I am so proud of these young leaders who are putting in the work to build on their leadership skills, connect with one another, and make a bigger impact across Africa. The work they're doing couldn’t be more important. Barack and I will be cheering these #ObamaLeaders on! https://t.co/goe7AxWhaO
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 16, 2021
Posts Tagged ‘Young African Leaders Initiative
28
Dec
21
Making A Bigger Impact
03
Aug
15
The President’s Day
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President Barack Obama participates in a town hall-style question-and-answer session with participants from the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Mandela Washington Fellowship Presidential Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Identified as Sub-Saharan Africa’s ‘most promising young leaders,’ 500 people were invited by the U.S. State Department for the three-day summit where they interact with representatives from the public, private, and non-profit sectors
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Mandela Washington Fellowship participants sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama embraces Nigerian disability-rights activist and musician Grace Alache Jerry
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President Barack Obama speaks about climate change during an event in the East Room at the White House. President Obama announced a major climate change plan aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s coal-burning power plants
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06
Aug
14
US – Africa Leaders Summit
@dougmillsnyt: Running late… [President] Obama jogs on stage for his press conference at the US-Africa Summit.
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Read more on the Summit here
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President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference following the Africa Leaders Summit
“Sit down, Benghazi Boy.”
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President Barack Obama and more than 50 African officials wave as they gather for a family photo for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit at the U.S. State Department
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Text of the President’s remarks here
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@dougmillsnyt: President Obama jokes with President Boni Yayi of Benin during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
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President Barack Obama, with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, left, and Mozambique’s President Armando Emilio Guebuza, participates in the US African Leaders Summit
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Laura Bush and First Lady Michelle Obama participate in a Spousal Symposium at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
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Text of the First Lady’s remarks here
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“We have to fight for our girls. There should never be a girl in this world who has to fear getting educated.” —FLOTUS #WomenSucceed
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) August 6, 2014
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“The role of leadership…is taking some of those hits and continuing to do the work even when it’s painful.” —FLOTUS pic.twitter.com/bpQcxQUcKG
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) August 6, 2014
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The First Lady gets in on the fun with the @ChiSoulChildren. #USAfrica #LetsMove pic.twitter.com/oEXG0s1wEp
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) August 6, 2014
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President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Session One on “Investing in Africa’s Future,” at the U.S. Department of State (More here)
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President Barack Obama greets Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza
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29
Jul
14
Rise and Shine
On This Day: President Obama reacts to a picture presented to him of a younger Robert Gibbs, who played soccer at North Carolina State, following a town hall meeting at Broughton High School in Raleigh, N.C. on July 29, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today (All Times Eastern)
11:15: The President meets with a group of House Democrats on economic issues, Roosevelt Room
12:0: White House press briefing
3:0: The President departs White House
3:25: Meets with wounded service members, Walter Reed Hospital
5:15: Departs Bethesda, Maryland
7:0 CT: Arrives Kansas City, Missouri
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The Week Ahead
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Reuters: Table For Five: Obama To Dine With Kansas City Penpals
Valerie, a single mom from Kansas City, Missouri, who owns a small business, wrote to President Barack Obama last week “in the middle of the night,” describing just how hard she works.
On Tuesday, she will get the chance to tell Obama in person as one of four people the president dines with in a visit to the midwestern city – part of a summertime White House campaign to rouse Democratic voters ahead of November midterm elections.
“Are you serious?” said Valerie – whose last name was not provided – to Josh Earnest, Obama’s press secretary, who phoned her to invite her to the dinner.
“Oh my God! I would love it!” she told Earnest in a video made by the White House.
More here
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“It’s up to us to change the conversation.” —FLOTUS on helping working #FamiliesSucceed: http://t.co/lRvEkz0ScE via @Upworthy
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) July 29, 2014
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MUST READ // Inside the Obama-Romney Rematch Numbers: CNN’s Deception and the Return of the PUMAs — The People’s View http://t.co/ffYMgNzGkq
— LiberalPhenom (@LiberalPhenom) July 29, 2014
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BBC: Israel Intensifies Gaza Attacks After Netanyahu Warning
At least 60 Palestinians are said to have been killed after Israel intensified its bombardment of Gaza and warned of a long conflict ahead.
Gaza’s only power plant caught fire as Israel carried out 60 air strikes, targeting sites associated with Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza.
UN staff members are said to be among those killed.
….. A huge plume of smoke rose over the strip’s only power plant after one of its fuel tanks was reportedly set alight by Israeli tank shells, and the plant was forced to shut down.
More here
Israel’s military campaign continues: Gaza Strip’s only power station bombed: http://t.co/sW5YseufYf (Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/bXkQYP3Zmp
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 29, 2014
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Israeli PM Netanyahu Says Gaza War Could Be ‘Prolonged’ http://t.co/dmOSw1G9FM
— NPR News (@nprnews) July 29, 2014
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Jesse Rosenfeld: Israel Creates ‘No Man’s Land’ In Gaza, Shrinking Strip By 40 Percent
To protect itself from Hamas rockets and tunnels, Israel is forcing tens of thousands of people out of their homes, turning their old neighborhoods into a no-man’s land.
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza — This narrow strip of land that used to be called “the Gaza Strip,” already one of the more densely populated places on earth, is growing dramatically smaller. The Israeli military, relentlessly and methodically, is driving people out of the three-kilometer (1.8 mile) buffer zone it says it needs to protect against Hamas rockets and tunnels. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the buffer zone eats up about 44 percent of Gaza’s territory.
What that means on the ground is scenes of extraordinary devastation in places like the Al Shajaya district approaching Gaza’s eastern frontier, and Beit Hanoun in the north. These were crowded neighborhoods less than three weeks ago. Now they have been literally depopulated, the residents joining more than 160,000 internally displaced people in refuges and makeshift shelters. Apartment blocks are fields of rubble, and as I move through this hostile landscape the phrase that keeps ringing in my head is “scorched earth.”
More here
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Michael Hiltzik: Here’s The Single Best Analysis Of The Halbig Anti-Obamacare Ruling
Northwestern University law and political science professor Andrew Koppelman moves past the absurd legal theory underlying the Halbig ruling on the Affordable Care Act — in which a federal appeals court invalidated subsidies provided to insurance buyers on federal, as opposed to state, insurance exchanges — to ask why the lawsuit’s backers brought the case in the first place. We know the consequences of the ruling: If it stands, about 4.8 million Americans will lose their subsidies and likely their health insurance, since it would be rendered unaffordable; there are residents of as many as 36 states that let the federal government establish their exchanges.
Are 4.8 million Americans losing their health insurance ‘collateral damage’? The Halbig lawyers don’t care: http://t.co/49zRzXG8YZ
— Michael Hiltzik (@hiltzikm) July 29, 2014
But is that what the plaintiffs and their backers really desired? And if not, what was their real goal? Koppelman’s conclusion is that the lawsuit is a product of the “moral dysfunction” infecting the fight over Obamacare. “The opponents of Obamacare,” he writes in the New Republic, “have from the beginning found themselves driven by the logic of their position to make arguments that are increasingly morally repulsive.” In this case and others aimed at overturning the ACA, he writes, the argument is that “if you get sick and you can’t pay for it, that’s your tough luck.” Koppelman doesn’t think the plaintiffs really believe that. He thinks they’re merely out to make a narrow ideological point about government responsibility, and the 4.8 million possible victims of their campaign are merely collateral damage.
More here
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Business Insider: Israel Grants First Golan Heights Oil Drilling License To Dick Cheney-Linked Company
Israel has granted a U.S. company the first license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights, John Reed of the Financial Times reports.
A local subsidiary of the New York-listed company Genie Energy — which is advised by former vice president Dick Cheney and whose shareholders include Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch — will now have exclusive rights to a 153-square mile radius in the southern part of the Golan Heights.
That geographic location will likely prove controversial. Israel seized the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War in 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981. Its administration of the area — which is not recognized by international law — has been mostly peaceful until the Syrian civil war broke out 23 months ago.
More here
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BBC: Russia ‘Violated 1987 Nuclear Missile Treaty’, Says US
Russia has violated a key arms control treaty by testing a nuclear cruise missile, the US government says.
Russia tested a ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in 1987 during the Cold War, the US said.
A senior US official did not provide further details on the alleged breach, but described it as “very serious”.
The bilateral agreement banned medium-range missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 km (300 to 3,400 miles).
More here
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BBC: EU Set To Widen Sanctions On Russia Over Ukraine
The European Union is set to agree new sanctions against Russia, targeting its finance, energy and defence sectors over the conflict in Ukraine.
Top Russian individuals and entities are already subject to EU sanctions for their alleged role in Ukraine’s crisis.
Calls for the EU to act have been fuelled by the downing of flight MH17.
An international team has again failed to access the crash site in eastern Ukraine, amid heavy fighting between government forces and rebels there.
This is the third time in as many days that the team, which includes Dutch and Australian police officers, has had to abandon attempts to reach the site.
More here
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Michael Felberbaum: US Court: Virginia Marriage Is For All Lovers
Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional on Monday in the first such decision by a federal appellate court in the South. “We recognize that same-sex marriage makes some people deeply uncomfortable. However, inertia and apprehension are not legitimate bases for denying same-sex couples due process and equal protection of the laws,” Judge Henry F. Floyd wrote. The 2-1 ruling applies throughout the circuit that also includes West Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, where the attorneys general split Monday on what they’ll do next. Virginians voted 57 percent to 43 percent in 2006 to amend their constitution to ban gay marriage.
Virginia laws prohibit recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Floyd said such measures “impermissibly infringe on its citizens’ fundamental right to marry.” The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond is the second federal appellate court to overturn gay marriage bans, and the first to affect the South, a region where the rising tide of rulings favoring marriage equality is testing concepts of states’ rights that have long held sway. Gay marriage proponents have won more than 20 legal decisions around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year. Most are still under appeal. More than 70 cases have been filed in all 31 states that prohibit same-sex marriage. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow such marriages.
More here
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Big jump in consumer confidence index to 90.9 (f/c 85.3). Large gain in expectations (92.7 vs revised 86.4) bodes well for spending.
— Jeoff Hall (@JeoffHall) July 29, 2014
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CNBC: US Confidence Jumps In July As Consumers See Better Days Ahead
Consumers grew more confident about the economy in July, The Conference Board reported on Tuesday, with stock markets perched near record highs and expectations building for the recovery. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 90.9, higher than expectations and above the prior month’s showing of 86.4. That was the component’s highest since October 2007.
More here
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On This Day
President Obama eats a peach following a town hall meeting at Kroger’s Supermarket in Bristol, Va. on July 29, 2009. Seconds later, the President handed a dollar bill to the CEO of Kroger’s, who attended the event (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama listens to a question at a town hall meeting at Broughton High School in Raleigh, N.C. on July 29, 2009 (Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
The hands of U.S. Secret Service agents as President Obama shakes hands along a rope line following a health care town hall meeting at Broughton High School in Raleigh, N.C on July 29, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Crime victim Lisa Marie Iyotte gets emotional while introducing President Obama before he signed the Tribal Law and Order Act during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House, on July 29, 2010
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First Lady Michelle Obama greets U.S. military families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, July 29, 2012
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28
Jul
14
Rise and Shine
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Today (all times Eastern)
11:10: President Obama participates in a town hall at the Summit of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders
(The First Lady was scheduled to deliver remarks and participate in a roundtable at the Summit, but I can’t find any time or link – will keep checking. Keep an eye on CBS)
1:0: Josh Earnest briefs the press
3:05: The President awards the 2013 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal (see here)
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The Week Ahead
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Trevor LaFauci (The People’s View): Looking Back: An American History Lesson from the year 2034
“Today’s topic: The Obama Years. First off, let’s generate some background information from you, the students. What are some things that you’ve heard or that your parents might have experienced during Barack Obama’s presidency? Call them out and we’ll make a list on the board.”
“He helped my Dad get home from Iraq!”
“He helped my grandparents regain their lost savings!”
“He helped my mom make more money from her job!”
“He helped give rights to my Dads!”
“He helped my parents save money with their health care!”…..
“Good, so the themes I have listed here on the board are jobs, rights, health care, money, and family. Based on your own personal responses, how do you think the country as a whole felt about President Obama? Call out some words that you think people used when they talked about our 44th President.”
More here
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AP: President Barack Obama to rename Young Africans program for Nelson Mandela
A program designed to foster a new generation of young African leaders will be renamed after former South African President Nelson Mandela.
President Barack Obama, who has said he was one of the untold millions of people around the world who were inspired by Mandela’s life, is set to announce the name change at a town hall-style event Monday in Washington with several hundred young leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa.
The youngsters are participating in the inaugural Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, part of the broader Young African Leaders Initiative that Obama launched in 2010 to support a new generation of leadership there.
More here
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“Africa’s future belongs to its young people… We need young Africans who are standing up and making things happen not only in their own countries but around the world… We want this to be the beginning of a new partnership and create networks that will promote opportunities for years to come.”
–President Barack Obama
South Africa, June 2013
The Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking. Fellowships provide outstanding young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with the opportunity to hone their skills at a U.S. university, and with support for professional development after they return home.
More here
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Watch President Obama’s video message. Hear why he launched this important initiative. http://t.co/9sGwGifYAQ (from April 2014) #YALICHAT
— YALINetwork (@YALINetwork) July 26, 2014
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David Grossman (NYT): An Israel Without Illusions
Israelis and Palestinians are imprisoned in what seems increasingly like a hermetically sealed bubble. Over the years, inside this bubble, each side has evolved sophisticated justifications for every act it commits.
Israel can rightly claim that no country in the world would abstain from responding to incessant attacks like those of Hamas, or to the threat posed by the tunnels dug from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Hamas, conversely, justifies its attacks on Israel by arguing that the Palestinians are still under occupation and that residents of Gaza are withering away under the blockade enforced by Israel.
Inside the bubble, who can fault Israelis for expecting their government to do everything it can to save children on the Nahal Oz kibbutz, or any of the other communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, from a Hamas unit that might emerge from a hole in the ground? And what is the response to Gazans who say that the tunnels and rockets are their only remaining weapons against a powerful Israel? In this cruel and desperate bubble, both sides are right. They both obey the law of the bubble — the law of violence and war, revenge and hatred.
But the big question, as war rages on, is not about the horrors occurring every day inside the bubble, but rather it is this: How on earth can it be that we have been suffocating together inside this bubble for over a century? This question, for me, is the crux of the latest bloody cycle.
More here
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“You don’t have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.” -Nina Simone #Gaza
— Bonnie Greer (@Bonn1eGreer) July 26, 2014
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BBC: Gaza: Uneasy calm after UN ceasefire call
Sporadic attacks by both Israel and Palestinian militants have punctuated a lull in fighting after the quietest night in the 21-day conflict.
There were no Israeli air strikes overnight though they resumed in the morning after a rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Earlier the UN Security Council urged a halt to hostilities to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Israel launched its offensive three weeks ago after a surge in rocket fire.
More than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 43 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed. A Thai national in Israel has also died.
The Security Council called on Sunday night for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza over and beyond the holiday period.
More here
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Jon Snow of Britain’s Channel 4 News on the children of Gaza
(Warning: some distressing images of injured children):
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Great Headlines of our Time:
‘Florida Lawmaker Drafts Bill To Require Every Student To Watch Documentary Explaining Why Liberals Hate America’
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Steve Benen: Congress reaches preliminary deal on veterans’ aid
As of Thursday, a pending bill to expand veterans’ benefits appeared to be just about dead. What had been a bipartisan issue had turned into yet another partisan food fight, with House Republicans rejecting multiple compromise offers and walking away from the negotiating table. The Senate Democratic caucus, led in this fight by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was apoplectic, blasting House GOP lawmakers for killing legislation that should be approved easily.
If the goal of the Democratic outrage was to force House Republicans to reconsider, the apoplexy worked. GOP lawmakers, reluctant to get blamed for killing another veterans-aid package, were shamed into renewing talks, and last night, negotiators struck a deal.
More here
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Meet Lucy Coffey, who at 108 is the nation’s oldest woman veteran. http://t.co/dd8UGT4gjk pic.twitter.com/ugy0E32r7o
— Vice President Biden (@VP) July 26, 2014
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On This Day
President Obama bids farewell to Chinese Ministers in the Roosevelt Room of the White House after the first U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue on July 28, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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First Lady Michelle Obama watches the women’s singles tennis match between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia at the All England Lawn Tennis Club during the London 2012 Olympics Games, July 28, 2012
.. with Venus Williams and former gymnast Dominique Dawes
Serena Williams gives a thumbs up gesture toward her sister Venus and First Lady Michelle Obama after she defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic
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MoooOOOooorning!
The Obama Diary 
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