~State gains 7,900 jobs in December~

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota unemployment rate fell 0.2 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted 5.7 percent, according to figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
The state unemployment rate has fallen 1.5 percent since August, the biggest decrease over a four-month span on record in Minnesota, dating back to 1976. The U.S. unemployment rate in December was 8.5 percent.

 ~ register by Feb. 24 to participate in Teen Job Fair at Hennepin Central Library – Minneapolis Central- Participation is FREE ~

Metro area employers who are looking for teenage employees for summer and beyond and would like to participate in the 6th annual Teen Job Fair on March 24 at Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, need to register by Feb. 24.  Registration is required, limited, and free. To register: call Cynthia Matthias at 612-543-8044.  

Convicted killers of the activist wife of business mogul Chief Moshood Abiola were sentenced to death this week in a long-delayed decision by Nigeria’s high court.

Alhaja Kudirat Abiola was murdered 16 years ago in a gruesome murder orchestrated by an aide to the former military ruler Sani Abacha and a protocol officer of her husband  as she was being driven to the U.S. embassy. The two major conspirators to her death, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lafeef Sofolahan, received the ultimate penalty at the Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere.

By Fungai Maboreke

(GIN) - Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has stepped back from remarks earlier this month criticizing women for wearing pants or miniskirts. The remarks triggered an outbreak of beatings and of tearing clothes off women over their choice of attire.
In a 15 minute national address, President Mutharika condemned the recent attacks on women mainly by vendors who claimed that the President had ordered it.

 ~Sixteen projects in Minnesota receive funding~
 
ST. PAUL –The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has awarded more than $5.2 million in grants to investigate or clean up 16 contaminated sites in seven cities in the state.
The grants were awarded under DEED’s Contamination Cleanup Grant Program for projects in Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Duluth (two), Fairmont, Minneapolis (nine), St. Louis Park and St. Paul.

(GIN) – In an historic referendum, Southern Sudanese are voting in large numbers for self-rule and an end to years of north-south struggle with its roots in British imperialism which played north against south, setting up a capital in Khartoum with Muslim leaders.

South Sudan, trapped in extreme poverty, is also hoping to win control of the oil within its borders that had been pumped and exported by those in the north.

Liberia's Nobel peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took the oath of office for a second term in the presidency in a lavish $1.2-million ceremony attended by Vice President Hillary Clinton and hundreds of guests and dignitaries.

Thousands looked on from the grounds of the capitol building as the 73-year-old grandmother pledged to uphold the constitution. "We have earned our rightful place as a beacon of democracy, a country of hope and of opportunity," Sirleaf said. "The cleavages that led to decades of war still run deep but so too does the longing for reconciliation."

~MPS academic strategic plan supports families tocomplete applications for college admission and financial aid~

MINNEAPOLIS –U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on January 20 visited South High School to speak with the senior class and their parents about college affordability and the new simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Al Franken and Mayor R.T. Rybak also addressed students.

Millions of acres of farm land are being leased to foreign investors for commercial export crops, under a nefarious plan that relocates indigenous villagers into “bantustans” lacking adequate food, farmland, healthcare or schools.
The lands are leased for pennies on the dollar and resemble “land grabs” that displace the county’s poorest citizens.

Influenza is an illness that affects people of all ages worldwide.  Symptoms range from mild to severe, and it is a major health issue around the world.  Everyone can help fight the spread of influenza each year by getting vaccinated. Vaccination is also one of the best ways to reduce your chance of getting ill.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel next week to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum, and then to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to participate in the summit of the African Union (AU). 

By Bukola Oriola

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano has said that human trafficking can be prevented through specified trainings for key sector members and the general public.
 She made the statement recently in a release issued at the White House in Washington at the end of a round table to commemorate the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
She said: “If we all do our part to learn the signs of human trafficking and report them to authorities, we can better prevent human trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute traffickers,” adding, “at Department of Home land Security (DHS), we are committed to working with our partners and leveraging our wide range of expertise and resources to combat human trafficking,”

Cape Town - (ECA) - United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, said ECA will work with other regional organizations to harmonise the production and dissemination of economic statistics in Africa to promote regional integration.

First town hall meeting of U.S. Education Secretary concluded just few minutes ago and the second town hall meeting will be in three hours time at Irondale high in New Brighton, both town hall meeting will high light the Obama administration's college affordability and eduction reform.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, hosted the Opportunity: Africa conference in Wilmington to connect Delawareans with some of the nation's leading authorities on sustainable development and trade with Africa.