Mr. Charles Abugre is the new Deputy Director of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Campaign in Africa with regional office in Kenya. A Ghanaian, Abugre was in Lagos recently during his on-going tour of Africa and did a survey highlighting his plan for the organization.

On February 1, President Obama requested $58.5 billion for the foreign affairs account, as part of his $3.8 trillion FY 2011 Budget request submitted to Congress. This is up from $50.9 billion in the final FY 2010 appropriation, an increase of about 9 percent. One of his campaign pledges was to double foreign assistance by 2012, which seems difficult given today’s economic climate.

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This September, the United Nations will host the largest gathering of heads of state since the Millennium Summit in the year 2000. At their last Summit, 189 world leaders pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, in order to eradicate extreme poverty and its root causes by the year 2015. The Goals represent a roadmap to finally wipe extreme poverty from the face of the earth once and for all. With just five years left until the deadline, the upcoming summit in September represents the international community’s last chance to develop breakthrough plans to achieve the Goals.

Nairobi, January 11, 2010: Youth from eleven African countries will be joining their colleagues from Japan aboard the 68th Voyage of the Peace Boat scheduled to arrive in Africa on January 19, at the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa.

The Peace Boat, a Japan-based international non-governmental initiative, carries out annual cruises that sail from Yokohama through ports around the world promoting human rights, sustainable development and respect for the environment.

On Friday, January 8, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s gave a major speech on the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+15). She said, “ if we believe that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, then we cannot accept the ongoing marginalization of half the world’s population.