Michelle Obama succeeded in Americanizing her husband, Barack Obama, on Day 1 of the Democratic Party convention in Denver. Michelle painted an intimate portrait of her husband, Barack, as a father and family man with faith in the American dream.
In a most eloquently delivered speech aimed at reassuring voters, she buries any doubts [...]

President Patrick Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia died at a hospital in the French capital, Paris. He died on Tuesday nearly two months after he suffered stroke at a recent African Union summit in Cairo, Egypt. Former President Frederick Chiluba called to express his condolences to the first family and the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy [...]

Obama addresses some 200,000 in Berlin, Germany today.
“People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one…”

Read the full text of the speech in the Lounge

The government, which has been subsidising fuel prices for the past three years, removed these subsidies on 6 July because it could no longer afford to keep them in place. As a result the price of a litre of fuel rose by 29 percent in 24 hours, and the price of diesel by 44 percent.

“Nelson Mandela used his personal charm… to mould our widely diverse communities into an emerging multicultural nation.” - FW de Klerk
Mr de Klerk was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize along with Mr Mandela. In 1994 de Klerk, the former South African president handed over power to Mandela to become the country’s first black president. [...]

Africa researcher Emira Woods of Washington’s Institute for Policy Studies has been following the Liberian leader’s efforts to raise conditions for African rulers to achieve power and govern their people through democratic means. She points out that Mrs. Sirleaf is one of a growing number of African voices to speak out for the people of [...]

Text of the Sixth Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture Presented by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf:
Our revered President Mandela, our sister Graça Machel, distinguished ladies and gentlemen:
What an honor it is to be standing before His Excellency, Nelson Mandela, to deliver the 6th Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture here at Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto. [...]