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KARONGA, Malawi (Reuters) – The latest discovery of pre-historic tools and remains of hominids in Malawi's remote northern district of Karonga provides further proof that the area could be the cradle of humankind, a leading German researcher said. Professor Friedemann Schrenk of the Goethe University in Frankfurt told Reuters that two students working on the excavation site last month had discovered prehistoric tools and a tooth of an hominid.

William Kamkwamba dreamed of powering his village with the only resource that was freely available to him. His native Malawi had gone through one of its worst droughts seven years ago, killing thousands. His family and others were surviving on one meal a day. The red soil in his Masitala hometown was parched, leaving his father, a farmer, without any income. But amid all the shortages, one thing was still abundant. Wind. "I wanted to do something to help and change things," he said. "Then I said to myself, 'If they can make electricity out of wind, I can try,...

Last year's Miss Malawi Perth Msiska abandoned her crown to pursue politics. She cited Sarah Palin as her influence. Palin who was herself a beauty pageant in Alaska went on to be the state's governor who was later selected to be John McCain's running mate in the 2008 US Presidential Elections. Though the Republican ticket failed, Palin's political aspirations encouraged many women around the world to reach out for political office. It is believed that the current Malawian President, Bingu wa Mutharika was also inspired by John McCain when he picked Joyce Banda as his running mate. Banda who is...

From Gloucester to Afghanistan: the making of a shoe bomber Saajid Badat this week pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a plane. What drove this quiet football fan to thoughts of terror? Mark Honigsbaum and Vikram Dodd Saturday March 5, 2005 The Guardian He seemed the model British Muslim citizen - a poster boy for integration whose knowledge of the Qu'ran and achievement at grammar school made Gloucester's close-knit Islamic community proud. When in November 2003 anti-terrorist police turned up at the terraced house in the Barton and Tredworth district of the city that Saajid Badat shared with his...

Highest Court In Malawi Says She Can Adopt 2nd Child From The Southern African Nation; "Father" Says He's "Crying" (CBS/AP) Madonna can adopt a second child from Malawi, the southern African country's highest court ruled Friday, overturning a lower court decision it said was out of touch with the times. Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo, reading the three-judge panel's ruling, also said the singer's commitment to helping disadvantaged children should have been taken into account when deciding on Madonna's request to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. Madonna has founded a charity, Raising Malawi, which helps feed, educate and provide medical care...

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Madonna can get "Mercy," Malawi's highest court ruled Friday. The court overruled a lower court, saying the pop star can adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. "I am ecstatic," Madonna said in a statement in which she also thanked the court. "My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her." Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula said he would now arrange a passport for Chifundo, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the girl. James Kambewa, a man who claims to be the little girl's father, told CBS...

LILONGWE, Malawi – In a surprise move, a judge on Friday rejected Madonna's request to adopt a second child from Malawi and said it would set a dangerous precedent to bend rules requiring that prospective parents live here for some period. The country's child welfare minister had come out Thursday in support of the pop superstar's application to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James. But in a lengthy ruling Friday, Judge Esme Chombo sided with critics who have said exceptions should not be made for the star who has set up a major development project for this impoverished, AIDS-stricken southern African...

BLANTYRE, Malawi (Reuters) - Hundreds of angry Malawians hounded a senior political figure from his house and stoned him late Wednesday, accusing him of harboring vampires. Blantire Urban Governor Eric Chiwaya, a member of the ruling United Democratic Front, was the latest victim of a bizarre rumor that the country's government is colluding with vampires to collect human blood for international aid agencies. Bearing severe cuts to his face and body, he told Reuters from his hospital bed that a crowd had hailed him with stones and other missiles, chanting "vampire" and threatening to kill him. Chiwaya said he knew...

Malawi Officials to Challenge Appointment of Pro-Gay British High Commissioner Say pro-gay history "dangerous" to Malawi, where homosexuality still considered felony By Meg Jalsevac Malawi, August 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The appointment of the next British High Commissioner to Malawi has provoked government officials of the African nation to speak out against his suitability for the job in the conservative nation considering his record as a proponent of gay rights in his previous position in the Scottish Government.  Former Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell was tapped to assume the position beginning in 2011 but opposition to his appointment is already...

A boy from an isolated village in Malawi's rugged bush was handed into the care of Madonna yesterday when a judge approved the pop star's adoption papers.David Banda was born in a mud hut 18 months ago. His mother, Marita, gave birth without a nurse or medical equipment, save for a plastic sheet. She died days later. The High Court in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, plucked David from his home village of Lipunga, where children in rags play in the dust beside women pounding maize, and gave him a symbol of Western popular culture for a foster mother. Mr Justice Andrew...

LONDON/MPHANDULA, Malawi (Reuters) - Madonna feels responsible for the children of the world and has found herself a "big, big project" to help orphans in Malawi. Gwyneth Paltrow declares "I am African" in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa. The continent has long been a favorite destination for celebrity campaigners, going back to 1954 when Danny Kaye became UNICEF's goodwill ambassador. U2's Bono and fellow Irish rocker Bob Geldof are Africa veterans, and more recently Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have brought Hollywood gloss to the continent. But the latest flood of stars searching for a good...

Starvation disaster grips Malawi By David Blair, Africa Correspondent (Filed: 17/10/2005) A national disaster has been declared in Malawi where five million people - almost half of the population - are threatened by starvation. Poor rains have produced the worst harvest in more than a decade. President Bingu wa Mutharika broadcast to the country saying: "We are facing a national disaster affecting the lives of our people." He added that the "food crisis has escalated and we need more assistance". The crisis is exacerbated by the Aids epidemic. About 16 per cent of adult Malawians are infected with HIV or...

Shaded by a grove of mopane trees, the village cemetery was strewn with fresh graves, most filled by victims of Africa's Aids epidemic who never reached the age of 30.Fanny Mbewe knelt in silent prayer beside her husband's unmarked resting place.   Fanny Mbewe [right] was forced to submit to ritual ‘cleansing’ Anyone who wonders why Aids has spread faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world needs only to consider her experience.With millions of other women, Mrs Mbewe fell victim to a tradition known as "kulowakufa" which dictates that any woman whose husband dies must submit to sex...

LONDON (August 18, 2005)--AS THE urbane vicar for Ealing, in West London, the Rev Nicholas Henderson might not have seemed the obvious first choice to become bishop of one of the most conservative provinces in Africa. But electors in the diocese decided otherwise. Based on his 18-year relationship with Lake Malawi diocese in the province of Central Africa, Malawi, during which time he visited regularly, giving help and raising £250,000 for religious, social and humanitarian projects, they elected him to be the next Bishop of Lake Malawi. But few knew of his record as a leading liberal theologian and, until...

Rose was raised as a good Catholic schoolgirl by her grandparents, but now the 18-year-old orphan survives by selling sex in a Ugandan slum with scant regard for the teachings of the church. Yahoo! Health Have questions about your health? Find answers here. Whatever the next pope says about condoms, she believes they are the only way to stop an AIDS epidemic that killed more than 2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa last year. "I'd like to follow the Church's teachings, but with condoms you can stay safe," she said. "Maybe I'm already sick, but I don't think so. You...

LILONGWE, Malawi - Malawi's president has temporarily moved out of his 300-bedroom state mansion, claiming it is haunted by ghosts, a senior aide said Saturday. The Rev. Malani Mtonga, presidential aide on Christian affairs, said that President Bingu wa Mutharika had asked the clergy to pray to "exorcise evil spirits." Mtonga refused to give further details about the ghosts. But another aide, who asked for anonymity, said that the president hears footsteps and strange noises at night. Nobody else, including the president's wife, hears anything, the aide said. He said it had been decided that the 71-year-old president would sleep...

Kenya's government, which was elected on a pledge to fight corruption, has been hit by the resignation of its chief anti-corruption official John Githongo this week. Donor countries have threatened to suspend aid if they cannot be sure that their money will be well spent. Kenya's leaders are not the only ones to find that eradicating corrupt practices is a tall order. Sceptics fear that the UK-led move to increase aid to Africa and forgive their debts will only make more money available to corrupt elites. Western governments are increasingly linking aid to good governance, and in particular to efforts...

"There are more Ethiopian doctors in the United States than there are in Ethiopia," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told a forum on Africa's brain drain meeting in Addis Ababa last week. Africa has the "most mobile population in the world," according to Ndioro Ndiaye, deputy director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), whose presentation provided the statistical basis for the two days of deliberations. Hilde Johnson, Norway's minister of international development, said she learned on a just-completed visit to Malawi that more Malawians practice medicine in Manchester, England than in Malawi, where most received at least some of...

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - AIDS (news - web sites) kills about 10 people every hour in Malawi and the government of the impoverished southern African nation is increasingly unable to cope with the crisis, Health Minister Heatherwick Ntaba said. "This is a disaster because it means that the country is losing 240 people every day to HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS and at the end of 10 years an estimated 876,000 will die if the trend continues," Ntaba said in an interview late on Monday. Malawi, with a population of about 11 million, is one of the countries at the center...

Anglican Communion: an imminent parting of the ways? by Margaret Rodgers Will the Anglican Communion see an imminent parting of the ways? British newspapers have, on more than one occasion in the last few weeks, predicted that the worldwide Anglican Communion is moving closer to a break-up. The Telegraph (London) said in early March that Anglicanism was edging ‘closer to disintegration’. This came in the context of their report of the Canadian General Synod announcement that their General Synod, to meet in Ontario next month, would debate a motion that affirmed there was no bar to Canadian dioceses authorising the...

Blantyre - Shortly before leaving home for the Commonwealth Congress in Nigeria on Thursday, Malawian President Bakili Muluzi warned Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe it was time he got his house in order. "My brother, comrade Mugabe, and his Zanu-PF must realise the world is changing in the direction of democracy. Laws that don't benefit the people should be scrapped," he said. This is the first time an African leader has publicly opposed Mugabe to such an extent. But Muluzi said he did not think Zimbabwe should be isolated by the international community. Malawi feels the international community should offer Zimbabwe...

Muslims protested after the men were taken Five foreign Muslims arrested in Malawi last month on suspicion of belonging to al-Qaeda have been flown into the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, officials say. A senior police spokesman said investigations had cleared the men - one Sudanese, a Kenyan, a Saudi, and two Turks - of terrorism charges. In June, the five men living in Malawi were arrested in a joint operation mounted by United States Central Intelligence Agency and Malawi's security organisation. Very little information should be given which would make the investigations with the American authorities difficult. The Americans wanted to...

The President of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi, has told security forces to arrest anyone suspected of involvement in religious violence, after a second day of rioting in the southern African country. Troops were deployed after Muslim mobs went on the rampage in the district of Mangochi, about 180 kilometres (120 miles) north-east of the capital, Blantyre. Protesters took to the streets in anger over the deportation of five suspected members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Malawian officials say the five suspects - two Turks, a Kenyan, a Saudi Arabian and a Sudanese - were arrested in a joint operation with...

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Malawi sent the army in on Saturday to quell a second day of riots by Muslims protesting against the arrest and alleged extradition this week of five suspected members of al Qaeda, police said.One witness said the rioting in the lakeside resort district of Mangochi, 120 miles northeast of the commercial capital Blantyre, injured at least three people.``Three people were injured as they tried to protect their personal property,'' Alex Maneno, who works with aid organization Save the Children, told Reuters by telephone.Six churches and an office belonging to Save the Children Fund were also reported to...

Police in the Malawi city of Blantyre have fired tear gas at Muslims protesting against the arrest and deportation of five suspected al-Qaeda members. The al-Qaeda suspects are now in US custody The Muslims, coming from Jumm'ah, or obligatory Friday prayers, chanted slogans against the government and their own association, the Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam). They accused the government of losing sovereignty by secretly handing the suspects over to American CIA agents, despite a High Court ruling ordering the government to charge or release the men. They also accused their association of failing to protect fellow Muslims, despite the...

<p>BLANTYRE, Malawi  — Five men suspected of running charities that funneled money to Al Qaeda have been arrested in Malawi and were to be deported from the southern African nation, intelligence officials said Monday.</p> <p>The men, all foreigners, were arrested Sunday night in the southern city of Blantyre in a joint operation involving the CIA and Malawi's National Intelligence Bureau, the intelligence officials said.</p>

President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Malawi's Bakili Muluzi are to visit their Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, in the next few weeks to work out an exit plan for the ageing leader. In an interview with the Zimbabwean state broadcaster this week, Mugabe hinted that he was considering stepping down because the land issue had been dealt with. He said there was nothing wrong with people openly debating succession. The Sunday Times has learnt that an agreement was reached to reschedule a meeting between Mbeki, Obasanjo, Muluzi and Mugabe to discuss the matter. The new date has not...

Date: 2002-02-18 Malawi Urged to Act as Deadly Famine Sinks In Religious in Lilongwe Issue a Plea LILONGWE, Malawi, FEB. 18, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Religious of the Lilongwe Diocese say the government should declare the famine in Malawi a national disaster, the Misna agency reported. "In numerous parishes, the elderly drag themselves with difficulty to the churches where they sit and say they are prepared for death," the religious said in a statement. "In some areas, such as the Dowa district, people eat only leaves and roots." "In the village of Nauchi, Madisi, a mother and son were killed, poisoned," the ...

Muluzi says the West wants Malawi as a puppet state President Bakili Muluzi has told Western governments not to interfere in Malawi's internal affairs. He took particular exception to outside comment on efforts by his ruling United Democratic Front party to change the constitution so that presidents may serve more than two terms. Mr Muluzi - whose second five-year term of office ends in 2004 - was apparently reacting to a statement from the US embassy in the capital of Lilongwe. That release followed one by Britain - the former colonial power - which cautioned Malawi against adopting any constitutional...

African crisis: Aid donors and government engage in a war of words while famine and brutality stalk a once-bountiful nation By Declan Walsh in Lilongwe , Malawi 28 April 2002 James Black paid a high price for three cobs of maize. After accusing him of stealing from their field, four men launched a vicious attack. Ignoring the farm labourer's protestations of innocence, they bound him, beat him bloody and dragged him down a dirt track. Then, using a razor, they sliced off his ears. When a friend found James, one ear was stuffed in his pocket. "It is the hunger,"...

Government to Lower Maize Prices Daily Times (Blantyre) April 18, 2002 Posted to the web April 18, 2002 By Thomas Chafunya Blantyre GOVERNMENT has started working with donors and international agencies on modalities to reduce the current high maize prices from K850 per bag to an affordable price, Finance Minister Friday Jumbe said in Blantyre yesterday. Jumbe said during the opening of the 2002/03 pre-budget consultations that there is a general agreement between donors and government to make prices of maize affordable. He said signs have already started showing that another maize crisis which may spur an increase in prices....