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DAKAR (Reuters) - President Abdoulaye Wade's camp said he was headed for a first-round win on Monday in Senegal's high-turnout election, but poll authorities warned against calling the result too soon.

Wade's prediction he would win with more than half the vote, which his 14 challengers said would be impossible to achieve without fraud, has raised fears of unrest in one of the few African states not to have had a coup since independence.

Prime Minister Macky Sall, manager of the Wade campaign, said partial figures compiled from its representatives at polling stations showed record turnout of 70 percent with a lead of around 57 percent for the octogenarian Wade.

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DAKAR, Senegal - The president of one of Africa's most stable democracies sought another five-year term Sunday, jostling with 14 contenders in a race that may hinge on the votes of young people hungry for jobs.

Early results reported by state-run Senegalese Press Agency indicated President Abdoulaye Wade was in the lead but did not say by how much. It was not known how many votes had been counted, but they included polling stations in key cities including the capital Dakar and Thies, the agency said.

The first official results are not expected to be released by the electoral commission until Monday night, Election Commissioner Issa Sall told The Associated Press.

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DAKAR, Senegal - President Abdoulaye Wade sought to win a second seven-year term in office Sunday, facing off against 14 challengers as voting began in an election to decide who will lead one of Africa's most stable democracies.

Wade's opponents are promising to create jobs in a country where half the working-age citizens are unemployed. Among Wade's strongest opponents is former prime minister Idrissa Seck, who was jailed and later freed after human rights groups cried foul.

Wade, 80, is a decade older than the oldest of his 14 opponents and has been criticized for pursuing glitzy building projects that some say benefit the capital's cosmopolitan elite while doing little to ease the problem of unemployed youth.

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BANJUL, Gambia — From the pockets of his billowing white robe, Gambia's president pulls out a plastic container, closes his eyes in prayer and rubs a green herbal paste onto the torso of the patient — a concoction he claims is a cure for AIDS.

He then orders the thin man to swallow a bitter yellow drink, followed by two bananas.

"Whatever you do, there are bound to be skeptics, but I can tell you my method is foolproof," said President Yahya Jammeh, surrounded by bodyguards in his presidential compound. "Mine is not an argument. Mine is a proof. It's a declaration. I can cure AIDS, and I will."

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DAKAR, Senegal - The seaside highway, one of the Senegalese president's bold building initiatives, winds past the scruffy shop where a 62-year-old tailor and his two sons eke out a living sewing scraps of cloth into curtains. It's a beautiful highway - no doubt about it, says Barry Mamadou. "But I can't eat the road," he says, explaining why, having twice voted for President Abdoulaye Wade, he is now siding with one of 14 opposition candidates in Sunday's presidential election.

The 80-year-old president's projects range from the new sea-hugging highway to a second airport and a pan-African university. Yet in a country where half the population of 12 million is unemployed, some say they would settle for three meals a day and a decent job.

The priorities should be better organized, said Alex Segura-Ubiergo, the International Monetary Fund's representative in Senegal.

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Danger lies in admonition to stop anti-retroviral drugs

10:48 PM CST on Friday, February 23, 2007

From Wire Reports

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DES MOINES, Iowa -- Researchers have witnessed a chimpanzee skewering a lemur-like creature for supper, but it's unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.

A team led by Iowa State University anthropology professor Jill Pruetz witnessed the spearing of a bushbaby in Fongoli, Senegal, during an observation of chimpanzees from March 2005 to July 2006. In a study being released Thursday in the online version of the journal Current Biology, Pruetz documents 22 cases of chimps using spear-like tools to hunt bushbabies - a small primate that lives in hollow branches or tree trunks.

"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, she said.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- During Andy Sherman's two-year Peace Corps service in Thioke Thian, Senegal, 9-year-old Salimatou helped him navigate village life and learn the language, telling him words in Pulaar as he'd point at objects. But after returning from a stint working in another village, Sherman learned the girl had died of malaria. And after completing his service in 2002, he learned two women who had been like mothers to him also died of the mosquito-borne disease. Their deaths, and the dea...

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ST. LOUIS ? During Andy Sherman's two-year Peace Corps service in Thioke Thian, Senegal, 9-year-old Salimatou helped him navigate village life and learn the language, telling him words in Pulaar as he'd point at objects. But after returning from a stint working in another village, Sherman learned the girl had died of malaria. And after completing his service in 2002, he learned two women who had been like mothers to him also died of the mosquito-borne disease.

Their deaths, and the deaths of more than 1 million people each year from malaria, prompted Sherman and fellow Saint Louis University medical student Jesse Matthews to start NetLife, a nonprofit organization that distributes mosquito nets in Africa. It's motto: Saving lives one net at a time.

"Previously when we bought them, they were $8.50 a net. That's way more than a typical villager in Senegal could afford," said Sherman, 29. The group, which now buys nets for $5 each, distributes them for free in remote villages where people don't have them.

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— Researchers report witnessing a chimpanzee skewering a tree creature for supper with a spearlike tool, a rare observation of a long-studied primate in the wild.

"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, said Jill Pruetz, an anthropology professor from Iowa State University who led the research team.

The chimp's actual spearing of a bushbaby, a lemurlike creature that lives in hollow branches or trunks, was only seen once, however. So some primate experts said it was unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.

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Chimpanzees living in the West African savanna have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the handcrafted tools to hunt small mammals--the first routine production of deadly weapons observed in animals other than human beings.

The multistep spearmaking, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees' trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of years ago.

The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females--the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps--tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.

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PARIS — When the lights came back on in a suburban movie theater here last fall after a screening of the World War II epic "Indigènes," Mohamed Hamidi was surprised to see many of his teenage students weeping.

These street-smart French children of Arab and North African immigrants had just learned more in a two-hour movie about their ancestors' role in liberating France from the Nazis than they had their whole lives up to then. And some of what they learned was heartbreaking and resonant of their own alienation in this country. But, for once, their emotions also contained pride.

"They just couldn't believe that their grandfathers are as much a part of French history as all the kings and queens and revolutionaries they learn about in school," said Hamidi, who teaches high school economics. "Their history is not in the books yet. But now it is in a movie." Renamed "Days of Glory" for English-speaking audiences, the film recounts the mostly obscured story of a band of infantrymen who were conscripted in French colonies — Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal — ...

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Researchers report witnessing a chimpanzee skewering a tree creature for supper with a spearlike tool, a rare observation of a long-studied primate in the wild.

"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, said Jill Pruetz, an anthropology professor from Iowa State University who led the research team.

The chimp's actual spearing of a bushbaby, a lemurlike creature that lives in hollow branches or trunks, was only seen once, however. So some primate experts said it was unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.

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DES MOINES, Iowa ? Researchers have witnessed a chimpanzee skewering a lemur-like creature for supper, but it's unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.

A team led by Iowa State University anthropology professor Jill Pruetz witnessed the spearing of a bushbaby in Fongoli, Senegal, during an observation of chimpanzees from March 2005 to July 2006. In a study being released Thursday in the online version of the journal Current Biology, Pruetz documents 22 cases of chimps using spear-like tools to hunt bushbabies ? a small primate that lives in hollow branches or tree trunks.

"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, she said.

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DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade asked Senegal's voters on Friday to re-elect him for a second term and warned his opponents he would not tolerate any violent challenge against the poll outcome.

The octogenarian leader made the warning in comments to foreign reporters after wrapping up his campaign with a big rally, at which he promised to create thousands of jobs and launch major public works if he was re-elected.

Several thousand dancing, singing supporters chanted "The man is strong" and "First Round, First Round," a reference to Wade's declared aim to win more than 50 percent of the votes on Sunday, which would avoid the need for a second round run-off.

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Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the handcrafted tools to hunt small mammals - the first routine production of deadly weapons observed in animals other than humans.

The multistep spear-making practice, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees' trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of years ago.

The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females - the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps - tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.

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WASHINGTON — Chimpanzees living on the West African savanna have been observed fashioning spears from sticks and using them to hunt small mammals — the first routine production of deadly weapons observed in animals other than humans.

The chimps were repeatedly seen using their hands and teeth to tear the side branches off long straight sticks and peeling back the bark and sharpening one end of the sticks with their teeth, the researchers report in Thursday's online issue of the journal Current Biology. Then, grasping the weapon in a "power grip," they jabbed into tree-branch hollows where bush babies — small monkey-like mammals — sleep during the day.

After stabbing their prey, they removed the injured or dead animal and ate it.

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DES MOINES, Iowa - Researchers have witnessed a chimpanzee skewering a lemur-like creature for supper, but it's unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.

A team led by Iowa State University anthropology professor Jill Pruetz witnessed the spearing of a bushbaby in Fongoli, Senegal, during an observation of chimpanzees from March 2005 to July 2006. In a study being released Thursday in the online version of the journal Current Biology, Pruetz documents 22 cases of chimps using spear-like tools to hunt bushbabies - a small primate that lives in hollow branches or tree trunks.

"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, she said.

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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Sam Hinga Norman, a former government minister on trial for allegedly overseeing a militia accused of torturing and mutilating civilians during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, died Thursday at a Senegalese hospital, a court statement said.

Norman, 67, Sierra Leone's former internal affairs minister, had been awaiting a verdict on eight charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly performed by fighters he oversaw during the 1991-2002 war.

The court statement said Norman, who had been flown to Senegal's capital, Dakar, on Jan. 17 for medical procedures, died of apparent heart failure.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Researchers have witnessed a chimpanzee skewering a lemur-like creature for supper, but it's unclear whether the spectacle was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought. A team led by Iowa State University anthropology professor Jill Pruetz witnessed the spearing of a bushbaby in Fongoli, Senegal, during an observation of chimpanzees from March 2005 to July 2006. In a study being released Thursday in the online v...

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From the pockets of his billowing white robe, Gambia's president pulls out a plastic container, closes his eyes in prayer and rubs a green herbal paste onto the ribcage of the patient a concoction he claims is a cure for AIDS.

He then orders the thin man to swallow a bitter yellow drink, followed by two bananas.

"Whatever you do, there are bound to be skeptics, but I can tell you my method is foolproof," President Yahya Jammeh told an Associated Press reporter, surrounded by bodyguards in his presidential compound. "Mine is not an argument, mine is a proof. It's a declaration. I can cure AIDS and I will."

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IN THE WESTERN DESERT, Egypt - Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert's grueling 4,000 miles.

"It will take time to sink in ... but this is an absolutely once in a life time thing. They say ignorance is bliss, and now that I know how hard this is, I would never consider crossing the Sahara on foot again," said American runner Charlie Engle, 44, hours after he and the others completed the run at Egypt's Red Sea.

Engle said he, Canadian Ray Zahab, 38, and Kevin Lin, 30, of Taiwan, ran the final stretch of their journey that took them through the Giza pyramids and Cairo to the mouth of Suez Canal on four hours of sleep. Once they hit the Red Sea, they put their hands in the water to signify crossing the finish line.

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FEMALE GENITAL mutilation — not "female circumcision," a comforting euphemism — is one of the world's most entrenched and pervasive violations of human rights. Each year an estimated 2 million women and girls, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan, are cut, typically before their 14th birthday.

But in the past few years, thousands of villages in Senegal, Egypt and Sudan have abandoned the practice. Some human rights advocates believe that a tipping point is at hand — if the momentum against the practice, spurred on by the work of many government-supported agencies and nongovernmental organizations in Africa and around the world, continues.

The practice of removing all or part of girls' external genitals has endured for a variety of reasons. It is believed to preserve a girl's chastity by curbing her sexual drive. It confers marriageable status on girls who otherwise would be shunned. And it celebrates girls' coming of age.

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ROME -- Three Italian women were brutally attacked while vacationing on a resort island off the coast of West Africa, dragged into the woods, pelted with stones and left for dead at the bottom of a hole, the sole survivor said Saturday.

The bodies of two of the women were found half-buried near a beach Friday in the Cape Verde islands, police officer Vladmir Silva said.

Preliminary autopsy results found the victims, aged 28 and 33, died as a result of head injuries from blunt and sharp objects, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. Cape Verde police said official autopsy results were expected to be released Sunday.

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Q: How long ago did you think of the "One Laptop Per Child" idea?

A: This work dates back to my MIT colleague Seymour Papert's early thinking (Logo in 1968 and "teaching children thinking" in April 1970). He and I worked in developing nations with Apple IIs in 1982 in Pakistan, Senegal and Colombia.

In the 1990s, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab did a great deal of work in remote regions of the developing world, bringing access through viral telecommunications and what is today called WiMax and (wireless high-speed Internet) WiFi.

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