SOUTH AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG - Newly elected African National Congress Youth League head Julius Malema uses his first letter as president to chastise those who showed "unbecoming conduct" at the league's conference in Bloemfontein recently. Malema warns that, "Thugs and hooligans who believe they can hold the organisation to ransom through their despicable behaviour will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner".
AFRICA
LUANDA - Angola seeks to diversify its economy away from oil, and signs agreements with China for infrastructure investments as part of that effort, says Angolan Industry Minister Joaquim David. The former Portuguese colony, sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest oil producer, exports nearly two-million barrels of oil a day and has established two funds to collect oil revenues above budgeted levels: one to stabilise future spending and the other for investment projects in the nonoil sector. China’s infrastructure investments in Angola include a recently completed 500 MW hydro electric power plant, to help rebuild the Southern African country after a devastating three-decade civil war.
DARFUR - Darfur's warring parties agree to discuss ways of improving security in the region, but stop short of promising cease-fires or new peace talks, say United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) envoys. The announcement coincides with reports of continuing violence in Sudan's remote west and growing disillusionment over efforts to push for a settlement in the five-year conflict. The AU's Darfur envoy Salim Ahmed Salim, and his UN counterpart Jan Eliasson, tell reporters that an "intense" round of meetings with the main sides in the conflict has just been concluded. Eliasson says that he is hoping to persuade all sides to at least reduce the current levels of violence to clear the way for the resumption of long-term peace talks before the end of the year.
WORLD
LONDON - Britain and South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma make a united call for an end to the election stalemate in Zimbabwe, stepping up pressure on President Robert Mugabe to release results. In a joint statement, Zuma, who is the most outspoken African leader on Zimbabwe and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, one of Mugabe's harshest critics, resolve to redouble efforts to secure the early publication of the election results and call for an end to any violence and intimidation, and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box.
NEW DELHI - India begins preparing for what is one of the world's biggest-ever census, a survey by millions of volunteers that could affect government policies by revealing how economic growth is affecting the population. Thousands of officials are involved in the long-drawn process of mapping cities, towns and villages that is likely to throw up new information on the changing demographic profile in the country. Millions of volunteers and census officials will visit every household around the country in the next few years to gather information on jobs, education and quality of life.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Boris Tadic encourages Serbs in the new State of Kosovo to participate in local Serbian elections, however, Britain and the US say this would be unwise and illegal. Serbia, which says it will never recognise Kosovo's February 17, 2008, declaration of independence from Belgrade, will hold local and parliamentary elections on May 11, 2008. The UN, which has administered Kosovo since 1999, says the participation of Kosovo Serbs in Serbia's local elections would violate UN rules and would not be valid.
MARTINIQUE - France pays tribute to the poet and statesperson Aime Cesaire, a fierce critic of colonialism and a father of the "negritude" movement that celebrated black pride and consciousness. Cesaire, who died at the age of 94, is commemorated at a State funeral in his native Martinique attended by President Nicolas Sarkozy, government Ministers and senior figures from the opposition Socialist Party.
JOHANNESBURG - Newly elected African National Congress Youth League head Julius Malema uses his first letter as president to chastise those who showed "unbecoming conduct" at the league's conference in Bloemfontein recently. Malema warns that, "Thugs and hooligans who believe they can hold the organisation to ransom through their despicable behaviour will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner".
AFRICA
LUANDA - Angola seeks to diversify its economy away from oil, and signs agreements with China for infrastructure investments as part of that effort, says Angolan Industry Minister Joaquim David. The former Portuguese colony, sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest oil producer, exports nearly two-million barrels of oil a day and has established two funds to collect oil revenues above budgeted levels: one to stabilise future spending and the other for investment projects in the nonoil sector. China’s infrastructure investments in Angola include a recently completed 500 MW hydro electric power plant, to help rebuild the Southern African country after a devastating three-decade civil war.
DARFUR - Darfur's warring parties agree to discuss ways of improving security in the region, but stop short of promising cease-fires or new peace talks, say United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) envoys. The announcement coincides with reports of continuing violence in Sudan's remote west and growing disillusionment over efforts to push for a settlement in the five-year conflict. The AU's Darfur envoy Salim Ahmed Salim, and his UN counterpart Jan Eliasson, tell reporters that an "intense" round of meetings with the main sides in the conflict has just been concluded. Eliasson says that he is hoping to persuade all sides to at least reduce the current levels of violence to clear the way for the resumption of long-term peace talks before the end of the year.
WORLD
LONDON - Britain and South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma make a united call for an end to the election stalemate in Zimbabwe, stepping up pressure on President Robert Mugabe to release results. In a joint statement, Zuma, who is the most outspoken African leader on Zimbabwe and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, one of Mugabe's harshest critics, resolve to redouble efforts to secure the early publication of the election results and call for an end to any violence and intimidation, and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box.
NEW DELHI - India begins preparing for what is one of the world's biggest-ever census, a survey by millions of volunteers that could affect government policies by revealing how economic growth is affecting the population. Thousands of officials are involved in the long-drawn process of mapping cities, towns and villages that is likely to throw up new information on the changing demographic profile in the country. Millions of volunteers and census officials will visit every household around the country in the next few years to gather information on jobs, education and quality of life.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Boris Tadic encourages Serbs in the new State of Kosovo to participate in local Serbian elections, however, Britain and the US say this would be unwise and illegal. Serbia, which says it will never recognise Kosovo's February 17, 2008, declaration of independence from Belgrade, will hold local and parliamentary elections on May 11, 2008. The UN, which has administered Kosovo since 1999, says the participation of Kosovo Serbs in Serbia's local elections would violate UN rules and would not be valid.
MARTINIQUE - France pays tribute to the poet and statesperson Aime Cesaire, a fierce critic of colonialism and a father of the "negritude" movement that celebrated black pride and consciousness. Cesaire, who died at the age of 94, is commemorated at a State funeral in his native Martinique attended by President Nicolas Sarkozy, government Ministers and senior figures from the opposition Socialist Party.
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