PRESIDENT Mwanawasa's participation in next month's Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) will play a significant role in attracting investment to Zambia, Japanese ambassador to Zambia, Hideto Mitamura, has said.

Our country has the strengths and potential talents to become the bridge between Asia and Africa. However, it must devise the strategies that will turn it - with the help of friendly countries - into a key player in the region.

Tunisian-Japanese cooperation at the Bordj Cedria technological pole was under focus on Tuesday during a workshop held at the Tunis Planetarium.

A 29-year-old Nigerian, Peter Eke, was found dead in Arjun Nagar near Safdarjung Enclave in south west Delhi on Monday evening. A case of murder has been registered at a police station.

The invitation of Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama to the Dream Team 4 (as one of the over-aged players ) has been described by Super Eagles' new goalkeepers' trainer, Alloy Agu as the surest route to ensure Nigeria grabs gold in Beijing, China.

South Korean farmers in collaboration with the Niger state Government have concluded arrangements to invest $2.5 million on rice production in the state. The permanent secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Health, Engr. Abdullahi Aliyu, disclosed this in Minna yesterday at a press briefing on the state government's intervention programmes on rice production, marketing and processing.

THE construction of a US$ 120 million state of the art glass manufacturing plant in the city of Kadoma is being hampered by a critical shortage of water and the current power cuts.

There was drama at a roadblock near Glendale in Mashonaland central on Tuesday when police nearly caused a major diplomatic incident by holding various foreign ambassadors at a roadblock, delaying their convoy by over an hour.

With barely 87 days to go to the beginning of the 24th edition of the Olympic Games in China, the exact size of the Cameroonian delegation to the Games is not yet known. This is because the qualifiers are still going for some disciplines such as athletics, boxing, judo, basketball and weight lifting.

Nigeria's quest to repeat the gold medal winning feat in the football event of Atlanta '96 by the Dream Team IV may be dashed unless the coach of the U-23 team is given all the backing to prosecute his programme by the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).

The cyclone tragedy in Myanmar (Burma), which, has claimed over 100,000 lives, certainly ranks as the worst natural disaster in Asia since the tsunami incident of 2004.

A wise man was once asked what constitutes wisdom. The reply was that wisdom lay in balancing many and often conflicting undertakings with a satisfactory measure of success in all. That is the challenge many countries find themselves in when pushing trade deals with various partners.

The recent decision of the Federal Government to import 500,000 tonnes of rice worth 80 billion naira from Thailand in response to the worldwide soaring food crisis is ill-conceived, wasteful and unprogressive, and must be reviewed immediately.

Conservationists say that the offer by Indian industrial giant Tata Chemicals to move a proposed soda-ash plant 35 kilometres away from Lake Natron in northern Tanzania will still devastate flamingo numbers on the lake.

Mrs. Gladys Asmah, Minister for Fisheries has announced that the Ministry of Fisheries is to contract a 40 million US dollar loan from Chinese Government to begin a 2,000 hectare fish farming project on River Pra at Shama in the Western Region.

A delegation from the Korean company, POSDATA, is in Cameroon to evaluate the needs and conduct technical studies in view of installing digital broadcasting and management in the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) television.

An eight-member boxing entourage leaves the country later today for Japan to be at ringside when Namibia's own boxing wunderkind Paulus "the Hitman" Moses, climbs in the ring against Yauhen Kruhlik in a ten round non-title bout in Tokyo on the 19th of this month.

A Chinese company is exploring the possibility of investing US$500 million for electricity generation in Zimbabwe, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Nansheng Yuan has said.

ZIMBABWE intends to boost the Russian clientele for the tourism industry by over 300 percent next year, despite the current volatile political environment, tourism authorities said last week.

The "strategic alliance" that is the India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral axis is now more than simply a dialogue but a "privileged relationship" favouring a world where democracy will prevail not only in its political manifestation but also on social and cultural levels, writes Shaun Benton.

The three workers of China Civil Engineering Cons-truction Corporation (CCECC) kidnapped last Thursday in Calabar by people suspected to be workers of the company have regained their freedom.

President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday congratulated the newly appointed President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, saying that this would further enhance relations and strategic partnership between the two countries.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has expressed satisfaction with the existing warm relations between Nigeria, Thai and Cote d'Ivoire, which he noted, were getting stronger.

A delegation of Ministers responsible for affairs of the East African Community (EAC) is on a working visit to the Peoples Republic of China.

I WENT to the Paris Hotel de Ville (City Hall) a few weeks back to witness what was supposed to be a festive moment of camaraderie and friendship between nations.