"Unforgivable Blackness"

Microsoft Warns of 5 New Software Security Flaws

Pre-packaged 'news'
More than 20 different federal agencies used taxpayer funds to produce television news segments promoting Bush administration policies. These "video news releases", or VNRs, were broadcast on hundreds of local news programmes without disclosing their source.

Japan and China Tensions and Washington's Asia Geopolitics

Drugs, Weapons and Death Squads in Haiti
Two weeks ago Flashpoints Radio broke the story of the United States government secretly and illegally arming the U.S. installed coup government of Haiti. Since that time more details have surfaced in terms of the extent of the illegal arms flow, and how these back door deals are working. Indeed, as we reported, the United States has quietly begun to ship these arms to Haiti’s interim government, despite a 13-year arms embargo on the Caribbean nation. The new arms are meant to brace up a shaky security force, so they say, but the reality is that they could actually undermine security and fuel the actions by the death squad national police and a whole bunch of drug dealers running around the streets....[Kevin Pina,] first of all bring it back to where it started and then give us some more information.

Mbeki slams critics over Zim 'noise'
"Why is it so easy to ignore the death of three million people and make extraordinary volumes of noise about another country where only a few people have died. There is something not right about it," he said.

The living legacy of jihad slavery
A public protest in Washington, DC, April 5, 2005 highlighted the current (ongoing, for centuries) plight of black Mauritanians enslaved by Arab masters. The final two decades of the 20th century, moreover, witnessed a frank jihad genocide, including mass enslavement, perpetrated by the Arab Muslim Khartoum government against black Christians and animists in the Southern Sudan, and the same governments continued massacres and enslavement of Animist-Muslim blacks in Darfur.

Fossils of Apelike Creature Still Stir Lineage Debate
The discoverers described the fossils as belonging to the earliest known humanlike primate, or hominid. They named the new species Sahelanthropus tchadensis and commonly call it Toumai, meaning "hope of life" in the local language of Chad. But several other researchers disputed the interpretation, contending that the skull was too apelike to be a hominid.

Ancient African Kingdom May Anchor Cross-Border Conservation Area
An Iron Age archaeological site will likely form the centerpiece of a cross-border conservation area under negotiation by three southern African countries. The proposed Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) will link land in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

World scholars discuss role of religion in Africa at conference
Several scholars from around the world discussed the role of Christianity in Africa at the African Diaspora and the Study of Religion Conference held Thursday and Friday in the Bryant Conference Center. More than 75 people attended.

Ghana-Brazil Chamber of Commerce to be inaugurated
The inauguration of the Ghana-Brazil Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Accra on Wednesday would form part of the programme drawn for the visit of Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Ghana.

An economic case for helping poorest of the poor
About 1 billion people live in what is called "absolute" poverty. That means they try to survive on the equivalent of $1 or less per day. Many of these people are sick and most are chronically undernourished. An estimated 8 million people around the world die each year as a consequence of extreme poverty.

Africa coverage 'too negative'
American media coverage of Africa has concentrated on bad news to the exclusion of more positive developments, hurting investment in and aid to the world's poorest continent, African leaders say.

Unforgivable Blackness

50 years after vaccine, polio's legacy endures

Iran buys 60,000 T S.Africa yellow maize - source

Exploring deeper rhythms from Africa

Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran
As the United States gears up for an attack on Iran, one thing is certain: the Bush administration will never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be cited as the principal justification for an American assault. "We will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon [by Iran]," is the way President Bush put it in a much-quoted 2003 statement. But just as the failure to discover illicit weapons in Iraq undermined the administration's use of WMD as the paramount reason for its invasion, so its claim that an attack on Iran would be justified because of its alleged nuclear potential should invite widespread skepticism. More important, any serious assessment of Iran's strategic importance to the United States should focus on its role in the global energy equation.

Russia shocks BP with demand for $1bn in back tax
BP's flagship investment project in Russia suffered a major and unexpected setback yesterday after its joint venture TNK-BP disclosed it had received a back tax bill for almost one billion dollars.