The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., founded one of the nation’s most enduring civil rights organizations, was released from the hospital Monday after nearly fainting following his sermon at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. “I just got overheated,” Lowery told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home. “The doctor did tell me to slow down, though. I’m going to slow down, but it’s hard. Nobody respects my retirement, and I don’t insist. You have to be grateful folks still want you around.” Read the rest.

19 African migrants drown.

A boat capsized off the coast of the Canary Islands resulting in 19 African migrants drowning, reports the BBC. An 8-year-old girl is among the dead. Six people were rescued from the boat this past weekend and helicopters are searching the area for more survivors. Three people are still thought to be missing. But as time goes by, hope for finding more people alive grows more and more dim. Most of the people on the boat are thought to be from Morocco. Thousands of North Africans have flocked to the Spanish Canary Islands, which are off the coast of North Africa, in the past few years in search of a better life, reports the news service. The number of migrants that actually make it there, however, has gone down recently due to an increase in security. Only 9,000 migrants made it to the Canary Islands in 2008, compared to almost 32,000 in 2006.

Turks and Caicos leader to step down. Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick has announced that he’ll step down from his post next month. He says the move is in the best interest of his political organization, the Progressive National Party (PNP), amid corruption allegations: “In recent months, there has been much discontent among some ministers and PNP members…It now appears to me that the divide within the party is too deep.” Las year, while a Foreign Affairs Select Committee made up of British Parliament members were routinely examining the affairs of British territories, they found that Misick was allegedly gaining from “selling off Crown land to fund current investment.” Misick says he’ll leave office effective March 31. His public separation from actress wife Lisa Raye has also made headlines recently.

 In an audio message posted on the web Wednesday purported to be from Al Qaeda leader Ayaman al-Zawahiri, he called President-elect Barack Obama a “house slave” while criticizing his proposed policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Al-Zawahiri is the organization’s No.2 leader. During the message, which lasted 11 minutes and 23 seconds, the speaker also contrasted Obama with Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, calling him the “direct opposite of honorable Black Americans” like Malcolm.  He went on to say that Obama along with former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, can be categorized as “house slaves,” by Malcolm X’s description.  The message included old clips from Malcolm X’s speeches. The speaker went on to paint a gloomy picture for Obama. “You have reached the position of president, and a heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you,” he said. “A failure in Iraq to which you have admitted, and a failure in Afghanistan to which the commanders of your army have admitted,” he said. He also said Obama’s plan to move more troops into Afghanistan “is a policy which was destined for failure before it was born.” The leader talked about Obama’s Muslim father and Obama’s current faith, Christianity. “You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims…And so you promised to back Israel, and you threatened to strike the tribal regions in Pakistan, and to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, in order for the crimes of the American crusade to continue.” Officials have not confirmed the tape’s authenticity. Both Al-Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

Warith Deen Mohammed was the son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who for many years led the nation’s largest contingent of Muslims and steered Islam away from the more separatist doctrine of his father, the late Elijah Muhammad, died Tuesday at his home near Chicago, The Washington Post reported. A spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiners Office in Illinois told The Associated Press that the 74-year-old former head of the American Society of Muslims died of heart disease. Find out more about Mohammed’s life and death at BET.com/News. Send your condolences below.

World Lens: Flooding continues to devastate the Caribbean, African immigrants protest killing in Europe and Japanese get crazy on the runway. See these pics and more here.

Rape cartoon featuring African leader causes outrage

 South African officials are not too happy about a cartoon depicting African leader Jacob Zuma unzipping his pants to rape “justice.” Both the cartoonist and the paper where it ran are refusing to apologize, reports Agence France-Presse. The cartoon, which appeared in The Sunday Times, features Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress who is currently facing a corruption case. It shows him opening his pants while men representing the ANC, the South African Communist Party, the ANC Youth League and COSATU hold down a blindfolded woman labeled “justice.” One of them tells Zuma, “Go for it, boss.” The groups immediately slammed the paper. “The cartoon rubbishes the collective integrity of the alliance and constitutes yet another continued violation of the rights and dignity of the ANC president,” they said in a joint statement. In 2006, Zuma was found not guilty of rape and some thought the cartoon was trying to insinuate he was a rapist. The paper denies the claim, though, saying the cartoon was only referring to his corruption case. And the cartoonist, Zapiro, stands strongly behind his work. “I am angry at them, I am outraged … at what Jacob Zuma is trying to do to the justice system and constitutional principles along with his team of lawyers and his political allies,” he said in an interview with a South African radio station. “The central message is that Zuma is about to, poised to, trying to rape [the] justice system. …”

Nine die in Somalia fighting. At least nine people died Wednesday when Ethiopia-backed government troops clashed with rebel forces in the Somali capital of Mogadishu The Associated Press reports. The two sides have fought fiercely throughout the year, but the insurgents, who are Muslim, promised to increase attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. About 100 of them shouted “God is great” as they fired at a military base for both Ethiopian and Somali-government troops. They exchanged fire in a heated battle, leaving at least four civilians killed, the news service reports. Ethiopian troops are in the country to help stabilize the nation’s government; political violence has existed there for more than 15 years. The government succeeded in driving rebels out of the capital in 2006, but attacks in the area have spiked this year.

Nation of Islam leader’s son led champ

A former manager of boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died at age 79, following recent open-heart surgery in Chicago. Jabir Herbert Muhammad, son of former Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, led a controversial career in the Nation and overseeing Ali’s boxing accomplishments from 1966 to 1981. Herbert Muhammad was among those who broke ranks with former Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X, who heavily recruited Ali to join the Nation and, at one point, offered to deliver the boxer, then known as Cassius Clay, into the Nation. Herbert Muhammad and much of the nation took little interest in Ali until after he’d defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title, which Malcolm X had predicted. Herbert Muhammad soon took over Ali’s direction, but the relationship soured when they entered legal battles years later. Herbert Muhammad claimed the two eventually resolved their differences.

Nigeria hands over land to neighboring Cameroon. Nigeria officially agreed Thursday to hand over claims to a peninsula to neighboring Cameroon, reports The Associated Press. Ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula had been disputed for years. In fact the two nations almost went to war during the 1990s over the peninsula that is said to contain possible energy reserves since it is in an oil-rich area. But in 2002, an international court ruled that Cameroon should get the land, which is why officials from both Cameroon and Nigeria signed an agreement stating that Nigeria would withdraw their claims to the land, reports the news service. “As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community, promote international peace and cooperation and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighborliness,” Michael Aondaokaa, Nigeria’s attorney general, said. Many Nigerian citizens, though, are very unhappy with giving the land to Cameroon. According to Nigeria, about 300,000 citizens live on the peninsula. Before Thursday’s ceremony, security was increased throughout southeast Nigeria, and officials changed the location of the ceremony from the peninsula to the city of Calabar at the last minute and did not give an explanation.

Zimbabwe opposition leader gets his passport back.

After confiscating his passport Thursday, Zimbabwe authorities then returned it to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai the same day, reports Reuters. Tsvangirai was on his way to the Southern African Development Community summit in South Africa when he was held up by authorities. Members of his party are still in the dark about why his passport was taken in the first place. “The passport situation has just been resolved,” said an official from Tsvangirai’s party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). “They have their passports now. They will be leaving [for South Africa] on the 6 p.m. flight. There was no explanation.” This weekend’s conference in South Africa is hosted by the country’s president, Thabo Mbeki, who is also helping mediate power-sharing negotiations between Tsvangirai and longtime leader Robert Mugabe. Even though the two leaders haven’t reached a deal yet after three days of meetings in the country’s capital, Tsvangirai told reporters at the airport that he remained optimistic. A smaller, breakaway faction of MDC (a group that has 10 seats in Parliament) recently reached a power-sharing deal with Mugabe.