Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The 4th International Bamako Tourism Fair is due to open here Friday, with over 300 participants, including several delegations from the sub-region, expected to attend, official sources told PANA. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, will designate Rabah Madjer, the famous Algerian footballer, as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador at a ceremony at the Organization’s Headquarters on 12 October. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Seven new documentary collections from Angola, Armenia, France, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Portugal, and the USA, have been added to the Register of he UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Memory of the World Programme. Full text...

Pretoria, South Africa (PANA) – Africa needs to come up with an indigenous philosophy of development determined and influenced by the mores of traditional values derived from its own linguistic and cultural repertoire, a university lecturer from the department of African Languages and Literature, University of Zimbabwe, has said. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – A book on the Niger River has been published in the French capital, Paris, by Gandvaux Publishers, under the title "Fleuve Niger, cœur du Mali" (Niger River, the heart of Mali). Full text...

) Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) will host a High-Level Policy Forum, entitled “Gender equality in education: Looking beyond parity”, on 3 and 4 October in Paris, the French capital. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – Cape Verdian music star, Cesaria Evora, has ended her career for health reasons, her production house, Lusafrica, announced in Paris on Monday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – Nigerian singer, Seun Kuti, will on 12 October begin a tour of France, which will open with a concert in Aucamvillen in Eastern France, official sources told PANA on Friday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Two Malian films have been selected to feature at the International Short Films Festival, tagged "Clap Ivoire", to be held in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 30 Nov.-4 Dec. 2011. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Egypt won the "Best tourism destination in Africa" award during the Oscar Festival for International Tourism in the Indian Ocean and African States, held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh this week. Full text...

) Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) – Gabonese writer Jean Martial Arsene Mbah on Monday in Luanda published a book entitled "Les rivalités politiques entre le Front national de libération de l'Angola (FNLA) et le Mouvement populaire de libération de l'Angola (MPLA) (The political rivalries between the Angolan national liberation front (FNLA) and the Angolan people’s liberation movement (MPLA). Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Twenty-five-year-old Angolan business management student, Leila Lopes, Tuesday became Africa's first Miss Universe, toppling 97 other contestants in the 60th edition of the Miss Universe beauty contest in São Paulo, Brazil. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The rest of the world always remembers 9/11 as an unpleasant day but while Ethiopians may share that feeling, it is not the only thing they think about as the world marks a decade of the gory incident. Full text...

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...