"Africa leaders say no to non-African force in Darfur"

U.S.A, Inc.
"Like any corporation, the United States chooses profit over humanity. But the United States is unique in that it operates less like Unocal or Halliburton and more like the mafia, complete with "hits" upon any competitors which might threaten the existing order ("nothing personal, just business"). But even the most violently diabolical members of organized crime can only drool with envy at the military might the U.S.A., Inc. has at its disposal to enforce its will upon the world."

Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda win science funds
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) has been chosen to receive funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The science academies of Nigeria and Uganda have also received funding.

Unions have key Africa role
The problems facing Africa will only be solved by involving the country's workers, the TUC said in a new report.

Africa, Uganda struggles with child soldiers in army ranks
The Ugandan military said Wednesday it was struggling to deal with the presence of child soldiers in its ranks, attempting to balance the demobilization of ex-rebel fighters with its international obligations.

SA 'scraps' Zim poll monitors
Johannesburg - South Africa feels that an official fact-finding mission by a team of legal experts to Zimbabwe before the parliamentary election there is "unnecessary" and should be scrapped.

Claim: Banned corn shipped to Guatemala
Environmental groups said Wednesday they have discovered that genetically modified corn never approved for human consumption is being handed out as U.N. food aid to Guatemala.

Iraq Invasion the 'Biggest Cultural Disaster Since 1258'
One million books, 10 million documents, and 14,000 archaeological artifacts have been lost in the U.S.-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq – the biggest cultural disaster since the descendants of Genghis Khan destroyed Baghdad in 1258, Venezuelan writer Fernando Báez told IPS.

CCR and Pro-Bono Counsel File Suit
on Behalf of More Than 500 John Does at Guantanamo
Attorneys filed a petition for habeas corpus late yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the hundreds of unrepresented people who remain detained by the United States Government at Guantánamo Bay. These nameless detainees join more than 70 whose cases challenging their continued imprisonment are already being addressed in federal court.

Regional states to boost unity
The Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa are currently the most volatile parts of the continent. Although Somalia's delegates to the peace process hosted in Kenya last November elected a transitional government, the recent happenings in their capital, Mogadishu, are discouraging.

Annan urges action to end 'hell on earth' in Darfur
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, called for immediate action yesterday to end what he termed a near hell on earth in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Africa leaders say no to non-African force in Darfur
African leaders, including the head of Sudan, on Wednesday urged the international community not to send troops to Darfur or to impose sanctions because of violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Iran and Syria confront US with defence pact
Iran and Syria heightened tension across the Middle East and directly confronted the Bush administration yesterday by declaring they had formed a mutual self-defence pact to confront the "threats" now facing them.

Fallujah: the truth at last
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault. The accounts I heard over the next few days will live with me forever. You may think you know what happened in Fallujah. But the truth is worse than you could possibly have imagined.

Jamail: Media Held Guilty of Deception
A peoples tribunal has held much of Western media guilty of inciting violence and deceiving people in its reporting of Iraq.* The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), an international peoples initiative seeking the truth about the war and occupation in Iraq made its pronouncement Sunday after a three- day meeting.

Russians lobby for African mine concessions
Renova, the venture capital unit of Russian oligarch Victor Vekselberg, is about to branch out in two new metal mining directions -- manganese in South Africa, and titanium in Russia.