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Tunisias topless feminist faces jail for having pepper spray
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The lawyer of a Tunisian woman who gained notoriety for posting online topless pictures of herself as a protest says she faces six months in prison for carrying a dangerous object.Mokhtar Jannene said Friday his client Amina Tyler has been charged with possessing a pen-sized personal protection device containing tear gas or pepper spray.Tyler was arrested after she ...
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Attacks in Niger Underline a Spread of Islamist Extremist Groups in West Africa
Islamist militants set off two suicide bombings in Niger Thursday. One targeted a uranium mine run by a French company. The other hit a military base. About 20 people were killed in addition to the bombers. And Friday, French special forces helped Niger’s military secure the military base, where it turns out two militants were still hiding in a dormitory. They were shot dead in the ...
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Elected Leadership Struggles To Rule In Libya
In Libya, guns are still everywhere and the elected leadership is struggling to rule as militias use guns and intimidation when they don't get their way. Most recently they surrounded two ministries and state television to force through a political isolation law that bars former members of Moammar Gaddafi's regime from government ...
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Illinois African-American Caucus No Gay Marriage Bill
The President's home state of Illinois could redefine marriage next week. LGBT activists are pushing a gay marriage bill but not without a challenge. Illinois already recognizes civil unions. However, supporters of the same-sex marriage bill are finding major pushback from the African-American Caucus in the House. The bill has been stalled there since the state senate passed it in ...
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Nigeria Orders Curfew in Extremist Neighborhoods
Nigeria's military declared a 24-hour curfew Saturday on neighborhoods in a northeastern city that is the spiritual home of an Islamic extremist network, as soldiers continued the government's emergency campaign against insurgents in the region. Soldiers arrested some 65 suspected extremists who were "attempting to infiltrate Maiduguri" after military strikes on the camps in ...
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Google to bankroll build wireless networks across Africa -WSJ
Fri May 24, 2013 5:41pm EDT May 24 (Reuters) - Google Inc intends to finance, build and help operate wireless networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, hoping to connect a billion or so people in emerging countries to the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The Internet search giant - which has for years espoused universal Web access - is employing a patchwork quilt ...
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Algeria under pressure over energy industry
Algeria's government is under pressure to ease its foreign energy investment laws after BP warned it may delay important projects in the North African ...
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UNHCR Keep Borders Open to Fleeing Syrians
GENEVA -- The United Nations refugee agency is appealing to nations to keep borders open to refugees fleeing worsening violence in Syria. With Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq already hosting more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warns the number is expected to grow as the conflict intensifies. Responding to reports that Syrians ...
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Putting Slurplus Food to Good Use
With world headlines warning of increasing drought and a hunger crisis and almost 15 percent of U.S. households struggling to put food on the table, a religious group in the shadow of the nation's capital is quietly putting surplus food on empty tables. Every Monday, about 150 people line up in the parking lot of Christian Life Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Joan ...
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Opinion Which way for the civil society in todays Kenya
As such, civil society organisations have always had an anti-government streak, with an inherent predisposition "to speak truth to power." This was a strategy that worked well in fighting a widely unpopular government. But Kenya has changed. And in order for civil society organisations to remain relevant in the eyes of the public, they too must change. Recent political events have left ...
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Lifestyle New technology could end Kenyas historic land woes
Kilifi resident Pietro Cannabio knows too well the pain of owning land without having any access to it. He owns a seven-acre piece of land in Kilifi - plot L.R. No 17835 - that has since been transferred to another person who subdivided and sold ...
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IMF chief named key witness in French payoff case
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde arrives for a second day of the court hearing at a special court house, in Paris, Friday, May 24, 2013. Lagarde faced questioning at a special Paris court Friday over her role in the 400 million euro ($520 million) pay-off to a controversial businessman when she was France's finance minister. (AP Photo/Thibault ...
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South Africa Celebrates AU 50th Anniversary
Pretoria, May 24 (Prensa Latina) South Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) with a national program to promote the role of its successor the African Union (AU), said local media. The governing political party African National Congress scheduled seminars, lectures and published different materials aimed at highlighting the importance of Africa's ...
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American Missionary Mysteriously Disappears in Africa
American missionary Jerry Krause has been missing for nearly two months. The 54-yr-old missionary pilot disappeared April 7 while flying his turboprop aircraft from South Africa to Mali. Jerry's wife, Gina Krause, served with her husband as a missionary to Africa for more than 25 years. Jerry worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship until the ministry left Mali back in 2009. They remained in ...
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Violence mars Guinea protests
Conakry - Clashes broke out between youths and police Friday in the Guinean capital, where opposition activists had called a ';ghost town'; demonstration a day after protests left up to six people ...
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Google eyes African Asian markets
GOOGLE is reportedly deeply involved in a series of projects to build and operate wireless networks in emerging markets including sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast ...
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Repressing Rights While Talking Law in Uganda
forced two newspapers and two radio stations to shut down while they conducted a search – and kept them shut. After years of documenting human rights abuses in Uganda, including threats to free expression, I was not impressed by her words. Her claim that the day’s events were grounded in law only further illustrated the government’s emerging practice of citing laws to justify ...
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Glow-in-Dark Roach Worlds Smallest Frog Among Top New Species
A cockroach that glows in the dark, a black fungus that's ruining prehistoric cave art and a frog smaller than a child's fingernail. These are three in a top-ten list of newly discovered species for 2012. An international committee of taxonomists announced their annual picks this ...
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Nepal’s Tibetan Refugees Struggle Under China’s Shadow
KATHMANDU -- Tibetan refugees in Nepal say they face increasing restrictions from Nepalese authorities due to pressure from China. VOA correspondent Aru Pande talks to Tibetans who, for decades, have made the Himalayan country their home. Dolma Lama learned to weave Tibetan carpets from her mother - who fled Tibet and settled in Kathmandu after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese ...
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Two Jihadists Shot After Niger Attack
Armed forces from France and Niger forces have shot dead two more Islamist militants who took part in an attack on a military barracks in northern Niger. A journalist at the scene said French special forces took part in an operation Friday to subdue the two militants, who had holed up in the barracks following Thursday's suicide bombing and shooting attack. Niger's defense ...
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US Lawmakers Head to Russia Will Ask About Boston Bomber
Brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing. Tamerlan was closely monitored while in Dagestan last ...
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In Boko Haram Offensive Nigerian Forces on Familiar Ground
Soldier from Lagos, part of an expected 1,000 reinforcements sent to Adamawa state to fight Boko Haram Islamists, with th 23rd Armoured Brigade, Yola, May 20, ...
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Taliban Militants Attack Heart of Afghan Capital
Taliban militants have attacked the heart of the Afghan capital, setting off explosions and battling security forces. At least four blasts shook a busy area of Kabul Friday, in the second major attack in the city in a little more than a week. Shooting erupted in the area as militants and security forces engaged in a fierce gunbattle. Afghan officials say two of the attackers were killed. ...
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The African Union’s 50th Anniversary
It is difficult to know what to think of the African Union, just as it is hard to assess the performance of the United Nations. Both institutions sometimes seem particularly ineffective, much like our own Congress has become, but both also seem necessary given the lack of any real alternative. The African Union, partly through its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity celebrates its ...
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Kenya Kimenyes book that mocks certain societal behaviour
Barbara Kimenye also addresses this trap of glamour and easy riches that often mesmerise the youth. While she is best known for her Moses series, Kimenye has two young adults book Pretty Boy Beware and Beauty Queen. Incidentally, both are Kimenye's last books, first published in 1997 by EAEP (and reprinted 2010). Pretty Boy Beware revolves around Mathew -- the pretty boy. The slum in which ...
South Africa Focus
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South Africa's small but growing cruise industry
The South African cruise industry has grown considerably in recent decades, recording an expansion of over 100% in recent years. The greatest growth came between the 1990s and 2010, led predominantly by Starlight Cruises, a household name in South Africa and the owner of the market share in the South African cruise industry.
The South African cruise industry is a growing one, in comparison to more developed countries it is tiny, with just one ship (sometimes two) that grace the coasts of South Africa once a year between November and April. Read more
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