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Diaspora remittances are a key foreign exchange earner for Africa with US$40-billion flowing from the west annually.

That figure is growing at 15% per year, according to the chief executive officer of Homestrings, Eric Vincent Guichard.

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. - Kenyan-American community and business leaders in Minnesota yesterday got an opportunity to learn more about Western Union's Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) service to Kenya, at an event hosted by Mshale Newspaper and sponsored by Western Union. Western Union started the MMT service in the United States in the second quarter of 2011.

Foreign nationals who have accrued unlawful presence in the U.S. are barred from re-entering the country for three years (if they were unlawfully present for at least 180 days but less than one year) or 10 years (if they were unlawfully present for one year or more). This is commonly known as the 3/10-year bar.

Two months ago I attended a show by Dobet Gnahoré and her entourage. I’m still waiting for a gig equally as impressive. She performed on November 10^th, 2011 at the Dakota Jazz Bar. A packed audience was treated to over 16 polished numbers.

If you asked a random group of American world music fans to rattle off names of African musicians, it will most likely include Youssou N’dour, Baaba Maal, Habib Koite, Salif Keita, Ali Farka Toure, Angelique Kidjo and Fela Kuti. Conspicuously missing from this non-scientific sample are names of musicians from East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and others).

Earlier this month, two recent alumnae who first met as roommates in Wigglesworth launched an African fashion website. Co-founded by CEO Chioma M. Achebe ’10 and CFO Osub S. Ahmed ’10, the site is called Osisi, which means “tree” in the Igbo language of Nigeria, according to the site’s creators.

Most people with any interest in soccer know that the FIFA World Cup was held for the first time in Africa in 2010 in South Africa. While Mother Africa was disappointed that one of her teams did not win the cup, it was nonetheless not a total loss for Africa. The event did popularize two things African: The loud vuvuzelas and a little-known Somali rapper named Keinan Abdi Warsame.

For the most part, U.S. immigration laws are complex and confusing. Some are little known or frequently overlooked. Some carry serious consequences that may result in a permanent bar to immigrating to the U.S. One provision that is especially problematic is section 212(a)(6)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This dictates that any foreign national who falsely claims to be a U.S. citizen for any purpose or benefit under the INA or any federal or state law, including to obtain a job or vote in the U.S., is permanently inadmissible to the U.S. Such a false claim also makes the person removable from the U.S.

Whether you file as an individual, a corporation, a small business owner, or are self-employed, as the end of the year draws near, you're probably thinking ahead to tax season and filing your taxes.

Most tax provisions of course, remain the same (IRA contribution limits for example), but a few such as personal exemptions have been adjusted for inflation and others have been extended due to legislation and are set to expire at the end of 2012.

John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently announced that his agency deported 400,000 persons this past fiscal year that ended in September. This is the largest number of removals in the agency’s history and the third year in a row that a new record was set. Currently, almost 300,000 individuals are in deportation proceedings.

ICE credits much of its success to a targeted enforcement strategy, which focuses removal efforts on criminal offenders and others who pose a threat to national security. Central to this strategy is a program called Secure Communities, the newest and most controversial immigration enforcement program.

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won the New York marathon on Sunday with a time of 2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds smashing the old record of 2:07:43, set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia in 2001. A record 47,438 competitors participated in this year's marathon according to race officials.