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Showing posts from August, 2009

Smart buses in Nairobi

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.

Lari Woman Kidnapped......

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.

Semenya homecoming

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.

Maker Faire Africa 2009, Accra, Ghana

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.

Zimbabweans look to Zuma for help

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: Community-based health approach in DR Congo

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.

Semenya controversy

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.

Malawi: Decentralizing HIV/AIDS Care

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.

Mozambique's de-mining rats .....

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.

Chuene shifts Semenya blame to SA racists

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."

Community proud of Semenya:

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."

Semenya family: 'She's a girl'

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."

ANC condemns Semenya gender row

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.'"

Seawater threatens Coastal Village

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.

Russia's answer to Obama

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.

Mozambique gets infrastructure boost from China

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.

Sudan massacre survivors short of food

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.

Niger: Tandja's plans to hang on to power

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.

Social stigma surrounds Aids in Sudan

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.

The Price Of Fashion

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.

Tesco 'exploiting' South African workers

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.