News stories by Alecia D. McKenzie, page 2

The contest for a new UNESCO director-general is now wide open with the addition of last-minute nominees for the post, following the controversy around leading contender Farouk Hosny.

Looking at night-time satellite pictures of Africa, most of the continent seems to be suffering a giant power cut, especially when compared with brightly lit Europe or the United States.

Fourteen women are gathered in a Jewish kosher bakery on a sunny afternoon in Creteil, a multi-ethnic commune southeast of Paris. Bent over bowls of flour, tubs of butter and cartons of eggs, the women share jokes and anecdotes, speaking in both French and Arabic, as they knead dough and crack eggs open.

With only a few days left before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) nominates final candidates for the post of director-general, controversy continues to swirl around the leading contender, Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni.

It's a common sight at France's most famed monument: the police chasing groups of young African and Indian men while tourists stare open-mouthed.

A new film on undocumented migrants has sparked heated discussion among the public and lawmakers here.

With the price of crude oil down more than 50 percent from a year ago, and with U.S. President Barack Obama championing alternative forms of energy, oil producers are scrambling to find ways to protect their industry.

Carole is an 18-year-old student of African descent at a high school in central Paris. She is currently studying for the baccalauréat, an exam at the end of secondary school. When she graduates, she would like to leave France as soon as possible, preferably for the United States.

Rama Yade, France’s secretary of state for human rights, is not having an easy time on a number of fronts.

It would be easy to walk past the Dapper Museum without giving the building a second glance were it not for the striking images of African women at the entrance. Tucked in a side street of the 16th arrondissement, just off the chic avenue Victor Hugo, the Dapper has an unremarkable facade and lies far from the gleaming Louvre and Orsay museums. But its exhibitions stand out in a city filled with museums, galleries and blockbuster art shows.