Energy Thirst Still Topping Climate Risks

Two studies out Wednesday — one on energy trends, one on climate as a security issue — bode poorly for those seeking to prevent global warming from passing dangerous thresholds. Coal and oil use climb relentlessly, at a rate similar to that for growth in wind, solar, and nuclear power, but in vastly larger quantities.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/reports-energy-thirst-still-topping-climate-risks/?ref=science

A tragic failure of leadership: Mandela's verdict on Mugabe

Nelson Mandela last night broke his silence on the political and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, saying the country was suffering due to "a tragic failure of leadership".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/26/zimbabwe.southafrica

Africa must get its act together or remain backward

In the year 2001, a year after the adoption of the African Union (AU) Act, the continent’s leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) as a strategic policy framework and socioeconomic development programme of the AU.
http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8423&Itemid=5848

Mugabe stripped of his honorary knighthood as a 'mark of revulsion'

Robert Mugabe has been stripped of his honorary knighthood by the Queen as a "mark of revulsion" over the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mugabe-stripped-of-his-honorary-knighthood-as-a-mark-of-revulsion-854317.html

Ally Warns Outsiders Not to Push Zimbabwe

Despite an increasingly thunderous chorus of complaints that Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff election will be neither free nor fair, the African National Congress, South Africa’s governing party, rejected outside diplomatic intervention on Tuesday, arguing that “any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/world/africa/25zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Obama asks donors to help Clinton with debt

Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday asked his finance team to help Hillary Rodham Clinton pay off a debt of at least $10 million from her failed presidential campaign, setting the stage for joint appearances by the two former rivals later in the week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_el_pr/obama_hillary_clinton;_ylt=AkUqYCwvFVqzg1ps1rAvXeBh24cA

Business deals struck with Mugabe’s govt will be reviewed, MDC warns

senior official of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has warned that business deals struck with President Robert Mugabe’s government during the last few years will be “scrutinised and dealt with accordingly” if the party comes to power.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=136381

Poor governance to blame for Africa's blackouts

Africa's electricity supply problems result from poor governance and not lack of capital, the head of a continental union of producers and distributors said on Tuesday.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=136397

Virgin Mobile may increase tariffs in South Africa

South Africa's fourth mobile operator Virgin Mobile may increase its tariffs if other mobile phone operators in the country decide to do so, its chief executive (CEO) said on Tuesday.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=136346

Michelle: Barack's bitter or better half?

the Obama campaign is actively trying to refresh Mrs Obama's image. Appearing on ABC's The View last week, Mrs Obama used the opportunity to address her critics, but also to present a picture that those close to her say is more true to herself than the caricature her critics are painting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7470764.stm

Mugabe's Victory by Violence

Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to seek shelter at the Dutch embassy hours after announcing his withdrawal from Zimbabwe's runoff presidential election signals the collapse of organized efforts to unseat President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1817328,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

James Dobson accuses Obama of `distorting' Bible

As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_el_pr/rel_dobson_obama

Niger Delta: The war we ordered is here!

It looks like the war Nigeria’s thieving ruling class ordered is finally here. Last week, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) carried out one of its most daring attacks to date on oil installations. Its militants attacked Shell’s deepwater oil field in Bonga. It was, as Thisday reported, a “devastating” hit. The attack cut Nigeria’s oil output by about 10 percent. That’s substantial by any measure.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/columnists/offside/2008/offside-june-24-2008.htm

Obama as a grass-roots president?

More than any other candidate, Barack Obama has used the power of the Internet to involve millions of people in his campaign. His bottom-up approach tapped a wellspring of money and votes. But organizing from the grass roots is one thing. Could he govern that way?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0623/p08s01-comv.html

Britain tells the rest of the world to deny Mugabe political legitimacy

Britain has pressed the UN Security Council to deny President Robert Mugabe international legitimacy and to condemn the further escalation of political violence in Zimbabwe orchestrated by his "criminal cabal".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/britain-tells-the-rest-of-the-world-to-deny-mugabe-political-legitimacy-852840.html

Obama, Hillary Clinton to campaign together on Friday

Former rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton plan to campaign together Friday in the small New Hampshire town of Unity, their first joint appearance meant to ease tensions over the closely fought Democratic primary.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_el_pr/obama_clinton;_ylt=AncZLW27ORXN93dgTj8J5.as0NUE

Oil rises on modest Saudi increase, Nigeria

Oil prices rose Monday on disappointment over Saudi Arabia's modest production increase and concerns that output from Nigeria will decline. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, inched lower overnight, but appear unlikely to change much as long as oil prices remain stuck in their recent trading range.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices;_ylt=Aq4weMiMChSF6Py_KfMMwh0V6w8F

Dutch Foreign Ministry: Tsvangirai seeks refuge

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sought refuge Monday at the Dutch Embassy in Harare, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said, shortly after police took away 60 people from his party's headquarters.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe

The Politics of Oil and Gas

As we go forward and backward, I find the CNN Armageddon story very worrisome. The reason is that our dear country, Nigeria, continues to live dangerously on the precipice, without any care in the world. I sometimes wonder what propels us. The giants have built amazing institutions with their oil, but we have wasted ours in the hands of heartless and greedy politicians.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=114710

'Mugabe declared war and we will not be part of that war'

Zimbabwe's hopes of democratic salvation ended yesterday amid clouds of tear gas and intimidating mobs of armed men who blocked opposition attempts to hold a legal rally in the capital. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, responded by pulling out of a run-off against President Robert Mugabe, saying that conditions for an election had become impossible, that the result was preordained and that his supporters were being murdered in a "genocide" which should be stopped by the UN.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mugabe-declared-war-and-we-will-not-be-part-of-that-war-852326.html

Leader wants UN-supervised plebiscite on Bakassi

The Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon, Abasi Otu V has reiterated the plea of the people of Bakassi for a United Nations‘ supervised plebiscite.
The traditional ruler’s plea was contained in a written address submitted to the Senator Jubril Aminu-led Senate Joint Committee on the Ratification of the Green Tree Agreement.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20080623472957

Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol

When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon — and so did Senator Barack Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1214218878-YcqgbVhBOrfZtDX/uD+nqg

In Algeria, a Tug of War for Young Minds

First, Abdel Malek Outas’s teachers taught him to write math equations in Arabic, and embrace Islam and the Arab world. Then they told him to write in Latin letters that are no longer branded unpatriotic, and open his mind to the West.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/africa/23algeria.html?th&emc=th

Mugabe Rival Quits Zimbabwe Runoff, Citing Attacks

The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party withdrew Sunday from a presidential runoff, just five days before it was to be held, saying he could neither participate “in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process,” nor ask his voters to risk their lives in the face of threats from forces backing President Robert Mugabe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/africa/23zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Mpofu begins battle against SABC suspension

LAWYERS for suspended SABC boss Dali Mpofu challenged the board meeting which led to his suspension in papers filed at the Johannesburg High Court yesterday.
His lawyer, Sandile July, said they would argue that the failure to include him in the meeting made it null and void and constituted a “compliance issue”.
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=215567

Put your best ideas forward for a new Kenya

Yesterday I arrived in Kenya, my home when I'm not in the United States. I spent most of my first day back in front of the TV watching our president and our prime minister launch Vision 2030, which is supposed to turn us into Singapore.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=341997&area=/columnist_wainaina/

Nigeria’s oil reserves to dry up in 43 years – Agip boss

The General Manager, Nigerian Agip Oil Exploration, Mr. Richard Ogunde, on Friday in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State said Nigeria’s oil reserve had only 43 years to dry up.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200806210142062

Only God can oust me, says Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe said on Friday that "only God" could remove him from office, as Zimbabwe's opposition considered pulling out of next week's run-off election amid escalating violence.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=342383&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

A nation of angry teachers

IT used to be said that a teacher's reward is in heaven. Not any more. Nigerian teachers are no longer looking up to the Heavens to help them. They want their reward here and now.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=200608&ptitle=A%20nation%20of%20angry%20teachers

I am not sure we've government in place – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, tells OLAYINKA OYEBODE that President Musa Yar’Adua’s government is clueless and explains why the choice of United Nations Under Secretary-General, Prof. Agboola Gambari, to head the Niger Delta summit is wrong.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200806213181946

Food, fuel crisis and climate change are threats to MDGs

The current prevailing world food and energy crisis and the looming tide of climate change have been identified as trends that could erode Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) gains in developing countries.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/business/200806/17415.asp

Clinton, Obama could use each other's help

Hillary Rodham Clinton needs Barack Obama's donors to help retire her sizable debt. Obama, who's forgoing public funds for the general election, could use her donors to boost his ample fundraising.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080621/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_money

Drop your arms, Soyinka urges N’Delta youths

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has called for a change in tactics from Niger Delta youths to actualize their demand for improved conditions of living in the region.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2008/jun/19/national-19-06-2008-008.htm

Michelle Obama counters her critics by hosting TV chat show

Michelle Obama went on daytime television yesterday to reveal that she likes Laura Bush, does not like wearing tights ("they hurt") and – oh, yes – is very, very proud of her country and always has been.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michelle-obama-counters-her-critics-by-hosting-tv-chat-show-850014.html

Shell shuts down Nigerian oil field after attack

Royal Dutch Shell said it shut down production from an offshore oil field that produces about 200,000 barrels per day after the most powerful militant group in Nigeria launched an attack on an installation there Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080619/ap_on_bi_ge/nigeria_oil_unrest

Raila’s confessions on grand coalition

On his first official trip to the US, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has spoken candidly of painful sacrifices President Kibaki and himself made to salvage Kenya from the post-election crisis.
http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143988699&cid=4

Kibaki is neither Pharaoh, nor does he require amnesty

In commenting on the issue of granting amnesty to those involved in the post-election violence, Mr Ngunyi argues that the person who needs ‘‘amnesty’’ most is President Kibaki.
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=125519

Young Zambians have sex to 'prove a point,' make money

Young men and women in Zambia are under pressure to engage in multiple sexual relationships due to prevailing attitudes about masculinity and for economic benefits, according to a study recently published in the African Journal of AIDS Research .
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=485&Itemid=1

Let's check rising student pregnancies in Liberia

Most of us who follow the news from Liberia may have read of the escalation of pregnancy of students allegedly by teachers. This shameful and unethical practice, if not illegal, is not new in Liberia.
http://www.theliberiantimes.com/article_2008_06_17_4501.shtml

Easing overcrowding in Liberia’s prisons

Deputy UN Envoy in Liberia, Ms. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, says the re-opening of the National Palace of Corrections will greatly improve the living conditions of prisoners and also enhance the working conditions for correctional staff.
http://www.analystliberia.com/zwedru_natl_corrections_reopens_june16_08.html

Liberia Launches Campaign Against Hunger

The Liberian Government would on tomorrow Thursday June 19th launch ‘Operation Eliminate Hunger” back to the soil campaign at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex.
http://www.theinquirer.com.lr/editorial_details.php?recordID=5157

Tsvangirai is a selfish leader, says minister

ZIMBABWEANS have everything to gain by retaining President Mugabe on June 27 because his vision and leadership has brought dignity to the people through empowerment and reclamation of resources, a Cabinet Minister has said.
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=435&cat=1

West, not Mugabe, politicising food

THERE is no evidence that the Government of Zimbabwe is using food "as a political tool to intimidate voters ahead of an election", or that it is deliberately denying "hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Zimbabweans" food aid, as Human Rights Watch and The New York Times allege.
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=411&cat=13

Reading Into the Future

My family has an unhealthy love of books. They attach themselves to us like pets, and our apartment has so many volumes that I worry about the entire eccentric library crashing suddenly through the floor and resettling itself on the neighbor downstairs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18wed3.html?th&emc=th

Turning Nigeria’s brain drain to gain through diaspora e-inclusion

To think that most of the country’s intellectuals who daily jet out to Europe, America and the Middle East in search of greener pasture will return anytime soon is to leave in fools’ paradise. The reality is that the more we complain about the problem, the more it occurs.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/features/11518.html

Michelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction

Michelle Obama’s eyes flicker tentatively even as she offers a trained smile. As her campaign plane arcs over the Flathead Range in Montana, she is asked to consider her complicated public image.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/politics/18michelle.html?th&emc=th

Consensus grows for Zim unity govt

Robert Mugabe's strongest ally in the region, Angola, has thrown its weight behind the idea of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=342029&area=/insight/insight__africa/

Why Africa is banking on cellphones

For consumers in developed markets, using a cellphone for banking services is a smart add-on to a bank's branch network. But to people in the developing world, the arrival of mobile banking -- or m-banking -- is potentially revolutionary.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=342133&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/

June 12: Many Sides Of An Enigma

EACH year, the events of June 1993 take on a different toga, leaving the people wondering whether it is not that same month and year, during which the military government of President Ibrahim Babangida brazenly annulled a presidential election that was on the verge of being won and lost.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/sunday_magazine/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=150608&ptitle=June%2012:%20Many%20Sides%20Of%20An%20Enigma

Waiting for President Obama

My fascination for American politics actually began with my familiarization with the Civil Rights movement. While I was at the University of Lagos in the 1980s, I read practically all the books on the movement and Martin Luther King Jr. that were available in the University library. Since 1984, I have watched returns on all presidential elections in America live
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article03//indexn2_html?pdate=170608&ptitle=Waiting%20for%20President%20Obama

Need for e-learning in Nigerian tertiary institutions

At the just concluded e-Learning Africa conference in Accra, technology experts, educationists, policy makers and representatives of IT firms across the continent and beyond, examined ways information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help boost the quality of education in Africa.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/Work-and-Learning/11456.html

Kufuor sad on Ghana police bad image

President John Agyekum Kufuor has expressed misgivings about the image of the Police Service, saying the Service needs to polish its image. He said even though it was a good service filled with competent people, it was not the best.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/200806/17222.asp

When only one man dared speak

All of them knew there was a big stink in the middle of the hall but none would acknowledge it. They walked around it and hoped it would go away. They went for lunch and came back. They had cocktails and came back.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=781226

Fresh fighting in northern Ghana

Reports from Buipe in the Northern Region indicate that fresh chieftaincy clashes in the town have led to the death of at least one person while three others are said to have suffered serious gunshot wounds.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/200806/17240.asp

Crisis lingers: SABC gets new CEO

Content Enterprise Head, Gab Mampone has once again been appointed acting Group CEO, of the SABC, the broadcaster reported on Saturday.
http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=3268&fArticleId=nw20080614160648235C898940

Rooms to let in Hostel Blame, by Fred Khumalo

Mkhize and his 10-year-old son were just two hours into their flight from South Africa to London when the plane started to experience engine problems, the story goes.
The captain instructed the crew members to jettison luggage, or the plane would crash.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=780806

Postracial Obama no messiah for Africa

I STILL remember how excited those of us who are black were when a 21-year-old Tiger Woods won the US Masters. The jubilation had less to do with his age than the fact that many thought he was the first black man to win a golf Major.
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A784391

The golden glitter of South Africa is gone

"As for Malawians, talk of regional integration is merely a joke as they visit the holding centre in Blantyre, to see if their relations are among the returnees." Akwete Sande gives a Malawian perspective on the xenophobic violence in South Africa.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48715

Nigeria: 1,000 Bakassi returnees stranded

OVER 1,000 Nigerian returnees from the ceded Bakassi Peninsula are now holed up in a primary school block at Ikang in the new Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State.
Among the throng of returnees are 510 men, 300 women and 210 children of school age, all of them looking weary.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10150&Itemid=44

Gender perspective on water and sanitation

The upcoming mid-year African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government has as its primary agenda as ‘Water and Sanitation.’ Development goals in the water and sanitation sector in Africa typically address issues of access to and the availability of adequate and safe supply and services, health and well being of all members of the society.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/48635

Yayi Boni’s Revolution in Benin Republic

In those seven months that I did not have the chance of visiting The Ovation International French office in Cotonou, the President of Benin, Mr. Yayi Boni, and his team, had caused a revolution of unimaginable proportions in that small country. Everywhere you go, roads are being constructed or rehabilitated.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=114050

Nigeria: Emergency In Power Sector Starts With N600b

PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday announced that the much-awaited formal declaration of a state of emergency in Nigeria's power sector would occur next month.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=140608&ptitle=Emergency%20In%20Power%20Sector%20Starts%20With%20N600b

The death of Lamidi Adedibu

THE death two days ago of Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu, the self-styled controller of Ibadan politics and "father of the PDP", has been received with muted feelings of relief across the land. The sub-text is the hope that there can now be some peace in Oyo state politics.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=130608&ptitle=The%20death%20of%20Lamidi%20Adedibu

June 12: Nwosu is a coward

Harsh knocks have come the way of the former chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, for absolving fromer head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, of blame in the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.
http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200806141524534

Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast

The onslaught of cellphone calls and e-mail and instant messages is fracturing attention spans and hurting productivity. It is a common complaint. But now the very companies that helped create the flood are trying to mop it up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/technology/14email.html?th&emc=th

Obama could be worse than a white - Gaddafi

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said yesterday US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would have an "inferiority complex" because he is black and if elected he might "behave worse than whites".
"We fear that Obama will feel that, because he is black ... this will make him behave worse than the whites," Gaddafi told a rally at a former US military base on the edge of the Libyan capital.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23853837-5013948,00.html

Fox scalp after Obama terror jibe

A Fox News television presenter has been taken off the air after accusing Barack and Michelle Obama of greeting each other with a "terrorist's fist jab", as the cable network faced fresh outrage over a graphic that referred to the aspiring first lady as "Obama's Baby Mama".
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23860021-5013948,00.html

Campaign: Michelle Obama never used word 'Whitey'

Democrat Barack Obama's campaign said Thursday that Michelle Obama never used the word "whitey" in a speech from the church pulpit as it launched a Web site to debunk rumors about him and his wife.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080613/ap_on_el_pr/obama_smears

Will Obama's Anti-Rumor Plan Work?

As long as there have been rumors in politics, there has been one widely accepted way for a candidate to deal with them. Basically, it's not to. Otherwise, according to prevailing wisdom, all a candidate achieves is to elevate the rumors to a legitimate story for the media to feast on.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1813663,00.html

Mugabe Foe: The Runoff Must Proceed

Zimbabwe lurches deeper into crisis as President Robert Mugabe's government menaces the opposition and its supporters in the walk-up to a second round of elections at the end of June. TIME's Megan Lindow spoke by phone to Mugabe's chief political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1814347,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

Living reminders of Africa's colonial past in Namibia

IT was getting toward evening in Swakopmund, on the desert coast of Namibia, and at Kiki’s Pub just off Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse, the Pilsener was starting to flow. Swiveling on a stool with a stein of Hansa Draft in his fist, a stout fellow in safari shorts and with gray mutton-chop whiskers was chatting emphatically in German with the young bartender.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/travel/15Explorer.html?th&emc=th

Abacha, Akpamgbo annulled June 12

CHAIRMAN of the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), Professor Humphrey Nwosu, has named the late Gen. Sani Abacha and one-time Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Clement Akpamgbo, as the principal actors in the nullification of the June 12, 1993 election won by the late Chief M.K.O
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10184&Itemid=0

Nigeria: Abiola won June 12 election – Nwosu

For those in doubt as to who won the June 12, 1993 presidential election between the late business man and philanthropist, Chief Moshood K. Abiola and Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, the answer is finally here.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2008/jun/13/national-13-06-2008-001.htm

Zimbabwe Detains Opposition Leaders

The standard-bearer for Zimbabwe’s opposition was twice detained by the police on Thursday, and one of his most important deputies was arrested to face treason charges. The events underscored the daunting obstacles to campaigning against President Robert Mugabe in the two weeks before a presidential runoff.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/africa/13zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Obama's Play for the Faithful

It's safe to say there's no page in the Democratic handbook that recommends sitting down with several dozen right-of-center Christian leaders one week after clinching the party's presidential nomination. So the fact that Barack Obama slipped away Tuesday afternoon to a borrowed Chicago law firm conference room for some prayer, frank talk about his faith, and to face some tough questioning from heavy hitters in the evangelical, Catholic, and mainline Protestant worlds could be the clearest sign yet that he really does intend to practice a different kind of politics.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1814206,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

Zimbabwe opposition negotiator is accused of treason

In the strongest indication yet that the Zimbabwean regime intends to fight to the bitter end, the opposition's chief negotiator was arrested yesterday and charged with treason.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/zimbabwe-opposition-negotiator-is-accused-of-treason-846251.html

Regional Pressure Mounts On Zimbabwe's Mugabe To Stop Political Violence

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is coming under mounting pressure from his Southern African regional peers to put a stop to political violence that many observers say is state-sponsored ahead of a June 27 presidential run-off election.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2008-06-11-voa36.cfm

Ghana: Female vice president likely for ruling party

A member of the campaign team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie has dropped hints that Hajia Alima Mahama is likely to be chosen as the running mate to the party’s flag bearer.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/200806/17206.asp

Nigeria: Seeking Lower Cost of Broadband Access

The high cost of broadband access in Nigeria and the need to explore avenues to drive down the cost with a view to opening the gateway to seamless communication across the nation
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806120177.html

DRC to start mines renegotiations in mid-July

The Democratic Republic of Congo will begin renegotiating some 60 mining contracts in mid-July as part of a long-delayed review process, the central African nation's deputy mines minister said on Thursday.
http://www.miningweekly.com/article.php?a_id=135666

Ghana: Ammunition meant for Bawku impounded

Four persons who are suspected to have attempted to smuggle ammunition to the conflict area in Bawku have been arrested by the Police in Kumasi, heightening anxiety over whether the recent unrest in Bawku will ever abate.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/200806/17176.asp

Obama on the nile

I have had a chance to observe several U.S. elections from abroad, but it has been unusually revealing to be in Egypt as Barack Hussein Obama became the Democrats’ nominee for president of the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/opinion/11friedman.html?em&ex=1213416000&en=4bde3fcf7058b1b0&ei=5087%0A

American aid is seized in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean authorities confiscated a truck loaded with 20 tons of American food aid for poor schoolchildren and ordered that the wheat and pinto beans aboard be handed out to supporters of President Robert Mugabe at a political rally instead, the American ambassador said Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/world/africa/12zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Zimbabwe 'run by military junta'

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe "is effectively being run by a military junta".
He said 66 opposition supporters had been killed in political violence since March's disputed presidential elections and 200 more were unaccounted for.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7446326.stm

Plane bursts into flames in Sudan; 100 feared dead

Sudanese TV says at least 100 people were killed in plane crash at Khartoum airport. A plane carrying about 200 passengers veered off a runway late Tuesday amid thunderstorms and burst into flames.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_re_mi_ea/sudan_plane_crash

Nigeria: Who’s afraid of information?

Last week was an excellent one for Nigeria’s tribe of thieves, money launderers and raiders of the public treasury. First, the House of Representatives squelched the Freedom of Information Bill without as much as weighing its merits. Then the Senate, after its accustomed wretched approach to its constitutional mandate, confirmed Mrs. Farida Waziri as the new head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/columnists/offside/2008/offside-june-10-2008.htm

The Long Road to a Clinton Exit

By the time the campaign tracked down the small-city Indiana mayor, Bill Clinton was in a lather. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton had lost the North Carolina primary that evening and was eager to offset it with a win in Indiana. But a vote-counting delay in one county threatened to rob her of a prime-time victory speech.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/politics/08recon.html?em&ex=1213070400&en=49a0a8c6d30ef585&ei=5087%0A

Obama: The Gentlewoman From Illinois

The hard truth is that from the moment Mr. Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield, Ill., on Feb. 10, 2007, Mrs. Clinton was facing a candidate with greater skills than any candidate her husband had ever faced in his life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/opinion/08kerrey.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Abia Politics And Ugochukwu’s Place In History

Any one who is unbiased will understand why the moral majority of Abia people voted overwhelmingly for Chief Onyema Ugochukwu. Except for a weird minority in Abia who resorted to perfecting a plan to deprive Chief Ugochukwu of his mandate, every other person of conscience in Abia knows that Chief Ugochukwu won a majority of the lawful votes cast on April 14, 2007.
http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/product_info.php?products_id=29140

Nigeria sacks 121, 731 civil servants

About 121,731, civil servants drawn from the ministries and parastatals have been forced into the labour market in a major federal government retrenchment exercise.
Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission FCSC, Mr. Ahmed Al'Gazali, made this disclosure while delivering a lecture at the 60th anniversary lecture of the University of Ibadan where he attributed the disengagement to efforts to reposition the service for better performance.
http://www.leadershipnigeria.com/product_info.php?products_id=29188

Hillary's Fond Farewell

Linda Mahoney and her partner Edith Miller, both in their sixties, were among the first to line up to see Hillary Clinton end her bid for the presidency. Decked out in Hillary t-shirts and hats, the couple from Silver Spring also had printed signs pinned to their backs: "Remember in November to vote present."
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1812634,00.html

Media burden: More technology means less good TV

Hey you, media consumer. You used to be a TV watcher. But an excess of choices has left you changed – and perhaps spoiled.Also overwhelmed. There's just too much to keep up with. New media outlets are spreading you thin.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080607/ENCORE01/576133492/-1/news03

Digital Media Trends Puts Pressure on Newspapers

At a recent meeting of the World Association of Newspapers, one of the topics of conversation included the results of the second annual World Digital Media Trends report, which revealed that digital platforms of newspapers are growing at a double-digit rate worldwide, as the world increasingly goes on line.
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/web-publishing/digital-media-trends-puts-pressure-on-newspapers-002741.php

Why Obama's wife makes me love him more.

I must admit that none of those fine attributes are what tipped me over from Obama admiration to Obama love. It was something else, something entirely personal, something deeply revealing, if not about the man then certainly about me. It was Michelle Obama—or, more particularly, his choice of her as wifely material.
http://www.theroot.com/id/44409

Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough

Kwabena Sam-Brew, a 38-year-old immigrant from Ghana, doubted that Nana, his 5-year-old American-born daughter, would remember the rally that effectively crowned Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee Tuesday night.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/politics/05race.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

'Those Africans'

Since the end of apartheid, "those Africans" have flocked to South Africa from all over the continent, bringing with them the baggage of their own poverty – both the economic and the political. This is especially true of those from Somalia and Zimbabwe, two failed states and among the most broken places on the continent.
http://www.theroot.com/id/46604

Africa's Messiah of Horror

A friend, the head of a major aid organization, tells how his workers in eastern Congo a few years ago chanced upon a group of shell-shocked women and children in the bush. A militia had kidnapped a number of families and forced the women to kill their husbands with machetes, under the threat that their sons and daughters would be murdered if they refused.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060503430.html

South African official: HIV rates declining

South Africa's health minister said Thursday that HIV infection rates among pregnant women declined for the second straight year and claimed it was proof of the success of government policies.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-06-05-HIV-safrica_N.htm

Security Council Members Push to Condemn Sudan

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented a grim portrait of conditions in the Darfur region of Sudan to the Security Council on Thursday, as a majority of Council members pushed for what would be the first statement in three years condemning the Sudanese government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/world/africa/06nations.html?ref=world

What Hillary Won

As the sun was sinking on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, the nation’s wounded feminists were burning up the Internet.
They vowed to write in Hillary’s name on their ballots in November; to wear “NObama” T-shirts all summer; to “de-register” as Democrats. One much-circulated e-mail proposed turning June 3, the day Barack Obama claimed the nomination, as a permanent day of mournful remembrance “like the people in Ireland remember the Famine.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/opinion/07collins.html?ref=opinion

Clinton's couldas, shouldas, wouldas

close friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton argues that “Coulda, shoulda, woulda” ought to be the title of any book written by one of her campaign staffers.
No doubt, it would chronicle what went wrong with the most anticipated presidential candidacy in a generation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25004343

Zimbabwe Tells All Aid Groups to Halt Efforts

Zimbabwe’s government has ordered all humanitarian aid groups to suspend their operations in the deeply impoverished nation, a prohibition that relief agencies estimate will deprive two million people of food aid and other basic assistance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/world/africa/06zimbabwe.html?th&emc=th

Dont' expect much from Obama

In a tale of two cities and two very different meetings, two dramatically contrasting visions of the future of the Middle East were on display this week.
In the first, in Washington, the newly anointed democratic candidate for the presidency, Senator Barack Obama who is the son of a Muslim, told the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC everything that they wanted to hear.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2008/06/06/dont_expect_much_from_obama/6643/172~1212771602~1/

Obama in threshold of history

All the records in the history of the US Presidential Primary elections were broken. Over thirty-five million people voted in the primaries.
In one month of the six months grueling duel, over eighty million dollars were raised. The Primary contests in the two parties went from predictable to the unpredictable from close, to outright landslide and then back to ‘too close to call’.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9647&Itemid=0

Uwazurike has betrayed MASSOB — MacDavies

A MAJOR crisis appears to have engulfed the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), with the erstwhile director of information of the Movement, Comrade David Mac Davies alleging yesterday that MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike has betrayed the struggle.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9717&Itemid=42

OUR CARIBBEAN: This Obama moment in history

FOR ALL THE MAN-MADE and natural disasters, the political, social and economic woes we confront, it is still good to be able to celebrate with the enlightened American people a historic moment in their civilisation – the nomination of Barack Obama as the first African American choice of the two major political parties of the United States for the coming November presidential election.
http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/344868585735124.php

The lonely life of a Darfuri refugee on the activist stump in the U.S.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the student body ranks among the busiest in the US, Bu Assal Abu Assal has managed to attract about a dozen students to hear him speak about the hardships he faced in his native Darfur and the ongoing genocide there.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0603/p20s01-woaf.html

Food crisis: A daily quest for bread in Cairo

Every day at 4 a.m., Hagg Abdel Wahab walks down a narrow path past a simple coffee and tea shop to his bakery.
For 40 years, this elderly man has donned a gray gallabeya robe smudged with white flour and baked thousands of small, round loaves of state-subsidized bread for the residents of the poor, densely packed Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0606/p04s05-wome.html

Food crisis softens resistance to genetically modified (GM) food

Opposition to genetically modified (GM) foods, still strongest in Europe, is starting to erode in the face of the global food crisis.
But the pressure for change, so far, is more economic than political.
Indeed, it was the political fighting over biofuels, farm subsidies, and trade policies, that threatened to undermine the efforts of 40 world leaders seeking a solution to soaring food costs at a UN summit in Rome that ended Thursday.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/06/06/food-crisis-softens-resistance-to-genetically-modified-gm-food/

Africa, the pasture-new of Indian IT trainers

Indian IT education companies have now started focusing on expanding their reach to Africa. Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Kenya are some of the developing countries in Africa that are on the radar of home-grown learning firms such as NIIT, Aptech and Karrox.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/42543

Ghanaian victims of xenophobic attacks to return home

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday directed Ghana's High Commissioner to South Africa to provide the needed assistance to Ghanaian victims of the recent xenophobic attacks ready to return home.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/200806/17031.asp

New face of power in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's crisis deepened significantly last night as the country's leaders ordered the indefinite suspension of aid distribution, while a group of US and British diplomats were detained at gunpoint by thugs of the Mugabe regime.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/new-face-of-power-in-zimbabwe-841401.html

Power outage: Nigerians cry out

THE current poor electricity supply situation across the country is now a source of great concern to Nigerians as incessant power outage has enveloped the entire nation.
From the South to the North, East to West, the power situation is getting worse as many parts of the country have been thrown into perpetual darkness, some-times, lasting several months.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9468&Itemid=0

Utd to play friendly in Nigeria

Manchester United have confirmed they will travel to Nigeria in July to play a pre-season friendly against FA Cup winners Portsmouth - but Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo will be missing.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Sport/Soccer/0,,2-9-840_2334696,00.html

Food Is Gold, and Investors Pour Billions Into Farming

Huge investment funds have already poured hundreds of billions of dollars into booming financial markets for commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/05farm.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1212664207-3qzFxWkDiycWvSpePXovJQ&oref=slogin

The Smoulder in South Africa

There is more than a tinge of irony to the state visit of President Umaru Yar’Adua to South Africa. He was welcomed by his host, President Thabo Mbeki, both of them literally walking on the ashes of the recent orgy killings and destruction of properties of foreigners. The violence has been perpetrated by some xenophobic South Africans against African immigrants in their midst.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=113245

Clinton 'to endorse Obama on Saturday'

Hillary Clinton is ending her historic bid to become the first female president and will back rival Barack Obama on Saturday, capping a 17-month quest that began with the words "I'm in it to win it" with a more humble plea for party unity.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/clinton-to-endorse-obama-on-saturday-840669.html

New firm replace Shell in Ogoni

AT last, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is leaving Ogoniland, Rivers State, for another operator.
The decision followed the Federal Government's inability to broker truce between the oil giant and Ogoni, the host community.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=050608&ptitle=New%20firm%20replace%20Shell%20in%20Ogoni

Ghana - the rewards of tourism

Those who doubt that West African countries are yet candidates to take on serious tourism might take a look at the way it has been able to take off in Ghana. Latest figures, from 2007, show a steady increase in receipts over the past seven years from tourism, from $386m in 2000 to $1.2bn in 2007, a trebling of revenue.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/backpage/10824.html

Time to look at Africa

It is high time to take a closer look at what has been brewing in Africa. While the West slept, militant Islam has been working overtime, building bridges, and claiming hearts and minds largely abandoned by the West.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2008/06/03/time_to_look_at_africa/1699/172~1212598801~1/

Ghana reduces police stops

The Ghana Police Service has reduced the number of checkpoints on primary trade routes. The reductions should speed up the movement of people and goods and reduce the incidence of bribery.
http://www.watradehub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=998&Itemid=128

The man J.J Rawlings yesterday and today

On June 4, 1979 a young Flight Lieutenant in the Air Force of Ghana, broke all bounds of military discipline and stormed the airwaves announcing a military take-over of the reins of government in Ghana.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/features/200806/16969.asp

Thirst for change trumped Clinton's experience

On her first campaign visit to New Hampshire, in February 2007, Hillary Rodham Clinton was confronted by a voter who demanded she explain her 2002 Senate vote authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_el_pr/how_clinton_lost;_ylt=Avs0zmGC287scq0VYgJe534DW7oF

From Greek mythology, Obama learned a lesson

To understand how Barack Obama won the presidential primary, you have to look at what he learned when he lost.
Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton solidly in the Iowa caucuses in January, but five days later she beat him, painfully and unexpectedly, in New Hampshire. That loss showed him that toppling the royal family of Democratic politics would not come easily.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_el_pr/how_obama_won;_ylt=ArQDsg2GLcX.y5gt_r6qVGhh24cA

McCain, Obama plunge into 5-month general election

Change is coming, that much Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree on as they plunge into a five-month campaign for the White House.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_el_pr/primary_rdp

No Surrender (Yet) for Clinton

The last time a member of the Clinton family gave a concession speech it was 1980. The world had not yet heard the name Indiana Jones. Barack Obama was a teenager. Rookie Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, defeated for reelection, choked out the words as his wife stood grimly by.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1811626,00.html

In Speech, Obama Heals—Then Attacks

Before he made the speech he'd been inching towards for months, Barack Obama breezed through the front cabin of his campaign plane, chatting with staff and friends who had joined him for the special night. His aides, briefing the press, took care not to gloat about their victory over Hillary Clinton — which was finally made official by a combination of freshly elected delegates in Montana and South Dakota and a flurry of unelected superdelegates who rushed onto his bandwagon. Instead, they called Clinton "formidable," and noted that her efforts made Obama a stronger candidate.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1811622,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily

How mobile phones can solve cross-border money transfer difficulties in West Africa

The lukewarm raindrops mixed with sweat and ran down their faces as they hurried back to the media centre. With the press briefings over, it was time to do their stories. As Vekou and Gilbert gazed round the centre, one thing registered - no free computer to work with.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/analysis/features/10626.html

Mugabe, Ahmadinejad slammed for attending U.N. summit

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came under attack on Monday for attending a U.N. food summit, accused by Western leaders and rights groups of inflicting suffering on their own people.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080602/ts_nm/food_summit_mugabe_dc

ECOWAS bank gives $100 million to fight food crisis

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) will provide $100 million annually to support agricultural productivity in West Africa as part of its contribution towards resolving the ongoing food crisis.
http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/200806/16907.asp

Egypt: Female Copts spark Muslim student furor

Sectarian resentment was reignited this week when a Coptic student scrawled an "X" across Koranic verses in a female dormitory at an Egyptian university, just as tensions were beginning to subside after another Coptic student in the same dorm last month drew caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/05/30/female_copts_spark_muslim_student_furor/4905/

Egyptians fear surge in sectarian clashes

Two unrelated violent incidents have shattered hopes that sectarian conflict between Muslims and Coptic Christians was a thing of the past in Egypt, a nation long boasting a tradition of pluralism and unity between their two major religious communities.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/06/02/egyptians_fear_surge_in_sectarian_clashes/6097/172~1212426001~1/

Africa the new mortgage mecca

Middle class East Africans could find themselves unlikely beneficiaries of the escalating credit crisis in the West as large financial institutions look to new markets to sell their mortgage products.
Until recently, home ownership was considered an unattainable dream even for many middle class people in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Business/biz020620081.htm

Africa is being primed for fascism

African heads of state, Kenya’s included, made for Japan last week. We would all be forgiven if we took this latest collective jaunt as being part of the increasingly loud call for Africa to look East instead of West.
There might even be some truth in such an understanding. It is clear that China’s new relationship with Africa has sparked off efforts to renew and strengthen Africa’s ties not only with India, but also (for some parts of Africa at least) with West Asia or the so-called Arab world.
http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Opinion/oped020620082.htm

Does the average Ghanaian understand the economy?

The news of the reduction of taxes on Rice and other agricultural product as well as various mechanisms to cushion the average Ghanaian of the impact of the high oil prices on the world market came with mixed feelings. While some people linked this to strictly political reasons others saw sense in the deal and praised the government for the venture.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=10415

Vote for Mugabe or quit the military, top general tells soldiers

A top Zimbabwe army general called on the nation's soldiers to vote for Robert Mugabe in a presidential runoff or quit the military, the official media reported Saturday.
Army Chief of Staff Major-General Martin Chedondo told troops at a target-shooting competition to leave the military if they did not support Mr. Mugabe, the state Herald newspaper reported.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080531.wzimbabwe0531/BNStory/International/home

South Africa: Gap Between the Rich And Poor Too Wide

The xenophobic attacks reflect the failure by the ANC government to close the gap between the "two different countries" that South Africa has become in the last 15 years.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806020848.html

Peacekeepers 'abusing children'

Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7420798.stm

Mugabe in Europe for Food Conference

Skirting some restrictions on his international travel, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe arrived in Rome over the weekend to attend a United Nations food conference, and raised protests Monday from some European and other lawmakers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/africa/03zimbabwe.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

India set to exempt Africa from rice ban

India is facing growing pressure from African countries to exempt them from export bans on rice implemented by New Delhi to curb domestic food price inflation.
The pressure illustrates how efforts by large producers such as India to control a sharp rise in food costs are hurting poor nations and giving rise to a form of rice diplomacy.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae3591da-2ffb-11dd-86cc-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

It’s All About Leverage

The fact is, Mr. Obama was right to say that he would talk with any foe, if it would advance U.S. interests. The Bush team negotiated with Libya to give up its nuclear program, even after Libya had accepted responsibility for blowing up Americans on Pan Am Flight 103. Those negotiations succeeded, though, not because Mr. Bush was better “prepared,” but because, at the time, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Bush had leverage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01friedman.html?em&ex=1212552000&en=a0f21040e380c8ee&ei=5087%0A

Sudan ousts British officer from Darfur peace mission

The struggling United Nations mission in Darfur has suffered a fresh blow after its British chief of staff was forced out by the Sudanese government. Brigadier Patrick Davidson-Houston, the most senior non-African official in the joint UN and African Union mission, said he was "extremely disappointed" to be leaving Darfur just six months into his one-year contract.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/sudan-ousts-british-officer-from-darfur-peace-mission-837426.html

Murdered by Mugabe's mob

Tonderai Ndira will not be campaigning when Zimbabwe votes again. He will not rally his neighbourhood, as he did two months ago, for one last push against an unwanted regime. Instead, he is buried in an unmarked grave in the Warren Hills cemetery in Harare.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/murdered-by-mugabes-mob-838145.html

Why Is Oprah Sliding? Don't Blame the Other O

Ever since Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama for President a year ago, there’s been a tendency in the media to yoke their fortunes. They’re both African American Chicagoans, from humble backgrounds, with cross-racial appeal. They’re charismatic leaders, inspiring passionate—to their critics, cultish—followings with messages of empowerment and change. And their names both start with O! We’re simple folk, we in the press.
http://www.time-blog.com/tuned_in/2008/06/why_is_oprah_sliding_dont_blam.html?xid=newsletter-daily