A Protestant church in Kenya is trying to convert US President Barack Obama's step-grandmother to Christianity against her will, a Muslim group said Monday, condemning the move as provocation.
Attempts to convert US President Barack Obama's grand mother to Christianity flopped on Saturday at the 11th hour after family members opposed the move.
Although Mama Sarah Obama had dressed up for the day, her son, Saidi Obama, and other family members were adamant that she would not attend a baptism ceremony organised by the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA).
The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political "turmoil," the assessment said.
WASHINGTON - The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.
The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political "turmoil," the assessment said.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction remains "the highest priority at the federal level." Speaking to reporters on Dec. 3, Chertoff explained that more people, such as terrorists, will learn how to make dirty bombs, biological and chemical weapons. "The other side is going to continue to learn more about doing things," he said.
Marked "for official use only," the report does not specify its audience, but the assessments typically go to law enforcement, intelligence officials and the private sector. When determining threats, intelligence officials consider loss of life, economic and psychological consequences.
Intelligence officials also predict that in the next five years, terrorists will try to conduct a destructive biological attack. Officials are concerned about the possibility of infections to thousands of U.S. citizens, overwhelming regional health care systems.
There could also be dire economic impacts caused by workers' illnesses and deaths. Officials are most concerned about biological agents stolen from labs or other storage facilities, such as anthrax.
"The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremist ideologies has not abated," Chertoff said in his year-end address on Dec. 18. "This threat has not evaporated, and we can't turn the page on it."
Salaam writes: I've previously posted excerpts of some of the excellent reporting work being done by Richard Bartholemew about the horrors inflicted on African children accused of being witches here.
Well, you say there are no child witches in the UK, Japan, etc. Richard, there are. That you've not heard of any yet, as rampant as it is in Africa, does not deny their existence. And You know something, witches always try to get people to believe that they do not exist, so they can perpetuate their secret wicked acts. And the way you sound, are you sure you aren't one?
Rome, 25 Oct. (AKI) - A film that talks about the global epidemic of child abandonment will premiere on Sunday at Rome's third annual Film Festival.
'The Tree of Ghibet' delivers a disturbing account of childhood abandonment and prostitution taken straight from the urban jungles of Africa.
The film was produced and directed by husband-and-wife team Amedeo D'Adamo and Nevina Satta, who are also the founders of The Traveling Film School Project, a non-profit institute based in the northern Italian city of Milan and the US city of Los Angeles that provides free film and theater training to marginalised children in underdeveloped regions
The film was shot entirely on location in Douala, Cameroon's largest city, with a modest budget of 11,000 dollars. It is the first in a trilogy of films tackling the problem of child abandonment.
"The Tree of Ghibet is a visceral fable...This boy needs to find a mom, or at the very least, a safe place to sleep tonight, in a world full of vigilante killers, pimps, sexual predators.
He also has to learn what it means to be possessed and what he's supposed to do about it - if he gets rid of this possession he's told he has, will someone take him back home?," said D'Adamo describing the film.
"In certain African countries it is still legal to desert your child if you simply just say that they are possessed - an allegation that can be a life sentence for thousands of small children, as it is for the young boys and girls in our tale," said Satta, a native Sardinian.
From AllAfrica.com: Hayet Laouni is a member of Tunisia's senate and an owner of her own maritime business. She credits her success to the liberal approach to women's rights that the government has shown since independence, and to its investment in education. "I am very grateful to my country," she says. "I was born and grew up in a part of the world where life is supposed to be hard for most people, but harder for women. In fact, I come from two parts of the world, Africa and the Arab Muslim world."
She is not alone. In 2007, Tunisia was ranked the highest in North Africa by a "gender gap" index compiled by the World Economic Forum, headquartered in Switzerland. Examining women's school enrollment, access to jobs, earnings and other indicators around the world, the index also ranked women's status in Tunisia as the second highest among all Arab countries. However, on a global scale Tunisia was still near the bottom, ranking 102 out of 128 countries surveyed. Algeria came in at 108, Egypt at 120 and Morocco at 122.
A number of sub-Saharan countries did notably better in terms of women's rights and social position, with Ghana ranked at 63 and Kenya at 83. While North African countries appear to be doing poorly in relation to the rest of Africa, they have in fact witnessed a decade of substantial reform, achieving some progress in improving the status of women.
