Washington Informer
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American authorities are planning a broad new campaign against terrorist financing networks in Afghanistan, sending in dozens of federal drug enforcement agents to help stem the country's massive opium trade, the Associated Press has learned.
The surge of narcotics agents, which would boost the number of anti-drug officials inside Afghanistan from a dozen to nearly 80, would bolster a strategy laid out last week by the Obama administration to use U.S. and NATO troops to target "higher level drug lords."
Detailed plans described to members of Congress behind closed doors earlier this month suggest the effort will be modeled after the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's campaign against drug cartels in South America.
The surge of narcotics agents, which would boost the number of anti-drug officials inside Afghanistan from a dozen to nearly 80, would bolster a strategy laid out last week by the Obama administration to use U.S. and NATO troops to target "higher level drug lords."
Detailed plans described to members of Congress behind closed doors earlier this month suggest the effort will be modeled after the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's campaign against drug cartels in South America.
U. S. Aid to Africa Must Stop, Argues African Economist
(GIN) - In a provocative new book, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues that foreign aid in Africa, has been an ''unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster,'' an idea that ''seemed so right'' but is in fact ''so wrong'' that, like asbestos or the Hummer, it should be phased out entirely within the next decade.
“Why?†asks Sonia Shah in The Nation magazine. “Well, he who pays the piper calls the tune.â€
Foreign aid, in some African countries, has become government's primary source of revenue, Moyo points out. In Ethiopia and Gambia, for example, 97 percent of the government's budget derives from foreign aid.
Small businesses selling food, clothing, and mosquito nets are cruelly shuttered out of business by avalanches of well-intentioned donations. The effect is anti-democratic, destabilizing, soul-crushingly ''malignant,'' Moyo writes, and ''exceptionally corrosive'' to government accountability, civil society and the prospects for economic development.
Moyo is a global economist at an investment bank in London. She previously worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. She holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University and a Masters from Harvard University. Her book, “Dead Aidâ€, is available through Amazon.
Women's Peace Center Launched in Liberia
(GIN) - Named after a distinguished Liberian jurist and diplomat, The Angie Brooks International Center was opened with fanfare by Pres. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson.
The Center, the President said, will draw women from every part of the globe, including women world leaders who will meet and engage in training and research that will promote and enhance women's leadership development.
The Center will also serve as an international repository for documentation on women's issues and accomplishments, partnership, networking and advocacy on women's leadership.
The daughter of a Baptist minister and one of nine children, Brooks was raised by a widowed seamstress. She died on Sept. 9, 2007 in Houston, Texas. The Project is being supported by the African Women's Development Fund, the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Madam Mary Robinson, among others.
Controversy Dogs Pope on His First Africa Trip
(GIN) – As Pope Benedict XVI touches down in Cameroon on his first sojourn to Africa, a new translation of the Roman Catholic Mass is getting a trial run in South Africa, where some parishioners say it's too hard to understand.
Critics say the new translation is meant to more closely follow the original Latin text. Before Communion, for example, the prayer ''Lord, I am not worthy to receive you'' becomes ''Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.'' ''One in being with the Father'' becomes ''consubstantial with the Father''.
And the congregation's response to the greeting ''The Lord be with you,'' changes from ''And also with you'' to ''And with your spirit.''
Although mainstream Christian churches, evangelical churches, and Muslim faiths all appear to be expanding rapidly, there are only 430 bishops and some 27,000 priests for 187 million Catholics – 20 percent of the continent’s population.
After Cameroon, the pope will go to Angola – site of the first African mission, where Portuguese priests began to convert people 500 years ago.
(GIN) - In a provocative new book, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues that foreign aid in Africa, has been an ''unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster,'' an idea that ''seemed so right'' but is in fact ''so wrong'' that, like asbestos or the Hummer, it should be phased out entirely within the next decade.
“Why?†asks Sonia Shah in The Nation magazine. “Well, he who pays the piper calls the tune.â€
Foreign aid, in some African countries, has become government's primary source of revenue, Moyo points out. In Ethiopia and Gambia, for example, 97 percent of the government's budget derives from foreign aid.
Small businesses selling food, clothing, and mosquito nets are cruelly shuttered out of business by avalanches of well-intentioned donations. The effect is anti-democratic, destabilizing, soul-crushingly ''malignant,'' Moyo writes, and ''exceptionally corrosive'' to government accountability, civil society and the prospects for economic development.
Moyo is a global economist at an investment bank in London. She previously worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. She holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University and a Masters from Harvard University. Her book, “Dead Aidâ€, is available through Amazon.
Women's Peace Center Launched in Liberia
(GIN) - Named after a distinguished Liberian jurist and diplomat, The Angie Brooks International Center was opened with fanfare by Pres. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson.
The Center, the President said, will draw women from every part of the globe, including women world leaders who will meet and engage in training and research that will promote and enhance women's leadership development.
The Center will also serve as an international repository for documentation on women's issues and accomplishments, partnership, networking and advocacy on women's leadership.
The daughter of a Baptist minister and one of nine children, Brooks was raised by a widowed seamstress. She died on Sept. 9, 2007 in Houston, Texas. The Project is being supported by the African Women's Development Fund, the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Madam Mary Robinson, among others.
Controversy Dogs Pope on His First Africa Trip
(GIN) – As Pope Benedict XVI touches down in Cameroon on his first sojourn to Africa, a new translation of the Roman Catholic Mass is getting a trial run in South Africa, where some parishioners say it's too hard to understand.
Critics say the new translation is meant to more closely follow the original Latin text. Before Communion, for example, the prayer ''Lord, I am not worthy to receive you'' becomes ''Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.'' ''One in being with the Father'' becomes ''consubstantial with the Father''.
And the congregation's response to the greeting ''The Lord be with you,'' changes from ''And also with you'' to ''And with your spirit.''
Although mainstream Christian churches, evangelical churches, and Muslim faiths all appear to be expanding rapidly, there are only 430 bishops and some 27,000 priests for 187 million Catholics – 20 percent of the continent’s population.
After Cameroon, the pope will go to Angola – site of the first African mission, where Portuguese priests began to convert people 500 years ago.
The United States will withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19 months after President Barack Obama's inauguration day, according to administration officials who expect Obama to make the announcement this week.
The withdrawal plan would fulfill one of Obama's central campaign pledges, albeit a little more slowly than he promised. He said he would withdraw troops within 16 months, roughly one brigade a month from the time of his inauguration.
The withdrawal plan would fulfill one of Obama's central campaign pledges, albeit a little more slowly than he promised. He said he would withdraw troops within 16 months, roughly one brigade a month from the time of his inauguration.
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Written by By PAMELA HESS and ANNE GEARAN - Associated Press Writer
Written by By PAMELA HESS and ANNE GEARAN - Associated Press Writer
Felistus Ondari Courtesy Photo“My parents used to encourage me to work hard and be the best. I have done that, but my parents are not around to take me to school as they promised,†Felistus told The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper, in 2005.
When word of her plight became known, along with knowledge that she was among thousands of children who shared it, those committed to saving the youth of Kenya began to take action. One of their strongest voices is that of Anderea Onwonga, founder of the Elimu Fund.
There are so many children who are coming from poor backgrounds and when it comes time to go to high school, they can’t afford it,†said Onwonga, a native Kenyan who has been living in the U.S. for the past 20 years.
TOKYO (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's first official overseas trip was overshadowed by harsh North Korean rhetoric, epitomizing how new administrations often can be hemmed in by problems inherited from their predecessors.
At the outset of her Asian trip, Clinton declared in Japan: "I have come to Asia on my first trip as secretary of state to convey that America's relationships across the Pacific are indispensable to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century."
"We will be looking for ways to collaborate on issues that go beyond just our mutual concerns to really addressing global concerns," Clinton said at a ceremony to commemorate the arrival of the first secretary of state ever to make Japan their first overseas stop.
At the outset of her Asian trip, Clinton declared in Japan: "I have come to Asia on my first trip as secretary of state to convey that America's relationships across the Pacific are indispensable to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century."
"We will be looking for ways to collaborate on issues that go beyond just our mutual concerns to really addressing global concerns," Clinton said at a ceremony to commemorate the arrival of the first secretary of state ever to make Japan their first overseas stop.
Human rights activist Harry Belafonte received the 2009 Alston/Jones International Civil and Human Rights Award from the Sit-In Movement, Inc. at their anniversary gala. Proceeds from the gala benefit the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM). Courtesy PhotoThe event was held on Jan. 31 in the Guilford Ballroom of the Sheraton Four Seasons at the Koury Convention Center. Jones also shared the struggles that were endured in efforts to collect funding for the project. He said many thought the state of North Carolina wouldn’t provide funding for the ICRCM, as it was a local project.
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Written by By Pamela Holley-Bright - Special to the NNPA from the Carolina Peacemaker
Written by By Pamela Holley-Bright - Special to the NNPA from the Carolina Peacemaker
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- President Barack Obama chose an Arabic satellite TV network for his first formal television interview as president, part of a concerted effort to repair relations with the Muslim world that were damaged under the previous administration. Obama cited his Muslim background and relatives, practically a taboo issue during the U.S. presidential campaign, and said in the interview, which aired Tue. Jan. 27, that one of his main tasks was to communicate to Muslims "that the Americans are not your enemy."
The interview on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel aired as Obama's new envoy to the region, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, arrived in Egypt on Tue. Jan. 27 for a visit that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The interview on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel aired as Obama's new envoy to the region, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, arrived in Egypt on Tue. Jan. 27 for a visit that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
After the initial moment of euphoria for the landslide victory of Barack Obama, some Africans are now expressing a more cautious note of hope for the new leader. ''Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East conflict, Pakistan and India are where the focus of U.S. policy is going to be,'' said Francis Kornegay of Johannesburg's Institute for Policy Studies.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- The U.N. chief inspected the devastation wrought by Israel's onslaught in Gaza on Tuesday, leading a moment of silence at the smoldering U.N. headquarters, as the territory's militant Hamas rulers, triumphant at having survived, held victory rallies amid the ruins. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, appearing stern and saddened at a ceremony at the burned out U.N. headquarters in Gaza, demanded a full investigation into strikes on United Nations facilities. Ban asked the crowd to honor victims of the offensive, who included nearly 40 Palestinians who had sought refuge at a U.N. school shelled by Israel.
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Written by By BEN HUBBARD and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU – AP Writers
Written by By BEN HUBBARD and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU – AP Writers
Ambassador Dr. Jendayi E. Frazer. Courtesy PhotoFrazer’s long, diplomatic history with the Bush Administration includes appointments to the following positions: Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, 2005; U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, 2004; and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, 2001.
Frazer named the enactment of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief as one of the many highlights in her tenure because it provided unprecedented amounts of U.S. foreign aid to African nations to reduce the threat of HIV/AIDS. She also talked about the defeat of the brutal dictator Charles Taylor by Dr. Ellen Sirleaf, the first female president of an African country, as well as the Liberian people and their installation of Africa’s first female president by a fair and free democratic election process.
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