"TB Reaches Alarming Levels in Africa"

'Unique Skills' Land Aristide Top Cabinet Job
GOVERNMENT intends making a dramatic new cabinet appointment by naming former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide as Minister of the African Diaspora to help boost the repatriation of Africans - and particularly American Africans - to the continent.

Rounding Out Iraq's History
I just read a news report from Ramadi, Iraq that detailed an armed takeover of a hospital there by US forces. It seems that there was an explosion in the town and the soldiers invaded the hospital, interrupting medical care, including a caesarian section, and holding some of the staff at gunpoint. As most anybody who follows the occupation of Iraq knows, Ramadi is a stronghold of rebel resistance. Meanwhile, I'm reading a new history of Iraq recently published by Haymarket Books that describes the history of the workers and popular anti imperialist movements in Iraq, especially that of the Iraqi Communist Party. The sad story of that party's collaboration with its enemies can only lead me to wonder how the Iraq situation might have been quite different if the communist movement's history had also been different.

War Crimes Tribunal Asks Colombia for Info

Microsoft files suits in fight against 'phishing'
SEATTLE: Microsoft has filed 117 lawsuits against unknown internet site operators who used "phishing" schemes to obtain personal and financial information from unsuspecting consumers, the world's largest software maker has said.

CoolWebSearch, Dubbed Adware's 'Ebola,' Tops Spyware Threat List
CoolWebSearch is the "Ebola" of adware and easily the most significant spyware threat on the Internet, an anti-spyware security firm says.

Saddam Denied Basic Right to Fair Trial
There is an old saying in the legal profession that everybody deserves a fair trial. But that is easier said than done when it comes to the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. After being captured over a year ago by American forces, Saddam has been held in a military detention center without charges being filed and without access to legal counsel even though his family has hired over 20 lawyers, including several Americans.

Credit, Conspicuous Consumpition and Crisis in Black America
It seems that were it not for bad news there would be almost no news in Black America these days. Black folk, in case you hadn’t heard, are in the midst of yet another crisis. This time it’s a debt crisis, particularly in short-term revolving debt (primarily credit cards, but also payday loans, car title loans, etc.). Though Black families are less likely to have credit cards than White families those who do are much more likely to carry a monthly balance. According to data compiled by Demos from the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances (2001) just over half of White credit card holding families carry a monthly balance (averaging $4,381) while 84% of Black families carry monthly balances (averaging $2,950). Even though Black families carry smaller monthly balances a higher percentage of their financial worth goes into servicing debt.

Return to the Bad Old Days?
On March 9, 2005, police forces in Guatemala City fired tear gas and beat demonstrators who were protesting the ratification of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). President Oscar Berger deployed 500 soldiers wielding truncheons to the city's historic center armed with water cannons and with the intent to halt nearly 1,000 union members, farmers, students and indigenous people who were demanding a national referendum on the contentious issue.

Flu 'Oddities'

Revelations from an Insider
Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on the Bush Administration, Civil Disobedience and the Eternal Fires of Hell

TB Reaches Alarming Levels in Africa
WHILE the fight against tuberculosis, the world's second biggest killer, is proceeding according to plan in most parts of the world, the disease has reached alarming levels in Africa, the World Health Organisation said in a report released Thursday.

Ivory Coast sliding into state of oblivion
In the two years since Ivory Coast tumbled from its pedestal as a powerhouse into the morass of conflict and economic ruin, little has changed but the venue for peace talks.

150,000 Burundian refugees to be repatriated: UN
Up to 150,000 Burundian refugees in camps in Tanzania are to be repatriated this year following improvement in the political situation in Burundi, Xinhua reported.

In Africa, marriage can be deadly
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia -- Sex kills all the time, particularly here in Africa. But prudishness can be just as lethal. President Bush is focusing his program against AIDS in Africa on sexual abstinence and marital fidelity, relegating condoms to a distant third. It's the kind of well-meaning policy that bubbles up out of a White House prayer meeting but that will mean a lot of unnecessary deaths on the ground in Africa.

The outbreak of Marburg in Angola has claimed 127 lives

Fear Marburg Has Spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo
World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson Fadela Chaib said two other suspected cases had been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), across the border from the north Angola area where the outbreak began and has claimed 127 lives out of 132 cases.

Spain, Venezuela Sign Defense, Energy Accords
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has wrapped up a visit to Venezuela by signing a series of defense and energy deals with the Andean nation.

America backs down on Darfur inquiry
The international criminal court was poised to launch a war crimes investigation yesterday into the mass murder and rapes in the Darfur region of Sudan, after international pressure forced the US to withdraw its objections.

MDC slams poll as Mugabe's party takes the lead

S.Africa trade union's Zimbabwe protest falls flat

South African Traditional Leaders Send Election Observers to Zimbabwe
Among the groups that have sent election observers to Zimbabwe is South Africa's "National House of Traditional Leaders." The seven-member mission was invited to Zimbabwe by the government, as part of an agreement signed with traditional leaders in that country.

US says Zimbabwe poll biased but calm

Vote Counting Begins in Zimbabwe's Peaceful General Election

MDC has no faith in SA observers

Straw criticises Zimbabwe election