German parliamentarians have backed the Berlin government's resolve to make better co-operation with African nations a top priority during Germany's current EU and G8 presidencies. The conservative foreign affairs spokesman stressed that increased co-operation with African nations was in Germany's own strategic interests, including greater energy independence from Russia.
Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition is back in office, but its chances of lasting for long are not great.
This week the EU's ambitions on energy and the environment will be under the spotlight as EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to try and hammer out an agreement on the two areas.
Iran's President Ahmadinejad and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah have agreed to work together to fight sectarian strife in the Middle East. The announcement followed a visit by Mr Ahmadinejad to Riyadh for rare talks.
The Sudanese government is quietly escalating oil exploration inside the Darfur region. Political and humanitarian experts say oil in Darfur could deliver much-needed development and investment to the region but that attempts to search for oil now may intensify the conflict by raising the stakes in an already war-torn area. The government has recently awarded 3 new oil concessions in the region.
Major powers failed on Saturday to settle all their differences over a 2nd UN sanctions resolution against Iran for its nuclear work but remain committed to passing one soon.
In a move that has surprised many foreign policy analysts here, Secretary of State Rice has appointed a prominent neoconservative hawk and leading champion of the Iraq war to the post of State Department Counselor. Eliot A. Cohen, who teaches military history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has also served on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board since 2001, will take up the position next month that was left vacant late last year by Rice's long-time confidant and "realist" thinker. Cohen has also been quick to label critics of Israel and the so-called "Israel Lobby" in the US as anti-Semites.
Constitution seems relatively clear. The president is the commander in chief, and he has the power to deploy troops and to direct military strategy. Congress has the power to declare war and can use its control over the purse to end a war. But it has no say over how the war is actually prosecuted. That poses a problem for Congress, as it debates the course of the Iraq war. Legal scholars say that if Congress tries to manage the deployment and withdrawal of troops without cutting funds, the president's powers as commander in chief would be encroached, perhaps leading to a constitutional confrontation of historic proportions.
The American South, once notorious for violence, poverty and racism, is now pleasant and prosperous. But it still has some catching up to do.
Signs that growth has slowed far more than we were told, examining the recent crash in world markets, understanding our new recession, laws for pillaging Iraq's oil wealth, predictions for the course of the markets and economy, or when the bottom is likely to fall out, Wal-Mart shelving its RFID projects, Chrysler driven to downsize, loan delinquencies...
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