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July 26, 2012

  • Ghana’s President Dies Suddenly

    Ghana’s President Dies Suddenly by Frederick H. Lowe President John Mills of the Republic of Ghana died suddenly on Tuesday at a military hospital, where he was being treated for an undisclosed illness, Martey Newman, his chief of staff, announced on Ghana’s official portal. “It is with a heavy heart and deep sorrow that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the President of the Republic of Ghana---his excellency, Professor John Atta Mills.

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  • Study: Blacks Find Few Places to Get a Photo ID in the Rural South

    Study: Blacks Find Few Places to Get a Photo ID in the Rural South African Americans who live in rural areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia face significant challenges visiting department of motor vehicle (DMV) or county election offices to obtain state-issued photo-identification cards.

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  • Group Honors First R.I. Public School to Enroll Black Children

    Group Honors First R.I. Public School to Enroll Black Children The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society on Saturday will unveil a plaque at the former Meeting Street School, which in 1828 became the first public school in Rhode Island and one of the first in the nation to enroll African-American children as students.

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  • The NorthStar's Books

    The NorthStar's Books A Plaque And A New Biography Give Forgotten Black Opera Star An Encore by Frederick H.

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  • Big Cheese Supplier Eats Crow

    Leprino Foods Inc., a Denver-based federal food contractor, has agreed to pay $550,000 to more than 250 African- American, Hispanic and Asian individuals who were denied entry-level jobs at the company’s plant in Lemoore, Calif. The U.S.

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  • Foreclosures Hit Black Seniors Hardest

    Foreclosures Hit Black Seniors Hardest New America Media WASHINGTON, D.C.—The mortgage crisis has slammed every age group—especially the oldest Americans 75-plus -- and has hit Latino and African-American seniors and their families the hardest, according to a study being released by the Washington, D.

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  • Virginia Cops Fired After Expressing Desires to See Obama Dead

    RICHMOND, Va. (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Two White Richmond police officers have been fired for calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama during his campaign visit to the city in May.

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  • Olympics May Not Bear Out Promises

    Olympics May Not Bear Out Promises New America Media Three days of grassroots activism, petitions and popular pressure have resulted in a reversal of the British Olympic Association’s decision to deny press accreditation to The Voice, the UK’s only national, weekly newspaper for the black community. The Voice had been denied official media access to the Olympic Games, with organizers citing a lack of space, despite the presence of many black athletes on the British Olympic team, and despite the fact that roughly 700 press passes were set aside for UK media.

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  • 'God's Plan' to Kill?

    'God's Plan' to Kill? By Julianne Malveaux (TriceEdneyWire.com) - George Zimmerman, the Florida man who killed Trayvon Martin, told Fox News personality Sean Hannity that the events that occurred on Feb. 26, 2012 were “God’s will.

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  • Usher's Stepson Dies; Funeral Services Scheduled

    Usher's Stepson Dies; Funeral Services Scheduled Willie A Watkins Funeral Home Inc. will hold a viewing on Thursday, July 26, for Singer Usher's 11-year-old stepson, Kile Glover, who died two weeks after an accident on a lake.

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  • Sherman Hemsley

    Sherman Hemsley Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on the popular television sitcom The Jeffersons, died on Tuesday at his home in El Paso, Texas. He was 74.

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  • Sylvia Woods

    Sylvia Woods Sylvia Woods, who co-founded Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem with her husband, Herbert Woods, in 1962, was remembered during a more than two-hour service on Tuesday at Abyssinian Baptist Church.

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  • The NorthStar’s Week in Black History

    The NorthStar’s Week in Black History July 26 through August 1 July 26 1916 ----- Born on this date in Richmond, Va., Spottiswood W. Robinson, III was an educator, civil-rights attorney, judge and the first black person to be appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

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Dr. Nkoaszana Clarise Dlamini-Zuma
Dr. Nkoaszana Clarise Dlamini-Zuma

African Union Elects First Woman Chairman

by Frederick H. Lowe
The African Union Commission, which is the administrative branch of the African Union, elected Dr. Nkosazana Clarise Dlamini-Zuma chairman at the organization’s meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethopia.

Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa Home Affairs Minister, is the first woman to be elected chairman. She defeated incumbent Dr. Jean Ping of Gabon for the post. The African Union announced the election results on July 15 in Addis Ababa, where the African Union is headquartered.

The main objectives of the African Union, which was founded in on Sept. 9, 1999, are to rid the continent of the vestiges of colonization and apartheid and to promote unity and solidarity among African States.

In addition, the African Union wants to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development, to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states and to promote international cooperation within the  framework of the United Nations. The African Union’s predecessor organization, Organization of African Unity, was founded in 1963.

At her swearing in, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma quoted Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican-American civil-rights activist. In her acceptance speech, she dedicated her victory to all women on the African continent. She also called for unity and cohesion among Africans, according to a news release issued by the African Union.

Dr. Ping congratulated Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, calling her election a memorable moment on the continent because a woman now has been selected to be at the helm of the commission. Fifty-four African countries are members of the African Union.

Conference attendees also elected six of the African Union’s eight commissioners. Members will elect the remaining two in the January 2013 summit.

The African Union summit, the organization’s 19th, was held July 9th-16th. The conference’s theme was “Boosting Intra-African Trade.”

If Dr. Dlamini-Zuma’s last name sounds familiar, it is because Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, is her ex-husband. The two met while she was working as a physician at Mbabane Government Hospital in Swaziland.

She earned her medical degree from University of Bristol in the United Kingdom in 1978. She fled into exile during the 1970s because she was an active underground member of the then banned African National Congress.

Dlamini-Zuma served as South Africa Minister of Health from 1994 to 1999 under President Nelson Mandela. In that role, she was criticized for supporting the anti-AIDs drug, Virodene, which was less expensive than other drugs but was considered ineffective by some scientists. Later she was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving under Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Molanthe. President Zuma named her Minister of Home Affairs.

Because of her new position, Diamini-Zuma will move from South Africa to Ethiopia.

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