'I love her very much'- Colonel Qaddafi

In the end they met at his compound in Tripoli. After the diplomatic niceties were dealt with, Ms. Rice and Colonel Qaddafi met one on one — though with note takers and interpreters, State Department officials said — for what had been billed as a more interesting private exchange than the usual diplomatic meetings.

After all, the Libyan leader had professed his “love” for the American secretary of state. “I support my darling black African woman,” Colonel Qaddafi told the network Al Jazeera last year. “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders.”

He continued: “Yes, Leezza, Leezza, Leezza... I love her very much.”

*The Al Jazeera interviews Ali A. Tarhouni- an economist who has a death sentence on him by Qaddafi.

Tuaregs of Niger

Tuaregs

Hope in Obama's father's land

The War nobody cared about

The battle for peace in Northern Uganda

Nigeria's child 'witches'

Force feeding little girls

A deeply disturbing habit from Mauritania;

Big is often regarded as beautiful in Mauritania, but the controversial act of force-feeding is still practiced in some parts of the country.

Photo of the Day

via Boing Boing- Pieter Hugo's Nollywood Series

Related;
Nigerian films are so successful that the government wants to get involved;

Today, filmmaking employs about a million people in Nigeria, split equally between production and distribution, making it the country's biggest employer after agriculture, according to the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB). The industry has sales of $200m-300m a year....

The films cost anywhere between $15,000 and $100,000 to make, and the money comes directly from the market. Producers, or “marketers”, as they are known, use some of the profits from one film to pay for the next. Banks do not lend to Nollywood, as there are no statistics from which they could estimate likely returns

Governance is worsening in Africa? Do we need more aid?

Mauritania junta's promise of democracy in doubt

Mugabe wins a Gold Medal

Lewis Black gives away Evil Dictator Awards- Mugabe wins Gold Medal for changing Zimbabweans into a nation of starving Rockefellers.

Is the Rainbow Nation dead

Photo of the Day

Trove of Endangered Gorillas Found in Africa

Well Souled- New Age Tourism?

Mitah Shah and Mark Leibowitz at Google;

At the heart of Well Souled is the belief that lasting impressions are those that come naturally through the people you meet on your travels and how they connect you to the context, sharing their perspectives on the attitudes, sounds, colors, and textures that surround you. This is how travel becomes emotional -- soulful. Well Souled translates this kind of cultural immersion into lifestyle products that celebrate the sensory experience of travel.

Africa's pains

Liberia's women combatants

Albinos in Tanzania

dozens of albinos have been murdered and their bodies dismembered as some witch doctors claim that the use of albino body parts can help people to become rich

Related;
The Hammer Against Witches

Assorted

Chart of the Day: 9/11 Vs. Subprime Shocks

World Bank Report on Public Sector Reforms - What works and Why?

How can we end poverty? The determinants of development

From Good to Great … to Below Average

Islam and apostasy

Do economists need brains?

Chance of Obama-Clinton Ticket Is Seen as Unlikely

Uganda-A grumpy kingdom

Zimbabwe to lop zeroes off currency

Too Big to Fail?

Summers Vindicated (again)

Global Financial Stability Report Market Update

NYT vs WSJ on gender issues

The Origin of African Checks and Balances

Marketers help with developing healthy habits in Africa

A FEW years ago, a self-described “militant liberal” named Val Curtis decided that it was time to save millions of children from death and disease. So Dr. Curtis, an anthropologist then living in the African nation of Burkina Faso, contacted some of the largest multinational corporations and asked them, in effect, to teach her how to manipulate consumer habits worldwide.

Dr. Curtis, now the director of the Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, had spent years trying to persuade people in the developing world to wash their hands habitually with soap. Diseases and disorders caused by dirty hands — like diarrhea — kill a child somewhere in the world about every 15 seconds, and about half those deaths could be prevented with the regular use of soap, studies indicate.

But getting people into a soap habit, it turns out, is surprisingly hard.

To overcome this hurdle, Dr. Curtis called on three top consumer goods companies to find out how to sell hand-washing the same way they sell Speed Stick deodorant and Pringles potato chips. ....

he companies that Dr. Curtis turned to — Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever — had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers’ lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.

If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day — chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, antiperspirants, colognes, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins — are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of canny advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands advertising that no morning is complete without a minty-fresh mouth.

A few decades ago, many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers — which are effective even if applied at high noon — are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.

Via Nudge

Quote of the Day

Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose nation is one of Zimbabwe's major trading partners, expressed similiar sentiments, saying Zimbabwe should be allowed to resolve its political crisis on its own.

''The development of the situation in Zimbabwe until now has not exceeded the context of domestic affairs,'' Wang said, adding that sanctions would ''interfere with the negotiation process.''

-Russia and China Veto U.N. Sanctions on Zimbabwe

Related;
Is it true what they say about the Chinese? The effects of China’s lending in Africa

Development Econ Talks

Will China and India be Able to Sustain High Growth?

Commission on Growth and Development: Ideas Informing Actors

Equality of Opportunity in Latin America and the Carribean

The Political Economy of Inequality: Implications for Inclusive Growth

Increase in Food and Fuel Prices—Seminar on Macroeconomic Impact, and Policy Responses

Headline of the Day

World leaders enjoy 18-course banquet as they discuss how to solve global food crisis

The following headline appears too suspicious-
G8 says committed to fulfilling Africa aid pledge

Related;The G8 on Africa and development

IMF and World Bank compete for attention;
Export Restrictions Hamper Humanitarian Response, Zoellick Says
Price Surge Driving Some Countries Close to Tipping Point—IMF

The tipping point in Zimbabwe

Chris Blattman asks Should Mugabe be denounced?. Now that Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Pulls Out of Runoff, maybe he may reconsider his views.