Paris, France (PANA) - The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Argentina) will receive the 2010 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on 14 September, the UN body said in a press statement Thursday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO’s work and how internationally-renowned personalities can help the Organization meet its objectives will be the subject of the 11th annual meeting of UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors, on 12 September, at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the French capital. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - On the eve of this year’s International Literacy Day, celebrated world-wide on 8 September, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said here Tuesday that 793 million adults – most of them girls and women - are illiterate. Full text...

) Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The seventh edition of the African International Youth Camp (CIJ), under the aegis of the Lions International Youth Club, will be held 5 to 10 September in Bamako, the capital of Mali, organizers said here Friday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Thousands of music lovers will be thrilled from Thursday, 25 August, when the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz festival begins in Johannesburg, South Africa, according to festival spokesman Mandie van der Spuy. Full text...

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - Human resource management and administration student, Miss Sahadath Sorokou, has been crowned Miss Benin 2011. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has allocated 21.5 million euros to fund a programme in support of cultural heritage in Algeria, according to a press statement issued here Wednesday by the European Commission services. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has extended his heartfelt condolences to the family of renowned stage and screen actor, Sam Loco Efe, who died on Sunday, according to a press release issued by the Presidency on Monday. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - An international fashion fair, at which mostly African fabrics are on parade, began in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, Saturday. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - With a fusion of blues and funk, Portuguese jazz musician Rui Veloso, here Friday opened the third Luanda International Jazz Festival, being held in the Atlântico Cinema till Sunday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, son of music legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti, will begin a tour of France 4 August with a concert in Sete, in the southern part of the European country, PANA learnt here Friday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Eighteen African musicians are among the 56 from all continents that are taking part in the 28-31 July WOMAD festival in Malmesbury, England, organisers said. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The eighth International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA) will be held 23-27 November, 2011, in Niamey, promoter Seidnaly Sidhamed, told a press conference here Wednesday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian writer and politician, Seydou Badian Kouyaté, has presented 30,000 books to schools in the country, PANA learnt from authorized sources here Friday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Various African musicians, including Tkien Jah Fakoly of Cote d'Ivoire, and the Malian Mamani Keita, will participate in the 21st Festival de Thau, in southern France, organizers told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) – Pope Benedict XVI is expected in Benin on 18 November for a three-day visit during which he will launch an appeal on behalf of Africa for reconciliation, justice and peace, the Bishop of Abomey, Eugene Houndékon, said on Tuesday in Cotonou. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The ninth edition of the African Photography Biennial will take place from 1-7 November in Bamako, the capital of Mali, sources close to the organisers said on Monday. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Nine American film directors are expected at the sixth annual film festival in Rwanda, which starts 23 July with film makers from a dozen countries participating, PANA learnt Friday from the organizers. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso has justified his decision to halt the eighth Pan African Music Festival (FESPAM), after the death of seven people in a stampede Saturday night at the entrance of the Felix Eboue stadium, during the opening of the cultural event. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The Congolese government has halted the eighth edition of the Panafrican Music Festival (FESPAM) following the death of seven persons Saturday night in a stampede at the entrance of the Felix Eboue stadium in Poto-Poto, central Brazzaville. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova will designate American jazz musician, Herbie Hancock, as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in a ceremony at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on 22 July. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - An international conference of the Francophonie is being held in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, as part of the activities marking the 50th anniversary of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), PANA reports from here. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Five African sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during the 35th annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee held on 19-29 June in Paris, according to a statement obtained by PANA on Friday. Full text...

Dresden, Germany (PANA) - Heriosa Razakanirina of Madagascar Friday emerged one of the 10 persons named laureates of the Young Scientists Awards by the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO (MAB), meeting from 28 June to 1 July in Dresden, Germany. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – Over 250 participants from around the world will take part in the third international festival of Timbuktu (TIF), scheduled for 3 to 5 July, organizers told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Dresden, Germany (PANA) - The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), meeting in Dresden (Germany) from 28 June to 1 July, has added 18 new sites to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), which now numbers 580 sites in 14 countries, including Ghana and Togo. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has been designated the World Book Capital 2013, according to UNESCO which indicated that the city was selected by a committee of representatives from the three main branches of the publishing world and UNESCO. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The World Heritage Committee has inscribed a total of 25 sites, five of them in Africa, on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, including three natural properties, 21 cultural sites and one mixed one, the UN agency said Tuesday in a press statement from its Paris, France, headquarters. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The Konso Cultural Landscape in Ethiopia, the Fort Jesus, Mombasa in Kenya, and the Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe in Sudan have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Manager of Senegalese musician Baaba Maal, Oumar Niang, popular known as Mbassou, died Sunday evening in Dakar at the age of 56, PANA reported. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The World Heritage Committee has inscribed Saloum Delta (in Senegal) and its vestiges of more than two millennia of human occupation on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the UN agency announced here Friday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley and Australia’s Ningaloo Coast on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO has joined "iTunes U" with a wealth of new educational material providing free access to UNESCO’s rich multimedia content, the UN organization announced from its hedquarters in Paris, France. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – A week-long exhibition by young Rwandan painters and other craftsmen has opened in Kigali to mobilize actors from the sector to work with professionalism and promote the export of their products, local sources told PANA on Tuesday. Full text...

Juba, South Sudan (PANA) - On the eve of South Sudan’s independence, UNESCO has called on the international community to act with a greater sense of urgency in supporting the development of a national education system, the UN body said in a press statement, released Tuesday in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The future of the World Heritage Convention ahead of its 40th anniversary next year and the growing challenges of heritage preservation were the key themes Monday at the opening addresses of the 35th session of the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO in Paris, France. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova will designate American actor, director and producer, Forest Whitaker, as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation, the UN organization said in a press statement from its headquarters in Paris, France, Thursday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade has turned down requests to hold an international summit in Dakar against Françfriquea, insisting that the subject was too sensitive on the eve of the 2012 presidential election in the country, reliable sources told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The Ivorian reggae star, Tiken Jah Fakoly, is holding an African week in France, marked among others by film screenings, book presentations and concerts. It will run till Saturday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has pledged its support for the development of the film industry in Nigeria, through the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), according to the agency's Director-General, Muhammad Nadada Umar. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has pledged its support for the development of the film industry in Nigeria, through the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), according to the agency's Director-General, Muhammad Nadada Umar. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Forty-three dancers from 20 African countries on Friday evening put on a one-hour show as they crowned their two-month training at Ecole des Sables at Toubab Dialaw, about 50 km south of Dakar Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - Internationally-renowned filmmaker and Mali's former minister of Culture, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, has been named chairman of the jury which will award prizes Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Senegalese musicians Baaba Maal and Coumba Gawlo Seck will on Saturday attend the humanitarian concert dubbed "La nuit Africaine" (The African evening) at Stade de France in Paris, a statement made available to PANA said on Wednesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Francis Gurry, on Wednesday announced a project to help musical artists in 11 West African countries to get paid for their work through a single, standardised registration system. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The number of students due to sit for the baccalaureate examination in Tunisia has reduced from 138,464 in 2010 to 126,767 this year, PANA reported. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The State University of Burundi and the Belgian Flemish Universities were due to launch later Tuesday a cooperation programme worth US$4.5 million over the next ten years, according to a statement from the Belgian Embassy in Bujumbura. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Several African music stars, including Mali’s Mory Kante, Senegal's Baaba Maal, and Ivorian Alpha Blondy, are to feature in an African music night, slated for Saturday at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris, PANA learnt here Monday from the organizers. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – The remains of popular Mauritanian singer, Dimi Mint Sydatt Ould Abba, who died Saturday in Paris, France, were flown home Sunday, official sources revealed. Full text...