Blog Entries 1 to 10 of 78
Hurricane Sandy's $50 billion damage demonstrated the vulnerability of America's largest cities to the effects of global warming. Christiana Figueres, the top United Nations diplomat for international climate negotiations, said Sandy serves as "yet another wake-up call" for the U.S. to cut carbon pollution. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Figueres made the case [...]
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Spike Lee's documantary about the making of Michael Jackson's Bad album will soon make it's U.K. broadcast premiere, while its debut on American TV screens did not live up to what was hoped for.. First of all regarding news across the Big Pond, the documentary will premiere next Saturday December 1 on BBC2 at 9:45PM (21:45) However the film had a lackluster debut on the ABC Network on Thanksgiving evening pulling in only 4.2 million viewers. No doubt the competition played a major role in the disappointing numbers when you consider that the NFL football game on NBC that same night pulled in 15.9 million viewers and The X Factor...
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Two days ago, President Kabila removed Major-General Gabriel Amisi as head of the Congolese land forces, one of the most powerful positions in the military. Amisi, aka Tango Four, was a well-known racketeer, who had made a fortune from kickbacks and embezzlement in the army, and who has also been cited for grave human rights abuses, including the May 2002 Kisangani massacre. Yesterday, he named Lieutenant-General Francois Olenga as his replacement.
The rot in the Congolese army runs deep; naming a new commander will not change the way things are done. But we should still ask - who is Olenga?
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As the M23 crisis has unfolded in the eastern Congo, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has emerged as a holdout within American foreign policy, a sort of minority report to the prevailing criticism of Rwanda and the M23.
The first indication of this emerged in June, when Rice delayed the publication of UN Group of Experts' interim report, insisting that Rwanda be given a chance to see the report first and respond. While these UN investigations are supposed to give the accused the opportunity to respond and explain--the Group says it was refused meetings by the Rwandan government, which Kigali denies--they rarely allow them to see the entire report before publication. In any case, the Group finally did brief a Rwandan delegation in New York in June in New York ...
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New Times ( Rwanda ) reports
10 Presidents expected in Kampala for DRC talks.
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This week it was suggested that the growing numbers of city dwellers keeping chickens were spreading disease and harming birds. But is it just bad blood on the part of big food producers?
Billy, seven, brings me a book. "Have you seen this?" It is a well-worn copy of Keeping Chickens, with colour photos and illustrations on every page, several of them featuring attractive children shot against beautiful blue skies. On the table in the open-plan living space of his north London family home, the book falls open on a chapter headed "What to consider".
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Fictional republic of Carana is location for training the African Standby Force, which is due to become operational in 2015
Standing in a tranquil spot in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, nestling under the lush, green shadow of Mount Entoto, it is almost impossible to imagine yourself in war-torn Carana. But that is exactly what the 106 participants in Exercise Njiwa (Swahili for peace) are trying to do in the grounds of the eastern brigade headquarters of the African Standby Force (ASF). The tinkling of cutlery that emerges from the refreshment tent is no substitute for the sound of gunfire and mortar rounds.
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