The Beeb has good Africa coverage.
PART 1: Tanzania through Zimbabwe
TANZANIA wiki
Tanzania includes the island of Zanzibar.
IPP Media
Tanzania, India sign pact to strengthen cooperation in ICT
2008-03-21 09:57:22
By Penzi Nyamungumi, New Delhi
Tanzania and India have agreed to establish a centre in Dar es Salaam in their quest to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the area of information technology.
A memorandum of understanding to that effect was signed between the two countries yesterday in the Indian capital, New Dehli, by Industries, Trade and Marketing minister Dr. Mary Nagu and Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary Nalin Surie.
Looks like India wants to do some outsourcing of its own.
IPP Media
IMF mission upbeat on Tanzania`s growth path
2008-03-20 08:41:49
By Perege Gumbo
A visiting mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has extolled Tanzania?s recent economic growth trends despite ongoing global turmoil in trade and industry.
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The economic growth is on track to reach 7.5 per cent in 2007/08, and continues to perform strongly, and despite global and regional headwinds, mission leader Roger Nord said.
The robust expansion in manufacturing, construction, and services sectors was significantly supported by positive fiscal performance.
IPP Media
Corruption a disaster, warns Bishop Kilaini
2008-03-22 10:07:27
By Simon Mhina
The Catholic Church in Tanzania has said it sees the ongoing grand corruption scandals as a disaster out to wreak havoc on the country`s social and economic development.
Methodius Kilaini, Auxiliary Bishop of the church`s Dar es Salaam Diocese, made remarks to that effect at a Good Friday mass held at national level at Mburahati Parish in the city yesterday.
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He said it was indefensible for the culprits to continue leading sumptuous lives made possible by corruption while millions of ordinary law-abiding citizens made do with no more than a single meal a day that was often far from decent.
The staggering amounts of public funds embezzled could be used in ensuring that the people had easy access to vital facilities and services in the health, education, health, transport and other sectors.
BBC
Power-sharing deal for Zanzibar
Tanzania's ruling party will share power with the opposition Civic United Front on the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar, opposition officials say.
Opposition leader Seif Sharrif Hamad said the deal will end the political rift that emerged after the 2005 polls.
But President Amani Karume of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is yet to comment on the deal.
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Zanzibar maintains a political union with Tanzania, but has its own parliament and president.
IPP Media
Cash budgeting earns Zanzibar surplus revenue
2008-03-19 09:08:19
By Beatrice Philemon
The government of Zanzibar is steadily registering surplus spending because of honest adherence to austerity measures.
The indicator for disciplinary state spending springs from the January official figures which show that spending on the archipelago reached 17.8bn/- below the target of 18.7bn/-, thus earning a surplus close to a billion.
I don’t know what the monetary unit is used in this story. If the monetary unit is the Tanzanian shilling, one billion shillings would be about $850,000.
TOGO wiki
Nasdaq
EU Grants Togo EUR123 Million For 2008-2013
March 11, 2008
LOME, Togo (AFP)--The European Union will grant Togo a total of EUR123 million between 2008 and 2013 to help finance urban development, better roads and social infrastructure, it said Tuesday.
The loan package, announced in Lome by the European Commission, is a major step in the resumption of full cooperation between the E.U. and the small west African country of about six million people after a 15-year hiatus.
All the other news from Togo is about sports.
TUNISIA wiki
Khaleej Times
Kadhafi son optimistic on release of Austrian hostages
(AFP)
22 March 2008
VIENNA - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s son is in contact with the kidnappers of two Austrians abducted last month in Tunisia, and is optimistic they could soon be freed, the Austria Press Agency reported.
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Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer has also reportedly called Kadhafi himself to help in the affair.
The daily Oesterreich reported Saturday that the Libyan leader discussed the hostage crisis with the president of Mali, where the Austrians are believed to be held, during a common visit to Uganda.
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The Austrian daily Oesterreich quoted a diplomatic source in Mali Saturday as saying a meeting between the kidnappers and the negotiators had taken place in Bou Djeheba, north of Timbuktu.
The kidnappers, the Algeria-based Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, and Mali each sent an envoy to the meeting, which was organised by Libya, the newspaper reported, with no further details about the discussions.
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Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 44, were abducted on February 22 as they were vacationing in the Tunisian desert and are believed to be held in northern Mali.
Another kidnapping story from North Africa, but Tauregs aren’t the miscreants this time. I include the story because of the involvement of Kadhafi and his son, who seem to have been playing a constructive role in their neighborhood recently. I wonder if their efforts are aimed at furthering acceptance of Libya in community of nations.
The Tauregs are busy, though. The hostages might be held near where this fighting is going on:
AFP
Tuareg rebels resume fighting with Mali troops
Sat Mar 22, 11:44 AM ET
BAMAKO (AFP) - Fighting resumed Saturday in northern Mali between Tuareg rebels and government troops, who lost 33 men captured and three killed since Thursday, local dignitaries said.
The rebels loyal to Ibrahim Ag Bahanga machine-gunned an army patrol 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Aneibara, half-way between Tinzaouatene, on the border with Algeria, and the regional capital of Kidane, they said.
Fighting was continuing as the rebels tried to prevent the government forces based at Tinzaouatene from falling back on Kidane.
Gulf Times
Tunisia to change law on elections
Published: Saturday, 22 March, 2008, 08:13 AM Doha Time
TUNIS: Tunisia will change its constitution to allow more candidates to contest next year’s presidential election, as opposition groups want, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali said yesterday.
But the proposed change would effectively block the candidacy of the only politician who has so far said he wants to contest for the presidency of the north African country of over 10mn.
Ben Ali came to power in 1987 and won 94.4% of the vote in the 2004 election against three opponents.
IISD
First African Water Week
26-28 March 2008
Tunis, Tunisia
The first African Water week (AWW-1) will be held in Tunis, Tunisia from 26-28 March 2008. The event, hosted by the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), will be held under the theme "Accelerating Water Security for Socio-Economic Development of Africa".
UGANDA wiki
New Karala
Uganda prepares to sign final agreement to end 20-year war
Kampala, March 22 : Uganda will resume talks with the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) guerrillas Monday to fine-tune the draft peace treaty, officials said Saturday and emphasised that the deadline was March 28.
Speaking to reporters in Juba, southern Sudan, the venue of the talks, government leader Ruhakana Rugunda said the purpose of the talks was to prepare the treaty, to agree on the implementation schedule and to agree on the dates to sign.
The talks began in mid 2006 under the mediation of the southern Sudanese government. The war has left thousands of people dead, mutilated and abducted by the LRA who forced them to fight and turn the abducted girls into sex slaves. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict.
allAfrica.com
Uganda: The Fight Against Female Circumcision
The Monitor (Kampala), 22 March 2008
Agness Nandutu
Kapchorwa
FEMALE circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation is not a subject often heard in the corridors of Uganda's Parliament even if there are at least two circumcised female legislators, and scores of MP's who oppose the practice.
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The practice is restricted to the mountainous eastern districts of Kapchorwa and Bukwo which is one reason why it is hardly an issue of public debate.
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...The female legislators from the area are against the practice but unable to step forward to speak against it for "political reasons".
But male MPs like Mr Herbert Sabila (Tingey NRM) have come out to condemn the practice and are strongly pushing for the law to ban it. As a human rights issue female circumcision is yet to gain any traction.
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The draft law titled "The Prohibition of Female Genital Cutting Bill" is expected to come before the House from the Parliamentary Forum for Food Security, Population and Development.
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In its current form the draft law proposes a 5-7 year prison sentence for "any person who violates or attempts to violate the physical integrity of the female genital organ or aids a person to perform the act".
If the circumcision results in death the offender would be guilty of a felony and face 10 years in jail. The law does not consider cultural tradition and ritual a valid defence.
ZAMBIA wiki
Calcutta News
Zambia invites Indian firms to set up tax-free zone
Calcutta News.Net
Friday 21st March, 2008 (IANS)
After giving China a tax free zone, the southern African nation of Zambia wants to create a similar exclusive economic zone for Indian companies to bring 'value-addition' to its mining industry.
'We have had a long partnership in India, with investments in several areas. But what has been lacking was visibility. This zone will help in improving India's profile (in Zambia),' visiting Zambian Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutati told IANS.
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The landlocked African nation, whose economy has been traditionally dominated by copper mining, has already approved two multi-facility economic zones being developed by the Malaysians and the Chinese.
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'We want the Indian zone to be at least $900 million. If it's smaller, then it will not have the visibility,' he said, adding that 30 sq km land had already been identified in the central province of Kabwe, about 150 km from capital Lusaka, for the special economic zone.
The Zambian minister said that he would like Indian firms to focus on supply of equipment and processing of raw products.
'While we have a lot of mining activity, we have to export all the raw materials for processing outside as there is no proper processing plant,' he said.
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Currently, India has a share of 50 percent of Zambia's mining industry, while the Chinese have 15 percent - courtesy Vedanta Resources' majority stake in the country's largest copper mines, Konkola, at a cost of $1.2 billion.
allAfrica.com
Zambia: Unicef Sends 'Schools-in-a-Box' to Flood-Hit Regions
UN News Service (New York)
20 March 2008
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has dispatched 58 "schools-in-a-box" to flood-hit areas of Zambia to help pupils whose families have had to flee their homes because of rising waters or whose school buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
Each school-in-a-box, which contains enough supplies for 100 children, will be distributed to community and Government schools in Southern, Lusaka and Western provinces, among the regions hardest hit by the recent flooding. They have been sent from the agency's supply division in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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The kits, designed for students in grade one to nine, contain exercise books, student slates, an inflatable globe, a student register, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpeners, ballpoint pens, felt-tip pens, erasers, chalkboards, chalk and chalk duster, scissors, tape, a clock, flipchart markers, a compass, coloured wooden cubes, educational posters, book bags, rulers and a metal box for transport and storage.
allAfrica.com
Zimbabwe: Zambia Blames GMB for Maize Delivery Delays
Financial Gazette (Harare)
20 March 2008
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
ZAMBIA has blamed the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for delaying the delivery of 150 000 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe to help ease a critical food shortage.
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Zimbabwe has suffered another bad season because of poor farming preparations, erratic rains and input shortages.
Aid agencies say more than four million people are in urgent need of food aid and the number could swell in the coming weeks.
Zambia blames Zimbabwe’s Grain Marketing Board for the delay, because the GMB insists on bringing its own chemicals into Zambia to fumigate the corn. Also, there is trouble with payment. Interesting article – Mugabe cannot do anything right.
allAfrica.com
Zambia: Levy Calls for Closer Angola Ties
The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
20 March 2008
Aubrey Musuumba
Luanda
PRESIDENT Mwanawasa has called for the immediate revival of the Zambia-Angola Joint Permement Commission of Cooperation (JPCC) to provide a platform for enhanced cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.
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Meanwhile, Dr Mwanawasa has said that the restoration of peace in Angola is an opportunity to galvanise and spur trade in the region.
He said this was because the peace and stability in Angola would re-generate economic activities between Angola and other countries in the region and beyond.
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Dr Mwanawasa said the challenge that lay ahead was for Angola to rehabilitate and build the internal infrastructure and for the region to construct trans-national infrastructure.
Levy is the President’s given name. Another encouraging article about progress and bi-lateral cooperation in Africa. If you read it, you will see the acronym SADC. This stands for Southern African Development Community.
Calcutta News
Lifeline group to set up hospital in Zambia
Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 19th March, 2008 (IANS)
The Chennai-based Lifeline Group of Hospitals has signed a memorandum of understanding with Zambia's health ministry Wednesday to establish its first overseas hospital.
The MoU was signed with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Works and Supplies, Republic of Zambia. Lifeline Zambia will have an investment of $10 million.
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The Zambia government will provide the land and building for the proposed medical facility. Lifeline group will build on the existing facility, equip it with 100 beds and provide state of the art equipment to make it one of the most modern hospitals in Zambia.
Lifeline group will also run the facility as a commercial entity at an affordable fee.
The hospital will also have a team of 300 medical personnel, including doctors and paramedical staff of which 80 percent will be from the Lifeline's own team.
ZIMBABWE wiki
Do you wonder how Robert Mugabe can possibly be considered a serious contender to be re-elected President next week? This article explains a lot:
Independent
Zimbabwe police: 'You'll never take Mugabe out of power'
Sunday, 23 March 2008
In Mutare, a picturesque Zimbabwean town on the border with Mozambique, a couple in their fifties reluctantly admitted that they would support President Robert Mugabe's party in next weekend's election. They had one very practical reason: access to food.
If a local councillor puts you on the list, the woman explained, you get government handouts of mealie meal (maize flour) and farm equipment such as ploughs and tractors. Those who could not prove loyalty to Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF get nothing...
With Zimbabwe's economy in freefall – inflation is now officially above 100,000 per cent – food has become a powerful tool for the government and the ruling party. An elderly man in Marange, Manicaland province, told me: "If you show yourself to support the opposition, you will starve."
Encounters such as these help to show why, despite Mr Mugabe being opposed by a challenger from within Zanu-PF, Simba Makoni, as well as Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Saturday's voting is expected to result in another coronation for the man who has ruled the country since independence in 1980.
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The President himself seemed in no doubt about the result when he warned the opposition on Friday that any outbreak of violence if they lost the election, such as happened in Kenya, would be crushed. "If Tsvangirai and his group have such plans, they must stand warned," he told a rally in his home area of Zvimba, north-west of Harare. "That will never happen here, never, never. We will never allow it. We have enough security forces to handle that."
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The government has banned election observers from many countries, but is allowing a team from neighbouring states belonging to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to monitor the voting. I asked the men whether they thought the presence of these observers would help prevent further abuses, intimidation or fraud. One of the teachers shook his head. "It doesn't matter what they do," he said. "If the ruling party wins, it simply means that those of us who are believed to have voted for the opposition will starve, be beaten or chased out of our homes."
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On Saturday Zimbabwe's 5.9 million registered voters will elect a President, 270 members of parliament and local councillors from across the 10 provinces. But with opposition parties accusing the ruling Zanu-PF of voter intimidation, it is not clear how high the turnout will be.
The 11,000 polling stations are concentrated in rural areas, where Mugabe's party is strongest, while people in urban areas, where the opposition has most support, could find it difficult to vote. The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network fears a re-run of the 2002 presidential elections, when tens of thousands of voters were turned away.
Harare has 379 polling centres for about 760,000 voters, giving each person only 22 seconds to vote if they all turned out. In contrast, the monitoring group said, most rural polling stations would handle only 600 voters each. Opposition groups say hundreds of thousands of extra ballot papers have also been printed.
AFP
Defiant Mugabe rules out opposition rule in his lifetime
by Godfrey Marawanyiaka
Sat Mar 22, 2:55 PM ET
HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe made a defiant campaign speech Saturday a week ahead of perhaps his toughest election battle, saying Zimbabwe's main opposition party would never rule during his lifetime.
Mugabe, 84, the only head of state Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980, also threatened to expel companies from former colonial ruler Britain after the March 29 polls.
The veteran leader, whose bid for a sixth term must overcome an economy crippled by record inflation, dismissed the electoral aspirations of Zimbabwe's main opposition party -- the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"It will never happen as long as we are still alive -- those (of us) who planned the liberation struggle," Mugabe told thousands of supporters at his first rally in the capital since hitting the campaign trail last month.
Almost all the Zimbabwe news today is about the election.
PART 2: Six sovereign African nations are island countries.
CAPE VERDE wiki
Guardian
Windsurfing event blown off course
Paul Kelbie
Sunday March 23, 2008
The Observer
The future of a global windsurfing event on the remote Hebridean island of Tiree has been plunged into doubt. The annual Windsurfing World Cup, which attracts surfing enthusiasts from around the world and is broadcast to 200 million homes in 80 countries, is in jeopardy because of a lack of sponsorship.
One leg of the cup was scheduled to take place on Tiree in October, but has been left in crisis after Argyll and Bute Council was unable to agree further funding.
Last year about 500 people descended on the tiny island to watch 50 of the world's top windsurfers battle it out for a slice of £25,000 prize money. Hosting a leg of the tour that sees the windsurfers battle it out in numerous locations including Hawaii, the Cape Verde islands, South Africa, Europe and Australia, is estimated to generate more than £500,000 towards the local economy.
No need to chase the link, that’s the entire article.
Baltimore Sun
Shriver Hall: Tuning up for fine 2008-2009 season
Tim Smith
March 18, 2008
Almost every year, the Shriver Hall Concert Series presents an exceptional roster of artists, but the 2008-2009 roster looks even starrier than usual.
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Shriver Hall will again present a free "Discovery Series" at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Classical artists include harpsichordist Richard Egarr in a performance of Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (November); pianist Michael Berkovsky, winner of the 2008 Yale Gordon Competition at the Peabody Conservatory, playing Chopin and Rachmaninoff (March 2009); and teenage clarinetist Julian Bliss, who made a sensational BSO debut a couple years ago (May 2009).
Rounding out the Discovery Series will be rising world-music star Lura, from the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, west of Senegal, in October.
Shriver Hall is an auditorium on the Homewood campus of The Johns Hopkins University.
China Daily
Trade between China, Portuguese-speaking nations soars 36% in 2007
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-11 13:45
Trade volume between China and Portuguese-speaking nations in 2007 grew 36 percent over the previous year to $46.35 billion, thanks to closer cooperation in various fields between the two sides, a senior Chinese commerce official said in Macao on Monday.
Sun Tong, deputy director general of the Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of China's Ministry of Commerce, made the remarks when attending a meeting of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries in Macao.
Thanks to the ever deepening cooperation, "we have achieved the goal of $ 45 to $50 billion two years in advance," said Sun.
The meeting, lasting from March 10 to 11, was attended by 50 officials from the member countries of the forum, which include China, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste.
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A conference, which will be attended by entrepreneurs from the member nations, will be held in May this year in Cape Verde.
COMOROS wiki
AFP
AU troops arrive on Comoros island in invasion build-up
Sat Mar 22, 1:51 PM ET
FOMBONI, Comoros (AFP) - More than 500 African Union troops arrived on the Comoros island of Moheli on Saturday to join local forces massed for a military offensive to retake the rebel island of Anjouan.
The Indian Ocean archipelago -- between Madagascar and Mozambique -- did not recognise the re-election of Anjouan leader Colonel Mohamed Bacar in June 2007 and a tense stand-off is now poised to turn into an AU-backed invasion of the island.
BBC
Each of the Comoros federation's three islands has its own president, but Mr Bacar's re-election last July was declared illegal by the central authorities.
MADAGASCAR wiki
Eight species of baobab trees exist in the world. Six of them are native to Madagascar. The baobab wiki offers several photos.
AFP
Madagascar suffers FIFA suspension
Thu Mar 20, 2:22 PM
NAIROBI (AFP) - FIFA has suspended Madagascar from international football because of the government's interference in the sport on the island, an official statement said Thursday.
FIFA suspended the Malagasy Football Association (MFM) after it was informed of the rejection of a court appeal against a ministerial order to disband the federation.
Scoop
Madagascar Ratifies Statute Establishing ICC Court
Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 9:03 am
Press Release: United Nations
Madagascar ratifies statute establishing International Criminal Court
17 March 2008 - Madagascar has become the latest country to ratify the Rome Statute that sets up the International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent, permanent court that tries people accused of the most serious crimes, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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When the statute enters into force for Madagascar on 1 June, the island nation will be the 106th country to become a State Party to the ICC - almost 10 years after the Rome Statute was adopted in July 1998, leading to the court's founding.
MAURITIUS wiki
AFP
Mauritius to host talks on poverty in southern Africa
Wed Mar 19, 12:25 PM ET
PORT-LOUIS (AFP) - Mauritius will next month host a conference of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) aimed at tackling poverty in the region, the government said Wednesday.
AME info
Dubai to invest $250m in Mauritius
United Arab Emirates: Wednesday, March 19 - 2008 at 10:11
Dubai Group, part of state-owned conglomerate Dubai Holding, plans to invest $250m in Mauritius's financial, real estate and tourism sectors 'over the coming years', according announcement made by the Mauritian Board of Investment on its website. Executive Chairman Soud Ba'alawy said the group had been preparing its investment plan for the last two years, adding that this initial investment 'is just the beginning'.
That is the entire article.
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE wiki
allAfrica.com
Angola: São Tomé and Príncipe Agree to Exchange Penal, Electoral Missions
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
15 March 2008
Luanda
The parliaments of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe decided Friday to hold until September this year two missions of exchange in the domain of legislative production, particularly in Penal Code and electoral legislation.
Angola will hold parliamentary elections in September.
... the parties agreed on the need for the 7th Forum of the Portuguese Speaking Countries Parliaments, set for this year in São Tome and Principe, to establish the Parliamentary Assembly of the Portuguese Speaking Community (CPLP).
Reuters
Sao Tome to relaunch oil licensing in joint zone
Reuters - Friday, March 14SAO TOME, March 13 - Nigeria and the tiny archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe will relaunch in May a stalled licensing round for oil blocks in their joint development zone, Sao Tome's prime minister said.
Exploration in the zone has so far proved disappointing. Chevron said an early oil strike had not proven commercially viable, but it was continuing drilling. China's Sinopec and Switzerland's Addax are also exploring there.
Sao Tome's Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada told reporters on his return from a meeting in Nigeria earlier this week that an agreement had been reached to hold a meeting in May at the archipelago to decide on the adjudication of two outstanding blocks and the approval of the Joint Authority's budget.
The licensing process ground to a halt 18 months ago.
SEYCHELLES wiki
AP
US Military Deaths in Afghanistan at 419
By The Associated Press AP - Saturday, March 22
As of Friday, March 21, 2008, at least 419 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures March 15 at 10 a.m. EST.
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Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 63 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.
That bottom paragraph piques my curiosity, how about you?