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Rapper Akon has revealed plans for a futuristic $6 billion city in his Senegal homeland modelled on Black Panther's Wakanda. The R&B star, who boasts two multi-platinum albums, told a news conference on Monday he had laid the first stone for the city in the Atlantic Ocean village of Mbodiene, around 60 miles south of the capital Dakar. The solar-powered Akon City will offer hotels, a university, hospitals, business and leisure centres including a casino, as well as movie studios, all featuring futuristic designs by architect Hussein Bakri, with African sculptures for inspiration.

Some time in December, Ben Hooper will step on to a beach in Dakar, Senegal, and plunge into the warm blue waters of the Atlantic. He will not stop swimming until he hits Natal in Brazil. The distance is 1,763 miles. But that’s only if he goes in a straight line. And swimming across the Atlantic in a straight line is a bad idea: “The currents in the centre are so strong, I’d never get there. It’s an absolute car wreck in the centre. Great for rowers, great for sailors, horrible for swimmers,” he says. Instead he will go in...

It was another devastating blow for black Africa’s most powerless from the world’s most powerful black American. Like in his 2009 African visit when he visited a former European slave depot in Ghana, during his recently concluded 2013 African tour U.S. President Barack Obama again deemed that the defunct trans-Atlantic slave trade was the only past black African slavery worthy of his attention. While paying homage to the victims of the trans-Atlantic trade is obviously necessary for myriad reasons, the U.S. president failed once more not only to mention Africa’s other historical slave trade, Arab slavery, that also involved millions...

SNIPPET: "In fact, Mower said, the pilot described it as "a serious security risk." Mower was unable to see the man who was taken off the plane, she said. " SNIPPET: "Two sources confirmed to Fox News that the man in question, a citizen of Gambia, had been added to the no-fly list while Flight 215 was in the air. The man had already been on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, which is comprised of more than 500,000 people with even limited ties to known terrorists, one source said."

- Al-Qaida threats against the Dakar Rally and an attack in Mauritania forced organizers to cancel the annual race on Friday, the eve of the 5,760-mile trek across North African desert scrubland and savannah. It was the first time the automobile, motorbike and truck rally has been called off in its 30-year history. In a statement, organizers blamed "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations." the Dec. 24 killings of a French family and international tensions. The race's central appeal—its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas—is also its weak point, making it difficult to protect thousands of...

The Dakar is a race, the toughest rally in the World: over two weeks of hard work and thousands of kilometres over various tracks. Each year since 1979, crews including men and women, enjoy an intense rivalry in the middle of the desert. The final result always rewards an incredible winner. Indeed, more than elsewhere, success on a Dakar comes from a synthesis between performance, determination and regularity. Beyond the borders of victory, the real essence of a Dakar is the challenge. A competitor battles both with the others but also with himself, in a context where humility is just...

Bit h/t to the Commenters at Just One Minute. We bloggers owe our best work to their diligence and tenacity. The following is a complilation of some what they found so far, of what just may be the key to getting to the bottom of a Democratic conspiracy in the Foley Setup. As I previously posted here, there apparently was a promise of a book deal to pages by a Robin Kasaros. Googling her name brought about useful information such as she hosted “House Parties” back in 2005. No, not where you sell Tupperware, but the kind that like to...

At the Centenaire market in Dakar, Chinese wholesalers line the street on both sides, renting warehouses for $1,000 a month, selling everything in bulk from plastic toys to space-age looking DVD players. One buyer, Fatou Gueye, says Senegalese are poor and they love these new shops, because, she says finally she can afford something. Here she says, she can buy for children and adults, for her whole family, almost everything they need. One man who has just turned himself from chronically unemployed to retailer is also very pleased. He is buying bras, cameras, shoes, belt buckles, pots, pans, colorful pens...

DAKAR, Senegal -- A weekend raid into Mauritania by Algerian Islamic militants illustrates why north Africa needs the U.S.-led joint counterterror exercises launched this week, a U.S. military spokeswoman said Wednesday. The training exercise began Monday in Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and, for the first time, Algeria, from where Islamic insurgents linked to the al-Qaida network began a raid into Mauritania that left two dozen dead. Five other countries will take part by the time the program finishes in two weeks. The Mauritania raid is an example of why nations in the region ''have to work together now,'' said Maj....

Chirac's Mbeki Barb Baffles Foreign Affairs Business Day (Johannesburg) NEWS February 4, 2005 Posted to the web February 4, 2005 By Hopewell Radebe Johannesburg French President Jacques Chirac's criticism of President Thabo Mbeki's peace efforts in west Africa has unleashed a storm, as the foreign affairs department urgently sought clarity on his comments. Chirac's statement in Dakar, Senegal, in which he said Mbeki failed to understand the "psychology and soul" of west Africa, has also set off a diplomatic row. Chirac also claimed Mbeki had not achieved much in the region. Mbeki is the African Union-appointed mediator in the conflict...

Bikes on a halt, Gordon impresses! The first African stage of the Telefonica Dakar 2005 ended up in a long liaison for the bikers after the short 123km special was cancelled due to heavy fog. Meanwhile on four wheels, in better conditions, Robby Gordon clinched his second Dakar victory ahead of Peterhansel, proving once again how well he had adapted to the rally and how impressive his Volkswagen Race Touareg was. In the truck race, Vladimir Tchaguine is already on top of the leader board. The rally left Europe and Spain under beautiful sunny conditions, but for the start of...

Adios’ and thank you Barcelona After the spectacular super special staged in Castelldefels, just outside Barcelona, day 2 of the Telefonica Dakar 2005 saw the competitors head south for a long 920km liaison to Granada. A long, very long day, for both man and machine with a stopover in Castellon for a CP and lunch break. Farewell Barcelona and ‘gracias’ for your warm welcome! Barcelona will once again be remembered for its fine welcome to the Dakar rally. For the third visit of the Catalan city, the rally witnessed four terrific days. First of all in the Palau Sant Jordi,...

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - America's Robby Gordon, driving a Volkswagen, won the first stage of the Dakar rally, a 6km super special, on the Castelldefels beach near Barcelona. It was a first ever victory by an American in the car category of the rally. He clocked 4min 20.2sec to beat Japan's Mitsubishi driver Hiroshi Masuoka, the winner in 2002 and 2003, by 2.7sec and South Africa's Giniel De Villiers, in a Nissan, by 3.5sec. "Really it wasn't an easy stage at all, because of the softness of the sand on the course, especially after the jumps," said Gordon, a former...

U.S. Dakar 2005 Car Team Vanguard Racing Announces Intentions To Win The Treacherous 7,000 Mile/16-Day Off Road Challenge Vanguard Racing, the only U.S. car team brave enough to test their physical and emotional stamina in the world’s longest and most challenging off road race, is committed to winning the 7,000-mile, 16-day race from Barcelona, Spain to Dakar, Senegal beginning on January 1st, 2005. The team will be co-piloted by computer security industry guru, Ronn Bailey, CEO and president of Vanguard Integrity Professionals – Nevada and Baja Road Race veteran Steve Myers. Bailey is investing nearly $1 million of his personal...

Is anybody keeping up with the Paris - Dakar Rally this year? I've been watching the daily summaries on Speedvision at 5:30 Central time. Is there another outlet for more timely information?

DAKAR, Senegal, Sep 27, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- An ocean ferry sank off West Africa in a fierce gale, leaving 88 confirmed dead Friday and bodies of more than 670 others believed trapped inside the capsized vessel. Thirty-two of the 796 crew members and passengers were known to have survived, rescued by boats that had been in the area and responded to an alert. The state-owned Joola ferry sank in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, and...