The President of the Republic, Dr Janez Drnovšek today welcomed representatives of the Slovenian scout and Catholic scout movements, and the Youth Guild, who presented him with a Peace Light from Bethlehem. They brought the light to Slovenia from Vienna on Sunday and today at the same time as presenting it at the presidential palace are spreading it around Slovenia. The Peace Light has been brought to Slovenia this year for a record sixteenth year in a row.

In 2004, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) listed Igbo, supposedly one of Nigeria's three main language groups, as under threat of "extinction".
The extent of illiteracy in the use of Igbo language to which the educated and semi- educated Igbo have sunk could be gleaned from the ordeal of a security chief translating a "calm down" message on television in the wake of the Ikeja Army Cantonment bomb blasts scare in January, 2001. For a task that his co-Yoruba and Hausa speakers had discharged with minimal difficulty, the Igbo translator stumbled with his assignment, switching from Igbo to English at intervals.

Togo's chief voodoo priest is predicting success for Togo's football team at the World Cup in Germany.

"The ancestral spirits say that Togo will go far at the World Cup," Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro III says.

His prediction is giving hope to fans angered with their players' lacklustre performance and a demand of 0,000 each to take part in the tournament.

The US is funding a coalition of Somali warlords who earlier this year battled Islamic groups in Mogadishu, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has said.

Mr Yusuf's spokesman said the funding was fuelling Somalia's civil war.

At least 70 people were killed in the worst violence seen in the Somali capital for several years, when the two groups clashed in March.

The internet is revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries, be they a farmer in Kenya who wants to invest in new cows or a seamstress in India who wants to open her own shop.

For 14 years, Dennis Whittle worked at the World Bank, overseeing big development projects that gave out huge loans.

Nigeria and her African counterparts have asked development partners to give free hands and allow them (Africans) decide, plan and appropriately sequence their growth and poverty reduction policies.
Finance Ministers from all African countries who attended the just concluded Conference on Financing for Development in Abuja said this was important for effective implementation and ability to achieve desired development objectives.
They, however, recognised and appreciated efforts of the development partners at supporting their cause in terms of providing the needed financing.

Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are pleading a strong case for improved quota,voice and representation at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Besides, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), speaking through Nigeria's Finance Minister, Mrs Nenadi Usman, has urged development partners to assist in minimising risks on development efforts,to provide additional debt relief where necessary and increase aid flows and improved access to developed countries markets for products from the region.

THOSE, especially dance instructors, professional dancers and lovers of the preservation of tradition who have always expressed fear and anxiety that African dance is on the verge of extinction due to foreign influences may now have cause to heave a sigh of relief.

An initiative known as the Motion Capture Project has been founded courtesy of the Japan Foundation under the auspices of the Graduate School of Sociology, Rutsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan.

THE fear is palpable even within the United Nations and other global bodies that shortage of water may be the biggest challenge facing future generations of mankind, not many artists explore water concept as a theme, even in international displays.

But many reasons have been advanced on why water concept does not give artists ample room for manipulation. It is colourless. It is presumed to be everywhere and easy to be ignored by even the most enthusiastic art watcher. Besides, water, it is believed, hardly offers enough spectacles except when handled by a highly creative artist.

But Osi Audu, a Nigerian artist with international profile is changing this belief by engaging water concept in his up-coming exhibition in Skoto Gallery, New York, USA. The exhibition is entitled: Body of Water. It opens on Thursday, September 7, at 6p.m and runs until October 14.

Rich in caffeine, the nut is chewed throughout West Africa and as the popular African saying goes: "He who brings kola, brings life".

It was one of the key ingredients in Coca-Cola.

IN Osogbo art is not just the way of life it is the major means of livelihood. Along with such high-level fine art forms as painting and wood carving, artistic endeavours like crafts, live performances, cloth dying, weaving, bead work, divination and other formats of presentation of creativity make art a big industry in the sober capital city of Osun State.

Professor Jon Erlandson says the maritime capabilities of ancient humans have been greatly underestimated.

He has found evidence that early peoples in California pursued a sophisticated seafaring lifestyle 10,000 years ago.

In the so-called "scramble" by European powers for the mineral wealth, the rubber and ivory and the territories of Africa at the end of the 19th Century, Italy didn't come out terribly well.

The British, the French and the Belgians all grabbed what they could, but curiously it was an Italian - Pietro Savorgnan Di Brazza - who has emerged as the only European explorer and colonialist to be honoured at the beginning of the 21st Century for what he gave to Africa rather than for what he grabbed.

Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are pleading a strong case for improved quota,voice and representation at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Besides, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), speaking through Nigeria's Finance Minister, Mrs Nenadi Usman, has urged development partners to assist in minimising risks on development efforts,to provide additional debt relief where necessary and increase aid flows and improved access to developed countries markets for products from the region.

A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear capability is "outrageous and dishonest" in trying to make a case that Tehran's program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday outside a 35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the report is false in saying Iran is making weapons-grade uranium at an experimental enrichment site, when it has in fact produced material only in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in nuclear arms.

NIGERIA yesterday received a rousing ovation from the rest of the African continent when she presented two locally manufactured drugs for sickle cell anaemia to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This came two days after she faced international embarrassment for her alleged inability to halt the spread of the polio virus.

The two drugs the country introduced to the 56th session of the WHO meeting are Nicosan and Sikilafit. Both drugs are manufactured by Nigerian indigenous companies.

RECENTLY, Dr. Joseph Eboreime, an anthropologist and expert on material culture, was appointed Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). Before the new post he was the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), a job that came after his remarkable long career as a museum administrator. Now back to the museum, his familiar terrain, the new Director General talks of repositioning the treasure house to be more attuned to general national aspirations.

AT last, African art makes it to the Venice Biennale, which is one the many high profile international art events set to make the 2007 season a very busy year.

Art fiestas, from biennales to triennales and remarkable symposia set to hold around the world next year make a very long list. Apart from the Venice Biennial, there is the Documenta 12, Istanbul Biennial and the ACASA (Arts Council of the African Studies Association of America) Triennial Symposium on African Art, as well as the third edition of the World Festival of Black Arts in Senegal. Hence, some art authorities have identified 2007 as a rare year of many big opportunities.

ECONOMIC activities in Osogbo, whenever the Osun Osogbo cultural  festival holds, have shown that tourism can be a significant, even essential, part of the local economy, as well as induce the government to make infrastructural improvements such as better water and sewage systems, roads, electricity, telephone and public transport networks, all of which can improve the quality of life for residents as well as facilitate tourism.

A most undiplomatic row is raging at the United Nations in New York. Developing countries have voted down proposals from Secretary General Kofi Annan to reform the UN's management structure in the wake of the recent oil-for-food scandals... and the richer countries are threatening to retaliate.

In a windowless basement, a power struggle between the rich and poor nations of the world has been taking place.

Sir Richard Branson famously has fun with his immense wealth. But he also feels that great wealth brings great responsibility. He talks to the Magazine about the business of philanthropy.

How does it feel to go to an impoverished part of Africa when you're a multi-millionaire?