Voters may weigh in on Charleston expressway
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Charleston County voters may get to voice their opinions on whether the Interstate 526 expressway should be completed through Charleston's western suburbs.
Jay-Z, Beyonce Not Given Enough Credit For ‘Social Responsibility’? [VIDEO]
When NewsOne reported the story yesterday that legendary artist, actor and activist Harry Belafonte called out Carter Power Couple, Jay-Z and Beyonce, to The Hollywood Reporter for “turning their backs on social responsibility,” I immediately scrolled through my mental Rolodex and questioned the validity of that broad indictment.
********
Contrary to popular belief, Jay-Z, who earned $38 million last year — not the much hyped about $63 million that he earned the year before — has donated a lot more than the approximately $6,400 for which he’s given credit. Most of us know that the historic concerts at Carnegie Hall benefited the United Way of New York City and the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation of which his mother, Gloria Carter, is president and CEO; but a lot has not been said about what that foundation actually does.
Read more of Jay-Z and Beyonce's social responsibilities here.
Sudan's struggling government offers to go '100 percent Islamic'
The government faces new pressures from the loss of territory and oil revenue to South Sudan, but the push for an Islamic constitution has much older roots.
Hassan al-Turabi, the onetime Islamic firebrand cleric (here having lunch in Khartoum), now opposes the regime of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Scott Peterson/The Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images
After 23 years at the helm in Sudan, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is sending up a new rallying cry for a "100 percent Islamic" constitution to shift public attention away from Sudan's crippling problems.
"We want to present a constitution that serves as a template to those around us," Mr. Bashir told religious leaders in early July. "And our template is clear, a 100 percent Islamic constitution, without communism or secularism or Western [influences]."
Even by Sudan's standard of chronic crises, Bashir's rule is facing problems that individually could have buried a less resilient regime.
The secession of South Sudan a year ago deprived Sudan of vast swaths of territory and wealth, and 75 percent of its income. Strict austerity measures announced in June by the president – who is charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC)– have sparked modest Arab Spring-style antiregime street protests. Inflation has hit an annual rate of 37 percent, the value of the currency has fallen, and wars and tension continue on multiple fronts to the south and west.
