US to announce food security plan for Africa
May 18, 2012
US President Barack Obama is set to announce a $3bn (£1.9bn) plan to boost food security and farm productivity in Africa, US officials say. They say the initiative is aimed at alleviating shortages as world food supplies are being stretched by rising demand in Asia's emerging markets. Food security is expected to be on the agenda of this weekend's G-8 meeting. The summit near Washington is being…
UN says al Qaeda behind Syria suicide bombs death toll from civil war reaches 10,000
May 18, 2012
UN leader Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaeda committed a major bomb attack in Damascus that left dozens dead, and that up to 10,000 people have now been killed in Syria. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon Photo: EPA 10:30AM BST 18 May 2012 Ban said President Bashar al-Assad has still not implemented a peace plan agreed with UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. “Very alarmingly and surprisingly, a few days ago, there was a huge serious massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al-Qaeda behind it. This has created again very serious problems,” Ban said at a youth event at the UN headquarters. Suicide attackers detonated huge bombs in Damascus on May 10, killing at least 55…
US mulls ‘terrorist’ designation for Boko Haram
May 18, 2012
Zeenews Bureau Washington: The US State Department may designate Nigeria’s militant Islamist sect Boko Haram, as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, a news agency said on Friday. Citing a document, the agency said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco sent a letter to State…
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Why I won’t be going to the London Olympics
May 18, 2012
Iran’s president stays away but other controversial national leaders will attend, causing a headache for David Cameron President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad applauded Iran’s athletes but said he would not be going to London to watch them. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said he would like to come to the London Olympics but will not be attending because Britain has “a problem” with him. His decision to stay away highlights a dilemma for the British government, which faces an unprecedented influx of leaders from unsavoury regimes for the opening ceremony on 27 July….
China shadow looming, Taiwan’s Ma set for 2nd term
May 18, 2012
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou is set to begin his second presidential term caught between China’s desire to exert greater influence over his democratic island and Taiwanese determination to maintain their de facto independence. Ma is to be sworn in again Sunday. Since taking office in 2008, he has leveraged growing economic ties with Beijing to reduce tensions across the 160-kilometer (100-mile)- wide Taiwan Strait to their lowest level since the sides split amid civil war in 1949. Trade volumes have soared, commercial barriers have tumbled, and tourism and other exchanges have become commonplace. But that may not be enough for China. It says Taiwan is part of its territory, to…
Documents shed more light on Trayvon Martin shooting
May 18, 2012
ATLANTA — On the night George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, a witness said he saw some of the scuffle — and described a black man in a dark hoodie on top of a white or Latino man, punching him repeatedly, “mixed martial arts style.” Then there was a pop, the witness told police, according to documents made public Thursday in Zimmerman’s second-degree murder case. Soon, he said, the man in the hoodie was “laid out in the grass.” The detail, one of many in a trove of discovery records released by prosecutors, could bolster Zimmerman’s contention that he acted in self-defense on the night of Feb. 26, after he called police and reported…
The burqa reminder
May 18, 2012
Since a 2009 trip to Kabul, I have kept a sky-blue burqa in my office as a reminder of the responsibility we have to the women of Afghanistan. As world leaders gather in Chicago this weekend to discuss Afghanistan’s future, women must not just be a topic on the agenda — they must be a part of the conversation. Women must have a seat at the table; their concerns must be heard, and they must be part of the process of peace-building. More than a decade ago, the fall of…
The Queen’s lunch for monarchs attracts controversy
May 17, 2012
The King of Bahrain and Swaziland's King Mswati III are among controversial monarchs expected at a Windsor Castle lunch being hosted by the Queen later. Critics accuse Bahrain of human rights abuses and say King Mswati lives in luxury while his people starve. Campaigner Peter Tatchell criticised The Queen for inviting "royal tyrants to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee". The Foreign Office said it was having "a full and frank discussion on a range of issues" with Bahrain's government. Buckingham Palace said it will not comment on the lunch. It will be followed by an evening banquet, hosted by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Not all the monarchs will be…
Donna Summer, queen of disco, dies of cancer at 63
May 17, 2012
Donna Summer, the multimillion-selling singer and songwriter whose hits captured both the giddy hedonism of the 1970s disco era and the feisty female solidarity of the early 1980s, died of lung cancer Thursday at her home in Naples, Fla. She was 63. With her doe eyes, cascade of hair and sinuous dance moves, Summer became the queen of disco — the music’s glamorous public face — as well as an idol with a substantial gay following. Her voice, airy and ethereal or brightly assertive, sailed over dance floors and leapt from radios from the mid-1970s well into the 1980s. She riffled through styles as diverse as funk, electronica, rock and torch song as she piled up 14 Top 10 singles…
Infants’ death sparks protest in Kashmir
May 17, 2012
Srinagar, May 17 (ANI): Locals in Jammu and Kashmir protested here on Thursday against increasing crib deaths due to negligence of the hospital authorities. Reportedly, over 300 infants have died in the…
