world
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South Africans Are High On the World Cup
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that the FIFA World Cup, the global soccer tournament held every four years, kicks off on June 11, 2010 and that South Africa, the host country, is buzzing with anticipation and excitement. Some of the buzz is coming from the vuvuzelas, the horn-shaped gadgets that…
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Africa's Best Worst President
by Dino Mahtani MONROVIA—Drive through Liberia’s capital today and one of the first things you notice are the clusters of new construction developments dotting the city, including some extravagant-looking concrete mansions. Just seven years ago, Monrovia’s walls were riddled with bullets, parts of the town flattened in a rebel assault that forced out the country’s…
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Black Gulf Fishers Face a Murky Future
“I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oysterknife.” – Zora Neal Hurston As Rodvid Wilson boards close the sides of his uncle’s boat he hums Erykah Badu’s “Window…
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Jamaica Faces a Defining Moment
The simmering tensions in Jamaica’s lawless West Kingston turned vicious Monday as thugs fought fierce gun battles with the island’s security forces to prevent the arrest of Christopher “Dudus” Coke for extradition to the United States. He is wanted here (in the US) for drug trafficking and weapons smuggling. Tivoli Gardens, Dudus’ stronghold in West…
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U.K. Election Raises Black Identity Issue
LONDON—At the recent Black Britain Decides rally, the first of its kind in the British history, representatives of Great Britain’s leading political parties—Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat—made an unprecedented pitch to convince black Britons why their parties and policies would best serve their needs. They also felt the impassioned anger, dissatisfaction and disaffection of the…
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NEWS STAND: Killer Tornado, Pastor Obama
Killer Tornado Takes 10 Lives in MississippiMother Nature is officially pissed. In case you haven’t been paying attention to the mudslides and earthquakes, a tornado ripped through the rural Mississippi countryside killing 10 people. About 100 homes in Yazoo City were leveled. The home of the Blues may be down, but it’s not quite out.…
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The Discomfort of African Americans in South Africa
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA—Most African Americans who visit Cape Town around the New Year are initially shocked by what is traditionally known here as The Coon Festival—a weeklong reverie of parties and parades where mixed race or “colored” people dress up in costumes and blackface to perform minstrel shows. The Coon Festival, more recently renamed…
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A Bastion of Black Jobs Turns To Green
It’s no surprise to anyone that the two-year-old recession has wreaked havoc on the black community. African Americans already had a higher jobless rate than Americans overall, and the downturn only deepened long-term trends in unemployment, with Black men hit especially hard. Manufacturing, which has played a key role in building the black middle class…
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Sudan's Elections and The Prospects for Peace
Darfur’s fall from the headlines has rendered Africa’s largest country, Sudan, an afterthought to most Americans. But the country is at the most significant crossroads in its short and tumultuous post-colonial history. Over the past few days, Sudanese have been casting ballots in the first national elections in 25 years. Though the outcome in the…
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Nigeria's Accidental President Promises Reform
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan—the acting president of Nigeria—needs an introduction. After a political drama that makes President Barack Obama’s scuffles with centrist senators seem boring by comparison, Jonathan has emerged on top. Nigeria’s elected president, Umar Yar’Adua, fell ill. Then he disappeared to Saudi Arabia for two months. Soon, his wife, Tarai Yar’Adua, began stage managing…