The following article focuses on built environment, the architecture of spaces designed for human habitation. To immediately skip to other specialised uses of the term "architecture" see architecture (disambiguation).

Architecture (from Latin, architectura and ultimately from Greek, αρχιτεκτων, "a master builder", from αρχι- "chief, leader" and τεκτων, "builder, carpenter") is the art and science of designing buildings and structures.

A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of creating furniture. Architectural design usually must address both feasibility and cost for the builder, as well as function and aesthetics for the user.

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BBC News | Africa | World Edition

Tribunal urged for Kenya violence
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:09:19 -0000
An inquiry into Kenya's post-election clashes wants an international tribunal set up to try those behind the violence.
ANC heavyweight joins rebellion
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:09:42 -0000
The ex-premier of South Africa's Gauteng state resigns from the ruling ANC to join those calling for a new party.
Ugandans ban female circumcision
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:23:48 -0000
The only community to practise female genital mutilation in Uganda has banned it, an official says.
'End in sight' for Zimbabwe talks
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:10:56 -0000
Zimbabwe's leaders are to resume negotiations on rescuing a power-sharing deal.
Shell to appeal Nigerian eviction
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:24:27 -0000
Oil giant Shell is to appeal a court order evicting it from a key Nigerian site in the Niger Delta region.
Sweet pill tackles child malaria
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:17:19 -0000
Tanzanian researchers say an easy-to-swallow cherry-flavoured pill could help halt malaria in children.

NYT > Africa

Zimbabwe Generals’ Fears of Prosecution Threaten Deal
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:15:58 -0000
President Robert Mugabe’s efforts to placate his generals by shielding them from prosecution is threatening to derail a power-sharing deal with the political opposition.
World Briefing | Africa: Congo: Rebels Clash With Army
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:14:13 -0000
Congolese Army tanks pounded rebel-held hilltops and repelled an attack on a military base in the east in the latest round of fighting, which has displaced 150,000 people, the U.N. said.
Sudan Arrests Militia Chief Facing Trial
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:35:39 -0000
The move is widely being interpreted as a way for Sudan to improve its image abroad and try to head off the possible genocide prosecution of the country’s president.

L.A. Times - Africa

Syria leader decrees formal ties with Lebanon
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Assad's order could pave the way for normalizing the two Mideast neighbors' long-tangled relations. The president of Syria ordered his government Tuesday to establish formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon, a move that could pave the way for normalizing decades of tangled ties between the two countries.
UCLA's Alfred Aboya is at the political center
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
He wants to replace Kevin Love this year and someday become president of Cameroon. Alfred Aboya, a UCLA senior, walks into a conference room carrying a backpack loaded with books on statistics, economics and multi-party political systems.
World Briefing
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Zimbabwe: Tensions over Mugabe appointees / Pakistan: U.S. man held Tensions rise over Mugabe appointees

UN News Centre - Africa

Ethiopia: UN appeals for aid as number of drought victims keeps growing
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The United Nations humanitarian wing today called for more than $265 million to fund relief operations in drought-stricken Ethiopia for the next three months to meet the widening scale of the crisis, with some 6.4 million people now estimated to need urgent assistance.
Africa's partners must not renege on development support - Assembly chief
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Countries must not forget their commitments to help meet Africa's development needs, even as they are trying to grapple with the current economic slowdown, the President of the General Assembly stressed today.
Guinea-Bissau: Security Council welcomes elections but serious concerns remain
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The Security Council today welcomed the commitment of Guinea-Bissau to hold parliamentary elections next month and called on all political parties, the security forces and civil society to ensure free, fair and transparent voting.

The Economist: Middle East and Africa

Israel: Tell me the Talmud
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:48:13 -0000
How the Jewish book is reaching a wider audienceTHE Talmud is the bedrock of traditional Judaism: a repository of law and lore, chaotically interwoven with biblical explanation and legend. Compiled in fifth-century Babylon (today’s Iraq), it has since enticed, intrigued and exhausted generations of Jews.For Orthodox Jews, lifelong study of the Talmud is the supreme religious precept. But for many earnest students through the ages, it has been a frustrating grind. Written in Aramaic (often described as the language of Jesus), it does not easily surrender its textual meaning or inner reasoning. In the 11th century, a French rabbi named Shlomo Yitzhaki, often known by the acronym Rashi, wrote a ground-breaking commentary to make the original text more accessible. But even he is often terse and replete with abbreviations and unelaborated allusions, as are the thousands of commentaries and books of scholarly correspondence that accrued over the ages. ...
Dubai: Not-so-hot property
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:48:13 -0000
Is Dubai being hit by the turmoil?YOU may have thought that if anywhere would be insulated from the financial chaos, it would be Dubai, the ritzy commercial capital of the oil-rich Gulf. Not so. Events across the world are causing pain there too, even though much of the emirate’s cash has not made its way to the banks; it is held by ruling families and in their sovereign wealth funds. Dubai’s oil revenues are small. Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the energetic ruler of the second largest emirate of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has chosen to diversify, especially into real estate, as his way forward. Investors in Dubai property have done well in recent years, enjoying returns of roughly 80% since early last year. ...
Kenya and Sudan: The mystery tanks
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:48:13 -0000
Who are the real owners of the tanks nabbed by Somali pirates?THE publication of the manifest of a Ukrainian ship recently captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia is embarrassing Kenya’s government. It apparently shows that MV Faina’s cargo of 33 T-72 Soviet-era tanks and other weapons was consigned to Kenya’s defence ministry on behalf of the government of south Sudan. Much will turn on the real meaning of the acronym GOSS, evident as the buyer on the manifest. Most people take this to mean the Government of South Sudan, meaning that the tanks were destined for that region. The Kenyans say it means the Kenyan army’s own General Ordinance Supplies and Security, proving that the tanks were going to Kenya. But that does not necessarily mean they were not going on to south Sudan. Kenya has no history of using Soviet equipment. A Russian source said that the only Russian arms Kenya has bought in recent years have been Kalashnikov rifles for game rangers. ...

Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune

Iraq reports progress on security pact
By ALISSA J. RUBIN Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:25 -0000
Iraqi negotiators believe they have reached an accord on a draft security pact governing the conduct of U.S. forces in Iraq, which includes a timeline for American troop withdrawal.
Senior Qaeda leader killed in Iraq, U.S. military says
By Alissa J. Rubin Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:13:45 -0000
The military statement described the man, known as Abu Qaswarah, as a charismatic leader who had trained in Afghanistan and managed to rally Qaeda followers in Iraq despite U.S. and Iraqi security gains.
Generals' fears of prosecution imperil Zimbabwe deal
By CELIA W. DUGGER Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:25 -0000
Military commanders who directed political violence before the recent elections have demanded that President Robert Mugabe protect them, and his response threatens a power-sharing deal.
A former premier joins ANC dissidents in South Africa
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:25 -0000
The former premier of the richest province in South Africa said Wednesday that he had resigned from the governing African National Congress and would join a dissident group threatening to form a breakaway party.
Followers of an ancient faith are caught in Iraq's fault lines
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:25 -0000
Yazidis, adherents of an ancient religion with roots in Zoroastrianism, were targets of bombings from Sunni extremists, who consider them devil worshipers.
150,000 new refugees in Congo as army battles rebels
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:58:25 -0000
Congolese army tanks pounded rebel-held hilltops and repelled an attack in recent fighting that has displaced 150,000 people.

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