Angola: AMG Publisher Announces "B'as Festas - Volume 3' Album - Angola, US to sign MOU in military sector - Angola: Government to Create 10 Courts for Minors in 2009

Angola Oil Exports to Fall 6% in January on OPEC Cut (Update1)
Bloomberg - 11 hours ago
18 (Bloomberg) -- Angola will reduce daily crude shipments by 6.4 percent in January as Africa's second-biggest producer complies with OPEC cuts. ...
Angola oil exports to fall 6 pct in Jan-trade Reuters South Africa
all 3 news articles »

Angola: Paulo Tjipilica at African Ombudmen General Assembly AllAfrica.com, Washington - 13 hours ago Angola will be represented at the general assembly of the executive commission of the Association of African Ombudsmen and Mediators (AOMA), ... Angola: Ombuds Office Gets Over 20 Complaints a Day AllAfrica.com all 2 news articles »

Angola: Government to Create 10 Courts for Minors in 2009 AllAfrica.com, Washington - 11 hours ago Ten Courts for Minors will be built next year, in the framework of the Government's National Plan for 2009, announced Monday the Angolan Justice minister, ... Angola: Justice Ministry Threatens to Punish Arbitrary Legal Cost ... AllAfrica.com all 2 news articles »

Washington Post

Angola Volunteers Troops for UN Mission in Congo Voice of America - Nov 12, 2008 By Derek Kilner As the UN Security Council considers a request for additional peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola said it would ... Reports: Angola promises troops as Congo peace fades CNN International UN troubleshooter starts talks on Congo crisis Reuters UN envoy in Congo for talks to try to end fighting The Associated Press Daily Nation - The Associated Press all 1,181 news articles »

Angola, US to sign MOU in military sector Xinhua, China - 12 hours ago 18 (Xinhua) -- Angola and the United States are analyzing the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding in the military sector, Angola's official ...

Angola: Government, Social Partners Assess Economy Performance AllAfrica.com, Washington - 11 hours ago Angolan Government Monday in Luanda analysed with its social partners the performance, in the first eight months this year, of the country's economy that ... Angola: Prime Minister Optimistic About Future AllAfrica.com all 2 news articles »

ANGOLA — The following people were lodged in the Steuben County ... KPCnews.com, IN - Nov 17, 2008 Pleasant Renee Huq, 44, Angola, arrested at the corner of Mechanic and North Wayne streets for misdemeanor operating while intoxicated. ...

BBC News

Angola and Zimbabwe troops drawn into DRC conflict ? Afrik.com, France - 11 hours ago As the crisis continue, there are growing concerns that foreign forces are being drawn into the conflict, as eyewitnesses continue to sight Angolan and ... Video: UN Envoy in Congo for Talks Amid New Fighting AssociatedPressCongo rebel leader promises to back UN efforts The Associated Press Nkunda says yes to peace The Times CNN - The Associated Press all 2,006 news articles »

Angola: AMG Publisher Announces "B'as Festas - Volume 3' Album AllAfrica.com, Washington - 2 hours ago The executive director of the Angolan records publisher AMG, Don Kikas, announced this Tuesday that it will release in December 15000 copies of the music ...

Angola: Handball Federation to Build Inter-Regional Training Schools
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 2 hours ago
Angola Handball Federation (FAA) chairman, Pedro Godinho, informed this Monday in Lubango City, southern Huila Province, that his institution will start ...

US tennis star Serena Williams gives laptop tips to pupils at the Serena Williams Secondary School which she opened 160km east of Nairobi on Friday.

US tennis star Serena Williams gives laptop tips to pupils at the Serena Williams Secondary School which she opened 160km east of Nairobi on Friday.

Berlusconi says Obama is 'tanned' - Silvio Berlusconi calls his critics 'imbeciles'

Berlusconi says Obama is 'tanned'

Silvio Berlusconi calls his critics 'imbeciles'

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has provoked criticism for describing Barack Obama as "young, handsome, and tanned".

He made the remarks after a meeting with the Russian president in Moscow.

Opposition politicians in Italy said Mr Berlusconi's remarks about the US president-elect were at worst, racist and at best, undiplomatic.

Mr Berlusconi shrugged off the criticism, saying those who disagreed with him were humourless "imbeciles".

'Great compliment'

Mr Berlusconi made the quip at a news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

''Obama is young, handsome and also tanned, so he has all the qualities to agree with you,'' he told the Russian leader, speaking in Italian through a translator.

The Italian news agency Ansa said Mr Berlusconi later defended the remark, calling it "a great compliment".

Responding to a reporter's suggestion that the remark might be misunderstood, he accused his opponents of not having a sense of humour.

''God save us from imbeciles,'' he added.

Gaffe prone

The Italian leader has a history of public gaffes.

On his first meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2002, Berlusconi complimented him with the words: "Mr Rasmussen is not only a great colleague, he's also the best-looking prime minister in Europe."

He added: "He's so good looking, I'm even thinking of introducing him to my wife."

He sparked a minor diplomatic incident in 2005 by suggesting he had wooed Finnish President Tarja Halonen to ensure her backing for Italy to host the European Food Safety Authority.

"I had to use all my playboy tactics, even if they have not been used for some time," he said, prompting Helsinki to call in the Italian ambassador to explain the comments.

BBC

Students angered by Italian reforms By Duncan Kennedy

Students angered by Italian reforms

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Rome

Protesters say the cuts will damage education in Italy

Sleeping bags in lecture theatres, lessons in parks, people wearing plasters on their faces.

They are just some of the ingredients in Italy's hugely divisive row over education.

The sleeping bags are being used by students, who have taken over a number of buildings.

Lessons in some places are being held in parks, as classrooms are occupied, and the plasters are the symbolic sign of the "cuts" the students and staff are protesting against.

But these are not just isolated protests by a few disgruntled hardliners.

A number of recent marches in Rome have attracted up to half a million demonstrators.

Seasoned Italian commentators say they are the biggest in 15 years.

The protests are not just for university students. Secondary school teachers and pupils are also on the streets, as their slice of the education budget comes under threat as well.

Hate figure

The government is pushing its reforms because it believes universities and schools are inefficient and producing lacklustre results.

It would be a disaster, not only for the immediate future, but 10 years from now Prof Giancarlo Ruocco

The students, professors and teachers say cutting budgets across the board will make things worse.

In practice, the proposals include the loss of classroom assistants in schools - leaving the teacher to teach alone - and the freezing of recruitment at universities.

It could affect tens of thousands of lecturers and teachers.

The measures are handled by Italy's education minister, Mariastella Gelmini.

To the protesters, she has become something of a hate figure. Many of the banners on the marches name her in unflattering terms.

The minister and her supporters stand firm, arguing - with some justification - that Italy is one of the most poorly educated nations in Western Europe.

Mariastella Gelmini has been ridiculed as 'Saint Ignorance' by protesters

For example, there is no Italian university in the top 150 universities of the world, according to the Italian department of education.

And this from the country that gave the world Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante and Marconi.

One government supporter told me: "Some university courses are useless. I know of several where there is just one student on the course".

He went on to give other examples of what he called the "utter waste" of university money.

"There is one university where the head has eight personal secretaries," he said. "The library has 135 librarians. It's ridiculous."

I asked him if some Italian universities should close.

"Yes", he replied.

Drop-outs

Not surprisingly, the protesters have an alternative perspective.

Professor Giancarlo Ruocco, who lectures in physics at the University of Rome, says his department could lose 30% of its staff in three years if the full cuts go ahead.

Universities would become elitist and only attract rich kids Laura, student

"It would be a disaster," he said, "not only for the immediate future, but 10 years from now when we no longer have researchers carrying out fundamental inquiries into pure science".

Prof Ruocco also cautioned that if the government reduced funds to the public universities or made their budgets performance-related, then Italy would end up privatising its university system.

"It would double my fees next year," says Laura, a second year student. "Universities would become elitist and only attract rich kids."

But many Italians are fed up with their failing education system.

The country has one of the highest drop-out rates in the developed world, with only half completing their degrees.

The education crisis has further damaged Mr Berlusconi's popularity

Italian students also stay longer in college than others. It is not uncommon for graduates to be in their mid-to-late 20s by the time they look for their first job.

It means they have to compete with graduates from other countries who are five or six years younger.

The multi-billion-euro cuts in the pipeline would change the face of Italian education.

Some say they are long overdue, others that they are ill-conceived and designed to bail out Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's banking friends as part of the global financial mess.

The education crisis has played a part in denting Mr Berlusconi's popularity. That and his remark suggesting Barack Obama had a "nice suntan".

But with his strong parliamentary coalition, it is going to be hard for the opposition to stop the majority of the reforms being approved, even if a few are re-fashioned around the edges.

Yet the sleeping bags and plasters are not being put away yet and the cobbled streets of Rome and beyond are likely to be trodden again by the feet of these footsoldiers of protest.

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We hope you'll join us.

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620p 11/18 Update: Astros make up lost time; SARJ cleaning appears to go smoothly

=================================

CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 34
Posted: 6:20 PM, 11/18/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-30 (11/18/05): CORRECTION of EVA duties
   SR-31 (11/18/08): Spacewalk begins
   SR-32 (11/18/08): Depleted nitrogen tank moved to shuttle; coolant system component mounted on space station; SARJ cleaning work begins
   SR-33 (11/18/08): Stefanyshyn-Piper loses tool bag; grease contamination; SARJ work begins
   SR-34 (11/18/08): Spacewalkers make progress cleaning, lubricating starboard SARJ

=================================

6:20 PM, 11/18/08, Update: Spacewalkers make progress cleaning, lubricating starboard SARJ

Despite losing a tool bag overboard while struggling to clean up a grease gun eruption, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and fellow spacewalker Stephen Bowen made good progress cleaning and lubricating a damaged solar array rotary joint on the international space station.

Five hours into a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalker, the astronauts, sharing Bowen's tools, have made up lost time and presumably will complete the work originally planned for today's excursion, if not more.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center, meanwhile, are assessing the impact of the lost tools, which included two grease guns, a scraper tool, a debris bag and a large trash bag.

The grease guns are being used to lay down beads of lubrication on the 10-foot-wide drive gear of the station's starboard alpha rotary joint after the bearing races have been cleaned. Bowen and Stefanyshyn-Piper, working on opposite sides of the drive gear, have had no major problems removing trundle bearings, cleaning and lubricating the bearing races.

The astronauts are running ahead of schedule despite the earlier problems.

=================================

Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

=================================

US Politics from VOANews.com

VOANews.com, with its new community site USAVotes2008.com, now shift focus to the transition of power at the white house. Watch for USAVotes2008 and VOA updates on Twitter!

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