SmallShop....Africa News

The smart buses introduced in Nairobi were expected to revolutionalize commuting within the city. The buses which use smart cards for fares instead of cash, officially hit the road today but it was a lukewarm start. Not only were the buses few, but many passengers stayed away from the new buses preferring to stick to what they are used to.

Counting of votes in Gabon is still going on, but the son of Omar Bongo, the former president, has already declared himself the winner of the country's presidential election.

Elections underway in Libreville in Gabon, for the first presidential elections after the death of Omar Bongo.

With the rise in kidnap cases and especially in the urban centers, one family in Lari is going through sleepless nights just wondering what could have happened to their 21 year old daughter, Phyllis Nyeri.

New 800m world champion Caster Semenya has been given a heroine's welcome in her home village in northern South Africa, following a gender row that failed to stop her winning a gold medal in Berlin.

South African soldiers clashed with police on Wednesday. They were marching through the streets of Pretoria to demand an increase in wages.

Visitors were fascinated at the wonderful and interesting inventions displayed at the maiden Maker Faire Africa 2009 in Accra, Ghana at 14-16 August 2009. The innovations ranged from cream heater to a cooler made from roofing sheets, pipe and jute as well as living room chairs made out of plastic water bottles. Africanews.com reporters Kent Mensah and Esme Atsyornu report.

The leader of Africa's strongest economy is visiting one of the most crippled economies in the continent just next door. South Africa's Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe will meet in the next few hours. Harare desperately needs more aid from its ally. And South Africa needs its neighbour to resolve its political battles and stop the flow of millions of refugees over the border.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a five-day visit to assess the situation of women and children amidst what is widely seen as Africa's worst humanitarian crisis. Here is the first in a series of related reports.

Family and friends of the teenage 800 metres world champion, South African Caster Semenya, have expressed their support for the athlete, amid a gender controversy. Semenya's rapid improvement over the past year, in which she has cut more than eight seconds off her personal best in the two-lap race, prompted the International Association of Athletics Federations to order a gender test.

VOA's health correspondent Linord Moudou reports on neglected tropical diseases and discusses all with Dr. Peter Hotez, founder of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.

In Malawi, where around 930,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS and human resources in the health sector are scarce, MSF is delegating treatment from district hospitals to local health centers to bring care closer to the patients.

Landmines left behind after conflict are a deadly legacy, causing thousands of casualties every year. In Mozambique, disposal teams risk their lives to find the tens of thousands of landmines still buried in the bush. Now they have a group of new recruits who are proving highly efficient at sniffing out the deathtraps.

IOL Sport: "Ahletics SA president Leonard Chuene on Friday refused to accept any blame by his federation for the Caster Semenya gender controversy, accusing racist South Africans of creating the fiasco. Semenya stunned the world in July when she won the African junior 800m title in 1min56.72 but when she arrived in Berlin last week at the World Athletics Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) requested tests be done to determine the teenager's gender. The test results would not be available for at least another few weeks but in the meantime Semenya went on to win the two-lap final in a magnificent 1min55.45 on Wednesday night."

News24 : "Aganang - 'We hear she's just as good as Zola Budd.' This is how the people from the Fairlie settlement in Limpopo speak about Caster Semenya, 18, who has caused quite a stir in international athletics. Eric Modiba, head of the Nthema Secondary School, where Semenya was in matric last year, says he is 'very, very proud' of her. On Wednesday night, Semenya won a gold medal in the 800m for women at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany."

Mail & Guardian Online: The family of sprinter Caster Semenya says she is definitely a woman, despite questions raised about her gender, newspapers reported on Thursday. '[The controversy] doesn't bother me that much because I know she's a woman -- I raised her myself,' Semenya's paternal grandmother Maputhi Sekgala told The Times. Semenya won the 800m at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday. She immediately found herself embroiled in controversy, when media outlets around the world scrutinised her masculine facial features and questioned her gender."

Mail & Guardian Online: "The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday anointed new 800m world champion Caster Semenya as the nation's 'golden girl' while condemning speculation on the runner's gender. The ANC called on South Africans to 'rally behind our golden girl and shrug off negative and unwarranted questions about her gender', said ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu in a statement on Thursday. 'Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build and the International Association of Athletics Federation [IAAF] should know better.'"

The rising level of the Indian Ocean is threatening the existence of a tiny village, near Malindi. Residents of Ngomeni Village are appealing to the government to speed up the building of a sea wall, set to cost twenty five million shillings.

VOA's Ndimyake Mwakalyelye reports on Cape Verde

Since rising to power on a wave of popular enthusiasm, South African President Jacob Zuma has been grappling with mass strikes and the country's first recession in 17 years. We take a closer look at his first 100 days in office.

An African-born salesman is putting himself forward to become a district chief in Southern Russia. If he's successful, he'll be the first black man to be elected to public office in the country.

China has overtaken the US as Africa's top trading partner, and Beijing's growing economic clout is increasingly visible across the continent - but critics say the Asian giant's pursuit of lucrative contracts is at the expense of the environment.

More trouble brewing on the horizon for South African President Jacob Zuma.

The UN says survivors of a Sudanese massacre in which 185 people were killed are desperately short of food. The violence targeted mostly women and children and is thought to have been triggered by tribal tensions. More than 300 youngsters who survived are now being treated for malnutrition. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports on the violence near Akobo in southern Sudan.

Over one week after the end of deadly clashes between governmental forces and an obscure cult inspired by Afghanistan's Taliban, the city of Maidiguru in northern Nigeria is still under shock.

As Niger's people cast their ballots in a controversial referendum on Tuesday, we examine the implications of a vote that could pave the way for President Mamadou Tandja to serve a third mandate and run for re-election thereafter.

Nigerians returning to their homes after uprising by Islamic sect

From national identity cards to driving licences and birth certificates to university degrees the city of Nairobi has it in the power of con-masters that these crucial documents can be availed to anyone with great speed at a fee.

In Sudan, people living with Aids are faced with predudices and ignorance about their disease. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston tells the story of Umm Ahmed, who has been made an outcast by her family and whose son is not allowed to play with other children.

Two of the world's biggest clothing retailers have promised urgent action after their manufacturing operations were exposed for causing serious environmental damage in the tiny African state of Lesotho.

Nigerian police are holding wives of at least 600 members of the Boko haram sect killed in last week's fighting with security forces, reports Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege

The British supermarket chain Tesco is the biggest buyer of fruit from South Africa, contracting about 800 farms and making big profits. But the workers who grow the fruit are complaining of low salaries and poor living conditions. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports from Ceres in Western Cape.