http://allafrica.com/stories/200808070442.html

7 August 2008
Posted to the web 7 August 2008

Golu Timothy

Africa yesterday woke up to the damning news of another unconstitutional change of government when the government of Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef was swept out of power via a coup de'etat led by senior military officers in Mauritania, the West African country that just struck oil in commercial quantity.

The putsch was led by the former head of the Mauritanian presidential guard, General Mohamed Ould Abdelazeez.

The coup took place after the president and prime minister fired the country's top four military officers in an announcement early yesterday.

No official reason was given for firing the officials.

...

"We cannot afford turning back the hand of the clock anywhere in the sub-region", he said.

The President noted that no nation in the sub-region can achieve meaningful socio-economic development without peace and political stability.

He said Nigeria would continue to lead the efforts to maintain peace and political stability in West Africa in particular and the whole of Africa in general.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/science/earth/07climate.html?ref=us\\

By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: August 6, 2008
The National Center for Atmospheric Research, an important hub for work on the causes and consequences of climate change, has shut down a program focused on strengthening poor countries' ability to forecast and withstand droughts, floods and other climate-related hazards.

The move, which center officials say resulted from the shrinking of federal science budgets, is being denounced by many experts on environmental risk, who say such research is more crucial than ever in a world with rising populations exposed to climate threats.

In e-mail exchanges, these experts said the eliminated program, the Center for Capacity Building, was unique in its blend of research and training in struggling countries.

The Center for Capacity Building (still online at ccb.ucar.edu) was created in 2004. It built on decades of work by its director, Michael Glantz, a political scientist who has focused on the societal effects of natural climate extremes and any shifts related to accumulating greenhouse gases.