"USA/Africa: Cotton Dumping"

Ready to battle to death: Khameni
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday he was ready to don combat fatigues and give his life in battle if his country were attacked, accusing Washington of seeking any excuse to start a war. The United States and Israel have both rattled sabres over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, refusing to rule out air strikes to hinder what they see as Tehran's pursuit of atomic weapons.

On The USA's Piecemeal Withdrawal From International Law
Suddenly, Foreigners On Death Row Have No Right To Make An International Appeal

Arab Summit Rejects Jordan Proposal

U.S. Using Anti-Terror War to Gain World Oil Reserves
On the pretext of fighting international terrorism the United States is trying to establish control over the world’s richest oil reserves, Leonid Shebarshin, ex-chief of the Soviet Foreign Intelligence Service, who heads the Russian National Economic Security Service consulting company, said in an interview for the Vremya Novostei newspaper.

Tomb dig findings shrouded in mystery
Archaeologists have finished the excavation of an ancient tomb complex in the Lop Nur Desert in the northwest of China, but researchers are baffled, saying they need more time to understand the finds.

US Suspends Military Aid to Nicaragua
Raising tensions that have revived the politics and personalities of the cold war, the United States has suspended military assistance to Nicaragua because it has failed to move forward with the destruction of an arsenal of shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles that the Bush administration considers a possible terrorist threat.

Sizzla Set Free
Reggae star SIZZLA was released by Jamaican police on Monday (21MAR05) following his arrest for suspected involvement in inciting violence and gun-running.

Police urge concert cancellation after Sizzla's arrest on weapon charges

Nobel Laureate Charges World Leaders On Forestry Devt
Wangari Maathai, who received the Nobel Peace prize last year for her dedication to the conservation of the environment by planting trees all over Africa, has charged theFood and Agriculture Organisation on the sustainable development of world forest resources.

South Africa shows interest in India's Simputer
South Africa has shown keen interest in using a no-frills computer developed by Indian scientists, especially for rural development.

Corrupt companies to be blacklisted
Companies guilty of corrupt practices will in future be blacklisted under resolutions adopted at the second anti-corruption conference in Pretoria on Wednesday.

South Africa Miners Strike Spreads
The weak dollar continues to spell bad news for South Africa miners as a strong rand eats away mining profits reliant upon the dollar. Free State province gold mine workers went on strike to protest Harmony Gold Mining Co.'s plans of issuing up to 5,000 pink slips. DRDGold Inc., decided to close unprofitable mines, which would eliminate 6,000 jobs.

Dutchman to be charged with war crimes in Africa
Prosecutors in the Netherlands plan to charge a Dutch businessman allied with former Liberian President Charles Taylor with war crimes and gun smuggling, the prosecutors office said on Tuesday.

Europe, Not America, May Be Africa's Best Ally
Most African states look up to the United States (US) for aid and development. Therefore, it is not surprising that most African states tend to jump on to the band wagon in support of any U.S. policy without careful scrutiny of the underlying merits. As they gasp in the false American dream, they tend to forget more important allies. Lets give Europe a closer look.

USA/Africa: Cotton Dumping
Pressure to reduce rich-country subsidies for agricultural exports ratchetted upward this month when the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its final ruling that U.S. current payments to cotton farmers were illegal. The Bush administration's 2006 budget submitted to Congress proposes reduction in these subsidies by setting new upper limits on payments. But the outcome in Congress is uncertain, and African cotton farmers need more than promises of somewhat fairer terms for their exports in the distant future.

Zim 62 'sunk' by supreme court
Zimbabwe's supreme court has granted the country's attorney-general leave to appeal against the early release of more than 60 South Africans held in connection with a botched coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Somali warlords want transitional president impeached
The crisis over the relocation of Somalia's transitional government deepened Wednesday as powerful warlords said they would move to impeach President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Study Tackles Role of Retired African Rulers
A STUDY on presidential transitions in Anglophone Africa has found that African rulers face a dilemma when they retire from active politics. The study pays attention to the challenges of presidential succession in a comparative perspective, exploring the limits and scope in a variety of differing scenarios.