“Africa” on The Daily Caller

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says the United States can no longer afford to spend billions in humanitarian aid to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa and in other regions across the globe. (more)

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe is pushing for an investigation into alleged human rights abuses committed abroad by companies looking to tap into the emerging carbon credit market. (more)

As Nokia fights to regain its footing, the company recently abandoned Symbian and MeeGo to instead adopt Windows Phone in an effort to stabilize its declining smartphone business. But that move only addresses half of Nokia’s problem. A firm position in the big-margin smartphone market will be paramount to the vendor’s success moving forward, but the market for low-cost devices is still massive. Just as Nokia’s smartphone sales have spiraled downward in recent quarters, Nokia’s feature phone business been in sharp decline as well. Nokia took drastic measures in an effort to turn its smart device business around, and it now appears as though the Finnish phone maker also has big plans for its low-end phones. (more)

Recent efforts, spearheaded in large part by the U.S. government, have reduced the annual malaria death toll from around 1 million to 800,000. There has also been an impressive increase in funding for research and development (R&D) into new malaria-fighting tools. Yet there may be trouble ahead. R&D spending to date has been skewed away from some of the most useful anti-malaria tools and the donor nations that have been picking up the tab face an avalanche of debt. This potential problem provides an important opportunity for malarial countries to show some leadership of their own. (more)

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) — The African Union is calling on member states to disregard the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi. (more)

It seems there’s a purge on at the UN to remove failed climate claims. Last week it was the cover-up of the claims that there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010. This week it’s the poor of Africa they’ve “disappeared.” This one I stumbled upon quite by accident, doing some research for my previous story: World opinion on global warming: not so hot. (more)

A researcher analyzing the sounds in languages spoken around the world has detected an ancient signal that points to southern Africa as the place where modern human language originated. (more)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The elected president of this West African nation heralded “the dawn of a new era of hope” Monday when a bloody, four-month standoff ended with the capture of his rival, the longtime strongman who lost the vote but refused to give up power. (more)

The Obama administration has sent teams of CIA operatives into Libya in a rush to gather intelligence on the identity, goals and progress of rebel forces opposed to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, according to U.S. officials. (more)

It’s not an endorsement Barack Obama probably expected — or wanted — but Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol gave the president high marks for his recent foreign policy gestures. (more)

Earlier this week, The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz took a shot at the media’s coverage of the Libya intervention and suggested that the media as a whole were not taking a skeptical enough assessment of the intervention. On Thursday morning, ABC’s Jake Tapper took somewhat of an exception to the charge the media weren’t doing their job. In an appearance on the Fox Business Network’s “Imus in the Morning,” Tapper offered two examples of such skepticism. (more)

One of the most outspoken critics of President Barack Obama has been conservative talk show host Mark Levin. But on his Tuesday evening syndicated radio program, Levin stuck up for Obama — at least as far as his right to use U.S. military force against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya. (more)

On Tuesday night’s “In the Arena” on CNN, HBO host Bill Maher applied a different logic to push for change in the Middle East than many. While Maher said the revolutions in the Middle East are a defeat for al-Qaeda, he said it would take a sexual revolution to improve the standing of women in the Arab world. (more)

On Tuesday’s broadcast of “ABC World News,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed in an exclusive interview with host Diane Sawyer that Muammar Gaddafi is flirting with departing Libya. However, she wouldn’t confirm the death of Gaddafi’s son, which had been reported by some foreign media. (more)

While some are debating the legality of President Barack Obama’s Libya policy and others are questioning the rationale of the president’s military strategy in the country, MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan is wondering why the United States is traveling half-way around the world to play any role at all? (more)