By Omari Jackson

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. December 23, 2010: African immigrants and refugees have been asked to seek citizenship, to avoid problems that are often tied to one’s immigration status.

The publication of confidential diplomatic cables on the website Wikileaks gave ammunition to some African leaders who have complained, without previous proof, of U.S. interference in their country.
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe for example, learned from the cables that the U.S. is leading efforts to remove him from power.
 
In the leaked memos, former U.S. ambassador Christopher Dell wrote that the U.S. was taking a leading role to bring Mugabe down and that former colonizer Britain could not do the job because it was hamstrung by its colonial past.

U.S.-based professors Cornelius Eady, Okey Ndibe and poet, dramatist, activist Micere Mugo, were among the distinguished writers and poets at the annual week-long ‘LitFest’ in Nairobi organized by the prize winning Kenyan author Ngugi was Thiong’o. It was Mugo’s first trip to the land of her birth since her exile in 1982.

Lack of Funding to Save Jobs During Construction Spurs University Avenue Businesses to Action
St. Paul, December 10, 2010 – With only months until light rail construction begins on University Avenue, businesses express increasing anger and frustration at the continuing lack of urgency by officials to provide compensation funding to save jobs and businesses threatened by the impending construction. 

More than $2 million paid to providers improving the health of UCare’s Medicare, Medicaid, and
Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO) members.

UCare’s Pay for Performance (P4P) program paid $2,160,750 to clinics and care systems across Minnesota for their performance in key quality-of-health measurements achieved in 2009. The payments recognized and rewarded providers for superior or improved performance in measurable key areas for care delivered to members of UCare’s Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP), including MinnesotaCare and Prepaid Medical Assistance Program (PMAP), UCare’s Minnesota Senior Health Options (UCare’s MSHO), and to members of UCare’s UCare for Seniors Medicare Advantage plan.

WASHINGTON, D.C. & ENGLEWOOD, Colo., – At a time of renewed focus on the power of entrepreneurship to lift people out of poverty, a study by a George Washington University researcher finds that strong feelings of accomplishment, pride, duty and honor motivate many diaspora entrepreneurs to invest in their country of origin. 

 As anti-smoking campaigns backed by higher taxes take hold in U.S. cities and around the world, “big tobacco” has turned its eye toward Africa.
 
Tobacco consumption will double in the next 12 to 13 years in sub-Saharan Africa, predicts Evan Blecher, a South African economist with the American Cancer Society, without major policy interventions.
 

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Trade Office (MTO) has named nine companies winners of the 2010 Governor's International Trade Awards for success in building global markets.

This year's winners are 3M Co., St. Paul; Ideal Aerosmith, East Grand Forks; Leeds Forensic Systems Inc., Minneapolis; MOCON Inc., Brooklyn Park; Network Executive Software Inc., Maple Grove; ReconRobotics Inc., Edina; Rosenbauer America LLC, Wyoming; Viracon, Owatonna; and Knewtson Soy Products LLP, Good Thunder.

This presentation explains how “brain drain” which has resulted from migration of highly skilled and talented African professionals, especially in this case Nigerians is changing the social-psychology of the people in coping with new realities. 

By Emmanuel Folarin Ero-Phillips, Chairman, Ero-Phillips Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria

In recent year, there has been an increase in the number of African immigrants interested in gaining permanent residence in U.K, Europe and the United States. Migration by itself is a practical and functional phenomenon among people across the globe. However, it is the massive migration of skills and talents from communities that need those resources most that are puzzling. For example, highly skilled professionals are leaving Africa-particularly Nigerian and other African nationals to seek economic fortunes outside of Africa. 

By Mary Garza

Uchechukwu Iroegbu, outstanding Twin-Cities based photographer and owner of Uchefotography, enjoys capturing and creating images of the world around him.  Uchechukwu shoots events, portraitures, families, fashion, and conceptual photography, and especially likes doing weddings, cultural events, and covering social justice issues.

By  M. Bai Kiawu

The adage, “Give a man his flowers while alive,” became a reality when the Gbi & Dorue Development Association of the United States honored Martha Sinoe, former president of the Organization of Liberians in Minnesota, on Saturday, Sept. 18 at a fundraising and honoring program in St. Paul, Minn.

The former president of OLM was among several Liberians privileged to receive certificates for what was described as their distinguished and humanitarian contributions towards their communities.

A mega solar park coming to California will be first out of the box but a proposed 5GW park in South Africa will outshade the U.S. by a factor of five.

The U.S. park was approved this month in Blythe, California by the Dept of the Interior. Backed by a German solar firm, it will cover 7,000 acres, providing energy for up to 750,000 homes.

San Francisco - When Alex Goretsky and his business partner Girolamo Aliotti decided to open Caffè La Stazione in San Francisco, they dreamed of making the small coffee shop an authentic Italian experience for their customers. 

When Alex Goretsky and his business partner Girolamo Aliotti decided to open Caffè La Stazione in San Francisco, they dreamed of making the small coffee shop an authentic Italian experience for their customers.
Their dreams were coming true and a growing number of repeat customers were enjoying the experience, or most of it. Some customers complained because the shop had no mechanism for accepting anything other than cash payments — until the owners learned about a technology called Square from a helpful customer.

Excerpt from Nigeria’s 50th anniversary lecture at the Embassy of Nigeria, Paris.

By Philip Emeagwali

Walk with me in memory to one of the greatest celebrations, the end of the colonial era in Africa. The day: October 1, 1960. The place: British West Africa. The setting: a crowded stadium in the Atlantic coastal town of Sapele. School children are waving green and white flags in honor of the birth of modern Nigeria, no longer part of the British Empire.

I was six years old and was in that stadium. I do not remember what was said because the concept of colonialism was abstract to me. But I vividly remember an incident that made me cry all that day. I was waving my flag in excitement when a faceless bully snatched it away and disappeared into the crowd.

Dar Es Salaam — Citi Group has appointed, Mr Jamal Ali Hussein, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Citi Bank Tanzania Limited, East Africa. 

Native of Hargeisa, Jamal Ali Hussein is also known for his successful books  including Nomad to Harvard and the Directory of Somali Comedy.