"American eye on Africa"

A noose, not a bracelet
By Naomi Klein, The Guardian UK
Gordon Brown has a new idea about how to "make poverty history" in time for the G8 summit. With Washington so far refusing to double its aid to Africa by 2015, the chancellor is appealing to the "richer oil-producing states" of the Middle East to fill the funding gap. "Oil wealth urged to save Africa," reads the headline in the Observer.

Here is a better idea: instead of Saudi Arabia's oil wealth being used to "save Africa", how about if Africa's oil wealth was used to save Africa - along with its gas, diamond, gold, platinum, chromium, ferroalloy and coal wealth?

Issue of oil nationalisation splits Bolivia
Protestors who want the gas industry nationalised.

Briton named as buyer of Darfur oil rights
A millionaire British businessman, Friedhelm Eronat, was named last night as the purchaser of oil rights in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the regime is accused of war crimes and where millions of tribespeople are alleged to have been forced to flee, amid mass rapes or murders.

America's internal "gulag"
The imprisonment of immigrants in the US
A network of prison facilities in which detainees are held indefinitely without charges, denied access to attorneys and family, terrorized by dogs, and subjected to abuse tantamount to torture, as well as sexual humiliation.

Poll Finds Millions in America Turn to Ethnic Media
More than one in 10 Americans turn to ethnic news media as their primary source for news, and almost one in four used ethnic media in the past month, according to a new poll.

American eye on Africa
What are the primary strategic considerations driving American policy on Africa?

Obasanjo ousts AU's Togo envoy
In a rare move, the Nigerian President and head of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, has publicly rebuked an AU Commission decision to appoint a special envoy to resolve an ongoing political standoff in Togo.

Zuma denounces media role in graft row
South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma rounded on the country's press yesterday, saying he had been subjected to "a trial by media" before he could defend himself against corruption charges in court.

Number of African insurgents in Iraq increasing
U.S expanding programs aimed to fight terrorism on the continent

SA Briefs China On Its UN Reform Position
Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Sue van der Merwe has held discussions with her Chinese counterpart Lu and briefed him on South Africa's position on the current United Nations (UN) reform debate.

Poverty decreases, except in Africa; Annan seeks aid

Pope rejects condoms for Africa
The spread of HIV and Aids in Africa should be tackled through fidelity and abstinence and not by condoms, Pope Benedict XVI has said.

Baaba Maal: The wrong note for Africa
I'm surprised there aren't more African artists participating in Live 8. I would have thought something on this scale would call for their presence.

Nixon's Empire Strikes Back
Bush's imperial project has succeeded by learning the chief lesson of Watergate - muzzle the press

Top Court Judge Takes Bolivia Presidency

For Bolivia, Neoliberalism is Not an Option
As the Organization of American States completes its three-day session debating the role of free trade and neoliberalism in fostering democracy for the continent, the country of Bolivia is on the brink of a civil war over that very question.

U.S. Psychological Warfare Effort to be Outsourced
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Special Operations Command has hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Web sites to spread American propaganda overseas. The Tampa-based military headquarters, which oversees commandos and psychological warfare, may spend up to $100 million for the media campaign in the next five years.

Illegal Detentions in Iraq by US Pose Great Challenge: Annan

US Hypocrisy Defies Limits
Havana, June 10 (AIN) The Bush administration is under increasing fire over its overseas wars, stated participants on Thursday evening's "The Round Table" program on Cuban radio and television.

TV show depicts 9/11 as Bush plot
A fictional crime drama based on the premise that the Bush administration ordered the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Washington aired this week on German state television, prompting the Green Party chairman to call for an investigation.

'Good and honest' Iraqis fighting US forces
A senior US military chief has admitted "good, honest" Iraqis are fighting American forces.

Un-Housing the Poor
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is leading the charge to deny assistance to the families who need it the most.

Saddam lawyers 'left in the dark'
Saddam Hussein's lawyers say they have not yet been given any details of the case against him.

Microsoft, Indonesia Reach Piracy Agreement
Indonesia Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said the amnesty proposal emerged from a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Microsoft founder Bill Gates at the company's headquarters in Seattle last month.

Iraq Museum's Director-General Lectures about Antiquities
The Director General of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Dr. Donny George, spoke about the April 2003 looting, the recovery of antiquities and the museum's restoration initiatives at a lecture hosted by the Field Museum.