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WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. military is stepping up operations in the Gulf of Guinea to enhance security in this strategic and resource-rich region, the commander of U.S. European Command's naval surface combatant warships told the Pentagon Channel. U.S. military engagement along southwestern Africa's Atlantic coast has increased exponentially, Capt. Tom Rowden, commander of Task Force 65, said during a Pentagon interview last week. It's increased from almost no activity in 2004 to 130 "ship days" in 2005 to even more planned ship days this year, he said. The goal is to build long-term relationships that promote greater security and...

Women buying creams made of tiny particles 'used as guinea pigs' By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent (Filed: 05/05/2006) Consumers who use a new generation of cosmetics are being used as "guinea pigs", scientists said yesterday. Researchers called for the tightening of testing procedures governing face and sun creams, dietary supplements and other products that harness the special properties of tiny particles of matter, known as nanotechnology. Some of the beauty products which make use of nanotechnology About 100 people in Germany suffered health problems at the end of March after using a bathroom sealant called Magic Nano. Nanotechnology involves working...

NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- As part of a larger U.S. interagency effort towards greater stability in Africa, approximately 1,400 Sailors and Marines aboard USS Emory S. Land (ESL) (AS 39) are deploying to the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region in late February 2006. Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, Vice Adm. J. Boomer Stufflebeem says the deployment is part of a comprehensive theater security cooperation strategy benefiting all involved. “U. S. European Command and CNE-C6F (Commander, Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet) efforts in Africa, and specifically in the Gulf of Guinea, focus on strengthening partnerships and improving overall maritime security. By...

On February 3, 2006, it was reported that 15 of Belgium's Pandur armored personnel carriers were stolen, together with radio equipment and field kitchens. The equipment was meant for a Beninese battalion that is part of the UN force in the Congo.Thanks to some help from DID's Benelux reader David Vandenberghe, DID can bring you the details. In December a ship under the flag of Saint Kitts & Nevis (VRT's report was incorrect) left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for Congo, chartered by Geodis under the auspices of the UN. The cargo ship never made it to its destination. Four...

Tue Feb 7, 2006 12:11 AM GMT166 Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists said on Tuesday they had found a "Lost World" in an Indonesian mountain jungle, home to dozens of exotic new species of birds, butterflies, frogs and plants. "It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the U.S., Indonesian, and Australian expedition to part of the cloud-shrouded Foja mountains in the west of New Guinea. Indigenous peoples living near the Foja range, which rises to 2,200 metres, said they did not...

Contact: Lori Stiles lstiles@u.arizona.edu 520-626-4402 University of Arizona Radiocarbon dates reveal that New Guinea art is older than thought When the de Young Museum reopens in a new, earthquake-resistant building in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park next Saturday, Oct. 15, it will debut what curators consider the largest and most important private collection of New Guinea art in the world. Gregory W. L. Hodgins and A. J. Timothy Jull of The University of Arizona will attend the gala event. The scientists have radiocarbon dated some of the collection that New York-based entrepreneur John Friede and his wife, Marcia, are giving...

ALARM - Seism of 7,3 in Guinea New Guinea-News HONG KONG - an important seism a magnitude of 7,3 on the scale of Richter was recorded with broad of the Eastern coast of Guinea New Guinea-News, announced Friday the Observatory of Hong Kong.

Conakry - Inhabitants of the Guinean capital Conakry were in shock on Sunday after two attacks on rice stocks, one of which involved overnight break-ins at the central food market. On Saturday, two trucks carrying a total of some 60 tons of rice were stopped by groups of young men in a southern suburb of Conakry and emptied of their contents, with the looters making off before police arrived. Several stores owned by traders in the central Madina market were then broken into and robbed in the early hours of Sunday, with the attackers taking away several tons of rice...

Al-Qaïda and Taylor destabilize West Africa New York (the United Nations) - terrorist organization Al-Qaïda is active in West Africa and supports in particular activities of destabilization of the area to which the bast former president Charles Taylor delivers itself, affirmed Tuesday of the members of the special Court for Sierra Leone. The principal target of these activities of destabilization is Guinea where an attempted murder of president Lansana Conte already took place last January, in which Charles Taylor was implied, Al White affirmed, principal investigator of the Court, at the time of a press conference to the head...

Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times Kimberly Lane, a teacher at Heritage High School, expressed dismay after the arrest. At Heritage High School in East Harlem, where the student idiom is hip-hop and salsa, the 16-year-old Guinean girl stood out, but not just because she wore Islamic dress. She was so well liked that when she ran for student body president, she came in second to one of her best friends - the Christian daughter of the president of the parent-teacher association, Deleen P. Carr. Now Ms. Carr, a speech pathologist who calls herself "a typical American citizen," is as outraged...

Troubles deepened for Lady Thatcher's disgraced son last night when a self-confessed coup plotter surfaced to accuse him of direct involvement in the attempt to overthrow the regime in Equatorial Guinea. Crause Steyl, the mercenary pilot who was to have been the star witness against Mark Thatcher had his trial in South Africa gone ahead, told Channel 4 News that Sir Mark's role had been kept secret, because "his mother was the previous prime minister of England". Mr Steyl described meeting Sir Mark to select a helicopter on which a gun could be mounted. He also alleged that the Spanish...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

ByCONAKRY, Guinea (AP) - There's lucky: Finding a diamond when you're a young miner sweating it out in the west African forests of Guinea. And there's too lucky: finding a 182-carat stone, that everyone - starting with the government of Guinea - wants a piece of. Result: the stone - four times the size of the famous Hope diamond - was tucked away Monday deep in the vaults of Guinea's Central Bank, no pictures, please. And the 25-year-old miner who found it, if not exactly in hiding, was making himself scarce. No interviews, please. State radio in impoverished, mineral-rich Guinea...

<p>Los Angeles, , May. 22 (UPI) -- A grand jury and congressional investigators are probing real estate purchases by U.S. oil companies that may have constituted bribes to an African dictator.</p> <p>The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday the two separate investigations involve high-priced land purchases made by the oil companies through a holding company beleived controlled by the president of Equatorial Guinea.</p>

THE 70 suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Harare early this month in connection with the foiled coup in the Equatorial Guinea yesterday appeared briefly before a court convened at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. The suspects, who are facing five charges under the Public Order and Security, Firearms, and Immigration Acts, were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Mr Mishrod Guvamombe. They were remanded to April 13, when their lawyers are expected to make an application for refusal of remand. The suspects, made up of 10 whites, two coloureds and 58 blacks all clad in new prison...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has seized a U.S.-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities and a cargo of "military material", Home Affairs (Interior) Minister Kembo Mohadi said on Monday. "A United States of America-registered Boeing 727-100 cargo plane was detained last night at about 19:30 hours at Harare International Airport after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Mohadi said in a statement.

How the French Plunder Africa France's unchallenged political, economic, and military domination of its former sub-Saharan African colonies is rooted in a currency, the CFA franc. Created in 1948 to help France control the destiny of its colonies, fourteen countries--Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Bissau Guinea, and Chad--maintained the franc zone even after they gained independence decades ago. In exchange for France guaranteeing the CFA franc's convertibility, these countries agreed to deposit 65% of their foreign exchange reserves in a special account within the French Treasury and granted to...

Cotonou - The voice and data recorders from a Boeing 727 that crashed in the west African state of Benin on Christmas Day have been sent to France for examination, police sources said Tuesday. A Boeing 727 operated by Union des Transports Africains (UTA), which is registered in Guinea, crashed into the sea on takeoff from Cotonou, the main city in Benin, killing 139 of the 161 people on board. Most of the passengers were Lebanese expatriates returning home for the holidays. A police source in Cotonou told journalists that the black boxes were sent at the weekend to Paris...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - The West African nation of Guinea violated a U.N. arms embargo to supply weapons to Liberian rebels, who "indiscriminately" shelled residential areas and the U.S. Embassy in their final assault on Liberia's capital this summer, a leading human rights group said Wednesday. New York-based Human Rights Watch called for a suspension of U.S. and other foreign military assistance to Guinea, which it said was still reportedly supplying arms to the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy rebel group. In the Guinean capital, Conakry, foreign ministry spokesman Aboubacar Cisse said his government had not seen the report,...

`A perfect flying bomb' disappearsAged Boeing 727 last seen in June Authorities cast nervous eye on the sky NICOLAAS VAN RIJNSTAFF REPORTER An aged Boeing 727 stolen in May from a sleepy African airport could have been rigged as the ultimate flying bomb before it disappeared, authorities say. The theft, in a post-Sept. 11 world, has sparked a continent-wide hunt for the missing jetliner. And now, with U.S. President George W. Bush making a swing through Africa, authorities are keeping a nervous eye on the skies. Bush flies back to Washington this weekend after stops today in Uganda and Nigeria....

Mystery Boeing briefly resurfaces after disappearanceJuly 8 2003A Boeing 727, whose sudden disappearance in Angola in May unnerved US intelligence agencies, reappeared last week in the Guinean capital Conakry before vanishing once again, British newspaper The Guardian reports. Washington has been working with African governments in the past month in a frantic bid to hunt down the cargo plane, amid fears the aircraft could be used by terrorists in a repeat of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The paper said the plane was seen on June 28 by a Canadian pilot, Bob Strother, in Conakry, sporting...

Missing plane turns up in Guinea JAMES ASTILL IN FREETOWN THE mystery of a missing Boeing 727 cargo plane that caused panic in United States intelligence circles appears to have been solved. The aircraft, which vanished without trace from Angola’s main airport, turned up last week in Guinea. The plane was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists. It was spotted late last month in Conakry, Guinea’s capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been re-sprayed and given the Guinean registration, 3XGOM. But, at least the last two letters of its former tail-number, N844AA, were still...

A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport turned up last week in Guinea, the Guardian can reveal. The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its former tail-number, N844AA, were still showing. The plane, which was recently converted into a fuel tanker, was said to be owned by a member...

Beyond his ornate waiting rooms, and behind his vast outer office, there’s a small, intimate study where Colin Powell retreats from the public posturing of international politics. IT’S RARE FOR ANY foreign official to enter the secretary of State’s inner sanctum. Yet last week Powell ushered the obscure foreign minister of Guinea in for some quality time alone amid Henry Kissinger’s memoirs and the Dean Acheson biographies. Just four months ago, Powell was celebrating one of his biggest victories with an extraordinary 15-0 vote against Iraq at the United Nations. Now he was being forced to entertain one of the...

"Another nutty day at the office," muttered one senior UN official involved with Iraq issues as he arrived for work yesterday morning. He then took a lift to the upper floors of the UN's towering headquarters. Downstairs, diplomats, UN staff and journalists swarmed over each other in a desperate hunt for titbits of intelligence. Their motto was the one-liner uttered by a senior diplomat earlier this week: "If anyone tells you that they understand what is going on inside the Security Council, they're wrong." In the febrile atmosphere sweeping the building the whisper that Guinea would vote against the US...

When Guinea, Cameroon and Angola Call the ShotsBy Chris WeinkopfFrontPageMagazine.com | March 12, 2003 OUTSIDE OF THE WORLD CUP, Americans don’t much hear about countries like Guinea, Cameroon, and Angola—and for good reason. Other than their ability to field competitive soccer teams, they are known for little more than human-rights abuses and political corruption. Between them, the three have an average life expectancy of 46 years and a literacy rate of 47 percent. On Freedom House’s most recent annual ratings of political rights and civil liberties, all three received the "not free" designation. Yet upon these three nations—and, of course,...

LUANDA (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin arrived in Angola on a lightning tour of the three African nations on the UN Security Council to win support for France's position on Iraq. De Villepin is to meet President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos before heading off to Cameroon and Guinea later Monday as France rallies support to block a UN resolution that would authorise the use of force against Baghdad. He is expected to tell leaders of the three nations that there is little point in backing the US-British-Spanish resolution as France will be sure to use its...

AFTER a frenzied five-day tour of Guinea, Angola and Cameroon, it was not clear whether the Minister of State for Africa, Baroness Amos, had won any commitments from the countries that hold the key to winning UN backing for a war on Iraq. "I am very satisfied," is all the baroness would say in the wake of a final meeting with Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, in Yaounde. "I’ve gone through with each of the presidents our position on Iraq, and in particular on the second resolution." Her hectic schedule was a sign of the desperate scramble to win the loyalties...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency has assigned more female employees to refugee camps following charges aid workers had abused women and child refugees, the agency's head said on Thursday. ``Women and children are sometimes exploited and abused so (the UNHCR) is based on an attitude of zero tolerance. Already one case is too much, so we go for stricter policies,'' Ruud Lubbers, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said at a U.N. summit on children. A report released this month by the Geneva-based UNHCR and Save the Children in Britain found that locally hired aid workers in...