Jason McLure

The three week strike by government workers in South Africa that was suspended last week ended badly for both the government and the public-sector unions.

It may have been a relief to many when the World Cup's vuvuzelas finally stopped blaring, but now the Rainbow Nation's winter of good feeling is emphatically over. A recent government workers' strike grew so massive that the Army was called out to keep hospitals open.

Somalia's future looks more precarious every day. Last week's African Union summit ended with promises that Guinea and Djibouti would send battalions of reinforcements to keep the AU's embattled peacekeeping force in Mogadishu from being overrun by the Islamist militants of Al-Shabab. But the mission may be doomed nonetheless; most AU members see scant chance of success in Somalia and now fear their presence may be making things worse.

When human rights Watch criticized the results of Ethiopia's May elections, in which the ruling coalition "won" an improbable 545 out of 547 seats, leaders in Addis Ababa didn't ignore the influential NGO. Instead, they paid tens of thousands of demonstrators to gather in the capital and denounce the report.

To a casual observer, the tens of thousands of people who poured into the central square of Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on May 25 to peacefully celebrate the country's elections might have been mistaken for a massive symbol of democratic progress in a poor and troubled part of the world. In fact it was quite the opposite.

The World Food Programme's Somalia problem is only the latest in a string of scandals.

Niger's president was a tyrant on the make. That doesn't mean the military should have overthrown him.

Among the tens of millions of refugees around the globe, a growing minority won't go home. Most would love to return to their native lands, but a significant number have come to embrace the stability of living in U.N.-funded camps.

When wars end, refugees don't always go home.

Darfur isn't the worst crisis in Africa. In fact, it's not even the worst crisis in Sudan.

Why we don't care about Somalia anymore.

Barack Obama hasn't stood up to Africa's despots.

The actions of Ethiopia's government have put a strain on relations with Washington.

Unity on the continent is a dream that's still within reach, says official.

Washington's terror fixation has been a boon for the region's pirates—and is leading to another famine.

We understand why the U.N. could not send a peacekeeping mission. But why not provide some funding to the African Union?

Congratulations, Kofi Annan, you just cut a peace deal for Kenya. But with a half-dozen African crises still burning from Congo to Sudan, what's next? Right now, all eyes are on Somalia.The headless country is descending once again into chaos.

Somalia's new prime minister talks about terrorism, civil war and a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.

America's top diplomat in Africa focuses on Kenya and defends U.S. policy in Somalia and the Sudan.

Somalis living in Ethiopia are caught in the crossfire between the government and rebels.

These two nations should be as close as the U.S. and Canada. So why are Ethiopia and Eritrea on the verge of war—again?

As Ethiopia and Eritrea edge toward another conflict, refugees in a border camp are watching with trepidation. An on-scene report from Shimelba.

The U.S. military is hoping that soft projects like drilling wells and building schools will help it win friends in a volatile part of Africa. It's a risky strategy.

As America's 12,000 gay newlyweds get back from their honeymoons, they'll have to face the same reality their straight counterparts do: taxes. But can same-sex couples file jointly?

As any job coach will tell you, the best time to get a job is when you already have one. For many seeking greener pastures, that means the best time to look for new work is during office hours.

Few travelers who have ridden a Greyhound bus would consider the experience luxurious. But a hotly competitive group of so-called Chinatown bus companies are moving in on the company's biggest East Coast routes by offering rock-bottom prices and no-frills service.

In his 2003 State of the Union address, George W. Bush surprised and delighted AIDS activists by pledging $15 billion over five years for an emergency AIDS relief plan in more than a dozen hard-hit countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

Using slogans such as "Abstinence has a high failure rate," Catholics for a Free Choice, a dissident lay group, began a pro-condom ad campaign last week in defiance of Vatican policy.

Provincetown, Mass., may very well become the gay Niagara. With Massachusetts' ruling to legalize same-sex marriages set to take effect in less than six months, merchants in Provincetown--long a gay mecca--are readying for a tidal wave of gay and lesbian honeymooners to strike Cape Cod's tip. "People used to go to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon," says tourism director Pat Fitzpatrick. "We'll have a lot of gay and lesbian couples whose first thought is Provincetown." Travel agents...

Pressure to make the grade has led more than a few students to jot answers on the soles of their sneakers. But new research published in the journal Education Next reveals that teachers are sometimes cheaters, too.