Mugabe in hospital

ZW News   
The official line from the president’s office yesterday was that Mugabe was on a “private visit to Dubai”
Moses Mudzwiti, Sipho Masondo and Sapa
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is receiving treatment in a Dubai hospital following a serious health scare. The Times has established that Mugabe was whisked off in secret to a United Arab Emirates [...]

Immigration Reform Moves a Notch

National Immigration Forum
 On August 20, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and staff from the White House, DHS, and the Justice Department met with stakeholders from immigration advocacy organizations, faith groups, businesses, labor organizations and law enforcement agencies to discuss immigration reform.  

Africa seeks climate change cash

BBC

The leaders of 10 African countries are gathering in Ethiopia to try to agree a common position on climate change, months before a crucial UN meeting.  They are expected to renew demands for billions of dollars in compensation for Africa because of damage caused by global warming.

Brazil calls Obama over US bases

BBC
Brazil’s leader has called on US President Barack Obama to meet South American leaders to calm fears about the US military presence in Colombia. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his concerns in a phone call to President Obama, Brazil’s foreign minister said.He wants guarantees that US troops will be restricted to fighting drugs and [...]

Solar Powered Mobile Phone Launched in Kenya

News from Africa
By Philip Emase
A Kenyan telecommunications firm has launched a cheap solar powered mobile handset for the low income market. The firm, Safaricom, developed the phone in partnership with Chinese telecoms firm ZTE barely two months after Samsung began selling the world’s first commercially released solar-powered cell phone in India.

Scores of children rescued from organized slave labour in INTERPOL-led operation conducted by Côte d’Ivoire police

Scores of children rescued from organized slave labour in INTERPOL-led operation conducted by Côte d’Ivoire police
 
Specially trained investigators in child exploitation and trafficking interview the child victims
3 August 2009
InterPol Website
INTERPOL’s first ever police operation targeting child
trafficking in West Africa has resulted in the rescue of more than 50 child workers and the arrest of eight [...]

Home Is…

A hymn for the planet
View the video
HOME is an ode to the planet’s beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it. But HOME is more than a documentary with [...]

Scientists uncover new ocean threat from plastic

The Independent
By Stecve Connor, science editor
 
Scientists have identified a new source of chemical pollution released by the huge amounts of plastic rubbish found floating in the oceans of the world. A study has found that as plastics break down in the sea they release potentially toxic substances not found in nature and which could affect [...]

Backgrounder on Zimbabwe

 USCCB
 In Zimbabwe … the situation remains critical and considerable humanitarian assistance is needed.
– Pope Benedict XVI, January 8, 2009
BACKGROUND
Over the last nine years the government of Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe, has carried out a reign of repression over this once free and prosperous country of 11 million people. Inflation once the [...]

Partnering Against Trafficking

Washington Post
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
Twenty-year-old Oxana Rantchev left her home in Russia in 2001 for what she believed was a job as a translator in Cyprus. A few days later, she was found dead after attempting to escape the traffickers who tried to force her into prostitution. Oxana’s story is the story of modern slavery. [...]