- Two African candidates remain in the fourth round of voting will be held today to try to select the next head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after none of the candidates for the post were able to obtain a majority of ballots at the weekend.
Algeria''s Mohammed Bedjaoui and Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny are two of the five remaining candidates.
The candidates from Benin, Lithuania, Russian and Tanzania withdrew from the race to be Director-General before the third round vote, leaving five names on the ballot slated for later this evening in Paris.
The other remaining candidates are: European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Austria) Bulgarian former foreign minister Irina Gueorguieva Bokova and Ivonne Juez de A. Baki of Ecuador.
Earlier this week, the agency''s 58-member Executive Board interviewed all nine candidates and then discussed those interviews in a private meeting. Voting is by secret ballot and a winner is chosen by a simple majority of the board.
The person elected will serve an initial four-year term. The current Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, ends his second term in November and is not eligible for another stint.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.