This has been a very busy year for numerous African countries and there are many exceptional leaders who stand out and deserve the recognition.

Moscow - This weekend President Vladimir Putin convinced Facebook to shut down an organizing page used by his opponents to try to mimic the April Spring.

A key witness for a French court investigating who triggered the Rwandan genocide has gone missing in Kenya after a Paris judge insisted the witness’ name be identified in legal documents – a move critics say compromised his safety.

What happens when moral law is absent and the arbitrary exercise of power becomes the only means of delivering justice? Tyranny ensues.

The praying mantis gets its name from the way its large front legs are bent, making the insect look like it is praying. The larger group to which the mantis belongs is called "praying mantids." Regardless of what we call them, they are formidable hunters.

Kigali - The French ambassador to Rwanda said Monday he has been barred from attending events marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide, amid a major diplomatic row surrounding France's controversial role in the events of 1994.

Kigali - Rwanda holds solemn commemorations Monday for the 20th anniversary of the genocide in which 800,000 died, a time of intense national grief, but overshadowed by renewed claims France was complicit in the killings.

Hvar - It is 20 years since the start of a genocide in Africa which claimed the lives of 800,000 people. Two decades later, a lesson in reconciliation.

Kigali - As Rwanda marks 20 years since its 1994 genocide, the government is seeking to stress the strides the country has made since those dark days, despite international concern over its hardline leader.

A politician at the centre of a 20-year-old controversy over warnings that Hutu extremists were conspiring to commit genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda said the United Nations peacekeeping force never informed him of such a diabolical plan.

A Rwandan refugee who was illegally returned to Rwanda to face trial on rebellion charges has pleaded guilty after being severely beaten in detention, his wife and a rights activist have confirmed.

Rwanda has breached international law by forcibly returning a refugee that had fled to Uganda and was under protection of the United Nations, critics charged this week.

Toronto - It is simply too embarrassing for Paul Kagame to visit the West anymore, as eager as the Rwandan president is to pose as a respected African statesman. His visit to Toronto last month was stirring evidence of this.

A few days ago (October 1), marking the International Day of Older People, HelpAge International released the Global Index of Aging. This index, called "AgeWatch," is the first to measure the quality of life and well-being of older people worldwide.

New York - A new architectural wonder was unveiled in Christchurch, New Zealand this week. Though grand, its delight lies more in its underlying simplicity.

An annual run in Rwanda to benefit young girls and women is expanding to a global affair this year. The run is part of The Komera Project, a movement that awards scholarships to young women in that country.

The Obama administration Wednesday offered up to $5 million in rewards for information leading to the "arrest, transfer or conviction" of the Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony, his top aides and a Rwandan rebel leader accused of war crimes.

A Dutch court convicted a Rwandan-born Dutch citizen to six years and eight months in prison for inciting genocide against ethnic Tutsis in 1994.

An initiative aiming to relaunch legal mining in eastern Congo after an export suspension of conflict minerals will produce its first refined tin by the end of March 2013.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted Congolese warlord Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui of all charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes over his alleged role in planning the 2003 assault on Bogoro village in the mineral-rich Ituri province.