"Zimbabwe Moves Please S. Africa Official"

Iranian Opposition Should Not Trust the Bush Administration
In the last couple of years, I have written three or four articles regarding the Iranian opposition groups, People's Mujahedin (PMOI) or MEK and the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI). In general, I have attempted to present the views of these organizations as they were represented to me by their supporters. Both of these groups consider their prime objective to be the continuation of the democratic revolutionary impulses of 1979-impulses that they believe were hijacked and destroyed by the Islamic fundamentalist elements among the anti-Shah forces. With this as their fundamental guidepost, these groups conduct outreach to official and unofficial political organizations around the world, especially in the West. Although the groups' supporters consider themselves progressives, they have had difficulty garnering support from the progressive elements in US politics. In Europe, however, it is among progressives that they find their greatest support.

US to boost military co-operation with SA
The United States plans to step up military co-operation with South Africa in 2005, the current edition of the Africa Armed Forces Journal reports.

Meeting the Schindler of Rwanda
In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Paul Rusesabagina -- the subject of the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda" -- talks about how he survived the Rwandan genocide and emerged as one of the bloody war's only heroes. Today, he has rebuilt his life in Europe.

Blighted but unbowed, Africa looms over film fest
Horror stories from Africa of genocide and child killers have stunned Berlin Film Festival audiences this year as actors and directors seek to put the "forgotten continent" on the cinema map.

Zimbabwe Moves Please S. Africa Official
South Africa's foreign minister said Tuesday she is satisfied that Zimbabwe is taking steps to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections - even as the country's opposition leaders protest sweeping security measures, arrests and intimidation.

S. Africa to offer easier access for Africans to travel
South Africa encourages Africans to travel in the country by making access easier, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said here on Tuesday.

Africa, Thousands flee DR Congo violence
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's north-east region of Ituri.

A return 'Into the heart of Africa'
I recently attended an "ethnocultural" presentation at the Royal Ontario Museum. The visit, after a two-decade absence, triggered memories of my raconteur grandmother Augusta Wilhelmina DuBuque, and of familiar events which, like some overture to a larger work, succinctly sum up the African-Diasporic symphony of my life here and elsewhere. Remembered, too, was another period - 1876 to 1900 - when European control of Africa escalated from 10 per cent to 90 per cent; and also the specific linkages between that ROM exhibit and British incursions into Zulu territory during the Anglo-Boer war.

Tribal Casino Revenues Surpass Nevada's
Indian gambling pulled in $18.5 billion in 2004, nearly double the take for Nevada's gambling industry, as tribal casinos boomed ahead.

London mayor refuses to budge over 'offensive' comments
London's controversial Mayor Ken Livingstone refused again Tuesday to apologise for allegedly comparing a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard, despite warnings the row could hit the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

Hopes fade for missing Chinese miners
Hopes are fading for six coal miners missing after 209 of their colleagues were killed by a gas explosion which ripped through a pit in northeast China minutes after an earthquake.

U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses
There are new allegations that heavily armed private security contractors in Iraq are brutalizing Iraqi civilians. In an exclusive interview, four former security contractors told NBC News that they watched as innocent Iraqi civilians were fired upon, and one crushed by a truck. The contractors worked for an American company paid by U.S. taxpayers. The Army is looking into the allegations.

Arab world reacts to killing of al-Hariri
Lebanese and Syrian politicians have denounced the bomb blast in central Beirut that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

MPA: "321 children are still imprisoned"
Ministry of Prisoners Affairs (MPA) reported that since the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000, at least 3,000 Palestinian children were arrested, 321 are still in jail including 11 girls.

The Role of Lebanon
in the Bush Administration's Crusade for Empire
In September 2000, the Project for the New American Century, proudly published their blueprint for the direct imposition of US forward bases throughout Central Asia and the Middle East. The reasons for this program were stated quite openly: to ensure US political and economic domination of the world, while strangling any potential rival or any viable alternative to America's vision of a free market economy.

Why Is The Bush Administration Quickly Fingering Syria
Why has seeing the Bush Administration jump to such a conclusion look a little bit premature and all too convenient? We are seemingly quick to infer that the Syrians were involved in this killing, and that plays nicely into the PNAC view that eliminating Israel’s enemies is our foreign policy. Yet the Bush Administration has not told us yet what evidence they have that Syria was involved, and why they would immediately recall our ambassador. I mean, how often has the Bush Administration recalled its ambassadors at all in any attack like this in the last four years? And yet, we are ready to pin this conveniently on the Syrians?

Secret US nuclear weapons: targets on bases in Europe
The French news agency 'Agence France Presse' yesterday published an underreported study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.* Based mainly on declassified official documents, the study proofs that nuclear warheads already have been and will further be transferred to US non-nuclear allies. Contrary again to international conventions.