Senegal News Blog

First Lady begins Africa tour on AIDS

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:45 +0000

DAKAR, Senegal -- First Lady Laura Bush is in Africa. Her four-nation tour is expected to focus on how the U.S. can help fight AIDS on a continent where many countries struggle to even provide basic health care.

Bush is scheduled to visit areas that have benefited from U.S. AIDS funding: the west African nations of Senegal and Mali, along with Mozambique and Zambia in southern Africa. She's accompanied by her daughter Jenna.

The first lady and her daughter were greeted on the tarmac in Senegal's seaside capital late Monday by a group of about 30 dignitaries, including Senegal's first lady and her daughter. The two first ladies shook hands and posed for photographs, but neither spoke to reporters.

Laura Bush begins Africa anti-AIDS tour

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:45 +0000

DAKAR, Senegal -- First Lady Laura Bush started a four-nation Africa tour Monday that is expected to focus on how the U.S. can help fight AIDS on a continent where many countries struggle to even provide basic health care.

Mrs. Bush, accompanied by her daughter Jenna, is scheduled to visit areas that have benefited from U.S. AIDS funding this week -- the west African nations of Senegal and Mali, along with Mozambique and Zambia in southern Africa.

Mrs. Bush and her daughter were greeted on the tarmac in Senegal's seaside capital late Monday by a group of about 30 dignitaries, including Senegal's first lady, Viviane Wade, and her daughter. The two first ladies shook hands and posed for photographs, but neither spoke to reporters.

Laura Bush begins Africa tour to focus on anti-AIDS initiatives, women's rights and education

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:45 +0000

DAKAR, Senegal — First Lady Laura Bush started a four-nation Africa tour Monday that is expected to focus on how the U.S. can help fight AIDS on a continent where many countries struggle to even provide basic health care.

Mrs. Bush, accompanied by her daughter Jenna, is scheduled to visit areas that have benefited from U.S. AIDS funding this week — the west African nations of Senegal and Mali, along with Mozambique and Zambia in southern Africa.

Pope names diplomats to key roles in Vatican

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:45 +0000

VATICAN CITY - After a season of apparent policy slipups, Pope Benedict XVI is shuffling top advisers and bringing in veteran diplomats closely identified with Vatican policy in Iraq and the Middle East.

On Monday, Benedict restored an office that specializes in relations with Muslims, a year after he was criticized for disbanding it.

He appointed French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's foreign affairs chief from 1990 to 2003, as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, raising the office's profile. Tauran was one of the strongest Vatican opponents of U.S. plans to invade Iraq, saying a unilateral military strike would be a "crime against peace" with no justification on grounds of self-defense.

Breast cancer and race -- new clues

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:45 +0000

Lorie Williams thought for months that she might have a lump in her breast. But when the doctor said it was cancer, she was still stunned. After all, she was just 29 years old, no one in her family had ever had breast cancer, and she had never heard of anyone getting the disease so young.

"I was just numb," said Williams, who lives in Holly Springs, N.C. "I couldn't believe it was really happening. Then I just became hysterical."

Women such as Williams are the focus of an intense effort to solve one of the most pressing mysteries about breast cancer: Why are black women, who are less likely to get the disease than white women, more likely to get it when they are young -- and much more likely to die?

First lady to tout aid on Africa visit

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:11:49 +0000

Many small children die each day and adults succumb to avoidable illness in the far corners of Africa where First Lady Laura Bush will spend this week promoting an unprecedented U.S. campaign against AIDS and malaria and offering the promise of education.

At a time when the Bush administration is seeking a doubling of the U.S. commitment to a global battle against AIDS -- asking Congress to add $30 billion over the next five years -- the first lady will attempt a sales pitch to Americans in a five-day, four-nation African tour with a display of what U.S. aid can accomplish.

With this, her third trip to Africa, Laura Bush carries a certain cachet, wearing the popular face of an unpopular administration. Yet for a president dealing with war and terrorism, the African agenda represents perhaps the greatest single initiative that he can claim as a legacy-staking achievement.

Immigration Bill: One More Shot - washingtonpost.com

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:11:49 +0000

An immigration overhaul -- the chief domestic initiative of President Bush's second term -- will take center stage a final time this year as the Senate returns to a bipartisan bill that stalled a few weeks ago. Bush is expected to discuss the bill on Tuesday.

After five months of negotiations, backers of the bill are confident they can get the 60 votes necessary to end debate and move toward a final vote. But passage is far from guaranteed.

Both parties will be allowed to submit about a dozen amendments; however, a number that are being considered may be "poison pills," designed primarily to kill the bill.

Around the Valley

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:11:49 +0000

The California Feline Foundation and Valley Animal Shelter will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the shelter, 550 N. Van Ness Ave., Fresno.

The open house will feature cats and kittens available for adoption for a $75 fee. Fees include spay or neuter charges, FIV and FeLV testing, FVRCP, FELV and rabies vaccinations, deworming treatment, flea treatment and microchip identification.

A two-for-one adoption price will be offered during this open house by waiving the adoption fee on the second cat or kitten.

Beyond Iraq: The First Lady, Back in Africa - washingtonpost.com

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:11:49 +0000

If three words could sum up President Bush's foreign policy legacy, they would be: Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. But if first lady Laura Bush has her way, historians also will remember the president's determination to fight deadly diseases in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

This month, President Bush called on Congress to double to $30 billion over the next five years the funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. He has also pledged $1.2 billion in a five-year effort to cut in half the number of people killed by malaria, which claims more than 1 million lives a year, mostly of children.

Laura Bush will be highlighting those programs as she leaves today on her third visit to Africa. The five-day trip will take her to Senegal, Mozambique, Zambia and Mali. Although PEPFAR and other international aid programs are saving thousands of lives, the reality is that HIV's growth in Africa is outpacing treatment.

Diack buscará reelección sin tener rival

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:11:49 +0000

PARIS --Lamine Diack parece encaminado a otro mandato como presidente de la Federación Internacional de Atletismo cuando el organismo regente del deporte elija a su nueva directiva el próximo agosto en Japón.

El dirgiente senegalés no enfrenta oposición alguna para la presidencia de la IAAF, informó el lunes el organismo con sede en Mónaco.

Diack, de 48 años, ha estado vinculado con el fútbol, atletismo, negocios y político. Asumió la conducción de la IAAF en 1999, cuando sustituyó al italiano Primo Nebiolo.

In a World on the Move, a Tiny Land Strains to Cope

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:56:59 +0000

MINDELO, Cape Verde Virtually every aspect of global migration can be seen in this tiny West African nation, where the number of people who have left approaches the number who remain and almost everyone has a close relative in Europe or America.

Migrant money buoys the economy. Migrant votes sway politics. Migrant departures split parents from children, and the most famous song by the most famous Cape Verdean venerates the national emotion, Sodade, or longing. Lofty talk of opportunity abroad mixes at cafe tables here with accounts of false documents and sham marriages.

The intensity of the national experience makes this barren archipelago the Galapagos of migration, a microcosm of the forces straining American politics and remaking societies across the globe.

Injured troops flood system

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:56:59 +0000

When a pineapple grenade exploded in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004, shrapnel ripped through Marine Lance Cpl. Miguel Angel Melara's leg, forehead, neck and lip.

Melara, a 2003 graduate of Douglas High School, was treated for his wounds and awarded a Purple Heart. In January 2005, he came home to Gardnerville Ranchos for some rest and relaxation. Since then, he has served another tour of duty in Iraq, re-enlisted in the Marines and, in January, he graduated from Marine Security Guard school in Quantico, Va.

"I recovered to the point where it is hard to tell I was even wounded," Melara said Saturday in an e-mail from Dakar, Senegal, where he's among the Marines responsible for the security of the American embassy. "I am planning on making the Marine Corps a career. My main goal is to become a commissioned officer."

Mavs scouting director focused on education

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:56:59 +0000

Amadou Gallo Fall didn't even have the cliche "cup of coffee" in

the NBA as a player.

That was fine with him because becoming a professional basketball

Reservist led Iraq interrogations

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:56:59 +0000

North of Baghdad, in a warehouse converted into a detention center, George Driscoll stood in front of a man he considered a terrorist.

"What are you thinking right now?" Driscoll, a U.S. Navy reserve commander, asked the man through an interpreter.

"I'm wondering how I can get that pen out of your hand and drive it into your eye," the man replied.

7th not bad for Rhodes scholar Johnson

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:23:09 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS - Garrett Johnson isn't one to look for excuses following what he called a bad day.

But any athlete participating in the USA Track & Field Championships would be hard-pressed to come up with a better reason than Johnson, who finished seventh in the shot-put finals Saturday. The former Florida State athlete and 2006 NCAA outdoor and indoor winner in the shot put just finished his first year at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.

A Diplomat Reflects on Taiwan?s Isolation

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:23:09 +0000

Taiwan?s small circle of international supporters ? countries that have diplomatic relations with the 23 million inhabitants of the island known as the Republic of China instead of the 1.3 billion of the People?s Republic across the Taiwan Strait ? got a little bit tighter earlier this month when Costa Rica announced that it was switching its allegiance to China.

The move by Costa Rica, a Central American nation with four million people, was the eighth defection from Taiwan?s side since 2000, following in the small footsteps of Chad, Senegal, Grenada, Vanuatu, Dominica, Liberia and Macedonia. Roughly 170 countries recognize China, while Taiwan retains just 24. The battle has not been entirely one-sided. This year, St. Lucia, a Caribbean island nation, made the switch from China to Taiwan.

For Andrew Hsia, Taiwan?s departing consul general and its shadow ambassador to the United Nations, Costa Rica?s decision was an unfortunate capstone on his six-and-a-half-year tenure in New York, particularly in light of his friendship with the Costa Rican ambassador, Jorge Urbina. ?He called me and said that he will always remain a personal friend,? said Mr. Hsia, a diplomat for 25 years.

Virginia's folk community on center stage

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:23:09 +0000

Jamestown has dominated the limelight for the past year, but the rest of the commonwealth will get its due this week in Washington as the Smithsonian Institution pays tribute to "The Roots of Virginia Culture."

Musicians, artisans, dancers, craftspeople, balladeers, farmers, laborers and culinary artists from across Virginia will demonstrate their skills at the Smithsonian's 41st annual Folklife Festival, which will be held on the National Mall from Wednesday through next Sunday and from July 4 through July 8.

The free festival will give visitors a taste of how Virginia's culture has blossomed in the 400 years since English settlers came ashore at Jamestown, said Roddy Moore, director of the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum in Ferrum, which is helping coordinate the event.

Drug-resistant breast cancer afflicts blacks