"A New Beginning", Obama Speech in Cairo, Egypt
On 4 July 2009 Barack Obama delivered a speech about the relation between the USA and the Muslim World in the auditorium of Cairo University which was awaited, eagerly. The „Süddeutsche Zeitung“, for instance, characterized this speech as „the art of the perfect embracement“. It marks a new beginning in the relations „between the USA and the Muslims all over the world“. Critical commentaries for instance touched on Barack Obama’s use of the Koran instead of the Charta of the United Nations as a source of the values he wanted to get across in his speech.
Obama's speech as pdf."A New Moment of Promise", Obama Speech in Accra, Ghana
Barack Obama spoke at the parliament in Accra (Ghana) on 11 July 2009. This speech is considered to be a historical one since it is the very first one which was delivered by an African-American president standing on African soil. In Europe it was very appreciated because of Obama’s criticism on corruption and the lack of democracy in Africa. In Africa, however, it was watched more censoriously since from that perspective the signalized change did neither get really noticeable in the economical nor certain political issues yet in comparison to the Bush era.
Millennium Report
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009
The Millennium Declaration set 2015 as the target date for achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which established quantitative benchmarks to halve extreme poverty in all its forms. As the date approaches, less than six years away, the world finds itself mired in an economic crisis that is unprecedented in its severity and global dimensions.
WFP Annual Report 2009 (3 MB)
World Food Programme 2009
In 2008, WFP faced a particularly difficult set of challenges, provoked by dramatically rising food and fuel prices and aggravated by widespread turmoil in international financial systems. Steady progress towards reducing global hunger not only ground to a halt but began to slide in the opposite direction. The number of undernourished people in the world increased in 2008 to 963 million, a leap of 115 million over the past two years.
To meet the immediate challenge, WFP launched the new Emergency Market Mitigation Account in March with a special appeal for $755 million to cover the additional costs generated by higher commodity and fuel prices.
