The News Review:

- Plan for Michael Jackson’s Neverland to become ‘new Graceland’
- Mauritania elections postponed
- Guinea-Bissau holds elections Sunday
- IC Secretary General congratulates the Mauritanian people on the …

Plan for Michael Jackson’s Neverland to become ‘new Graceland’
Belfast Telegraph
The proposal has apparently come from Tohme Tohme Jackson’s former manager and special ambassador to Senegal. Mr Tohme works with Colony Capital LLC the firm that holds the mortgage note on Neverland. Their idea is to turn the estate into a new Graceland. The idea is likely to be met by substantial legal issues including a permit to bury someone on site. Neverland is on a two-lane country road opposite a school in the hills above the Santa Ynez Valley which many locals feel is not equipped for heavy traffic.
Related from Thehubnyc: Jazz musician Maurer talks about Jackson’s music life

Mauritania elections postponed
Aljazeera.net
Cheikh Tidiane Gadio Senegal’s foreign minister announced news of the agreement on Tuesday. The agreement mainly calls for the formation of a 28-member transitional government. The announcement came after days of intense negotiations in a bid to include opposition parties who had refused to take part in the vote. Six days of intensive negotiations aimed at resolving Mauritania’s political crisis began at a seaside hotel in Dakar Senegal’s capital on Thursday. The talks were organised by an international group of mediators including officials from the African Union the European Union the United Nations and the Arab League among others.

Guinea-Bissau holds elections Sunday
The Associated Press
The ballot in the tiny country flanked by Senegal and Guinea is expected to be peaceful but analysts say the real test for the former Portuguese colony will come afterward. The military has held sway over the country’s top politicians for decades and since the introduction of multiparty politics 15 years ago no president has completed the constitutionally mandated five-year term in office. The poor African country also has seen drug money flow to corrupt officials as smugglers pay bribes to use its coastline and remote airstrips for cocaine transshipments. “The real test for Guinea-Bissau is not whether the election is held peacefully but whether state institutions have the capacity to prevent the country from sliding into chaos in the aftermath” consulting group IHS Global Insight said. “The military has been far too dominant in Bissau-Guinean politics.

IC Secretary General congratulates the Mauritanian people on the …
ISRIA
While commending the political maturity and heightened sense of responsibility demonstrated by all Mauritanian political poles throughout the facilitation process initiated by the High Level Mission led by Maitre Abdoulaye Wade President of the Republic of Senegal IC Secretary General pays tribute to His Excellency Sidi Mohamed uld Cheikh Abdallah who in an inspiring act of patriotism and attachment to the supreme interest of Mauritania gave up voluntarily his position of President of the Republic allowing thus for the happy ending of the constitutional crisis and the launching of the process of free democratic and transparent presidential elections. The IC which participated as member to all the meetings and initiatives of the international Contact Group on Mauritania and to the High Level Mission which visited Nouakchott from 24 to 26 June 2009 expresses sincere congratulations to His Excellency Maitre Abdoulaye Wade President of the Republic of Senegal and to the Minister of State Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheikh Tidiane Gadio for the exceptional dynamic and impetus given to the action of the international Contact Group through the efficient and unwavering facilitation ensured by Senegal The President in office of the IC Summit. IC Secretary General calls on all Mauritanian political parties to work fully and with good intentions for the full implementation of all the stages announced by the Dakar Framework Agreement expected to lead to presidential elections on 18 July 2009.