BBC News - Tuareg rebels make troubled return from Libya to Mali

BBC News - Tuareg rebels make troubled return from Libya to Mali: "The refugees who arrived in Mangaize, in northern Niger, are fleeing clashes between Malian ethnic Tuareg rebels from the newly-formed National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the national army which broke out in January 2012.

Some 130,000 people have fled their homes, according to the UN refugee agency.

These Tuaregs had, until September, been busy fighting alongside Col Gaddafi's forces as he struggled to cling to power in Libya.

They had taken sanctuary in Libya after their own rebellion in Mali in 2008 was defeated."

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From Kenya to Washington: Who's to Blame for Wasted Food Aid? - Raymond C. Offenheiser - Health - The Atlantic

From Kenya to Washington: Who's to Blame for Wasted Food Aid? - Raymond C. Offenheiser - Health - The Atlantic: "The hard truth is that if we want our aid programs to work, we are going to have to stop treating them like corporate welfare. We need to cut the red tape that prevents aid agencies from buying food aid locally and regionally from farmers in developing countries. This will require courage from legislators to stand-up to powerful lobbyists and keep their hands out of the food-aid cookie jar."

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Thies: The sleepy town that may sway Senegal - Features - Al Jazeera English

Thies: The sleepy town that may sway Senegal - Features - Al Jazeera English: "There is anticipation in the air. And by no means is this Dakar.

That so many in the city have decided on Seck gives them hope that he will either win, or force the incumbent to a second round run off, in which all other opposition candidates will have been eliminated from the ballot. Voting is their end of the unspoken bargain struck by Seck's nurturing of the city.

Locals here say that Seck has fought in such a way that he hardly spent time campaigning in his home town. They say that he was so dedicated to ousting Wade that he stayed in Dakar until the end."

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Madame, Mademoiselle: in France these are about sex, not respect | Marie Darrieussecq | Comment is free | The Guardian

Madame, Mademoiselle: in France these are about sex, not respect | Marie Darrieussecq | Comment is free | The Guardian: "To French women these titles aren't mere words, but intrusive definitions. This struggle is about our freedom"

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Senegalese President Booed on Election Day - NYTimes.com

Senegalese President Booed on Election Day - NYTimes.com: "DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Voters booed Senegal's president so loudly when he went to cast his ballot Sunday that his bodyguards whisked him away, another sign of how much his popularity has dipped ahead of an election that has sparked weeks of riots."

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Strangling Democracy in Senegal - NYTimes.com

Strangling Democracy in Senegal - NYTimes.com: "SENEGAL was once considered West Africa’s oasis of stability, but now it is a place of deadly repression. This year, at least six people have been killed, dozens injured and scores arrested during protests over President Abdoulaye Wade’s efforts to run for a third term in the election to be held Sunday.

Even though the Constitution sets a two-term limit for the president, Senegal’s Constitutional Council has ruled — based on a disputed legal interpretation — that Mr. Wade is eligible to run again. A close look at his time in office, however, suggests that granting him a third term would be terrible for democracy."

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BBC News - Church 'does not own marriage'

BBC News - Church 'does not own marriage': "The Church does not "own" marriage nor have the exclusive right to say who can marry, a government minister has said.

Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said the government was entitled to introduce same-sex marriages, which she says would be a "change for the better"."

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