VOA Africa News Summary

Here are today's top stories from VOA Africa. To listen or watch one of our programs or to read more visit our website at www.voaafrica.com.

DRC Refugees Flock Into Uganda   Fighting in DRC leads to thousands of refugees DRC Civilians Moving to Safer Sites UNHCR fears thousands of refugees could get caught in crossfire if fighting resumes Nigerian Army Says Order Restored in Stricken City   Curfew to be relaxed further, but most residents still apprehensive after bloody clashes between rival Christians and Muslims UN Security Council Extends Anti-Piracy Measures Off Somali Coast   US-drafted resolution authorizes states to take all necessary means - including force - to combat piracy Africa's Largest Coffee Producer Revamps Trading System   Ethiopia abandoning traditional auction system, transferring all trading to a recently-opened national commodity exchange; changeover marks a revolution in marketing procedures WHO Acts on Emergency Cholera Plan for Zimbabwe   WHO sends emergency team of international experts to Zimbabwe to try to contain cholera epidemic West African Healers Association Bands Together, On Guard Against Charlatans   In Fatick, a small city in central Senegal, one group has taken on job of organizing and policing traditional healers West African Foreign Ministers Discussed Regional Security Issues   ECOWAS executive secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas says the ministers were optimistic that elections could be held in Ivory Coast by the first half of 2009 Zimbabwe Police Turn Back Protesters Riot police break up two separate protests in Harare over dismal state of public health, economy Clinton Asked to Take Quick Action on Darfur As Secretary of State   Clinton Asked to Take Quick Action on Darfur As Secretary of State Ghanaians Enthusiastic About   Sunday Poll   Ghana presidential election on Sunday 34 Nigerian Children Dead From Tainted Medicine Nine more children have died in addition to 25 reported last week after being given poisoned teething medicine sold under name 'My Pikin' Rights Groups: Sudan Lying About Improvements in Darfur Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition and 13 other rights organizations say government continues to conduct large-scale military attacks against populated areas Zimbabwe Relief Agencies Ramp Up Efforts to Combat Cholera   United Nations Children's Fund will launch four-month emergency response to epidemic in country troubled by health and political challenges Clean Water and Sanitation Priorities for Congolese Displaced   International Rescue Committee says insecurity often delays access to those in need Rwandan Singer Given 15 Years for Inciting Killings Simon Bikindi is convicted of 'direct and public incitement to commit genocide' based on a speech in which Bikindi called on Hutus to exterminate Tutsis Ghana's Experiences at Democracy Since Independence   Electoral process more stable now Ghana's Electoral Commission Works to Make Upcoming Polls Transparent   Safeguards include a code of ethics and preliminary counting at the polling stations. Ghanaian Voters Consider Issues in Advance of Election.   Thinking about cost of living, education, sanitation and oil revenues. Ghanaian Media Work to Ensure Fair Coverage of National Elections   The Ghana Journalist Association issues a code of ethics encouraging balance, accurate reporting. Ghanaians Hopeful for Free and Fair Elections      Some look to US elections as guidepost E-mail: Forward this E-mail Click here to unsubscribe from the VOA Daily World News Summary2 If you have questions about this E-mail newsletter send an e-mail to: voanews@voanews.com

Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics

Yesh, We Can—Adopt! Posted: 03 Dec 2008 08:50 AM CST Most dogs go to the vet, but it's only the presidential pooch who goes through vetting. That's the humorous message of the illustration by Barry Blitt on the cover of The New Yorker which arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Seeing the cover of one of the nation's most widely read magazines, I knew there was no doubt that Obama's pick for First Dog has captivated the attention of the animal-loving public. Next week, millions of Americans who open their funny pages will see another artistic take on the subject—this time with the important message of shelter adoption. Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip MUTTS, will run a series of strips Monday through Saturday (Dec. 8-13) honoring the Obama family's decision to adopt a rescued dog. As Earl the dog tells Mooch the cat, "it could inspire everyone to get a dog or cat from their local shelter!" Here's a sneak preview of next week's strip, courtesy of Patrick. MUTTS is syndicated in more than 700 newspapers in 20 countries, and the stories often include important animal protection issues. Just before the election, MUTTS featured a series of strips reaching millions of California voters on the importance of Proposition 2 and the humane treatment of farm animals, and you can read my interview with Patrick here. Animal shelters, too, are not a new subject for Patrick, who has been spreading the word about pet adoption for years, including in his book Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed. So pick up your daily newspaper next week and join MUTTS in celebrating the Obama family's puppy pick. With the president-elect's example, we can all be inspired to bring hope and change to the homeless dogs and cats at animal shelters, just waiting for a second chance and a loving home. As Mooch says, "Yesh, we can!"

You are subscribed to email updates from Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610

Dec Issue: Most Popular Webcasts and Videos of 2008

December 2008     www.altera.com        Introducing Altera's 40-nm Portfolio, 30 minutes View this webcast to learn how to overcome today's challenges of increasing performance, reducing power consumption, and increasing system bandwidth and integration with Altera's new 40-nm portfolio. You'll also learn how only Altera can provide the benefits of FPGAs AND the benefits of ASICs. View Now   Minimize SSN and Jitter Using Advanced Transceiver Technology, 30 minutes As data rates and the number of transceiver channels in advanced FPGAs increase, it's important that the FPGA is designed to properly isolate analog and digital sources. This webcast presents available architectural advantages and describes how those advantages minimize the effects of simultaneous switching noise (SSN) and jitter. View Now     New Gen2 PCI Express Hard IP for 40-nm Devices, 15 minutes Learn about flexible standard products which target packet transport applications, built with Altera® FPGAs and TPACK's Carrier Ethernet technology. You'll see how new 40-nm FPGAs enable Carrier Ethernet solutions at 40 Gbps, and about a new universal line card. View Now     Interfacing 1,067-Mbps DDR3 Memory to Stratix III FPGAs, 5 minutes Watch this video to see how Altera's Stratix III FPGAs provide I/O circuitry that is capable of high speeds and greater flexibility to support existing and emerging external memory standards. Also see how the I/Os maintain optimal signal integrity at high data rates. View Now     40-nm FPGA and 8.5-Gbps Transceiver Demo, 4 minutes Watch this video and see Altera's 40-nm FPGA demonstration showing 1.5-Gbps LVDS performance and transceiver operation at 8.5-Gbps with excellent signal integrity. View Now     Develop Software for Embedded Systems on FPGAs, , 5 minutes Are you new to embedded systems on FPGAs, or considering adding a processor to your next FPGA design? In this new video, learn how to build embedded software applications quickly and easily, and see how hardware accelerators improve performance in embedded systems. View Now     To ensure that you receive future issues of our Webcast & Video enewsletter, please add announcements@altera.com to your address book. As a subscriber to the Webcast & Video enewsletter, you will receive a monthly email newsletter. Altera respects your privacy. If you no longer wish to receive this enewsletter, simply unsubscribe. Subscribe to additional Altera email updates and enewsletters, or view/edit all of your Altera email subscriptions. Altera email communications include: Product Announcements & Updates Code:DSP eNewsletter Embedded eNewsletter Inside Edge eNewsletter Copyright © 1995-2008 Altera Corporation, 101 Innovation Drive, San Jose, California 95134, USA Altera, Stratix, Arria, Cyclone, MAX, HardCopy, Nios, Quartus and MegaCore are trademarks of Altera Corporation