger Delta.
The Navy Headquarters said some militants resorted to such criminal activities because they could no longer engage in illegal oil bunkering owing to naval operations in the area.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20080511310882

Digital Mobile Tv flags off in Nigeria

JAPAN'S 90 million mobile phone users as at March 31, 2006 were visibly excited as mobile phone operators flagged off digital television services on mobile phones.
But the services were exclusive to mobile phones that were compatible for the first time.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/compulife/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=070508&ptitle=Digital%20Mobile%20Tv%20flags%20off%20in%20Nigeria

Yar'Adua's Six Top Worries

AS tongues continue to wag in the nation's capital about the real state of health of President Yar'Adua, who marks the first year in office this month, it appears he is more disturbed by six issues that have challenged his presidency.
Insiders at the seat of power told The Guardian that the issue of the Central Bank governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo's unilateral action in committing Nigeria's hefty $480 million to the AFC deal is quite worrisome to the President.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=110508&ptitle=Yar'Adua's%20Six%20Top%20Worries

Is Ghana’s decision to go biofuel prudent?

The world is in crisis. The price of food has skyrocketed several times over. And in Ghana, prices have more than doubled since the crisis.But in the midst of the challenges posed by the rise in world food prices, the government of Ghana has decided to use part of its agriculture land to grow crops for biofuel.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/features/200805/15946.asp

Gayton McKenzie: Ghanaians have put me to shame

South African motivational speaker and author, Gayton McKenzie, appears to have encountered yet another of life’s baffling fixes, [out of prison though], and now he is asking himself if he even needed to have taken to crime at all in the first place.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/features/200805/16156.asp

Obama: How He Learned to Win

Barack Obama had not been in politics for long when he got his tail whipped by a veteran Chicago Congressman in his own backyard. For a brief period that followed, Obama seemed a bit unsure about what to do with his life--the same kind of unsettling early stumble made by others who went on to seek--and often win--the presidency. Yet within four years, Obama had won a seat in the U.S. Senate. Less than four years after that, he has all but clinched the Democratic nomination for President.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1738494,00.html

Journalists Under Siege in Zimbabwe

With no word on a date for a second round of voting in Zimbabwe's general election election, further evidence is emerging of President Robert Mugabe's program of wholesale repression in advance of a run-off in the presidential race.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1739071,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-world

Mugabe’s Opponent Says He’ll Return for Runoff

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, announced here on Saturday that despite brutal attacks on hundreds of his party’s workers and fears for his own life, he would soon return home to face President Robert Mugabe in a runoff election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/world/africa/11zimbabwe.html?ref=africa

Sudan cuts ties with Chad after rebel attack on Khartoum

Sudan severed relations with Chad on Sunday, accusing it of supporting fighters who assaulted the capital the night before, and warned that a top Darfur rebel leader was hiding somewhere in the city.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080511/ap_on_re_af/sudan;_ylt=AtfFI39GQ81jx45EDMxzd0lvaA8F

Obama rises from political obscurity to verge of history

The amazement was on their faces. Hundreds waited for Barack Obama on that evening in South Carolina, 15 weeks ago, to claim victory — a surprising victory, surprisingly large.
And amazing it was. It made it possible for him to stand today on the verge of being the first black person ever nominated for president by a major party.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080510/ap_on_el_pr/obama_odyssey;_ylt=AgOp9wHuBSzsaQPrL7axC5oGw_IE

South Africans take hard line on crime

SOUTH Africans feel less secure than they did five years ago, says a survey of crime victims by the Institute for Security Studies.
The survey blames the insecurity on two factors: more violent crime and less confidence in the police.
www.businessday.co.za

Responding To ICT Skills Demand

While basic digital literary has become globally a necessity for all, there are simply few opportunities in Nigerian and Africa for people to acquire these skills. Because of the high demand for ICT skills, the few who could train others are quickly absorbed into high paying jobs in the financial and ICT sectors, leaving us with facilities but not trainers.
http://www.independentngonline.com/colu/sout/article01

Nigeria misses local content target in oil sector

NIGERIA has failed to meet the 2006 and 2007 targets of making indigenous firms major players in the oil and gas sector. Statistics presented to The Guardian in Houston, Texas, United States (U.S.) showed that the Federal Government did not come near the 45 per cent local content in the industry set for 2006, which was later pushed to 2007.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=080508&ptitle=Nigeria%20misses%20local%20content%20target%20in%20oil%20sector

For Once, Let’s Discuss Mechanics, Tailors

Insult! I said. I would not sit down here and allow this Beninoise boy to insult my country, I fumed. But, to be honest, he was saying the truth, only that the truth could really hurt.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=110472

Nigeria repatriates 47 Liberian refugees

The National Commission for Refugees, on Wednesday, repatriated 47 Liberian refugees who came to Nigeria during the civil war which ravaged that country.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200805081184584

Why African airlines must meet May 31 e-ticketing deadline

May 31, 2008, marks the deadline given by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for all member airlines to migrate from paper ticketing to electronic ticketing (e-ticketing) in order to remain competitive in the dynamic aviation industry.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/money/2008/may/08/Money-08-05-001.htm

West Africa’s growing food crisis

The way the world food crisis has captured recent headlines from both energy and global warming, is an illustration of how trends catch on.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/backpage/9344.html

Aba IPP to yield government N25 billion in yearly savings

Nigeria is to save an estimated $200 million yearly (N25 billion) in terms of displaced fuel as soon as the Geometric Power Limited completes the construction of the Aba Independent Power Project (IPP).
http://www.businessdayonline.com/energy/9363.html

The biofuel dilemma

There are risks to global warming policy as well as risks to global warming, and although the former could be costlier than the latter, they are often neglected in climate change debate.
http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Biofuels.aspx?infoId=17843

Congo factions still recruiting child fighters

Armed groups in Congo's violence-torn east have ignored pledges made this year to stop recruiting children to fight and to free minors already in their ranks, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN823183.html

African growth fails to dent poverty, UN says

Strong economic growth rates in Africa have failed to translate adequately into more jobs and less poverty, United Nations economists said on Tuesday.
The annual report of the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa also faulted developed countries for failing to live up to the expectations and promises of increased aid to the continent.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/49358c96-0025-11dd-825a-000077b07658.html

U.N. chief condemns recent Darfur bombings

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday strongly condemned recent deadly bomb attacks on a school, water installation and market in Sudan's warring Darfur region.
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSN07299741

Africa’s farms reap rewards

Historically, there have been tenuous links between farmers and food producers, with many companies having scant knowledge of how and where their ingredients are grown.
But as the prices of raw materials soar – from the barley used to make beer or the cocoa used to make chocolate – leading brewers and food manufacturers from Cadbury Schweppes to Diageo are increasingly recognising their businesses will benefit from investment in agriculture.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f6fe902-1bc4-11dd-9e58-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Support for Clinton Wanes as Obama Sees Finish Line

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a publicly defiant posture on Wednesday about continuing her presidential bid despite waning support from Democratic officials and donors. Some of her advisers acknowledged privately that they remained unsure about the future of her candidacy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/us/politics/08campaign.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

AU urges respect of people's will in Zimbabwe presidential runoff

The African Union (AU) has called on all stakeholders in Zimbabwe's forthcoming presidential runoff to ensure that peace and security would be maintained, and that they would respect the will of the people once the results are announced.
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/africa-news/ethiopia:-au-urges-respect-of-people's-will-in-zimbabwe-presidential-runoff-200805073193.html

What a waste: Britain throws away £10bn of food every year

A new study has exposed the staggering amount of food thrown away every day by the British public, calculating that the annual total of wasted products adds up to a record £10bn.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/what-a-waste-britain-throws-away-16310bn-of-food-every-year-822809.html

Mbeki residence targeted by thieves

President Thabo Mbeki has become the latest victim of South Africa's crime wave after thieves climbed on to the roof of his official residence in Pretoria and stole aluminium coverings designed to protect CCTV and electronic equipment.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mbeki-residence-targeted-by-thieves-822839.html

Nigerians to pay more for bread as food protest hits North

Nigerians are going to pay more for or do without their favourite pastry bread should government fail to urgently address the high cost of production currently experienced in the confectionery industry.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/national/9300.html

Gowon, Rawlings blame leaders for Africa's woes

NIGERIA'S former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and erstwhile Ghana's President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday took a critical look at governance on the continent of Africa and gave a damning verdict: the leaders have failed the people.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=070508&ptitle=Gowon,%20Rawlings%20blame%20leaders%20for%20Africa's%20woes

Scarred by Strife After Election, Kenya Begins to Heal

For the first time since Kenya’s disputed election erupted in crisis in December, the government has started a large-scale operation to resettle thousands of people violently driven off their land.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/africa/06kenya.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

The Couple Who Shattered The Race Barrier

Reporters no longer beat a path to the modest white house just over the Caroline County border — and that's fine with its owner, a soft-spoken 67-year-old who never wanted the fame her marriage brought her.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/11/national/main2911514.shtml

US mourns black woman who defied racist divorce order

On a hot July night almost exactly 50 years ago, Mildred Loving and her husband Richard were roused from their bed by the sheriff of the rural Virginia county where they lived and hauled off to jail. Their only crime was to be a black woman and a white man presumptuous enough to be married at a time when many southern US states banned mixed-race unions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-mourns-black-woman-who-defied-racist-divorce-order-822168.html

Obama Wins North Carolina Decisively

Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. Obama’s candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/us/politics/07elect.html?th&emc=th

Role models for a free press

Saturday sees the world celebrate World Media Freedom Day. It's because May 3 was adopted by the UN General Assembly in recognition of the historic Windhoek Declaration on press freedom, drawn up by African journalists back in 1991.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=338103&area=/insight/insight__columnists/

Ivoiran ex-rebels begin to disarm

The former rebels in Ivory Coast who still control the northern half of the country have started to disarm with a ceremony involving 1,000 fighters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7381704.stm

Africa needs 'green revolution'

Former UN head Kofi Annan has called for a "green revolution" to solve the food crisis threatening Africa. "A genuinely African green revolution could lead to a doubling or tripling of food production," he told the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7376957.stm

Former Democratic Party Leader Paul Kirk Backs Obama

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk formally pledged his superdelegate vote to Barack Obama today, the second former party leader to back the Illinois senator in two days.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080502/pl_bloomberg/aagwyzgfk4w_1

UN extends southern Sudan peacekeeping mission

The Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan and called for demarcation of the contested oil-rich border region between the north and south.Some 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers are enforcing a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between the ethnic African south and Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the capital Khartoum -- but peace remains fragile.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-un-sudan,1,5965373.story