Johannesburg  - Four years after his ascension to the throne of St Peter, Pope Benedict XVI embarks on his maiden visit as pontiff this week to Africa, the continent where the Catholic Church is growing the fastest.

The pope's six-day visit takes him to Cameroon and Angola to meet with political and church leaders, lead young Catholics in prayer at two mass rallies and visit charities working with some of the world's poorest people.

Tripoli - Dressed in a traditional Libyan brown cap and cloak punctuated by a broach in the shape of the African continent, Moamer Gaddafi looked completely in his element rushing from one conflict-beset African country to the next last week.

On Friday, Libya's 66-year-old "Brother Leader" triumphantly returned to the Niger capital, Niamey, with six hostages whose release he had just secured from the rebel Movement of the Niger People for Justice.

Rabat, Morocco  - West and central Africa have rapidly growing aviation markets, but the local airlines are having a hard time defending their turf against foreign competition.

Many African airlines "have very short life spans," Jacques Courbin, president of the African air traffic control agency Asecna, told the magazine Jeune Afrique.

Washington, March 6 : A vaginal microbicide gel has for the first time shown some promise to prevent HIV infection in women in a clinical trial involving more than 3,000 subjects in the U. S. and southern Africa.

While making a presentation on the trial's findings at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), the researchers said that one 0.5 per cent dose of a microbicide designed to prevent HIV from attaching to cells in the genital tract, was 30 per cent effective.

Antananarivo - The African Union (AU) has ordered Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana to restore order and stability to the troubled island within two weeks or forfeit the AU summit the country was scheduled to hold in July, local newspapers reported Thursday.

The ultimatum issued by AU envoy Amara Essy came as security forces clashed with opposition demonstration for the second day running Thursday in the narrow streets of the capital Antananarivo.

State-run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) on February 26 paid an interim dividend worth Rs 4.01 billion to the administration.

After getting the cheque from the NMDC chairman, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, praised the company (NMDC) for its excellent performance.

Mr. Paswan stated that NDMC’s 4 million ton steel plant in Chhattisgarh would come sooner than schedule.