MAURITANIA'S GOVERNANCE EPITOMIZES a cycle all too evident throughout sub-Saharan Africa. A civilian government, espousing the liberal democratic principles inherited from the colonial regime, came to power on the eve of independence. After it had r...

South Africa has always been a popular tourist destination despite its troubled past and reputation for crime. It is a country of intense beauty and contrasts; hot summers and relatively mild winters (although the high lying interior can get very co...

The Eastern Cape is one of South Africa’s most impoverished provinces in terms of average monthly expenditure, but it is also home to some of the country’s most spectacular and beautiful scenery. The Great Karoo, which spans the Eastern, Wester...

Batá drums (from left: Okónkolo, Iyá, Itótele)A Batá drum is a double-headed drum shaped like an hourglass with one cone larger than the other. The percussion instrument is used primarily for the use of religious or semi-religious purposes for the...

Veteran wildlife photographer Paolo Torchio made a bizarre discovery while visiting Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve: a mysterious “bearded” antelope. While one expert suggests the animal might only be suffering from hypertrichosis, a cond...

Take a drive from the shores of the world's biggest lake called a sea, through rice paddies that wouldn't be out of place in Southeast Asia, and end up in a Central Asian village in mist covered mountains? It's not teleportation, but the trip to Masoul...

This is quite interesting. A Nigerian couple living in London gave birth to a blue-eyed and blonde haired white (not albino) baby girl. Pop it for the full story.Blue-eyed blonde Nmachi, whose name means “Beauty of God” in the Nigerian couple’...

This past Sunday I preached on the 10 plagues of Egypt during the reign of history’s most ego-maniacal pharaoh; Ramses II. It will air in a few weeks and I predict it will have you saying, “Oh my”, “Oh ya” or “Oh no.” I specifically ...

Egyptian Christians and Muslims alike gathered in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Sunday to unite in prayer for those who have lost their lives in the past 13 days of anti-government protests. The melting pot of Egyptian society showed the govern...

Sami al-Misrati, a member of the opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, stated in a phone conversation with Al-Alam: “A small airplane left the Al-Abraq Airport yesterday carrying someone who looked like Imam Musa Sadr.”Issa Abd al-Majid Mansur, a promi...

What are mercenaries doing in Libya and what is their connection to Moammar Gadhafi?Given the near media blackout in cities like Tripoli, reports are hard to confirm, but eyewitnesses say they have seen black, French-speaking mercenaries reportedly fro...

A Libyan jet crashes after being shot down in Benghazi after coming under fire

Addressing a large gathering of people in the holy city of Mashhad on the first day of the Iranian new year, Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to the recent developments in Libya and said that Iran utterly cond...

Cairo: In an unprecedented scene in the history of Egyptian football, violence was the main player between Egypt’s el-Zamalek team and the Tunisian team on Saturday. The match between the two teams was going well and there were many hopes that the E...

Jos, Nigeria — In this central Nigerian city with a history of inter-communal strife, the delayed kick-off of Nigeria's three-week long elections process was greeted by long lines of determined, hopeful voters. Despite logistical confusion at s...

 Iran's leading automaker, Iran Khodro, has unveiled its fourth domestically-built car — dubbed Dena — which will hit the markets in April 2012.Iranian Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian told Press TV on Saturday that the ...

A powerful bomb blast in a crowded Moroccan cafe killed at least 14 people, wounded dozens of others and shattered the relative calm in a corner of the Arab world overwhelmed by uprisings and deadly government crackdowns.The bombing was timed to max...

HTML clipboard IntroductionThe word ZANZIBAR is of Persian or Arabic origin. The Persians derive the name from Zangh Bar, meaning "the Negro Coast." On the other hand the Arabs deduce the name from the Arabic Zayn Z'al Barr, meaning "Fair is this l...

The 24 year old is the first Kenyan to win an Olympic gold medal in the men’s marathon eventKenyan long distance runner, Sammy Wanjiru, died on Monday morning after jumping from a balcony at his Rift Valley home, police said.As at the time of report...