"African heavyweights meet on unifying continent"

Ethiopia: CUD Leaders, Editors to Face Treason Charges
Detained opposition leaders and editors seized after bloody clashes in Addis Ababa last week will face treason charges, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Wednesday. The prime minister declared that the worst of the violence was over, but his government had no intention of bowing to calls from the international community for the release of opposition leaders.

Johnson-Sirleaf set to become Liberia’s president
Former World Bank economist Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf, holding an unbeatable lead in Liberia’s presidential runoff election, looked certain on Friday to become Africa’s first female elected president. The 66-year-old candidate for the Unity Party declared Thursday evening that “the result is clear, the Liberian people has chosen me to lead the reconciliation and development of the country.”

Eritrea slams Ethiopia for "bloody suppression" of political unrest
Eritrea has condemned neighbouring Ethiopia for "bloody suppression and atrocities" during a recent crackdown on unrest which left more than 40 dead and stirred fears of instability in the region’s dominant power. A statement from Eritrea’s Information Ministry also lambasted Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for "farcical" recent elections where he won another five-year term.

African heavyweights meet on unifying continent
Seven of Africa's most powerful leaders met in Abuja to discuss binding their troubled continent together in a closer political union.

Exiled Soldiers Returning Home
People on both sides of the Congo River are breathing sighs of relief following the repatriation of former soldiers back to Kinshasa. The combatants had spent eight years in exile in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.

On the Tenth Anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa's Execution
Ten years ago the writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian government. In this moving memoir, his son Ken Wiwa talks about his father's legacy and how he is continuing his fight for justice.

Angola celebrates 30th anniversary of independence
The last three decades have been a constant saga of human suffering in Angola, where too much blood and too many tears were shed. Families were divided by the ravages of war, children were lost to disease as the State collapsed in the midst of what seemed to be a never-ending armed conflict. But today, November 11th, Angola wakes up to a new, happier dawn and a brighter tomorrow.

War Veterans Want Respect
FIFTEEN years after the country's independence, liberation war veterans are still pleading for recognition from Namibian citizens, says a report.

Poachers put Congo hippos on brink of extinction
In his poaching days in the Congo forests, Guillaume Kasereka used a rusty Russian-made rocket launcher to kill hippos for meat. These days, he says, they're too scarce and the competition too fierce -- rebels and militiamen machine-gun the animals and even dynamite lakes to bring dead hippos to the surface.

Kenya's charter debate a "farce" - Wangari Maathai
Kenya's upcoming referendum over a proposed new constitution is a "farce" and should be postponed because of the violent divisions it is creating, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai has said. "What we are witnessing is a scenario where a small clique from both sides want to impose their views on Kenyans," Maathai was quoted as saying in Saturday's daily People newspaper

Writers Asked to Play Developmental Roles
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo has reminded African writers of the crucial roles they are expected to play in the process of development and social change in Africa.

More Cars Torched in France Overnight
The number of cars torched overnight in France climbed slightly over the previous night to 502 in a 16th night of unrest that took its heaviest toll on the French provinces, police said Saturday.

Angola Rejects Cash Deal With IMF
ANGOLA would like help from the International Monetary Fund to resolve its problem with debt arrears but is not interested in cash from the fund, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

S’Africa to rename Johannesburg Airport after Oliver Thambo
South Africa is to rename the Johannesburg International Airport after former president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Oliver Tambo. Newsmen report that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council where the Port is situated had passed a resolution to rename the airport as Tambo International Airport.

South africa : S.African Court indicts Zuma
Sacked South African deputy president Jacob Zuma was formally indicted on corruption charges on Saturday in a case that has split the ruling ANC and tested the country's young democracy. Zuma appeared briefly in the Durban magistrate court and was informed of the indictment and told his trial will begin on July 31 next year and will run until November 14. His 1,000 rand bail was also extended.

GOP memo touts new terror attack as way to reverse party's decline
A confidential memo circulating among senior Republican leaders suggests that a new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush as well as the GOP and "restore his image as a leader of the American people."

French Ghettos, Police Violence and Racism
The French called them Les cités. The 'ghettos' are specially built for excluded and disfranchised migrants from France's former North African colonies - mostly Arabs and Muslims - and other parts of the world. Clustered on the peripheries of France's big cities, Les cités proved to be laboratories for dissent and resistance against oppression. The children of the immigrants who built France after World War II are being pushed further outside the French society.

The Rise Of America's New Enemy
This is not romantic; an epic is unfolding in Latin America that demands our attention beyond the stereotypes and clichés that diminish whole societies to their degree of exploitation and expendability.

U.S. forces 'shake and bake' Iraqi civilians!
Recognizing its devastating significance, progressive websites have been quick to headline the shocking story that a recently run Italian television documentary quite compellingly and gruesomely shows U.S. forces used the chemical terror weapon white phosphorous during their withering assault on Fallujah, Iraq.

U.N. Food Expert Condemns U.S. Tactics in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS - Jean Ziegler, the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, made waves last month when he accused U.S. and British forces of using food and water as weapons of war in besieged cities in Iraq.

Methodist Bishops Repent Iraq War 'Complicity'
WASHINGTON -- Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq. "In the face of the United States administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent," said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide.

FBI and CIA identified as helping Plan Venezuelan Prosecutor's Murder
A key witness in the Danilo Anderson murder trial, Giovani Jose Vasquez De Armas, has identified FBI and CIA agents as being involved in the preparations to assassinate the Venezuelan State Prosecutor. Speaking on behalf of Vasquez De Armas, the Attorney General's office said that those planning the killing, "all discussed the plan with the help of the FBI and CIA."

Venezuela's Chavez Calls Mexican President a "Puppy of US Empire"
During a meeting at the Teresa Carreno Theater Wednesday night, President Hugo Chavez said that Mexican President Vincente Fox's support of the US during the recent Summit of the America's was unfortunate. Chavez said, "How sad that the President of a people like the people of Mexico lets himself become the puppy dog of the empire."

New telescope is largest in Southern Hemisphere

A bad day for Blair - an even worse one for liberty

Beleaguered Bush hits out at 'irresponsible' Iraq war critics

Follow the drugs: US shown the way