The News Review:

- Mourners’ bus crashes kills 2
- Mauritania forces unsure of al Qaeda attack claim
- FinancialContent.com – Stock Quotes and Business News
- ‘The father of internet in Africa’
- Darfur Gets New Peacekeeping Force as UN Takes Joint Command
- Adebayor strikes again with 11th Premier League goal
- Asia kicks off global New Year celebrations

Mourners’ bus crashes kills 2
news24.com – Dec 31, 2007
He was the last surviving son of Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke who founded the Brotherhood in 1883. Wade on Sunday visited Touba and met with the new head of the Mouride sect Bara Fallou Mbacke nephew of the last leader and grandson of the Brotherhood's founder the presidency said. 100 most influential AfricansSenegal declared three days of national mourning on Friday Saturday and Sunday with flags flying at half-mast. Mbacke had built several Islamic schools in Senegal and figured among the 100 most influential Africans in a list drawn up by the French "Jeune Afrique" weekly. His father Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke aided in the mass conversion of the ethnic Wolof people from tribal paganism to Islam and became the founder of the Mouride sect. Many Senegalese looked to the Brotherhood for leadership in the fight against French colonial authorities. Fearing a holy war the French exiled him to Gabon from 1895 until November 1902 and again to Mauritania from June 1903 to 1907… Wade on Sunday visited Touba and met with the new head of the Mouride sect Bara Fallou Mbacke nephew of the last leader and grandson of the Brotherhood's founder the presidency said. 100 most influential AfricansSenegal declared three days of national mourning on Friday Saturday and Sunday with flags flying at half-mast. Mbacke had built several Islamic schools in Senegal and figured among the 100 most influential Africans in a list drawn up by the French "Jeune Afrique" weekly. His father Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke aided in the mass conversion of the ethnic Wolof people from tribal paganism to Islam and became the founder of the Mouride sect. Many Senegalese looked to the Brotherhood for leadership in the fight against French colonial authorities. Fearing a holy war the French exiled him to Gabon from 1895 until November 1902 and again to Mauritania from June 1903 to 1907. The Mouride wield tremendous economic clout in Senegal where 95% of the population was Muslim.

Mauritania forces unsure of al Qaeda attack claim
Reuters AlertNet – Dec 31, 2007
"There is no doubt about al Qaeda’s role in both killings of French tourists and slaying of the Mauritanian soldiers" said Mohamed Darif an expert on Islamist groups in the Maghreb. Security forces have detained at least seven people in relation to the killing of the French but the three killers are still at large possibly in neighbouring Senegal or Mali. Mauritanian investigators say they are questioning the operator of a small boat who they believe ferried the attackers across the Senegal river into Senegal. (Additional reporting by Lamine Ghanmi in Rabat and Diadie Ba in Dakar; writing by Alistair Thomson; editing by Matthew Jones) AlertNet news is provided by.

FinancialContent.com – Stock Quotes and Business News
sltrib.com – Dec 31, 2007
About the Dakar The 30th Dakar Road Rally starts in Lisbon on January 5th and ends in Dakar Senegal on January 20th The 2008 Dakar promises to be longer and more punishing than in previous years to commemorate the 30th Dakar event and has been extended by an additional 1700 km. More than one million people are expected to line the routes as the racers head from Lisbon through Spain to Morocco through Mauritania and into Senegal. In 2007 245 motorcycles 180 cars and 85 trucks started the race while only one-third finished. About Robby Gordon and Team Dakar USA Gordon owner of Team Dakar USA will make his fourth appearance in the Dakar Rally in 2008. A three-time Dakar stage winner and the only American to do so Gordon has been competing in off-road endurance races since the early 1980′s.

‘The father of internet in Africa’
Mail & Guardian nline – Dec 31, 2007
But there are lots of people who can afford it better than the $1 000 laptops so it’s good. If prices are not lowered Africa will use the mobiles instead. Armand Faye Dakar Senegal: Have you any idea on how to skyrocket the number of African computer end-users especially in rural areas?Quaynor: We must find shared solutions involving community access and infrastructure and cyber-cafés. But even there we could design solutions where access is not online but periodic so when the bus passes by the village or the elephant carrying the wireless is nearby you can access the internet. Scott: This would be an internet café in the bus? A mobile internet café perhaps carried on the back of the elephant?Quaynor: It could simply be a bus that brings a Wi-Fi [wireless internet connection] cloud along when it passes. Therefore the village café emails get collected by the bus as it passes and then delivers email. Scott: Why you have been described as “the father of internet in Africa”?Quaynor: I am a bit of a Methuselah or a baobab tree.

Darfur Gets New Peacekeeping Force as UN Takes Joint Command
Bloomberg – Dec 31, 2007
Night Flights The UN has been waiting since ctober for the Sudanesegovernment to accept units from Nepal and Thailand and engineersfrom Norway Sweden and Denmark. The transfer of command willoccur without final agreement on issues such as governmentclearance for night flights. There are currently 10 infantry battalions on the ground inDarfur made up of soldiers from Rwanda South Africa Nigeriaand Senegal. There are also Kenyan military police personnelfrom Gambia Chinese engineers and about 1000 police officersfrom more than 25 countries. Soldiers from Egypt Pakistan and Ethiopia are expected todeploy over the next two months according to a.

Adebayor strikes again with 11th Premier League goal
International Herald Tribune – Dec 31, 2007
Newcastle equalised early in the second half but were denied a point by a terrible lapse from the officials. Kalou was at least a metre offside when he latched on to a deflected through-ball but his calm finish was inexplicably allowed to count. Senegal captain El-Hadji Diouf continued his recent run of goals with a slightly fortunate cross-cum-shot for Bolton Wanderers as they went down 3-1 at Sunderland and Fulham's Algerian winger Hamuer Bouzza was sent off as his team drew 1-1 at Birmingham City. In the Scottish Premier League Gabonese striker Daniel Cousin scored for Glasgow Rangers in their comfortable 2-1 win at Hibernian. Cousin put Rangers 2-0 up with a stunning strike from the edge of the penalty area after 59 minutes before Moroccan Merouane Zemmama scored a late consolation for the home side with a tremendous angled drive. In Greece Nigerian striker Joseph Nwafor helped FI Crete to ease their relegation worries with a late goal in the islanders' fine 3-1 win at Panionios. In the Dutch championship Ivorian striker Sekou Cisse scored in Roda Kerkrade's 2-1 win at Excelsior on Sunday.

Asia kicks off global New Year celebrations
Channel News Asia – Dec 31, 2007
More than 350000 people were expected to pack the banks of the River Thames in London to watch a mammoth fireworks display while Edinburgh was to host its traditional giant Hogmanay knees-up. But in Belgium officials cancelled the traditional fireworks show in Brussels as the country went on maximum alert over possible terror threats. In Senegal too New Year was marked more solemnly with Dakar’s mayor and singers cancelling events following last week’s death of an influential Islamic leader. But in Iraq crowds surged into the streets of Baghdad shooting firecrackers and weapons and dancing amid the debris of the war-ravaged capital. Hundreds of thousands of partygoers were also expected in New York’s Times Square to usher in a year that will see a new president elected. Away from the fun and frolics the tiny Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta prepared to bid farewell to their national currencies – Cyprus pounds and Maltese liri – ahead of their entry into the eurozone on January 1.