"Zimbabwe clears IMF debt"

Haitians, neighbors welcome Preval's presidential victory
Haitians and their neighbors have welcomed the election of Rene Preval as president, amid signs aid was in the pipeline to help restore stability in the Hemisphere's poorest country.

Zimbabwe clears IMF debt, escapes expulsion
Zimbabwe said Thursday it had paid 9 million US dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to clear a longstanding debt over which the Bretton Woods institution had threatened to expel the country. This was part of a total 300 million US dollars the country owed the IMF under the General Resources Account (GRA), which Zimbabwe had failed to repay in the last five years due to foreign currency shortages.

Firm pays heirs of ‘Lion’ song composer
A U.S. company has settled a long-running legal dispute with a South African family over the copyright to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” one of Africa’s most famous tunes, lawyers said Friday.

Nigeria steps up efforts to stop spread of H5N1 virus
After a shaky start, Nigeria’s bid to prevent Africa’s first bird-flu outbreak from spreading to humans gathered momentum yesterday after President Olusegun Obasanjo vowed to work tirelessly to eradicate the virus.

Zimbabwe said to be importing GMO maize
Zimbabwe is importing unmilled, genetically-modified (GMO) yellow maize from Argentina, despite an official ban on such products, trading sources and other monitors said on Friday.

From landless to landowners - the benefits of land reform
- In the late 1990s – still the early days of South Africa's democracy – Joseph Makhadi couldn't afford to continue his studies at a local technical college. He dropped out and lived, unemployed, in a humble dwelling along with 10 members of his extended family. But in 2002, Makhadi and his family were among 700 households given title to a vast piece of rolling bush in South Africa's Limpopo Province, a result of the government's ambitious land reform programme.

US asks Palestinians to return aid
United States has asked the Palestinian Authority to return $50 million in US aid because Washington does not want a Hamas-led government to have the funds, the State Department said today.

Nigeria oil 'total war' warning
A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta has told the BBC his group is declaring "total war" on all foreign oil interests.

Halliburton Detention Centers
Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country and become unapologetically paranoid. Paranoia should now be the normal state of mind for thinking people. Sneers and dismissive remarks about "conspiracy theorists" must be ignored. We don't want to end up like the proverbial frog who boils to death because the heat was turned up slowly.

West applies double standards toward Iran
Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray told Iran's Al-Alam satellite television network earlier this week that Westerners have been applying double standards toward Iran's nuclear program. "The double standards are obvious in this regard. Israel has nuclear weapons, but London and Washington say nothing," he told Al-Alam.

UN calls for closure of base at Guantanamo bay

Climate change: On the edge

Israel to choke off Hamas?