Gloom over ministerial, courtesy US-China spar, conflict between cotton-producing African nations.

A Didier Drogba double helped the Ivory Coast become the second side to progress from the African Nations Cup preliminaries to next year's finals after a 6-2 win in Benin on Sunday.

Didier Drogba scored twice to maintain the Ivory Coast's perfect start to the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifiers on Sunday while other top contenders Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia also won.

Andhra Pradesh police have approached embassies of three countries to crackdown on sources of contraband substances supply, particularly cocaine to Hyderabad after busting seven gangs, involving foreign nationals, during the last six months.

An Indian lecturer was found dead in southern Nigeria's Benin City after he had gone for a trek, and is suspected to have died of exhaustion.

Sam Goldman's mission is to bring light to millions of households who do not have access to electricity.

The Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and Alicia Keys will be among scores of music stars performing at a concert on the eve of the soccer World Cup in South Africa, organisers said on Wednesday. The concert in South Africa's biggest black township Soweto will be on June 10, a day before the start of the month-long World Cup, which is being hosted for the first time in Africa.

Nigeria thrashed Mozambique 3-0 to join champions Egypt in the knockout phase of the African Nations Cup from Group C on Wednesday.

Egypt continued their quest for an unprecedented third straight African Nations Cup when they reached the quarter-finals on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Mozambique as Nigeria revived their hopes of progressing. The win left six times champions Egypt top of Group C with six points from two games as second-placed Nigeria looked set to join them into the last eight after scraping past Benin 1-0.

Sam Goldman's mission is to bring light to millions of households who do not have access to electricity.

Partners for these JVs have been shortlisted among global contenders, he said, adding that they would be among world leaders in the respective product.

Monaco handed Paris St Germain their first defeat of the season in Ligue 1 when a couple of late goals earned them a 2-0 home victory on Sunday.

Private equity-backed Kosmos, which has received a total of $800 million in financing from Blackstone and Warburg Pincus, has hired Standard Chartered and Barclays Plc to sell its stakes in the offshore Jubilee oil field. A potential sale of Kosmos' stake in the Jubilee field is being closely watched as the asset is one of the largest oil finds in West Africa in the past decade.

At least 19 people were killed in a stadium crush during a World Cup qualifier between Ivory Coast and Malawi in Abidjan on Sunday. A rush by spectators led to the collapse of a wall, medical officials said. Police then fired tear gas to clear the crowd, causing a stampede which also left many people seriously injured.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet for the first time after he underwent a heart bypass surgery nearly two months ago. The meetings of the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs were held at his official Race Course Road residence today, unlike the meetings which were held in South Block during his absence. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had presided over those meetings.

Nearly two months after undergoing heart bypass surgery, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today returned to his normal engagements as he attended the official functions associated with the visit of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

Five weeks after undergoing bypass surgery, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have his first official engagement on Wednesday when he holds talks with President of Benin Boni Yayi in New Delhi.

Angola and Kenya were eliminated from the 2010 World Cup finals after failing to make the cut in the African qualifiers.

Nigeria scraped into the African Nations Cup quarter-finals on goal difference after beating Benin 2-0 to set up an appetising clash with hosts Ghana.

Sulley Muntari struck a wonder goal in the final minute to give hosts Ghana a 2-1 win over Guinea in the opening match of the African Nations Cup.

Sweden's Helsingborg and Greek side Panathinaikos became the first clubs to reach the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup on Thursday while former European champions Bayern Munich missed their chance to reach the last 32, a 1-1 draw in Portugal against Braga ensuring the Bundesliga leaders still have work to do to qualify from the group stage.

The countries ranked below India include Bahrain, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Iran, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Benin, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Pakistan, Chad and Yemen with the lowest gender equality of 45.1 per cent.

India's import of sensitive items went up by 11.6 per cent in the first quarter to Rs 4,877 crore (Rs 48.77 billion) from Rs 4,371 crore (Rs 43.71 billion) in the same period last year, led by a sharp rise in the import of edible oils.

India is all set to train a large number of cotton traders from African countries from Tuesday.

Special arrangements have also been made at several places, including the national capital, for people to take bath in rivers on the occasion.

India stands 40th in 'network readiness' in the world, having slipped from the 39th spot it held last year. However, it is above China (50th) and Pakistan (67th) and Sri Lanka (83rd).

In an effort to allow 19 poor countries to promote growth and make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the International Monetary Fund will grant 100 per cent debt relief to them amounting to $3.3 billion

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Britain has passed a draft resolution asking countries to create laws that will prevent incitement of terror.

The Kolkata giants take on the Bangladesh side in the AFC Cup Group A league match on Wednesday.

The Cameroon captain's header gave his country a 2-1 win over Benin in their World Cup qualifying match.

After Mauritius and Kenya, Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd is exploring overseas markets like Benin and Oman to expand its operations.