The story of a French university student being sprayed in the face with tear gas and called a "dirty Arab" is all over the French press today, notably in left-wing newspaper Libération. When contacted by FRANCE 24, the student says it was his university dean who prompted him to tell the story. Read more...

South Africa's black economic empowerment policy has been operating, if a little feebly, since the end of apartheid in 1994. Just last week however, a group of disgruntled Afrikaners launched a campaign to boycott the country's biggest cellular network, and its owners, Vodafone and Telkom, for selling just 3.44% of its shares to non-white buyers only. Read more...

Residents of the Libyan city of Benghazi have made an incredible discovery. They've located some of the city's manhole covers, missing for years, in the town of Najac, south of France. They might find it funny, if they weren't immersed underwater. Read more...

A group of Minneapolis teenagers have found themselves headline news after publishing a video in which they push people over in the street. Identified as of Somali origin, the pranksters will, our observer there explains, only add fuel to the fire for the local anti-Somali press. Read more...

Pro-regime speakers are regularly invited by University Bassij to speak before students - but since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June, they face an increasingly hostile audience. On November 16, one of Ahmadinejad's staunchest supporters was booed to silence with calls of "murderer" and "lier, go away!" But students often pay the price for their outspokenness. Read more...

It was an emotional day for Australia on Monday when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd publicly apologised to the estimated 500,000 children who were abused in government institutions between the 1930s and 1970s - what he called "The absolute tragedy of childhoods lost". Read more...

The Web is ablaze over France's controversial qualification for the World Cup, or to be precise, Thierry Henry's handball, which shattered Ireland's chances of taking part in the 2010 tournament. Read more and see the images...

The most famous piece of Iranian graffiti is probably the deathly Statue of Liberty painted on the wall of the former US Embassy in Tehran. There's far more to street art than anti-American paintings however, and in the past two years, it's become more popular than ever. Read more and see the images...

Slogans and partisan chants rang out all night in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, ahead of Wednesday’s much anticipated World Cup qualification play-off between Egypt and Algeria. Watch the videos...

French police bulldozed a migrant settlement in Dunkirk on Tuesday morning and arrested around 50 residents. Our Observer there explains that the very same day, the immigrants started rebuilding their "jungle". Read more...

"Visas for sale. Attractive prices". On Saudi classified advertising website 'mstaml', hundreds of ads blatantly advertise under the table deals and bureaucratic bribery. Jobs, visas, marriage loans, diplomas... virtually anything can be bought and paid for. Our Observer tells us why. Read more...

After last weekend’s tense football game pitting Egypt’s Pharaohs against Algeria’s Fennecs (the Pharaohs won 2-0), irate Algerian football fans vandalised several Egyptian businesses in Algiers. Our Observer was there. Read more...

US President Barack Obama was treated to a grandiose welcome in Beijing, where he met his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Tuesday. The pair agreed to strengthen ties between the two countries. But on the Web, feelings were not so warm. Read more...

A group of Durban shack dwellers say that local police attacked, abused, and intimidated residents on Friday night. It's the third alleged police-related attack in two months. But why would authorities target a group of shack dwellers? Read more and see their photos...

Worsening relations between Colombia and Venezuela led to a decision on November 3 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to close the border between the two countries. Instead of giving in to the obstacle, however, residents from either side are finding every way round it. Read more...