African leaders have approved a plan to create a super peace council with the goal of limiting the number of conflicts within the African continent. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union has rolled out an elaborate blueprint to incorporate the cooperation of the Arab League, the United Nations Security Council and the South American group of nations to help bring conflicts in the continent to a halt. (The Media Line, MidEast News Source)

Negotiating with enemies instead of shunning them may be signaling the United States, Israel and European allies are changing Mideast tactics, analysts said. The shift is borne out by recent events — U.S. and Iranian diplomats at the same table, an Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner swap, Syria’s president welcomed in France and the United States considering setting up a diplomatic presence in Iran, The New York Times reported Friday.

“State schools are to be included under the government’s new domestic carbon emissions trading scheme from April 2010, the environment minister said on Wednesday. Britain has also earmarked 110 million pounds for installing renewable energy technology in more than 200 secondary schools undergoing refurbishment over the next three years.” (Daily Mirror has the story)

“Young people stand to gain most tomorrow from the action we take on climate change today. That’s why schools should be included in the shift to a low carbon economy,” Environmental Minister Hilary Benn said in a statement.