Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,300,000 km² (11,700,000 mi²) including adjacent islands, it covers 5.9% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.3% of the total land area.Sayre, April Pulley. (1999) Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1367-2. With more than 840,000,000 people (as of 2005) in 61 territories, it accounts for more than 12% of the world's human population.

Etymology

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The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.

The Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in most other Semitic languages). Some other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa' that are much more debatable include:

More on [ Africa ]

BBC News | Africa | World Edition

DR Congo army 'used aid as bait'
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:51:23 -0000
The DR Congo army has been using measles vaccination clinics as "bait" to attack civilians, an aid agency says.
Madagascar rivals reach agreement
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:51:25 -0000
Madagascar's rival political leaders agree to form a power-sharing government after months of wrangling.
Somali adulterer stoned to death
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:47:55 -0000
Islamists in Somalia stone a man to death for adultery but spare his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth.
Ivorian joy at Trafigura ruling
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:56:57 -0000
An Ivory Coast court rules that compensation to victims of waste dumping should not be paid to one man to distribute.
Turkey defends Sudan leader visit
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:23:21 -0000
President Abdullah Gul criticises the EU after it asks Turkey to reconsider an invitation to Sudan's president.
Spain resists deal with pirates
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:23:13 -0000
Spain resists pressure to free two Somalis accused of piracy in exchange for Spanish sailors held in Somalia.

NYT > Africa

U.N. Says U.S. Delays Led to Aid Cuts in Somalia
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:37:19 -0000
The U.S. greatly reduced food contributions out of fears they would be diverted to terrorists.
Group Won’t Suspend Zimbabwe on Mining Abuses
By CELIA W. DUGGER Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:47:56 -0000
Members of the United Nations-endorsed Kimberley Process will send a monitor to decide whether future exports of rough diamonds from eastern Zimbabwe can be certified as conflict-free.
U.N. Panel Accuses 2 Iranians of Breaking Darfur Arms Embargo
By REUTERS Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:37:55 -0000
Two businessmen were linked to video surveillance devices that were sold to Sudan and used by drones.

L.A. Times - Africa

36 dead in Somalia violence
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800
Scores have been wounded in three days of fighting in central and southern Somalia, and police and soldiers clash in the north's autonomous Puntland region. At least 36 people have been killed and scores wounded in three days of fighting in towns across chaotic Somalia, a local human rights group said Sunday.
Captive British woman says pirates 'hospitable'
Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700
A British woman who is being held by Somali pirates with her husband after their yacht was hijacked said in a phone call broadcast Friday that the couple were "bearing up" and she described her captors as "very hospitable."
Claims in arms case stir up the French
Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Convicted former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua says others knew of illegal weapons sales to Angola. Convicted of profiting from illicit arms sales to Angola, a former French interior minister is roiling the political establishment by accusing other officials of knowing about the deal and demanding that the government open secret files to prove him right.

UN News Centre - Africa

Tribal clashes uproot over 16,000 civilians in northern DR Congo, reports UN
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500
Clashes between two tribes in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have caused more than 16,000 civilians to flee their homes since last week, crossing into neighbouring Republic of Congo to find safety, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
UN agency helps officials in Cape Verde tackle outbreak of dengue fever
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500
Officials from the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) are at work in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago of Cape Verde to help local authorities battle the country's first reported epidemic of dengue fever.
Kenya: UN seeks urgent funds to respond to flooding in refugee camps
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500
The United Nations refugee agency is appealing for $2.8 million to provide essential supplies and respond to possible disease outbreaks among more than 300,000 refugees in two camps in Kenya threatened by flooding.

The Economist: Middle East and Africa

The flagging peace process: Is Israel too strong for Barack Obama?
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:01:13 -0000
As America drops its demand for a total freeze on the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, angry Palestinians say there is no scope for resuming talksFIVE months after Barack Obama went to Cairo and persuaded most of the Arab world, in a ringing declaration of even-handedness, that he would face down Israel in his quest for a Palestinian state, American policy seems to have run into the sand. The American president’s mediating hand is weaker, his charisma damagingly faded. From the Palestinian and Arab point of view, his administration—after grandly setting out to force the Jewish state to stop the building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land as an early token of good faith, intended to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiation—has meekly capitulated to Israel.The upshot is that hopes for an early resumption of talks between the main protagonists seem to have been dashed. Indeed, no one seems to know how they can be restarted. The mood among moderates on both sides is as glum as ever. ...
Guinea's strife: Don't let it be contagious
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:01:13 -0000
The neighbours of a shaky west African state fear that its instability could spreadWHEN Moussa Dadis Camara, a 45-year-old captain, seized power at the end of last year, many Guineans and foreigners were by no means unhappy. He seemed sure to be better than his corrupt and dictatorial predecessor, President Lansana Conte, who had just died after 25 years in charge. But hope evaporated at the end of September, when security forces smashed up an opposition rally in a stadium in Conakry, the capital. Soldiers and police killed at least 150 demonstrators and raped scores of women, says Human Rights Watch, a lobby based in New York. A worldwide storm of outrage ensued. The African Union has frozen the assets held abroad by junta members. The European Union has imposed an arms embargo and has also, along with the United States, stopped giving visas to Guineans close to the regime. France, the former colonial ruler, has cut military ties. Its foreign minister has called for “international intervention”, so far unspecified. ...
Saudis and Yemenis versus jihadists: A bloody border
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:01:13 -0000
Trouble on the frontier between Saudi Arabia and Yemen is getting out of handTWO separate incidents underline the growing shakiness of Yemen’s government and the increasing fear of Saudi rulers that their own fairly successful campaign to quash Islamist terrorism may be undermined by neighbouring Yemen’s feared descent into chaos. On November 3rd suspected al-Qaeda fighters ambushed a Yemeni government convoy in the remote Hadramawt region, near the border with Saudi Arabia, killing three senior security men. A day later Yemeni rebels at the other end of the country crossed the frontier into Saudi Arabia, killed a Saudi officer and claimed to have captured a strategic mountaintop inside the kingdom. The very next day, Saudi aircraft were reported to have bombed rebel positions in Yemen. In the first attack the Yemeni officers were targeted in what may be an emerging strategy by al-Qaeda’s resilient local branch to hit local security forces rather than symbols of “crusader” influence, such as Western embassies. The attack on Saudi Arabia, by contrast, was a spillover from the civil war in northern Yemen between government forces and rebel tribesmen loyal to a powerful local clan, the Houthis. The government accuses Shia Iran of backing the Houthis, most of whose supporters are Zaydis, a Yemeni branch of the Shia faith, whereas the rebels say Sunni Saudi Arabia is backing the government’s ferocious counter-insurgency. ...

NYT > Africa

U.N. Says U.S. Delays Led to Aid Cuts in Somalia
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:37:19 -0000
The U.S. greatly reduced food contributions out of fears they would be diverted to terrorists.
Group Won’t Suspend Zimbabwe on Mining Abuses
By CELIA W. DUGGER Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:47:56 -0000
Members of the United Nations-endorsed Kimberley Process will send a monitor to decide whether future exports of rough diamonds from eastern Zimbabwe can be certified as conflict-free.
U.N. Panel Accuses 2 Iranians of Breaking Darfur Arms Embargo
By REUTERS Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:37:55 -0000
Two businessmen were linked to video surveillance devices that were sold to Sudan and used by drones.
International Prosecutor to Seek Inquiry Into Kenya Violence
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:35:22 -0000
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said that he believed crimes against humanity had been committed during Kenya’s 2008 post-election violence.
Payments in Ivory Coast Dumping Case at Risk, Lawyer Says
By ADAM NOSSITER Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:23:16 -0000
Thousands of victims of one of the worst toxic dumping scandals in years could lose their hard-won settlement, the victims’ lawyer said Wednesday.
Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat
By SINDYA N. BHANOO Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:10:00 -0000
Researchers cannot agree whether the melting is attributable mainly to humanity’s role in global warming.

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