UK Pledges $67 Million to Develop South African Transport Infrastructure

As South African President, Jacob Zuma, ended his three-day visit to the UK, he and Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced a new memorandum committing the UK to 67 million pounds to assist regional economic communities in developing more efficient transportation infrastructure.

Part of the agreement holds that South Africa commit to creating a one-stop border post between Zimbabwe, the two leaders hope that this measure and others within the agreement will promote increased trade for African nations, helping them simultaneously grow out of poverty.

Additionally, Brown reaffirmed the UK’s support of HIV/AIDs eradication in South Africa, with a new program supporting the pubic health system, totally at UK25 million more in aid.

-Michelle Leung

Source: Africa Good News

Prime Minister Brown is Calling Out the Richer Countries of the World

Gordon Brown is calling out developed countries that have not been honoring thier prior obligations made to the developing world back in 2005.

According to Prime Minister Brown, "it has emerged that overseas aid has fallen $21 billion short of the promises made at the Gleneagles summit five years ago."

He also cites that "some of the shortfall is due to reduced growth during the global recession. But I do not believe there can be any excuse for denying money promised to the poorest people on our planet."

- Tiffanie Depew

SOURCE: Guardian.co.uk

Gordon Brown Calls for United Global Society

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a speech at the TED Global Conference addressing the need for greater global connectivity in solving the major problems affecting the world today. He began by calling attention to images that have affected millions of people across the globe and forced them to action. From pictures of Kim, a girl whose back was ruined by napalm in Vietnam, to the video of Neda, an Iranian woman who was killed while demonstrating, Prime Minister Brown explains how compassion compels people to act.

Prime Minister Brown explains, “We now have the capacity to find common ground with people we will never meet but who we will meet through the Internet and through all the modern means of communication, that we now have the capacity to organize and take collective action together to deal with the problem or an injustice that we want to deal with, and I believe that this makes this a unique age in human history, and it is the start of what I would call the creation of a truly global society.”

With the Internet and new technologies, we have the potential to act united as one world to combat challenges from human rights abuses to climate change and financial crises. It is with greater communication and combined efforts that we can prevent future genocides, famines and severe poverty. In ancient Greece, crowds would call out “Let’s march,” following one of Demosthenes’ speeches. Prime Minister Brown asks us now to march toward a global society.
--Jessica Milstead

Source: Ted.com (click here to view his speech)