Conflict-Resolution

USA Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats and Assistant Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez met September 26, 2011  with senior economic officials from Algeria, Tunisia, and representatives from the Moroccan and Mauritanian Embassies on  the margins of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund meeting, under the auspices of the U.S. – North Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity.

From the Huffington Post: "In this special year-end collaboration, TED and The Huffington Post are excited to count down 18 great ideas of 2011, featuring the full TEDTalk with original blog posts that we think will shape 2012. Watch, engage and share these groundbreaking ideas as they are unveiled one-by-one, including never-seen-before TEDTalk premieres. Standby, the countdown is underway!"

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Abdul Hafiz of Bangladesh as the Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Maj.-Gen. Hafiz, currently commanding an infantry division of the Bangladeshi army, served two tours as a blue helmet with UN operations in Côte d’Ivoire, including one as a deputy force commander. He also served as a military liaison officer with the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) and as the chief military liaison officer in Zagreb, Croatia.