The president has said that he wants to focus on the good news in Africa, and he reminds the world that there really are good news stories here, particularly stories that relate to his efforts on the continent.

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It makes sense for Iberdrola to focus particularly on its home continent, since the European Union wants 12% of Europe's primary energy coming from renewable sources by 2010.

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While humanitarian issues have little value in Beijing's new Africa policy, energy interests and the military means to protect those interests play important roles in the Red Dragon's actions on the continent, particularly in poverty-ravaged Sudan.

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"We were happy to have a chance to spend some brief moments to talk to one of the leading celebrities in world that has used their celebrity status to help other people, particularly ... the millions of people on the continent of Africa who are suffering with the most devastating disease known to mankind, " Fattah said.

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The intervention in Libya therefore is a way to reassert to Europe, but particularly to Germany, that France still leads the Continent on foreign and military affairs.

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It is a firmly held belief despite the continent's decades of slow growth, demilitarization, disastrous demographics and mounting budget woes, particularly on its southern and eastern fringes.

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