The News Review:

- AmaZulu players stand to rake in cash
- Fire on stage
- Don’t boycott China’s shame
- Sarkomania: Your complete guide to the state visit of the year
- Comoros: New Polls Promised As Military Take ver Anjouan
- Ex-slave works to free others from West African tradition

AmaZulu players stand to rake in cash
Independent nline – Mar 26, 2008
All the games in the last-16 are going to be broadcast by SuperSport or SABC except the Chiefs-Sundowns humdinger which is going out on both stations. Meanwhile South Africa’s youthful beach soccer team face a must-win affair against Mozambique on Wednesday in the African qualifying tournament for the 2008 World Cup at New Beach precinct in Durban. Having lost 8-4 to Senegal in the opening round of matches in blistering heat yesterday the home team will fall out of the running should they succumb to the Mozambicans who lost 8-3 to Egypt in their opener. South Africa scored two early goals through Bandile Lekena and Nduduzo Phakathi against Senegal but the West Africans came back to lead 3-2 at the end of the first period and 8-3 at the close of the second stanza with their strong aerial approach. Phakathi scored his third goal of the game in the last period as Senegal decided to save some energy for today’s big match against Egypt. In Group B Nigeria were upset 5-4 by Ivory Coast and Cameroon defeated Cape Verde 8-3. The Nigerians next face Cape Verde while Cameroon tackle Ivory Coast… Having lost 8-4 to Senegal in the opening round of matches in blistering heat yesterday the home team will fall out of the running should they succumb to the Mozambicans who lost 8-3 to Egypt in their opener. South Africa scored two early goals through Bandile Lekena and Nduduzo Phakathi against Senegal but the West Africans came back to lead 3-2 at the end of the first period and 8-3 at the close of the second stanza with their strong aerial approach. Phakathi scored his third goal of the game in the last period as Senegal decided to save some energy for today’s big match against Egypt. In Group B Nigeria were upset 5-4 by Ivory Coast and Cameroon defeated Cape Verde 8-3. The Nigerians next face Cape Verde while Cameroon tackle Ivory Coast. The last round-robin matches take place tomorrow and the semi-finals follow on Saturday. The final and third place play-off will be staged on Sunday with free entry to the purpose-built stadium on all days.

Fire on stage
Detroit Metro Times – Mar 26, 2008
Add one more credit to that which they share: Recently they’ve been shaking up the dance scene with “Les Écailles de la Mémoire” (“The Scales of Memory”) a highly charged performance incorporating dance music and theater. “Scales” is a work about individual and group identity within a community. It brings together two distinctly different dance companies: Zollar’s Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women a company of seven female African-American modern dancers mostly Christian and Acogny’s Senegal-based Compagnie Jant-Bi a troupe of seven French-speaking Muslims performing contemporary African dance. The two troupes felt an immediate strong connection when they met by chance at a dance conference in 2004. As the directors and dancers first discussed collaboration the question became one of working through their differences. Could it be done? They set out on a journey to find out. It wasn’t always easy notes choreographer Germaine Acogny on the phone in Toulouse France where the woman often cited as “the mother of African dance” is recuperating from routine foot surgery.

Don’t boycott China’s shame
NEWS.com.au – Mar 26, 2008
But just before the big signing of this deal the Angolans told the IMF it could keep its cash and leave town: China had just offered it a $2 billion loan no questions asked. It’s the same story all over Africa. The President of corruption-plagued Senegal Abdoulaye Wade gloated: "China’s approach to our needs is simply better adapted than the slow and sometimes patronising post-colonialising approach of European investors. " Which means Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe shunned by the West can instead buy his arms and radio-jammers from China greedy for his platinum nickel and copper. Hell China even accepted eight tonnes of his elephant ivory as payment.

Sarkomania: Your complete guide to the state visit of the year
Belfast Telegraph – Mar 26, 2008
Sarkozy wants an agreement to create a "common intervention force" made up of 10000 troops from each of the six biggest EU states including Britain as a step towards creating an integrated EU army. The Wives Today and tomorrow will be an ordeal for Sarah Brown who has not played the role of Prime Minister’s wife at an occasion this formal before. She will be at her husband’s side when the French party arrives at the Commons this afternoon and again on the steps of 10 Downing Street tomorrow morning before the serious politics begins. She will have to look after Mme Sarkozy for the next four hours while the Prime Minister and the President visit the Emirates Stadium. That will include giving a brief talk before lunch at Lancaster House on the subject of maternal mortality. But at least Mrs Brown who is not a great lover of publicity will have the comfort of knowing that she is not the one attracting the eyes of the curious. The French President’s wife the 40-year-old Carla Bruni is possibly the most colourful character to arrive in Britain on a state visit.

Comoros: New Polls Promised As Military Take ver Anjouan
AllAfrica.com – Mar 26, 2008
Bacar nevertheless proclaimed a landslide victory and refused to step down. In February frustrated by the deadlock the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council backed the Union government’s position to use military force to end the standoff. Troops were provided by the governments of Tanzania Sudan and Senegal with logistical support from Libya. By Friday we will establish an interim government whose main goal will be to restore democracyNews agencies reported from Anjouan that cheering crowds welcomed the soldiers who landed in the early hours of Tuesday from the neighbouring island of Moheli. "People in the streets were dancing receiving the army. We can really call this a success" said the government spokesman. The next steps are to introduce a transitional administration and then hold fresh polls in May.

Ex-slave works to free others from West African tradition
Christian Science Monitor – Mar 26, 2008
Though most slaves are black owners are black or white Messaoud said emphasizing that slavery persists because of tradition and a socialized mind-set not race. No regulations prohibit slaves from going to school voting or running for office but few do. Messaoud who has been jailed three times for his activism said slavery also persists in Niger Senegal Mali and other sub-Saharan African countries. He has been threatened for tarnishing his country’s image. But he continues to speak out. “I am convinced that a society that does not look at itself in the face is condemned” he said. Get Monitor stories by e-mail:.