Al-Qaeda’s Most Active Affiliates in Africa, US State Dept

The United States said that despite major setbacks, Al-Qaeda’s core in Pakistan is the “most formidable” terrorist group threatening the United States.

In an annual report, the State Department said that Al-Qaeda reeled under a Pakistani military onslaught, has lost many of its leaders, and has found it “tougher to raise money, train recruits and plan attacks” outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The report further stated that Al-Qaeda was actively engaged in operational planning against the United States and continued recruiting, training and deploying operatives, including individuals from Western Europe and North America.

The report further alleged that Iran as promoter of terror activities.

Pentagon Approves Secret Military Operations in Mideast And Africa

New York: The Pentagon has approved a broader range of secret military operations against militant groups in the Middle East and Africa, The New York Times reported Monday.

The newspaper said Gen. David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, signed a directive in September authorizing Special Operations troops to conduct surveillance missions in such countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.

The document says the goals are to “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” militant groups, including Al-Qaeda, and “prepare the environment” for future attacks.

The Times said the document does not authorize offensive action. Anonymous US officials cited by the Times said the order does allow for intelligence-gathering missions in Iran, which could lay the groundwork for possible military action if tensions between the US and Iran continue to rise.

The newspaper said the directive also appeared to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about its nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for any future military offensive. Some of the covert military operations that followed the secret order have been reported.

These include a September 2009 attack by helicopter-borne Special Operations Forces on a car carrying one of east Africa’s most wanted al Qaeda militants, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

Central Command has been positioning Reaper drones at a base in the Horn of Africa. Officials said the drones can be used against militants in Yemen and Somalia, and even against pirates who attack ships traversing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Alicia Keys to Get Five People on Trip to Africa

NEW YORK news about: Alicia Keys says her first visit to Africa was so emotional and inspiring that she is ready to take others there to experience something similar.

The Grammy-winning singer is launching a contest through her charity, Keep a Child Alive, that will give five people an opportunity to visit the continent with her. She says her initial trip to Africa “totally changed my life.”

“Going to Africa was unbelievable for me,” the 28-year-old said.

“I was probably like 19 or something. I was asked to come to Africa to perform, and so you think, `I’m just the girl from Harlem, I wrote a couple of songs on 137th Street, and then suddenly you want me to come to Africa? And people will know me? And people will know the songs?’ It was a mind-blowing experience for me.”

“I was able to see the great separation between have and have not,” Keys said. “I was able to see the incredible spirit of people. I was able to learn firsthand about the AIDS pandemic of Africa.”

Keys was to announce the contest Tuesday, which is World AIDS Day, when she performs at the Nokia Theatre in New York’s Time Square. The concert will air live on YouTube (8 p.m. EST).

Fans will be able to enter the contest online at the foundation’s Web site, or by sending a text. The fee for the text is $5, but it will be donated to Keep a Child Alive.

Keys said the winners, who will travel throughout Africa for five days sometime next year, will visit the people and places that were most influential to her.

“Some will probably not want to come back, some will totally want to stay so that they can be a part of just all this beauty that we’re spreading and light that we’re spreading. And some will come back and say, `I’ll never turn my back,’ which is what happened to me,” said Keys, who has traveled throughout South Africa (Johannesburg, Soweto and Durban) and Uganda.

At the concert, the entertainer will perform songs from her fourth studio CD, “The Element of Freedom,” to be released Dec. 15.

“I find that the more that I’m able to connect with people’s life experiences, the more I’m able to make better music,” Keys said.

Hudson to Play Nelson Mandela’s Ex-Wife

LOS ANGELES: Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson is to play the role of Winnie Mandela, the controversy-plagued ex-wife of South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela in a new movie called Winnie, Variety reported on Wednesday.

The film is based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography, Winnie Mandela: A Life, according to Variety.

Production is scheduled to begin May 30 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela served 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.

The movie is the second about the Mandelas this year, with Morgan Freeman set to star as the iconic president in the Clint Eastwood film Invictus, which is due in cinemas in December.

Hudson, who is expected to sing the film’s theme song, won the Oscar for her screen debut in Dreamgirls and followed with The Secret Life of Bees and Sex in the City.

“I was compelled and moved when I read the script,” Hudson said. “Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I’m honoured to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told.”

Winnie Mandela was a fierce opponent to apartheid alongside her husband before the end of the racist regime. But she was tarnished by an association with a bodyguard who murdered a 14-year-old alleged informer in 1989. The Mandelas divorced in 1996 and she was convicted of fraud in 2003 for stealing from a funeral fund.

Winnie will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, the veteran South African filmmaker whose 2006 film Yesterday was Africa’s Best Foreign Film nominee, and who also directed Cry, The Beloved Country and Sarafina!

Chinese premier pledges funds, aid to Africa (AP)

China’s premier on Sunday pledged $10 billion in new low interest loans to African nations over three years, offering the beleaguered continent sorely needed cash while dismissing criticism that Beijing’s motives in Africa are far from altruistic.

Trans World Expedition

Latest news updated, Trans World Expedition: In November, I’ll be quitting my job and heading out on one of the last true adventures left on earth: Driving around the world.I’ll spend about a year on the road, starting and finishing in New York. When I can’t drive, I’ll ship the car by boat, then fly to the next stop to pick it up.
The route is sinuous. Cross Central America, then head down South America to Buenos Aires. From there, I’ll ship the car to South Africa, then drive north through Africa to Europe. I’m a native of France, so I’ll stop in Paris to get some paperwork done, then go east through Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and India. I’ll ship the car to Thailand, drive to Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, and put the car on a final sailing home to the U.S.

My blog about the trip, where I’ll post updates from the road, is called “Trans World Expedition: The year of living dangerously.” I hope it will be a good tool for people who want to do a similar trip.

It is scary to leave your girlfriend, your career, your apartment and people you know to have a year of waking up in unfamiliar places. Many people think I’m insane to quit my job when the economy is so bad. But I’m 33 and I’ve worked since age 18. I came to New York as an artist and ended up as an art director. It’s early enough in my life that I can take a year off, then come back, hopefully pick up my career and start a family.

I believe a trip like this is something many people dream of. When you’re young and a student, you don’t have money to travel, but when you’re working and can afford it, you don’t have time. I always thought I would buy a place in New York, but when you think about it, is there a better investment than traveling around the world? Wouldn’t you be smarter after doing that? Wouldn’t you have incredible stories to tell your kids and grandkids?

THE ROUTE: My path will change depending on places I discover, tips, climate, where I can catch a boat, driving conditions, and visas. Staying out of trouble will also determine my route and how long I stay in one place.

Driving around the world may be more difficult now than it was in the 1960s, even though cars are more reliable and roads are better. Wars and civil unrest have eased in Latin America, but the crossing the Middle East is now a challenge. Here are some problems I’ll face:
Source: abcnews.go.com

Glad for the recession?

One in four people are glad the world’s economy slumped like it did, a new survey claims.

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Glad for the recession?

Clinton leaves Pakistan with pointed question on al Qaeda (Reuters)

Reuters – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wound up a bridge-building visit to Pakistan on Friday leaving a pointed question ringing in her hosts’ ears: Where are the al Qaeda leaders operating in your country?

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Clinton leaves Pakistan with pointed question on al Qaeda (Reuters)

Cheney harshly criticized CIA in Plame leak probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dick Cheney , then U.S. vice president , had harsh words for the CIA sending a spy’s husband to Africa to see if Iraq was seeking nuclear material , according to an interview with the FBI released on Friday.

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Cheney harshly criticized CIA in Plame leak probe

NATO Ministers Endorse Wider Afghan Effort

The support for Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s strategy increased pressure to commit more military resources.

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NATO Ministers Endorse Wider Afghan Effort

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