South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, hoping to keep good relations with trading partner China but instead generating a storm of criticism.
Friday's peace conference was organized by South African soccer officials to highlight the first World Cup to be held in Africa, which South Africa will host in 2010.
China's exports to Africa last year rose 36.3 percent from 2007 to $50.8 billion, while imports of African goods rose 54 percent to $56 billion, according to customs data reported by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency.
Critics say China's investment in and aid to Africa, ranging from building presidential palaces and sports stadiums to rail and road projects, aims to secure access to the continent's natural resources.
The Centre will provide for all Evangelical Christian groups whose custom is baptism by immersion.
Dennis Ross is President Obama's neocon. Their preference for solving problems with violence is well established.Top Israeli and U.S. officials have been holding meetings on Iran.
The senior U.S. official leading the American rapprochement with Iran is Dennis Ross.
"Things in Iran are tough," said the Israeli president at the start of the address that preceded the blessing. "There is great unemployment, corruption, a lot of drugs and a general discontent? You can't feed your children enriched uranium, they need a real breakfast. It cannot be that the money is invested in enriched uranium and the children are told to remain a little hungry, a little ignorant."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed overtures from US President Barack Obama, saying Teheran doesn't see any change in American policy toward its government.
Speaking to tens of thousands of people in the holy city of Mashhad, Khamenei asked how Obama could congratulate Iranians on the new year while the US continues to accuse the country of supporting terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons.
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.
Among those arrested was Nasser Eddin al-Shaer, an academic from Nablus in the West Bank. Mr. Shaer served as education minister and deputy prime minister in the Hamas-led government that was formed after the Islamist group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.
His wife, Huda al-Shaer, said that soldiers arrived at their Nablus home at around 2 a.m. and stayed for about an hour before taking Mr. Shaer away. Speaking by telephone, Ms. Shaer said she had asked the soldiers why he was being arrested, “but they told me it was not my business.”
Two weeks ago Blair met with Hillary Clinton, the incoming American secretary of state, and with Gen. James Jones, who will be national security adviser. He says the two understand that a change of strategy on Gaza is necessary.
The IDF chief told Ross that Israel would not tolerate a nuclear Iran.
Days before the expected end of his premiership, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blasted the Palestinian leadership for lacking the courage to make peace with Israel.
Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi is scheduled to meet and discuss professional matters with the General James Jones, the National Security Advisor with Mr. Denis Ross, the special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton. He will also meet with the Commanders of the different branches of the U.S military as well as with various government, military and security figures in Washington DC.
In addition, Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi will meet with senior American journalists and with the heads of AIPAC, the American pro-Israel lobbyist group.
U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Vatican's envoy to Israel asserted on Monday that Holocaust deniers could not be considered Catholic, in an apparent bid to temper tensions ahead of a papal visit in May.
The hosting United Arab Emirates country was the most dominant during the military exhibition, with orders worth close to $4 billion in one day. The UAE air force struck two major deals that day for the purchase of military cargo planes from the Boeing and Lockheed Martin aerospace manufacturers.
The CIA has reportedly just confirmed — conveniently late on a Friday afternoon — that 12 of the videotapes it destroyed while its interrogation methods were under investigation and the subject of a pending lawsuit depicted the “enhanced interrogation methods” that detainees’ advocates were worried about.
"From in or about 1997 though on or about Feb. 4, 2004, defendant Chiquita made over 100 payments to the AUC [United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia] totaling over $1.7 million."
Ivan Cepeda, of the National Movement of Victims of Crimes of the State, said there was no reason for the extradition to go ahead so quickly.
"We didn't ask that he not be extradited, just that it be delayed until he could confess to everything."
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says victims' groups believe he was extradited because he knew too much about senior figures who were involved with the paramilitaries.
Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.Time is short. That's what makes the uniformity of message so concerning. Now Change Means No Change from W.
Iran's having a latent capability to quickly make nuclear weapons could lead to much the same risk of cascading instability as an Iran with an actual weapon," it reads, pointing to the risk for nuclear proliferation, Iranian regional hegemony and more.
The report makes no mention of the presidential elections in Iran this June, which could see the more moderate Muhammad Khatami replace fiery current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Even without testing a nuclear weapon or declaring the ability to do so, Iran's progress toward nuclear weapons capability is already having a substantial impact on the Middle East," it says. "Time is short if diplomatic engagement is to have a chance of success."
"Israel cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran, and I heard President Obama and the secretary of state say that they resolutely object to a nuclear Iran," Olmert said before having dinner with Clinton at his Jerusalem residence. "We will discuss ways in which we can ensure this."
"I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict."
"We have to be very clear on one thing," he says. "The present situation is not harming Hamas in Gaza but it is harming the people."Yes, Tony. You've said enough. Don't forget your slip of the tongue in early December.
Two weeks ago Blair met with Hillary Clinton, the incoming American secretary of state, and with Gen. James Jones, who will be national security adviser. He says the two understand that a change of strategy on Gaza is necessary. "I'd rather that they would declare their policy rather than me, but when I say that I don't think that the current situation is sustainable, I think most people who would analyze it think the same."
"I argued for the calm and I think it was a sensible thing that it happened, but we need to get a resolution of this issue in a way that allows progress toward peace. Any Palestinian state needs to [include both] Gaza and the West Bank. Nothing else would work."
I ask him several times what he proposes. Here Blair stops and goes silent. "I have ideas about this," he says, "but it is not sensible to talk about it at the moment." Reading between the lines, one can see that for him, unlike other European leaders, all options are on the table regarding Gaza. Livni and Vice Premier Haim Ramon are also against the status quo in there, I say to him. They want to topple the Hamas government by force. Here as well, Blair replies circuitously: "I think we should be clear that we have got to get to a place where we are offering the people of Gaza a clearer way out."
But are you concerned about the possibility of a military operation in Gaza?
"All the options for Israel are difficult, but the present option is difficult, too. I have already said enough."
Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair told the Al Quds Arabic-language newspaper that outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas have reached a secret but unsigned agreement.