africa

The long awaited analytical study of Uganda's tourism sector is finally out. The Tourism Expenditure and Motivation Survey (TEMS), commissioned last year by the ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, in partnership with the World Bank and DFID, was released on Thursday at the Kampala Serena hotel. The economic and statistical study collected data on tourist expenditures, duration of stay, tourist activities, sites visited, level of satisfaction and suggestions for improvements in the sector.

These refugees don't know dunks, nor do they know why a 25-year-old NBA star, coming off his breakout season, would fly more than 8,000 miles and 24 hours, risk malaria, typhoid and yellow fever, just to hang bed nets in their mud huts for the anti-malaria program Nothing But Nets. On his vacation. "Man, for a huge American sports star," said Nothing But Nets director Chris Helfrich, "he sure doesn't act like it."

The U.S. State Department closed its embassies in four sub-Saharan African nations as part of a heightened security alert, days before the 15th anniversary of al-Qaida's bombings of American diplomatic missions in Kenya and Tanzania. Those two embassies targeted in the Aug. 7, 1998, attacks were rebuilt as more heavily fortified structures away from populated areas where they would be less vulnerable to attack.

A Libyan non-governmental organization has launched a media campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence, using religious passages that point to the proper treatment of women, Your Middle East reported on Sunday. The Voice of Libyan Women, founded during the 2011 revolution, has launched Project Noor (meaning ‘light’ in Arabic), a public awareness campaign which uses billboards, radio, TV and social media to disseminate messages about women’s security.

The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution on Sunday after an al Qaeda threat that U.S. lawmakers said was the most serious in years. The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday "out of an abundance of caution" and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On Saturday, August 3, Uganda’s homosexual community stepped out of the shadows in red wigs and glittering stilettos. The country’s second gay pride parade, held on a sandy beach in Entebbe, drew over a hundred people eager to tell the world that they are out, they are proud and they are not afraid to show it.

This week on South2North Redi speaks to three film directors who have dealt with different forms of censorship and story-telling in Africa. Jahmil Qubeka’s film Of Good Report was banned on the opening night of the Durban International Film Festival - allegedly for showing child pornography.

The 95-year-old Nobel laureate is also one of the world's most recognizable figures. More than just a man, he has become a global brand -- one that's estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Ever since Mandela was released from prison, where he had endured 27 years for fighting apartheid, many South Africans have felt like they'd like to "own" a little piece of him.

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