IMF Agrees to Cancel Liberia's Debt

Johnson Sirleaf, Gbowee, Karman to share prize

(NEWSER) - This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three women the Nobel committee wants to reward for "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work." The prize will be shared between Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is Africa's first democratically elected female president; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; and Yemeni human rights activist Tawakul Karman. More»

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton ended her African tour today on a note of optimism colored by disdain, the New York Times reports. The secretary of state visited seven nations over 11 days and made her final remarks on the Cape Verde islands off the coast. “I leave Africa after this remarkable trip even more committed,” Clinton said. She commented on the “joy and energy Africans have,” as well as on having “seen the worst humanity can do to itself.” More»

This mess is not of Africa's making

(NEWSER) - Africa is in the midst of a great turnaround, with economies growing and democracy and human rights improving, Liberia’s president writes in the Washington Post. But progress is threatened by a global economic crisis it had no hand in creating. Some $50 billion in income could be lost as jobs and businesses disappear. “African economies need a boost to keep their progress on track,” Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says. More»

They'll be able to summon help in a hurry while in a guest's room

(NEWSER) - The Dominique Strauss-Kahn saga may have resulted in dropped charges , but hotel staff in New York City will soon get little reminders of the case in the form of personal panic buttons, reports the New York Times . As part of a proposed new contract, the city's major hotels will provide housekeepers and waiters with buttons they can press to summon help if they feel endangered in a guest's room. They'll probably be happier with a different provision: one that raises the salary of a typical housekeeper from $46,000 to $60,000 over seven years. More»

Director Abel Ferrara plans to probe 'rich, powerful' in film

(NEWSER) - French actor Gerard Depardieu has been tapped to play Dominique Strauss-Kahn in an upcoming film about the sex scandal that cost the former head of the IMF his job and a shot at the French presidency. Isabelle Adjani will play his wife, Anne Sinclair, US film director Abel Ferrara revealed to Le Monde newspaper. Ferrara said the film is about the "rich and powerful," and will be shot in "all the places of power"—Washington, Paris, and New York, where a hotel maid accused Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her last year. More»