World Lens: The Obamas travel to London; South Africans rally. See pics! 

Botswana Women Object to ‘Sexist’ Dress Code
Women in the southern African nation of Botswana call the country’s ban against tight or revealing work clothes “sexist.” Government workers who show up to work wearing tight skirts or pants, sleeveless tops or clothing that reveal cleavage or backs could receive punishment, reports the BBC. Read the rest.

Thousands of Africans Wrongly Diagnosed as HIV Positive

Thousands of east Africans were wrongly diagnosed as HIV positive because of cheap, rapid tests used in poor nations and administered at VCT centers. A study published in The EastAfrican included 6,255 people, ages 18 to 60, at a village in Masaka and the Kakira sugar plantations, in Uganda and a coastal village in Kilifi and a slum in Kangemi estate in Nairobi. Two different tests done on all  6,255 people found that 131 had “discrepant” results — where one is positive and the other negative, the report said. Read more.

World Lens: Grace Jones hits Germany; the pope’s in Africa. See pics.

African nation welcomes Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI touched down in Cameroon Wednesday amid growing backlash about his comments against condom use. The pope, making his very first visit to the continent in his role, refused to back down on the Catholic church’s ban against condoms, upsetting many health officials, reports CNN. In his comments Tuesday, he even went as far as to say that condoms were the cause of the spread of AIDS. HIV and AIDS have devastated sub-Saharan Africa; according to an UNAIDS/World Health Organization report, more than 22 million people in the region are infected with HIV. In addition, nine out of 10 children who have HIV are from sub-Saharan Africa and the region has 11.4 million children orphaned because of AIDS. Despite the stance against condoms, the Catholic Church is probably the largest privately funded provider of HIV care worldwide, according to CNN’s Vatican analyst John Allen. The pope has put together a group of scientists and theologians to contemplate whether married couples should be allowed to use condoms, if one of them had the HIV virus. The pope will end his visit to the continent with a stop in Angola.

World Lens: The King of Pop announces his comeback in Britain; Naomi Campbell strolls a Russian catwalk; and former President Bill Clinton and Rapper Wyclef visit Haiti. See pics.

Thousands Mourn Zimbabwe PM’s Wife
Tens of thousands of people came out Wednesday to celebrate the life of Susan Tsvangirai, wife of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who died last week in a car crash, reports the BBC. Mourners also came out in force to the two memorial services on Tuesday, one of which was held at church where President Robert Mugabe spoke in front of mourners, the other at a Glamis Stadium, where about 30,000 where in attendance, according to Movement for Democratic Change party officials. Although Mugabe and Tsvangirai were staunch political rivals (the two decided to enter into a unity government last month) the controversial president showed a humane side while addressing mourners. “I think yesterday, we saw a part that we are not used to,” said MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti about Mugabe. “He is also a human being; he is a human being, like all of us.”  Mrs. Tsvangirai was buried in the village of Buhera, which is 124 miles south of Harare. Biti recognized her as a revolutionary at Tuesday’s memorial at Glamis Stadium. She was “an activist and revolutionary in her own right. … She believed in the same values as her husband in wishing to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe through a new, people-driven constitution.” The Tsvangirai family will be going to South Africa to rest for a few days, Biti said.
 

World Lens: Tina Turner lit up the stage in Europe; the cast of “Notorious” appears in Germany. See pics!
 

Trinidad and Tobago Will Focus on Gangs

Due to the nation’s growing murder rate, police in the Caribbean’s Trinidad and Tobago will focus on gangs, reports the BBC. Police Commissioner James Philbert says that out of the nation’s 87 murders so far this year, 77 of them have been gang-related. “It is very challenging regarding the rise in gang violence for January and to some extent February. This is where we will put our resources, actually coming face-to-face with gang activities to reduce crime significantly,” he said.  And the police presence will definitely be felt with Carnival celebrations coming next week, Philbert said.
 

Toxic Trash from the West Dumped in Africa
An investigation by Greenpeace has uncovered a dirty toxic secret. Tons of waste from the United Kingdom, most of it poisonous, is being dumped illegally in West African nations. Broken TVs and computers are sold to dealers, but under European Union law, those items must be taken apart or recycled since they contain poisonous pieces. When they get to Africa, people working in the waste dumps strip the appliances for metals. The young workers face exposure to chemicals such as mercury, lead and cadmium. “We basically managed to track a TV going from the UK allegedly as second-hand equipment to Nigeria,” a member of the group told the BBC.

World Lens: Jaden Smith promotes his new movie in Tokyo; The Game hits the stage in London. See pics.

 
Guinea coup leader declares himself president. Not too long after the death of longtime President Lansana Conte, the leader of a military junta that subsequently took over the government, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, declared himself president of the country’s National Council for Democracy, reports CNN. The move, in effect, makes him the president of Guinea. Camara also instituted a curfew from 8 p.m. until 6:30 a.m for citizens, during the announcement made on the radio. He also suspended the government, constitution, political parties and unions, according to African journalist reports CNN. The nation’s Parliament currently is negotiating with the military, according to Africa News reporter Mamdo Dian Donghol Diallo. Despite the changes, the country seems calm, he says. “For the time being the situation is calm and negotiations are underway. There is no traffic. Everyone is staying inside their homes.” But international groups, like the African Union, have come out against the coup.

Runoff set for Ghana’s presidential election. Since neither candidate was able to get more than 50 percent of the vote, Ghana will have to hold a presidential runoff election, announced the country’s electoral commission. The runoff, between Nana Addo Danguah Akufo-Addo (of the ruling New Patriotic Party) and John Evans Atta Mills (of the opposition National Democratic Congress), is set to happen on Dec. 28. Sunday’s vote was peaceful and voter turnout is estimated at 65 percent, reports CNN. Even though the election didn’t result in a winner, observers are impressed with how calm and orderly the voting process was in the west African nation. “All of us agreed that these were high-quality, very transparent, orderly, peaceful, patient, fine elections,” said an observer with the Carter Center. “My colleagues with more experience than I have thought these were probably the best elections they have observed.”

Brazilians claim 9,000 people have vanished in just two years. Brazilian protesters hit the country’s Copacabana beaches earlier this week to bring light to their claim that 9,000 people have gone missing in Rio de Janeiro since 2007, reports CNN. Demonstrators, from the group ONG Rio de Paz, illustrated their point by building a cemetery in the sand using mannequins to represent people who were killed and buried, and building fake ovens that death squads reportedly used to cremate bodies. “In general, they are assassinated by police … police acting outside of their regular work hours. They are also assassinated by narco-traffickers. The bodies are disposed of in secret cemeteries in the metropolitan Rio de Janeiro area or incinerated alive by narco-traffickers in what they call ‘microwaves,;” said president of ONG Rio de Paz, Antonio Carlos Costa. He also claimed that no one has said anything about the 9,000 disappearances since most of the people are poor. A majority, about 6,000, were killed by drug dealers, while the rest were killed by hit men and off duty police, Costa said. They came up with the figure using official documents from the Rio de Janeiro governmental Institute of Public Safety, says an investigator from Candido Mendez University.

World Lens: U.S. and African stars come out at MTV Africa Music Awards, and Oprah visits her school in South Africa. See these pics and more!

World Lens: “Mama Africa” is remembered; Serena Williams goes to Kenya and Rihanna hits the stage in the Philippines. See these pictures and more!

Congo rebels withdraw troops. After weeks of violence in the nation’s eastern regions, rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have pulled out their troops to let in aid for suffering citizens. The rebels, who are led by Tutsi general, Laurent Nkunda, moved back about 25 miles north of Goma, according to witnesses. Fighting in the nation between government and rebel forces has forced an estimated 250,000 people to leave their homes and had, essentially, blocked aid from getting to residents that desperately needed it. Many refugee camps had such unsanitary conditions, people had to leave them as well and pitch makeshift tents in the bush.  The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appreciated the move to help Congo citizens but also wanted both sides to stop fighting all together, a statement said.

Jamaican leader concerned about illegal Haiti trade. Illegal “drugs for guns” trade with Haiti has Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding voicing concern, reports Caribbean Net News. Golding, who made the comments at his party’s Annual Conference, referenced the country’s over 1,400 murders this year and the illegal actions going on between the neighboring nations. Golding said he’d already met with Haiti’s President Rene Preval and that he will discuss the issue in a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in D.C. While he believes that many of the guns in his nation is coming from Haiti, Golding doesn’t believe Haiti’s government is at fault. “We know that there are Jamaicans who are living in the southern part of Haiti and they are running a big gun racket and a lot of guns are coming in,” he said. “We have re-engaged the Haitian government in discussions on how to deal with it … to find out who is exporting the guns and how we can intercept.”

World Lens:

Haiti’s devastated by the collapse of a school; a South African legend passes; and Beyoncé hits the stage of the World Music Awards. See pics.

Another school falls down in Haiti. Days after a school collapsed in the nation, killing more than 90 people, another school, this time in Haiti’s capital, collapsed Wednesday, reports CNN. The minor collapse affected only a portion of the building and injured nine children. The students are from the Grace Divine and Secondary School in Port-au-Prince, and lives were lost in the collapse, according to Haiti’s head of operations for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Children who were jumping and dancing during a musical caused the collapse, she said. But this building, like the school building that collapsed last week, suffered from faulty construction, says a local journalist. “This is the same kind of problem of construction as in the school last week. It’s weak construction. It’s not solid,” said Clarens Renois. The scale of damage in this latest collapse doesn’t come close to Friday’s tragedy. Haitian President Rene Preval has called for an investigation into last week’s collapse that killed 93 people and injured 150.

Sudan’s government announces ceasefire in Darfur. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has announced a ceasefire in the Darfur region, the BBC reports. “I hereby announce our immediate unconditional ceasefire between the armed forces and the warring factions, provided that an effective monitoring mechanism is put into action and observed by all involved parties,” he said. He made the announcement after he got the final recommendations of the Sudan People’s Initiative (SPI). But members of a prominent rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said they wouldn’t agree to the ceasefire, Reuters reported. A Sudanese official, Jalal al-Dugair, said the government will create contracts with the rebel groups to encourage them to abide by the ceasefire agreement. Bashir has been criticized worldwide for not doing enough to stop violence against Black Africans in the region, and he’s even wanted by an international court for allegedly facilitating war crimes in the nation. The government hopes that the call for ceasefire will take some of the pressure off of him and show the court, as well as the world, that he is doing something to stop war crimes, reports the news service.  However, declared ceasefires, in the past, have not gone according to plan. Although, this agreement, according to a government official, addresses all rebel concerns and will be aided by the United Nations. About 300,000 people have died since the violence, between ethnic rebels and militias suspected to be linked to the government, started in 2003. Another 2.5 million people have been made homeless.

Fighting flares up again in Congo. Despite rebels declaring a ceasefire in the nation last week, fighting has flared up again in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the BBC. It was the government that first broke the ceasefire, according to rebel leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda. When rebels took over the town of Kiwanja from a militia, they forced thousands of residents out of the area so they could search the town. Fighting in the nation has forced at least 250,000 to leave their homes. But in the city of Goma (where many citizens have fled to) the ceasefire looks like its working for now. And United Nation’s troops want to make sure it stays that way. In fact, the peacekeeping troops were ordered to fire on any other armed groups who try to come into the city. Fighting in the city would worsen the humanitarian crisis in the nation. In Kiwanja and surrounding areas, refugee camps have been wiped out and violence has resulted in charity workers not being able to distribute aid. Earlier this week, hungry refugees in the nation were angered when a U.N. humanitarian convoy delivered only soap, medical supplies and water containers, instead of food, to a camp in Kibati, home to tens of thousands of refugees. The U.N. contends that providing supplies to looted hospitals, along with soap and water containers to control the spread of disease, is a priority, reports The Associated Press. When thousands waited for energy biscuits, but were given tokens, to exchange for food later it didn’t make the situation any better. “We really need to rethink humanitarian aid. If you can’t help people, don’t create false hopes,” said Onesphore Sematumba, who is from the Pole Institute, a Congo think tank. To that issue, the U.N. insists that they had to use the tokens to help control and ration out food aid.

World Lens: From the coasts of Africa to India to Europe, the world is in an Obama frenzy. Plus, a Voodoo ceremony in Haiti and journalists protest in Sudan. See pictures.