Africa News

From superstars to tribal dancers, thousands of African artists are celebrating their troubled continent's culture and potential in an epic festival - and looking back at what they've accomplished and squandered in four decades of freedom from colonial rule.

The outstanding exhibit Fatal Beauty: Traditional Weapons From Central Africa reveals how iron weapons formed a vital part of the continent s rich cultural traditions By Noah Buchan STAFF REPORTER Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009, Page 15 EXHIBITION NOTES: WHAT: Fatal Beauty: Traditional Weapons From Central Africa WHERE: National Museum of History , 49 ...

Obama's roots give him a unique capacity to transform American relations with Africa during his coming visit On July 10, one very important descendant of black Africa will make a triumphant return to the motherland.

A young Jeilan Batu used to spend his days in Africa wondering "Will I die today, or will I live?" He was running, always it seemed, from the sporadic gunfire, the street warfare of ethnic and tribal wars, first in Ethiopia where he grew up, then over the past seven years in Nairobi, Kenya.

In this day and age, everything is game. Music, art, food, clothes, and just about anything can be fused, creating a different result.

As African leaders gather here Wednesday for a summit aime d at discussing peace and security across the continent, British humanitarian gr o up Oxfam International said over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes so far this year as a result of sign ificantly increasing violence in DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia.

Both Catholics and Protestants spend a lot of money on missionary programs in the "Unreached Bloc," a largely non-Christian region stretching from Africa to East Asia, with India being a primary target.

YOU WILL be relieved to hear the tide is turning recession-wise. Shoes by Christian Louboutin and Prada are flying off the shelves at Harrods and other luxury stores.

June 22, 2009 - The Sudan Comprehensive Agreement was a novel agreement that was greeted with enthusiasm and jubilations among the South Sudanese population as well as the whole population of Sudan.

Push James Giacomo Lecce on any topic and he gently shushes you. "Ahhh, pazienza, pazienza," he says in Italian, his voice slowed by age and Parkinson's disease, his pale hands, still strong, patting down the air.

Recordings of rarely heard traditional African music collected over a period of 50 years by music historian Hugh Tracey are now available to anyone on earth via the internet.

It was one of President Mwai Kibaki's cannier moves. His citizens had spent the night gathered around television sets, weeping with joy at the victory of this son of the soil.

European mercenaries, the notorious "Dogs of War," came to prominence in Africa in the 1960s when the mineral-rich continent was convulsed by wars and revolutions as Britain, France and Belgium relinquished their vast colonies.

Chvez's so-called back-to-the-land movement calls for the redistribution of land -- increasingly properties that the state has taken over in what officials term a "rescue" or "recuperation." The objective is to ensure "food sovereignty," thereby reducing dependence on imports.

Chokwe Male Mask In the past, when the Westerners looked at objects from Africa, they brought their own preconceived ideas of the primitive and the savage.

The Paris Museum has announced a Tarzan exhibition for the summer. The Musee du Quai Branly is set to expose some of the more ludicrous misrepresentations of Africa in Western society through the unlikely juxtaposing of comic, TV and films of Tarzan.

Al-Qaida terrorists hiding out in Pakistan are coming under increased pressure from that countrya s military forces, a senior Defense Department official said here today.

Libya's leader Moamar Gaddafi will begin his first visit to Italy shortly, and the "king of kings of Africa" will pitch his trademark tent in a Rome park.

Increased airwave chatter indicates some al-Qaida members may be moving from Pakistan hideouts to Somalia and Yemen, U.S. intelligence officials said.

Al Qaeda operatives are leaving the battle zones along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and heading for Somalia and Yemen, where they have set up training camps, according to U.S. intelligence officials.