President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and US President Barack Obama speak with the press at the White House before a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office.

Oval Office, The White House PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, I want to officially welcome President Sirleaf to the Oval Office.  I have been an extraordinary admirer of her work for many years now.  I fondly recall the speech that she delivered in a joint session of Congress when I was still in the Senate.

Human Rights Watch, Johannesburg A group of 124 organizations from more than 25 African countries released a declaration today calling on African governments to advance accountability for grave international crimes at the review conference for the International Criminal Court (ICC). The conference, which will take place in Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11, 2010, is being convened to discuss amendments to the court’s treaty.

By Oromsis Adula, Addis Ababa The Ethiopian regime, in power for two decades, took, in the words of the smooth talking and Machiavellian Prime Minister, “a calculated risk” during the 2005 election. In the same interview Mr. Zenawi went on to add “one of the most enduring qualities of our party is not to make the same mistake twice.” This time around EPRDF took no chances and no déjà vu.

Human Rights Watch, Dakar   President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia should demonstrate leadership in accelerating the establishment of the country’s Independent National Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint letter to the president today.  

Executive Mansion, Monrovia The World Health Organization praised Liberian progress on MDGs relating to public health, in a document published for its 63rd World Health Assembly in Geneva this week.

By Paul I. Adujie, New York Almost a month after the massive explosion at an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in the American Gulf Coast, the massive oil spill, an environmental disaster and catastrophe, continues to unfold.

By Barbara K. Laskin, St. Paul, Minn.  Dr. Kristi Curry Rogers, assistant professor of Geology and Biology at Macalester College in St.Paul, Minnesota, has been awarded a five-year, $571,209 CAREER Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Curry Rogers, a paleobiologist, will use the grant to support her work on reconstructing the life histories of backboned animals through detailed analyses of their bones.

By Isaac Vah Tukpah, Jr., Washington, D.C.   Our country is being held hostage by the cadre of perpetrators of war.  As we can see, since her state of the nation address, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is pulling no stops in her quest to fulfill her revelation of being a formidable candidate and ensure a second term.  She is forming coalitions and bonds with a host of politicians with no…

By Mambu James Kpargoi, Monrovia  Seven staffers of the Liberia National Red Cross Society (LNRCS) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will this week join colleagues from Sierra Leone and Nigeria in Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital, for a capacity- building training aimed at strengthening sustainable disaster management structures in the three National Societies.