Political Susu is a public service of ASID Hi-Power Radio and Irie ATL; co-produced by Mama ASID of BadGalsRadio and Lady D of Irie ATL’s Drivetime Show.  this show is new to our network, and will become a weekly feature - specifically to highlight Caribbean, and Global News about People Of Color. If you’ve got a tip make sure to send us a link to the story, and a note please.  The global diasporic community is our focus, always.

Truth and Rights,

Mama ASID

Co-Producer the Political Susu Show on BadGalsRadio & IrieATL.com Radio.

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REGGAE FOCUS -

Happy Earthborn Strong Empress Michelle of the Musical Ambassadors Posse’

RIP Roy Shirley - Reggaes’ High Priest

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BLESS UP EMPRESS DR. MICHELLE ELLIOTT

OF MUSICAL AMBASSADOR RECORDS

The Entire Family of Musical Ambassador Records, BadGalsRadio; ASID Hi-Power Sound; Trenchtones; and All of the affiliates of the FoundationSound Radio Network; Send our Warmest Wishes for a Blessed and Happy Birthday to Empress Dr. Michelle Elliott; co- owner of Musical Ambassador Records.  May Jah grant your every wish and bless you in abundance always; may today be the beginning of the best for you; forever. Thanks for Your Support and Guidance during our trying times. your insight is invaluable and without you we could never be ..  Bless Up Empress Michelle

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RIP Roy Shirley - ‘Reggaes’ High Priest’ remembered

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Jamaica Gleaner News - ‘High Priest’ remembered - Tuesday | July 22, 2008

‘High Priest’ remembered
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Roy Shirley goes down on his knees as he wows the audience at the palace Theatre. - file

ROY Shirley, the theatrical singer known as the High Priest of Reggae, has died. An entry on the Trojan Records website said Shirley passed away last week in Britain.

No cause, or date of death, was given.

Shirley was best known for the 1967 hit song, Hold Them, which was produced by a young Joe Gibbs. Several musicologists consider Hold Them to be the first rock steady song.

Although he had other songs of note including I Am The Winner and Heartbreak Gypsy, a cover of soul singer Ben E King’s hit.

Hold Them was the Kingston-born Shirley’s signature song. Early in his career, he worked with Jimmy Cliff and Ken Boothe, but never matched the chart success of those singers.

Shirley’s penchant for drama (wore capes, ‘wept’ during performances) overshadowed his talent, but reggae historian Roger Steffens said there should be no disputing the mark he made on Jamaican music.

“As an artiste, he was unique and inimitable. He had a voice like a squeezed mango, a stage manner that bordered on the absurd, and a strange offbeat sense of humour that found expression in odd songs like Dance the Auna and Music Field,” Steffens told The Gleaner.

Shirley, who was 64, last performed in June at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville, California.

He immigrated to England in 1973, and like many of his contemporaries, developed a cult following in that country. He last performed in Jamaica in 2004 at the Stars ‘R’ Us show.

Roy Shirley facts

Was born Ainsorth Roy Rushton Shirley.

First song, Shirley, was done for producer Leslie Kong in 1962.

Was founding member of vocal group The Uniques with singer Slim Smith.

Founded the British Universal Talent Development Association.

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GEORGIA NEWSBEAT

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A Georgia school gets the paddles ready for the fall
To spank or not to spank … that’s the question in Twiggs County, Ga., where principals are breaking out their paddles this fall to deter misbehaving. It won’t be the first time that the school district puts the wood to students who act up. Last year, for example, a second-grader was swatted for throwing pencils, as were others who were deemed too unruly for the standard time-out or other methods of discipline, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. But the policy was rarely used. Teachers and administrators can opt out if they desire, and parents must sign a permission slip to allow their children to be paddled. Read more of what the parents and teachers had to say at BET.com/News.

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SOUTHERN AFRICA - Our Africa Focus This Week

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Quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion - crazy numbers with lots of zeros, that independent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson found himself chewing over with colleagues in the capital Harare this week.

In January, the bank introduced a Z$10m note

The financial throes of the country are now so severe, that some people are seeking a new language to understand it.

On Monday, the Zimbabwe government introduced the 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar note (for the uninitiated, a billion is nine zeros).

The counting of zeros had already become a nightmare for bankers and shoppers before the introduction of the new note - which at the time of writing would buy about two loaves of bread.

So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless.

It has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).

When John Robertson pinned a chart to the wall of office naming numbers up to twice as long, he says he “raised a bit of a laugh” from his colleagues.

But for many officials and accountants, a quadrillion - a million billion - is the number of the day.

BIG NUMBERS Quadrillion: 15 zeros Quintillion: 18 zeros Sextillion: 21 zeros Septillion 24 zeros This formulation is from the widely-used US system

Only last week, the Harare Herald advertised the Lotto bonanza prize being offered was 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. At the time, that was equivalent to around 4,000 US dollars.

So how do Zimbabweans deal with such astronomical numbers?

“I actually Googled what comes after trillion about a month ago, and sent that out to all my friends so they’d be prepared,” says 28-year-old Esther, a Harare resident who writes a regular diary for the BBC.

Day-to-day transactions for ordinary people have not reached the quadrillion stage, she says, but even trillions present difficulties.

“What is confusing is counting of the figures on your cheques as you try to make sure you are not under or over paying someone, or the struggling to read price tags in shops that have not yet knocked off zeros and so on,” she says.

Hard currency

This practice - knocking off zeros - is the most common way of preserving sanity.

Most calculators simply cannot show enough digits.

The new note is three zeros short of Germany’s 1924 100-trillion-mark note

Tills throughout the country have been struggling to cope, as have banking computers, and accounting systems.

As a result, the banks recently agreed to lop six zeros off transactions and documentation.

Economist John Robertson predicts that within a month they will be forced to drop another three.

The other main technique for keeping zeros under control, is to think in terms of a hard currency - in this case, US dollars.

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Foreigners were forced into temporary camps in May

South African police have forcefully removed hundreds of immigrants from temporary shelters where they had taken refuge from xenophobic attacks.

Authorities say the immigrants, who were taken to a repatriation centre in Johannesburg, had not registered with the home affairs department.

They now face deportation to their home countries, officials said.

More than 60 immigrants were killed and tens of thousands more fled during the attacks against foreigners in May.

A BBC reporter witnessed angry and emotional scenes at the Glenanda temporary centre as they were removed.

Some immigrants chanted “human rights for refugees” as they were driven away by dozens of riot police.

The BBC’s Mpho Lakaje said the immigrants taken from the camp, where about 2,000 people were sheltering, included women and children.

“It is not the South African government’s intention to deport a huge group of people, but we want to identify the ring leaders [behind unrest at the camp] and deport them,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told South Africa’s Independent newspaper.

‘Very disappointed’

Home Affairs spokeswoman Cleo Mosana said the immigrants had been offered exemption from deportation but had not taken it up.

She said they had been given enough time to apply for proper documentation, but had refused to do so.

Many foreigners said the registration process was not clearly explained, or that they did not register because they feared losing their refugee status.

The government denied this would happen.

One woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo said her sister was among those taken away.

“They are going back to their country, but I know in our country there is still fighting,” she said.

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JAMAICA - Our Caribbean Focus This Week

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GoodLawd The MP done made Marcus Garvey a Criminal Again?

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Before You Quote History, or in this case Your Story, You Need To Know It.

Somebody PULLLLLEEEEEEEZEEE mandate history tests for all politicians globally; cause it they don’t know history how can they help develop the future. This is a pure example of pomposity in action

LawdaMercy - to quote Shabba, who even knows better than this MP.

~RE

Jamaica Gleaner News - Pardon us, Tom - King’s House gave senator wrong information on Garvey forgiveness - Tuesday | July 22, 2008

URL: Pardon us, Tom - King

Pardon us, Tom - King’s House gave senator wrong information on Garvey forgiveness
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

Tavares-finson

King’s House has refused to say whether it has formally apologised to Senator Tom Tavares-Finson for incorrectly informing him that it had no record of a pardon being granted to Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

By way of a letter, King’s House had told the senator that no such request was ever formally made on behalf of the country’s first National Hero, to expunge from the records two convictions for contempt of court on August 5 and September 26, 1929.But Rose-Marie Gibbs, the governor general’s acting secretary, said documents detailing the pardon were subsequently found.

Grave embarrassment

However, Gibbs refused to say where they were found. She also refused to say whether a formal apology has been made for misinforming the senator.The incorrect information was used by Tavares-Finson in his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on July 4 and has caused him much embarrassment, The Gleaner has learnt.

During the debate, Tavares-Finson called for a statutory declaration by Parliament to remove the designation of ‘convicted criminal’ from four National Heroes, including Marcus Garvey.

However, Garvey had already been pardoned in 1987 after the then Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Edward Seaga, petitioned then Governor General, Sir Florizel Glasspole, to posthumously grant the National Hero pardon.

Sources close to the senator told The Gleaner yesterday that since then, Tavares-Finson has been the butt of many jokes among his professional peers and members of the Senate.The source also revealed that Tavares-Finson had been even reprimanded by the prime minister for the boo-boo.

On the contrary, an article published in The Gleaner on August 18, 1987, confirmed that Garvey was post-humously granted pardon.The article also stated that Seaga made the announcement at Garvey Day ceremonies in St Ann’s Bay. When contacted yesterday, Seaga expressed certainty that the pardon sought by his Cabinet for Garvey was granted.

Tavares-Finson’s could not be reached yesterday, as he was said to be abroad on business.

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Bruce’s super squad - Police, army to flood JA under new anti-crime plan

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Jamaica Gleaner News - Bruce’s super squad - Police, army to flood communities under new anti-crime plan - Tuesday | July 22, 2008

URL: Riot inmates relocated to Horizon Remand Centre

Riot inmates relocated to Horizon Remand Centre
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Bruce’s super squad - Police, army to flood communities under new anti-crime plan
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Glenroy Sinclair and Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporters

This newly renovated building at Mobile Reserve, Up Park Camp in Kingston, will be the headquarters of the major joint police-military team that will be the core of a new anti-crime initiative. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

A MAJOR deployment of police and soldiers and several legislative changes should form the primary planks of new anti-crime measures to be announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding today.

With more than 900 persons killed across the island in the first seven months of this year, the prime minister is expected to provide details of what he has described as “extraordinary measures” to deal with the crime problem.

Golding was initially scheduled to announce the anti-crime measures last week, but told the country he had to delay his presentation because he had not completed his consul-tations with several groups.

Since then, the prime minister has met with human-rights lobbyists and members of the Police Federation and yesterday, met with leading members of the private sector.

During those meetings, Golding outlined and sought support for the Government’s plans, which the administration expects will offend some sections of the society.

Draconian

Already, one human-rights lobbyist has described the proposed measures as draconian.

Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, convenor of the group, Families Against State Terrorism, emerged from a meeting with Golding claiming that she was uneasy with the proposed anti-crime initiatives.

According to McCalla-Sobers, the Golding administration had agreed to measures, including amending the law to allow persons to be detained for up to 28 days without charge, the restriction of bail for gun-related offences, and the provision for majority verdict in non-capital murder cases.

Golding is expected to respond to the claims during today’s presentation.

Don denies phone in butt and why do we care ?

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

What makes this story soooo interesting ?

honestly are we mezmerized by the suggestion that a tuff ta tallawa ganglord could possibly stick a celly up his arse ?  gee, and to add gosh !  I for one think this is not news; as many phones have been found in many butts in jails globally - no doubt.  since we began following it - I will still post it as it’s a part of the ongoing discussion of what craziness is in the news these days.. globally.

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CHINA - Our International Focus This Week

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Beijing bars to Ban Blacks During Olympics.. Interesting

“We don’t have racism in China, because we don’t have black people.”

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Honestly - We’re hoping this is the icing on the cake for the Genocide Olympics.. at least with Black Folks; and folks with sensibility.

This brings about the question of if they are planning on banning Blackfolks Money from their establishments globally during the olympics ?

it would seem to reason, right ? or am I seeing this in too broad of a picture ?   like sayyyy, the same one they used when calling All Africans - Pimps, Hoes and Drug Dealers.

just for the sake of argument, lets say that during the olympics, All Blackfolks Worldwide Resolve Not To Spend ANY MONEY With ANY CHINESE Establishment.

I would love to see it happen.

personally I think I’ll just use that principal during the olympics and avoid anything Chinese.

that may be hard; but starting now gives me a chance to plan my move accordingly.

I wonder if others will see the logic and join me ?

maybe I should ask folks to join me..

Just for the sake of thought, Everyone Who Reads This and is African or Supports Africana - don’t spend any-money with any Chinese Folks anywhere during the olympics, and see if it makes you feel better as a response to this stupidity.

then we can each see if it was effective, if it shows up in the major news media. I theorize someone will think it was an organized effort; but I’m banking on the fact that word of mouth works faster than a chinese ad agency; especially with people of color.

It’s time to talk to your family, email friends, neighbors, frats, sorors, beauticians and barbers, deacon and usher friends; your co-workers, church members and anyone you know who may feel the logic in undertaking our little social un-experiment.

Pass it along and lets see how fast it effects beijing’s chief racist in charge of economics and the olympics.

It’s time we stood up together in a silent move to support principal for just such a cause.

Lets Make it Happen for US All Globally. China is not impervious to opinion, and each of ours counts; especially when it influences our spending habits and support of our own social consciousness.

now lets take another look at the international world of the olympics shall we .. China the worlds leader in cheap shyte is tryin another cheap move on the color tip ?

Ohhhh Hellllllll-OOOoooo-lympics!

— Chinese police officials have forced some Beijing bar owners to sign secret pledges promising to prohibit blacks from entering their bars during the Olympics next month, a Hong Kong newspaper says.

The police denied the report Friday, and most bars denied any knowledge of the pledges. But many African residents of Beijing say they are facing harassment from police and discrimination from bars as the Olympics approach.

“Bar owners near the Workers Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises,” the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

It quoted the co-owner of a bar who said that a group of police had recently visited his establishment to order it “not to serve black people or Mongolians.”

In the famed Sanlitun bar district of Beijing, some bar owners have been required to sign pledges agreeing to ban a variety of activities, including dancing and serving black customers, the newspaper said.

Africans and Mongolians are often perceived as criminals in Beijing. Until this year, a number of young African men were openly selling drugs in the Sanlitun district, and many Mongolian women were working as prostitutes in the city.

Both groups are among the targets of China’s security crackdown in the lead-up to the Olympics, along with thousands of Tibetans, Uyghurs, migrant workers, petitioners and social activists who are seen as potential troublemakers or protesters.

In a notorious incident last September, dozens of black people were detained by police in a raid on bars in the Sanlitun district.

Witnesses said the police rounded up all the black people they could find, up to three dozen in total, and beat some of them with rubber truncheons.

Grenada’s ambassador to China filed a complaint to the Foreign Ministry, saying that his son suffered a concussion and needed hospital treatment after he was clubbed on the head by police during the raid.

Africans have been coming to Beijing for decades as university students or traders. But many were forced to leave China this year because of new visa restrictions that made it difficult to renew their paperwork.

In interviews Friday, a number of Africans said they are facing discriminatory rules from Beijing’s bars and nightclubs as the Olympics approach.

A woman from Liberia, who is co-owner of a hair salon in Beijing, said she was outraged when she visited a popular Beijing nightclub and found that the entrance fee for black people was twice as high as for other foreigners.

Even if they managed to enter the club, the black patrons were prohibited from sitting at the tables, she said.

In another incident, she said, an African-owned bar was raided this week by police with dogs, and the customers were required to provide urine samples for drug tests.

“When the police come, you have to run,” she said. “I’ve lived in Holland and the United States and it was never like this. There’s no human rights here. It’s racist and it makes me feel very bad.”

If the police are now ordering bars to prohibit black people from entering, it is highly unfair, she said. “Every race has good people and bad people. You can’t blame all blacks for drugs. If a person is not causing a problem, you shouldn’t bother them.”

Two Nigerian businessmen said they were required to show their passports before being allowed to enter a Beijing nightclub last weekend. Black people who could not produce their passports were barred from entering the club, but other foreigners were not required to show their passports, they said.

“This had never happened before to me,” one of the Nigerians said. “I was very angry. This is racism.”

The Africans spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing more harassment from the police if they are identified. The Nigerians, interviewed at a bar, asked that the bar not be identified because they were worried that it could be raided if the police learned that Africans congregate there.

China Olympics - Police Ask Bar Owners Not To Serve Blacks Because They Are Pimps, Prostitutes And Drug Dealers

Get Them Darkies Out Of Here!

(from the barbados freepress blog)

“Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.

Bar owners said that police have been clamping down on black people and Mongolians, who are sometimes implicated in drug dealing and prostitution, as part of an Olympic clean-up campaign that they and locals fear will make for a secure but sterile Games.”

Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.  “Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians,” said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.

We checked twice just to make sure: This story comes from the SCMP and not The Onion … in 2008 … as the world awaits the ultra-harmonious “One World, One Dream” Olympics.

Prejudice and racism exists in China, but it seems to be emplifying during the Olympics. Many ethnic minorities in China are finding it harder and harder to stay in the country, and many are making their final preparations to leave. With the Olympics just a short time away, Chinese security crackdown continues to tighten against ethnic minorities, migrant workers, petitioners and social activists. Many are being forcibly expelled by authorities.

Yes, it is understandable that Tibetans and Mongolians are seen as potential Olympic troublemakers. Many Muslim Uyghurs from China are not even welcomed at hotels and ended up without a place to stay. Uyghurs are not only seems as potential protesters, but also as potential terrorists.

Racism with Chinese Characteristics?

Post time: 16-Nov-2007  17:24

Teaching university students in Shanghai gave me a unique opportunity to explore the opinions of the youth on race issues and the significance of skin color. I once taught a class on racism. One student shot up his hand and said wisely, “We don’t have racism in China, because we don’t have black people.”

My students were shocked on discover that my boyfriend was “black” (as a North American who spent a year studying in South Africa, I’m cautious about using the term “black” to refer to a person of African descent, but I will use the term here for the sake of simplicity). “Black skin is ugly,” was a common complaint. My female students said they would never date a black guy because the color of their skin is unattractive. It seemed not so much an issue of racism, but of cultural standards of beauty. White skin is considered beautiful and black just happens to be the opposite of white.

When attempting to purchase a moisturizer or skin cleanser in China, it is difficult to find anything that doesn’t advertise and contain “skin whitening” ingredients. In Western countries, we are accustomed to see “whitening” on tubes of tooth paste, but not skin care products. I laughed when my boyfriend complained about his mistaken purchase of “whitening” Neutrogena moisturizer. “What? Like I WANT to look like Michael Jackson?” he growled.

Chinese girls cower under the rays of the sun, like vampires at dawn. The umbrellas are pulled out to shade them and in the absence of an umbrella, they will school books, bags or jackets over their heads to shield themselves from a pleasant sunny day. You might identify umbrella use with rainy days, but in China, come rain or sunshine, the umbrellas are always out. So why the obsession with fish-belly white skin? Well, in Victorian times, white skin was all the rage amongst the European aristocracy. They powdered their faces. White skin was evidence that you could afford a life of leisure, whereas a tan showed you labored in the sun like the peasants.

In China, the farmers and migrant workers have deeply tanned skin. Dark skin is indicative of a lower class.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | China ‘is fuelling war in Darfur’

The BBC tracked down Chinese-built military trucks inside Darfur

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan’s government militarily in Darfur.

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

China’s government has declined to comment on the BBC’s findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.

More than two million people are also believed to have fled their villages in Darfur, destroyed by pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia.

Plates on the first truck show it was imported after the embargo

Panorama traced the first lorry by travelling deep into the remote deserts of West Darfur.

They found a Chinese Dong Feng army lorry in the hands of one of Darfur’s rebel groups.

The BBC established through independent eyewitness testimony that the rebels had captured it from Sudanese government forces in December.

The rebels filmed a second lorry with the BBC’s camera. Both vehicles had been carrying anti-aircraft guns, one a Chinese gun.

Markings showed that they were from a batch of 212 Dong Feng army lorries that the UN had traced as having arrived in Sudan after the arms embargo was put in place.

The lorries came straight from the factory in China to Sudan and were consigned to Sudan’s defence ministry. The guns were mounted after the lorries were imported from China.

When it is shooting or firing there is nowhere for you to move and the sound is just like the sound of the rain Hamaad Abakar Adballa describing attack by anti-aircraft gun

The UN started looking for these lorries in Darfur three years ago, suspecting they had been sent there, but never found them.

“We had no specific access to Sudanese government army stores, we were not allowed to take down factory codes or model numbers or registrations etc to verify these kinds of things,” said EJ Hogendoorn, a member of the UN panel of experts that was involved in trying to locate the lorries.

Culpability

China has chosen not to respond to the BBC’s findings. Its public position is that it abides by all UN arms embargoes.

China has said in the past that it told Sudan’s government not to use Chinese military equipment in Darfur.

Sudan’s government, however, has told the UN that it will send military equipment wherever it likes within its sovereign territory.

An international lawyer, Clare da Silva, says China’s point that it has taken measures in line with the arms embargo’s requirements to stop its weapons from going to Darfur is meaningless.

“It is an empty measure to take the assurances from a partner who clearly has no intention of abiding by the resolution,” she said.

Ms da Silva said the BBC’s evidence put China in violation of the arms embargo.

The UN panel of experts on Darfur has said it wants to examine the BBC’s evidence.

Homes scorched

The BBC found witnesses who said they saw the first Dong Feng which the BBC tracked down being used with its anti-aircraft gun in an attack in a town called Sirba, in West Darfur, in December.

“When it is shooting or firing there is nowhere for you to move and the sound is just like the sound of the rain. Then ‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’” said Hamaad Abakar Adballa, a witness in the Chadian refugee town of Birak.

The Chinese are accused of training pilots to use Fantan fighter jets

The lorry’s powerful anti-aircraft gun fired straight into civilian houses. The gun carries high calibre shells that explode on impact, spreading hot shards of metal and causing terrible wounds

Witnesses saw one hut take a direct hit from the gun:

“An intense wave of heat instantly sent all the huts around up in flames,” one witness, Risique Bahar, said. “There was a lot of screaming.”

In the attack on Sirba one woman was burnt to death, another horribly injured.

Genocide accusation

Sudan’s government has been accused by the United States of genocide against Darfur’s black Africans.

The terms of the embargo cover not only just the supply of weapons, military vehicles, paramilitary equipment. It also covers training any technical assistance, so the training of pilots obviously falls within the scope of the embargo International lawyer, Clare da Silva

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) say war crimes by Sudan’s Arab-dominated government have included summary executions, rape and torture.

Recently the conflict has deteriorated into more confused fighting, with rebel and militia groups also fighting each other. Two hundred thousand people have been displaced already this year.

Malnutrition rates are set to soar in South Darfur later this year due to insecurity and drought.

Darfur’s landscape is spotted with blackened circles representing the hundreds of the villages that were burnt down by government forces and their Janjaweed allies.

Air attacks

In these attacks Darfur’s civilians have been hunted not just from the ground, but from the sky.

Most civilians who tell stories of aerial attacks talk about Russian made Antanovs and helicopter gunships.

Many also talk about fighter jets being used, but no-one has ever answered the question of which type of fighter jets these are.

President Bashir says facts have been distorted and exaggerated

Kaltam Abakar Mohammed, a mother of seven, watched three of her children being blown to pieces as they were attacked by a fighter jet on 19 February in the town of Beybey in Darfur.

The BBC has established that Chinese Fantan fighter jets were flying on missions out of Nyala airport in south Darfur in February.

Panorama acquired satellite photographs of the two fighters at the airport on 18 June 2008, and its investigations indicate these are the only fighter jets that have been based in Darfur this year.

When Kaltam heard the sound of fighting early that morning, she took her children and ran.

“We start running near the well,” she said. “We hid behind a big rock. Something that looks like an eagle started coming from over there. It looked like an eagle but it made a funny noise.”

Jem rebels used a BBC camera to film a truck fitted with an anti-aircraft gun

When the plane unleashed two bombs Kaltam’s five-year-old daughter, Nura, was dismembered from the chest up.

Her eight-year-old son, Adam, was killed instantly, as was her 20-year-old daughter, Amna.

Kaltam’s 19-month-old grandson still has shrapnel in his head from the fighter jet bombing. He cries a lot and often calls out for his mother, but she was killed in the attack.

Kaltam’s 13-year-old girl, Hawa, cannot grasp what she saw happen that day to her brother and two sisters. She rarely speaks now.

Pilot training

The Chinese Fantan jets are believed to have been delivered to Sudan in 2003 before the current UN arms embargo was imposed on Darfur.

But the BBC has been told by two confidential sources that China is training Fantan fighter pilots.

Sudan imported a number of fighter trainers called K8s two years ago - they are designed to train pilots of fighters like Fantans.

“Clearly this is what they used to train for operations with the Fantans,” said Chris Dietrich, a former member of the UN panel on Darfur.

This second truck also had plates identifying it as being from China

International lawyer Ms da Silva says if China is training Fantan pilots, this represents another Chinese violation of the UN arms embargo.

“The terms of the embargo cover not only just the supply of weapons, military vehicles, paramilitary equipment. It also covers training any technical assistance, so the training of pilots obviously falls within the scope of the embargo.”

There are strong economic ties between the China and Sudan.

China buys most of Sudan’s oil and believes that what Sudan needs is good business partners, help with development and a solid peace process in Darfur, instead of confrontation and sanctions from the West.

So when China’s President Hu Jintao visited Sudan in 2007 he wrote off millions of dollars worth of debt and donated a multi-million pound interest free loan for a new presidential palace to Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

In April last year, China’s military leaders pledged to strengthen co-operation with Sudan.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | Sudan president defiant in Darfur

Mr Bashir addressed crowds of supporters during a tour of Fasher

Sudan’s president has said he is “not worried” by International Criminal Court (ICC) accusations against him, during a rare visit to Darfur.

Omar al-Bashir made the comments at a rally in the northern town of Fasher shortly after the start of his trip.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought an arrest warrant against Mr Bashir last week on charges including genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan has said it does not recognise the ICC or its decisions.

Meanwhile, the Arab League said Sudan had agreed to set up special courts to deal with Darfur.

Diplomatic offensive

During his trip to the region, Mr Bashir is to visit a series of aid projects, accompanied by officials and ambassadors.

“We’re here to send a message to the world, we’re people of peace, we want peace, we’re the ones who make peace,” Mr Bashir told supporters in Fasher.

We will continue developing Darfur and will pump out its oil Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

“Ocampo talk does not worry us,” he said. “We know who’s behind him and who’s pulling his strings.”

BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut says the visit is an opportunity for Mr Bashir to show his concern for the region, and for people there to express their affection for him at popular ceremonies.

Sudan has been on a diplomatic offensive since the ICC announced its charges, winning the backing of the Arab League and the African Union, our Africa editor says.

‘Liar’

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has accused the Sudanese leader of running a campaign of genocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through a “slow death” and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes in Darfur.

During Wednesday’s rally in Fasher, Mr Bashir’s supporters chanted “liar, liar, Ocampo”.

“We will continue developing Darfur and will pump out its oil,” the president told them.

“They want us to be a lackey of the government of America.”

The US, which is not a member of the ICC, had previously offered some praise for Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s move.

Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha said last week that the evidence was false and indicated Sudan could try to halt the court’s work.

Sudan’s government denies mobilising Arab Janjaweed militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003.

The African Union has called for the United Nations Security Council to suspend the accusations, while the Arab League said they set a dangerous precedent.

Special courts

The AU supplies most of the 9,000 peacekeepers in Darfur. The UN took joint control of the operation at the start of the year but the violence is continuing.

On Wednesday, the Arab League said Sudan had agreed to set up special courts to try alleged human rights abuses in Darfur.

A senior official for the Arab League, Hisham Yussef, said Sudan had also agreed to allow the trials to be monitored by international bodies.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo has said he is also investigating leaders of Darfur rebel groups suspected of attacking peacekeepers last year in the southern town of Haskanita.

On Wednesday, the leader of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, urged the ICC to delay Mr Bashir’s indictment and allow time for a peace agreement with former southern rebels, Reuters news agency reported.

Fighting in an oil-rich area on the border of southern Sudan has recently threatened to derail a 2005 peace accord that ended 21 years of civil war - a separate conflict to that in Darfur.

“The Sudanese government should be allowed to implement the accord signed with the South Sudan government and to negotiate with the fighting forces in Darfur,” Mr Kiir said.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | Congo prisoners ’starve to death’

The UN says there is acute malnutrition at the prison

The United Nations says it is alarmed by the number of deaths in a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At least 26 inmates have died from acute malnutrition at the main prison in the city of Mbuji Mayi in Kasai Oriental province since February.

Four inmates died of hunger last week alone. The UN says it is particularly concerned because no measures are being taken to improve living conditions.

It says many of the inmates have not yet been convicted of any crime.

The UN is providing water to the prison on a weekly basis.

Staff from the UN Mission in DR Congo, Monuc, investigating the deaths found more than 20 prisoners on the verge of death in the prison, which houses 425 prisoners in a facility originally designed for 200.

“Monuc expressed deep dissatisfaction to the provincial authorities on the living conditions of the prisoners,” said UN spokesman Assiongbon Tettekpoe.

Monuc has suggested instituting a specific food and health-care budget for the prisoners.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | Nigeria oil giant ‘paid rebels’

It has long been believed that militants are paid to protect oil infrastructure

The head of Nigeria’s national oil company has said it paid millions of dollars to militants to protect the country’s oil infrastructure.

Abubakar Yar’Adua of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) made the comments to a national assembly committee.

He later said he had been misunderstood, and that no money was paid to the rebels.

A militant group responded by saying they would blow up the pipeline.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) issued a statement claiming they had nothing to do with the alleged deal.

“To prove we were not part of the deal, the Chanomic Creek pipeline and other major pipelines will be destroyed within the next 30 days,” the group said in an e-mail sent to journalists.

On Wednesday, public hearings began in a previously scheduled national assembly investigation into corruption in the petroleum sector.

It was the first time the NNPC had appeared to acknowledge paying militants.

In recorded comments heard by a BBC reporter in Abuja, Mr Yar’Adua told the parliamentary committee that rebels had asked for a $6m monthly fee, telling them to “take it or leave it”.

“You have to pay, that’s the truth,” he said.

He was also quoted in local newspapers as saying that the company decided to pay up to protect oil facilities sabotaged by militants after it lost $81m worth of oil in two months.

“The price we pay is very high. It is difficult to get expatriates to work in the Niger Delta,” Mr Yar’Adua was quoted as saying in the Guardian newspaper.

“We paid militants $12 million because we were losing $81 million to the problem of the Chanomic pipeline in Delta State.”

It has long been suspected by human rights activists that the NNPC has been paying militant groups in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta to stop their activities.

Mend’s spokesman Jomo Gbomo said the payments had been made to a “criminal gang”.

“This criminal gang is not a genuine part of the Niger Delta agitation for justice but a front. They cannot be labelled as militant freedom fighters.”

Attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure have cut oil production by about a quarter.

Mr Yar’Adua’s remarks were made at an investigation into missing money ministries were meant to have remitted back to the Federal Government from their budgets last year.

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The Jamaica Star :: Entertainment :: No lingering for Terry Linen :: July 23, 2008

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Terry Linen is active in music again. - Contributed

A year and a half break in Japan and a child that followed may help to explain the absence of recording artiste Terry Linen from the reggae scene in Jamaica.

Terry Linen, whose real name is Kiplin Simpson, says he moved to Japan in 2006 and returned to Jamaica in late 2007.

“I moved to Japan and deh down deh a gwaan chill but mi neva a do no work,” Linen told THE STAR.

He said during the time he started dating a ‘Japanese daughter’ who gave birth to their son, now two years old. He returned to Jamaica at the request of his family and fans urging him to continue doing music as he had tremendous talent.

“You know how de business go, sometimes you have ups and downs. Mi jus’ sit back and hold a meditation and come back wid a different vibes,” said Linen who is known for hits such as Funny Love, Couldn’t Be The Girl For Me, Jah Save Me and Call On A Friend.

He has definitely come back with a different vibe as he no longer sports the dyed blonde hair that he had earlier in his career.

“I’ve been back to Jamaica since January and di ting jus tek off. Mi come back wid a new image. Dem time deh mi used to have red head, but a big man ting mi deh pon now. De red head a bwoy bwoy ting,” he said.

He has definitely come back to claim his prize as he has been getting tremendous airplay for his song Mood For Love, which has reached the number one spot on a couple local charts. His newer songs No Time To Linger and Better Man are also getting rotation.

Currently, Linen is signed to Uplifting Music International through which he will release his next album by December, despite an August schedule. The album will feature some of his recently released tracks, some newer ones and a couple cover songs.

More powerful album

Linen says this will be a more powerful album than his first, which was titled ‘Terry Linen’, as it has mostly original songs that were written by him.

Gospel songs are also on the agenda as he wants to release a gospel album later this year after the completion of his second secular album.

“Mi a country yute and mi did haffi go Sabbath church when mi a grow up. Music can change the people to. De yutes dem can write bout other things more than de gun lyrics and violence. De people dem caan tek weh a gwaan, it nagging a road,” said Terry Linen who grew up in Red Bank, St Elizabeth.

At the end of this week, Linen says he will be off to a two-week tour in the United States, making stops in Florida, New York and Atlanta.

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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Jackson ‘malfunction’ fine axed

Jackson and Timberlake caused controversy with their half-time show

A US appeal court has thrown out a $550,000 (£275,700) fine against CBS for screening Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during 2004’s Super Bowl.

Three judges ruled the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) watchdog “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in levying the fine.

Some 90 million viewers saw a fleeting glimpse of the singer’s breast during a performance at half-time.

About 542,000 complaints were received by broadcaster CBS.

Jackson was performing alongside Justin Timberlake when the incident happened.

As he sang the line “gonna have you naked by the end of this song”, he reached for Jackson’s bra.

She covered herself up before the lights dimmed, during a performance seen by millions of families as part of American TV’s highest-rated broadcast of the year.

CBS was flooded with complaints as soon as the footage was screened.

Apologies

The network, producers MTV and Timberlake all apologised, insisting the move had not been intentional.

But the fine was imposed in September 2004 and was the largest ever handed to a US television broadcaster.

The FCC fined 20 CBS-owned TV stations the maximum penalty for indecency - $27,500 (£13,780) - each.

CBS appealed against the decision, however.

The court said the FCC had traditionally fined broadcasters for indecent material only when it amounted to “shock treatment” for viewers.

In this case, the footage - lasting “nine-sixteenths of a second” - was too brief to merit such a penalty, it added.

“The FCC cannot impose liability on CBS for the acts of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, independent contractors hired for the limited purposes of the half-time show,” wrote the chief judge on the panel, Anthony Scirica.

The FCC had argued the move was arranged in advance and said CBS should have been prepared to censor such a graphic image.

No statement on the ruling has yet been issued by CBS or the FCC.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabweans play the zero game

Quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion - crazy numbers with lots of zeros, that independent Zimbabwean economist John Robertson found himself chewing over with colleagues in the capital Harare this week.

In January, the bank introduced a Z$10m note

The financial throes of the country are now so severe, that some people are seeking a new language to understand it.

On Monday, the Zimbabwe government introduced the 100 billion Zimbabwe dollar note (for the uninitiated, a billion is nine zeros).

The counting of zeros had already become a nightmare for bankers and shoppers before the introduction of the new note - which at the time of writing would buy about two loaves of bread.

So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless.

It has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).

When John Robertson pinned a chart to the wall of office naming numbers up to twice as long, he says he “raised a bit of a laugh” from his colleagues.

But for many officials and accountants, a quadrillion - a million billion - is the number of the day.

BIG NUMBERS Quadrillion: 15 zeros Quintillion: 18 zeros Sextillion: 21 zeros Septillion 24 zeros This formulation is from the widely-used US system

Only last week, the Harare Herald advertised the Lotto bonanza prize being offered was 1.2 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars. At the time, that was equivalent to around 4,000 US dollars.

So how do Zimbabweans deal with such astronomical numbers?

“I actually Googled what comes after trillion about a month ago, and sent that out to all my friends so they’d be prepared,” says 28-year-old Esther, a Harare resident who writes a regular diary for the BBC.

Day-to-day transactions for ordinary people have not reached the quadrillion stage, she says, but even trillions present difficulties.

“What is confusing is counting of the figures on your cheques as you try to make sure you are not under or over paying someone, or the struggling to read price tags in shops that have not yet knocked off zeros and so on,” she says.

Hard currency

This practice - knocking off zeros - is the most common way of preserving sanity.

Most calculators simply cannot show enough digits.

The new note is three zeros short of Germany’s 1924 100-trillion-mark note

Tills throughout the country have been struggling to cope, as have banking computers, and accounting systems.

As a result, the banks recently agreed to lop six zeros off transactions and documentation.

Economist John Robertson predicts that within a month they will be forced to drop another three.

The other main technique for keeping zeros under control, is to think in terms of a hard currency - in this case, US dollars.

It would be against the law to advertise your house in US dollars, Mr Robertson says, but in practice this is the currency used for big purchases.

“Nothing would be written down and on the day of exchange, that figure would either be paid in US dollars, or converted into Zimbabwe dollars. Then you would be talking big numbers - which will take a bit of getting used to.”

While Zimbabwe is the only country suffering from currently suffering from hyperinflation its economic woes are not unprecedented.

Bundles of cash

History has shown that in countries experiencing hyperinflation - characterised by a monthly inflation of more than 50% - the central bank often prints money in larger and larger denominations as the smaller denomination notes become worthless.

Beyond a million it all becomes a blur Marcus du Sautoy, Maths professor

In Yugoslavia, for example, the rate of inflation was five quadrillion per cent between October 1993 and January 1994. The government was forced to issue a 500 billion dinar note in 1993.

In Germany after World War I, prices were doubling about every two days and workers were paid daily or more often with bundles of cash. The highest value banknote issued by the Reichsbank had a face value of 100 trillion marks.

Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, says in general people are very bad at assessing numbers of this size.

“Beyond a million it all becomes a blur,” he says.

“People are really looking for the ratio of one product to another, and then it’s irrelevant how many zeros there are at the end of the number,” he says.

If shops and banks don’t drop the zeros, it’s done instead by the human brain

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Dammnnn Johnny, why don’t you come play bookies in the 313 and try that again;

So Johnny When You gonna announce your next Sexpistols title bout;

I personally plan to be in attendance when he announces his intentions to show up in motown for the real badass beatdown. and for the record, I got more than Five on This Beatdown.  Kele is gonna have to take his ass to the barristers for this little show of ballz.  but in the meantime, lets put his ass in the ring with Mikey Tyson.. yeah bwoyyyy

Fuck You Johnny Rotten, fake Sexpistol Wannabebiotch -

and I Still Love You Sid and Nancy - The Real Sex Pistols;

~RE

BBC - Newsbeat - Music - John Lydon denies ‘racist’ attack

John Lydon has denied claims by Kele Okereke from Bloc Party that he was racially abused and attacked by a member of the Sex Pistols’ entourage at a music festival in Barcelona.

Okereke claimed he had been attacked by several men after approaching Lydon backstage at the Summercase festival.

He said the ‘unprovoked’ attack left him with a split lip and bruises.

But Lydon has said: “I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening.”

‘Intimidating and aggressive’

Okereke has described how he was set upon after asking Lydon if he had considered reforming his former band, Public Image Ltd.

He said the punk singer became ‘intimidating and aggressive’, while someone in Lydon’s group told him, “your problem is your black attitude”.

The Sex Pistols were playing the festival in Barcelona

Okereke claims he was then attacked by three members of Lydon’s crew who punched him in the face and head.

It is understood that Yannis Philippakis from Foals and Kaiser Chiefs’ singer Ricky Wilson tried to intervene in the fight, which was eventually broken up by festival security.

It is claimed the fight was later reported to police in both Spain and the UK.

Philippakis referred to what happened at the Latitude festival on 20 July.

He told the crowd: “We were in Spain yesterday and I got into a fight with Johnny Rotten.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, but I was handcuffed and we nearly didn’t make it.”

Lydon has responded with a statement saying: “After the show, John Rotten and management remained behind to sign autographs, which we did for four solid hours without incident and had a great time talking to other Spanish bands.

Kele was on a weekend break before Japan dates

“This seems to have sparked jealousy in certain bands.

“The trouble was brought to us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security.

“It’s a shame that the wonderful world of the media is riddled with nonsense like this”
He added: “Grow up and learn to be a true man.”
Bloc Party are about to kick off a tour in Japan and the US.

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BBC NEWS | Africa | S African police evict migrants

Foreigners were forced into temporary camps in May

South African police have forcefully removed hundreds of immigrants from temporary shelters where they had taken refuge from xenophobic attacks.

Authorities say the immigrants, who were taken to a repatriation centre in Johannesburg, had not registered with the home affairs department.

They now face deportation to their home countries, officials said.

More than 60 immigrants were killed and tens of thousands more fled during the attacks against foreigners in May.

A BBC reporter witnessed angry and emotional scenes at the Glenanda temporary centre as they were removed.

Some immigrants chanted “human rights for refugees” as they were driven away by dozens of riot police.

The BBC’s Mpho Lakaje said the immigrants taken from the camp, where about 2,000 people were sheltering, included women and children.

“It is not the South African government’s intention to deport a huge group of people, but we want to identify the ring leaders [behind unrest at the camp] and deport them,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told South Africa’s Independent newspaper.

‘Very disappointed’

Home Affairs spokeswoman Cleo Mosana said the immigrants had been offered exemption from deportation but had not taken it up.

She said they had been given enough time to apply for proper documentation, but had refused to do so.

Many foreigners said the registration process was not clearly explained, or that they did not register because they feared losing their refugee status.

The government denied this would happen.

One woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo said her sister was among those taken away.

“They are going back to their country, but I know in our country there is still fighting,” she said.

Marylyn Mill, a volunteer who had been helping at the shelter, said she was “very, very disappointed”.

“I’m ashamed to be a South African, that this is how people in my country can be treated by our government.”

The violence began in a township north of Johannesburg before spreading to other parts of the country.

It was the worst bloodshed in the county since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Those attacked in May were blamed for fuelling high unemployment and crime.

Twenty-one South Africans, mistaken by gangs for foreigners, were among those killed.

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Jamaica Gleaner News - ‘High Priest’ remembered - Tuesday | July 22, 2008

‘High Priest’ remembered
published: Tuesday | July 22, 2008

Roy Shirley goes down on his knees as he wows the audience at the palace Theatre. - file

ROY Shirley, the theatrical singer known as the High Priest of Reggae, has died. An entry on the Trojan Records website said Shirley passed away last week in Britain.

No cause, or date of death, was given.

Shirley was best known for the 1967 hit song, Hold Them, which was produced by a young Joe Gibbs. Several musicologists consider Hold Them to be the first rock steady song.

Although he had other songs of note including I Am The Winner and Heartbreak Gypsy, a cover of soul singer Ben E King’s hit.

Hold Them was the Kingston-born Shirley’s signature song. Early in his career, he worked with Jimmy Cliff and Ken Boothe, but never matched the chart success of those singers.

Shirley’s penchant for drama (wore capes, ‘wept’ during performances) overshadowed his talent, but reggae historian Roger Steffens said there should be no disputing the mark he made on Jamaican music.

“As an artiste, he was unique and inimitable. He had a voice like a squeezed mango, a stage manner that bordered on the absurd, and a strange offbeat sense of humour that found expression in odd songs like Dance the Auna and Music Field,” Steffens told The Gleaner.

Shirley, who was 64, last performed in June at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville, California.

He immigrated to England in 1973, and like many of his contemporaries, developed a cult following in that country. He last performed in Jamaica in 2004 at the Stars ‘R’ Us show.

Roy Shirley facts

Was born Ainsorth Roy Rushton Shirley.

First song, Shirley, was done for producer Leslie Kong in 1962.

Was founding member of vocal group The Uniques with singer Slim Smith.

Founded the British Universal Talent Development Association.

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