Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, who has admitted to a felony count of taking bribes, went to the airwaves this week to beg forgiveness from residents of the Motor City. “To all of the residents of the city of Detroit, if I disappointed you, I apologize,” she said, declining to go into detail about the circumstances of her case. “I don’t want to get my judge mad at me, and I don’t want to go to jail,” she explained. But that wasn’t Conyers’ only message to the public.  “If I was smart, I would have listened to my husband and he never would have worked for me,” an angry Conyers said of her former chief of staff, Sam Riddle. “But sometimes we as women don’t listen to our husbands.” She is married to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Her first public comments since pleading guilty last Friday to a bribery charge, Monica Conyers delivered her comments to WHPR-TV (Channel 33) in Detroit.

Zimbabwe got a whopping $950 million line of credit from China, a move seen as a major step toward the southern Africa nation’s much-needed recovery. Zimbabwe’s astronomical inflation and overall shaky economy has made its outreach for funds a top priority. During his three-week visit to Europe and the United States, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met with heads of state in London, Washington, Berlin, Stockholm, Brussels and Paris to appeal for assistance. He called the tour an “overwhelming success,” saying he was able to re-connect Zimbabwe with foreign donors and that the first formal engagement in seven years with the European Union had led to a commitment of 150 million dollars. “While I was away, government through Finance Minister Tendai Biti also secured lines of credit from China totalling 950 million dollars (672 million euros),” said Tsvangirai, who returned to Harare at the weekend from a three-week tour to Europe and the United States. “The EU committed itself to availing us with transitional and humanitarian support to the tune of more than 150 million dollars.” Leaders had expressed reservations about the delays in full implementation of the deal underpinning the unity government with Tsvangirai’s former arch rival President Robert Mugabe, he said. “They asked, why, after almost five months, had fundamental obligations undertaken by the respective political parties not been implemented.”

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was not among the 21 activists released by Israel Tuesday. McKinney and the others were taken into custody Tuesday as the ship they were on attempted to defy a blockade of Gaza to deliver supplies. The Greek-registered Arion was seized in the Mediterranean, 23 miles off the Gaza coast. On Wednesday Israeli authorities released an American filmmaker and a Danish human rights activist, according to freegaza.org, the web site of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the voyage opposing the blockade. Several other passengers, including McKinney, of Georgia, and 1977 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. It isn’t the first time that McKinney has had an encounter with Israeli forces. In December, a small boat on which she was traveling collided with an Israeli naval vessel. “We are definitely going to go [back] even if we have to paddle across,” Greta Berlin, a Free Gaza Movement spokeswoman, told reporters in Cyprus. Spokesman Darby Holladay said the U.S. embassy has been in touch with Israeli authorities. “We understand that the passengers are safe and accounted for,” he said. Israel’s blockade of Gaza has been in effect since 2007.

U.S. military officials said Thursday that they are exhausting all resources to find an American soldier who was captured by militants in Afghanistan on Tuesday. “We are not providing any further details at this time, in order to protect the welfare of the soldier,” a military statement said. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for abducting the unidentified soldier, who was kidnapped along with three Afghan soldiers, Taliban Commander Mulvi Sangeen said. The soldier apparently had gotten drunk at a military post in the Yousaf Khel district, Sangeen said. As he returned to his car, he was ambushed and taken to a safe place, he said.

The bloodshed in Gaza is flowing has been flowing at an alarming rate, a leading human rights groups says in a new report. Much of the bloodletting has been committed by Israeli troops during a winter offensive, according to Amnesty International, which says they killed hundreds of unarmed civilian adults and children, broke laws and committed war crimes during the onslaught. “Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision, air-delivered bombs and missiles and tank shells. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to Israeli soldiers,” the group says in its 117-page exposé. But the socio-political group Hamas and other Palestinian groups have inflicted their share of pain too, Amnesty International says. The human rights group says that they committed war crimes by firing hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, killing three Israeli civilians, injuring scores and driving thousands from their homes, according to the report. Amnesty International wants both the Israelis and Palestinians to permit independent investigations into the 22-day conflict, which spanned December and January. Israeli officials denounced the report’s findings. “The slant of their report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization,” said a Israel Defense Forces news statement. “The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead — Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of ‘human shields.’”

Looks like the Williams sisters are headed for another final showdown at England’s most famous tennis venue. Professional tennis’ most powerful sibling duo in history are steaming full speed ahead for a collision at Wimbledon on Tuesday. Both have hammered their opposition to advance to the tournament’s semifinal round. Five-time Wimbledon winner and current champ Venus was the first of the Williams sisters to secure a place among the final four, whipping up on Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2, in little more than an hour. Serena disposed of her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, in similar ruthless fashion – 6-2, 6-3 – in about an hour and 13 minutes. The next test for the Williamses are top-seeded Dinara Safina and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva. If Venus beats Safina and Serena knocks off Dementieva today, the fourth Williams vs. Williams clash of the tennis titans would take place. “That would be fantastic,” Venus, who is 1-2 against her younger sister in Wimbledon finals. “It’s what Serena and I are hoping for, but we still have to play well.”

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank have cancelled most of the debt from struggling Caribbean nation of Haiti, the BBC reports. That move subtracts $1.2 billion from the country’s total debt of $1.9 billion. The debt relief was given because Haiti has begun to reform its economy and execute new measures to reduce poverty, according to the World Bank and IMF.

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was among several peace activists on a ship that was intercepted by Israeli forces Tuesday as they attempted to defy a blockade of Gaza, BBC News reported. This marks the second time over the past several months that McKinney, a former member of the Congressional Black Caucus, had an encounter with Israeli forces in the region. In December, the ship she was in collided with an Israeli naval vessel. The most recent encounter occurred as the Greek-registered Arion was in the Mediterranean Sea 23 miles off the Gaza coast, according to BBC. The vessel was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement told BBC. McKinney blasted the Israeli’s actions, calling them “an outrageous violation of international law against us.” The Israeli consulate general, however, accused McKinney of a “reckless political stunt. Once again former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her fellow travelers have taken it upon themselves to disregard their own safety, as well as the safety of the vessel’s crew, by leading a boat into restricted waters,” the consulate general’s office in Atlanta said in a statement.

Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith, whose auto accident two years ago led to the death of his very close friend, will spend one month in jail. The 23-year-old athlete began his sentence Tuesday night after reporting to the Monmouth County (N.J.) Jail, immediately after pleading guilty to reckless driving. The sentence reflects a plea deal he struck with a municipal prosecutor in Millstone Township, where the fatal crash occurred on June 9, 2007. He could have faced a much stiffer penalty if the grand jury had convicted him on the more serious felony count of vehicular homicide, which is punishable by several years in prison. Judge Debra Gelson actually sentenced Smith to 90 days in jail, but she suspended 60 of them, and fined him $506, the maximum. She also ordered him to perform 500 hours of community service by visiting sick children in hospitals. Smith, who brought his 4-month-old daughter to court with him, said, “It just tears me up that it went down like that. I take full responsibility for everything that happened, but it was an accident.” Prompted by one of his three attorneys, Smith apologized to the mother of crash victim Andre Bell, 21. “I apologize to Ms. Wanda Bell; she’s another mother figure. She always has been, since the first time I met her.” Gelson said Smith was a role model for children but that his driving record sent the wrong message. “It’s clear Mr. Smith does a lot for children,” she said. “But as much as he does for children, he does them a huge disservice by not sending them a message that speed kills.”

The Obama family, whose church affiliation became a controversial issue that nearly cost the White House, has finally found a new place of worship. It’s a discovery that has taken the first family nearly a half-year, as friends and aides visited local churches, checking out the political implications of a new sanctuary and minister. During the election, President Obama was lambasted by his opponents for his longtime membership at United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had been his pastor. Obama eventually was compelled to denounce his former religious leader after Wright’s vociferous denunciation of racism and U.S. policy. At least for now, the Obamas will do like George W. Bush and attend Evergreen Chapel, a nondenominational church at Camp David. Over the past several months, the Obamas have attended services at a variety of churches, including the 19th Street Baptist and  St. John’s Episcopal Church.