Senegal

DAKAR, Senegal - Voters booed Senegal's president as he went to cast his ballot in elections Sunday, the latest sign of how his pursuit of a third term has caused his popularity to plummet and divided a country long considered a model of tolerance. In choosing to run again, President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, is contradicting the term limits he himself introduced into the constitution. He argues that those restrictions should not apply to him since he was elected before they went into effect.

DAKAR, Senegal - Police opened fire with tear gas Saturday on a commercial avenue in Senegal's capital, as security forces wrapped up early voting in a contentious presidential race. It marks the fourth straight day of protests before next Sunday's critical election, which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote.

Sacre bleu! Defending champion France opened the first World Cup in Asia with a most shocking result - a 1-0 loss to Senegal, a former French colony playing its first game ever in the tournament. The hero for Senegal was Papa Bouba Diop, a midfielder with swiveling hips who danced with teammates on the field after scoring the game-winner in the 30th minute while lying on his side. The historic upset last night set off wild celebrations in the West African nation, and left stunned fans gasping in cafes and homes across France.

His full name is Alioune Badara Gaye. His friends - and the number seems to grow by the day - simply call him Badou. Walk with Gaye down the corridors of Kennedy-Kenrick High or watch him interact with students after a basketball game, and Badou's popularity quickly becomes evident. The gentle giant smiles broadly as classmates shout out his name from almost every direction. The fascination with the 6-foot-7, 200-pound Gaye - who came to America from Senegal, in West Africa, last fall - no doubt has something to do with his towering frame.

Sixers guard Willie Green will join NBA players and African natives DeSagana Diop (Senegal), Luc Mbah a Moute (Cameroon) and Hasheem Thabeet (Tanzania) in Basketball without Borders Africa. The African edition of the NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach program will be held in Dakar, Senegal, Aug. 5-8. The camp will provide Africa's top 60 young players coaching and counseling about education and health. "It is of particular significance that Basketball without Borders Africa is being held here in Dakar for the first time," said Amadou Gallo Fall, vice president of development for the NBA in Africa, and a native of Senegal.

France is down and out in a big way. The defending champion fell out of the World Cup in embarrassment yesterday with a 2-0 loss to Denmark at Incheon, South Korea. Not only was France the first titleholder to get knocked out in the opening round since Brazil in 1966, it also became the first champion to bow out without scoring. "It's the end of a beautiful story," striker David Trezeguet said. "It started in 1998 and it ends today. That's the law of soccer. Since 1998, we have given everything, even if today we're eliminated.

Haverford High soccer coach Bill Sember discovered a prize winger this summer, not on a soccer pitch but a tennis court. Thierry DiLorenzo, an exchange student from Senegal, was visiting the United States to work on his tennis game and was being tutored by Sember, who is a certified tennis pro. Although DiLorenzo was scheduled to return home at the end of the summer, his parents decided they wanted Thierry to attend school here. As the summer wore on, DiLorenzo became involved in the Marple summer soccer league and met Haverford center forward Dave Kupsov.

The mourners have gathered, the priest is ready to say a solemn requiem Mass and the food for the funeral feast has been out. Everything is ready - except for one small detail: The body is missing. By the time the corpse is found and duly buried in Ousmane Sembene's Guelwaar, the tangled politics and tribal and religious conflicts of Senegal have been dissected with a disarming and deceptive humor. Sembene, whose credits include Mandabi (The Money Order) and Xala, is also a much admired novelist whose writing commitments have cut into the time he is willing to devote to directing.

We're interested in taking our young children to a farm where we could spend a few days or a week. Do you know of any in Southeastern Pennsylvania? L.S., Cheltenham Pack your pitchfork and head for Lancaster County. A brochure called "Farm Vacations at Lancaster County Bed and Breakfasts" describes more than 20 locations, most of them working farms, that take in guests. Many of them enjoy hosting families, according to Cindy Hampton, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau.

CLEVELAND - Amadou Gallo Fall didn't even have the cliché "cup of coffee" in the NBA as a player. That was fine with him because becoming a professional basketball player was never his intent when a Peace Corps worker discovered him at a basketball clinic in Tunisia. Gallo Fall was asked if he would be interested in continuing his education on a basketball scholarship in the United States. "I had no idea of the different levels of basketball in the NCAA," Gallo Fall, a 6-9 native of Senegal, said of that life-changing day in 1989.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Lawyers for Belgium urged the United Nations' highest court Monday to order Senegal to prosecute former Chad dictator Hissene Habre or extradite him for trial for allegedly masterminding atrocities during his brutal eight-year rule. Habre has lived in a luxury villa in Senegal's capital, Dakar, since rebels ousted him in 1990 and has become a symbol of Africa's inability to try leaders from the continent accused of rights abuses. The case at the International Court of Justice is about "taking a stand against impunity in the most serious crimes in international law," Belgian representative Paul Rietjens told judges in the wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice.

Portugal: Fugitive won't go to U.S. LISBON, Portugal - Portugal won't extradite American fugitive George Wright for crimes he committed in the United States four decades ago, after Washington ran out of possibilities to appeal the decision to let him stay, a Portuguese court official said Wednesday. Portuguese police captured Wright near the capital, Lisbon, in September, ending his more than 40 years on the lam after escaping from a New Jersey prison. Wright was convicted of the murder of Walter Patterson in Wall Township.

DAKAR, Senegal - Voters booed Senegal's president as he went to cast his ballot in elections Sunday, the latest sign of how his pursuit of a third term has caused his popularity to plummet and divided a country long considered a model of tolerance. In choosing to run again, President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, is contradicting the term limits he himself introduced into the constitution. He argues that those restrictions should not apply to him since he was elected before they went into effect.

DAKAR, Senegal - Police opened fire with tear gas Saturday on a commercial avenue in Senegal's capital, as security forces wrapped up early voting in a contentious presidential race. It marks the fourth straight day of protests before next Sunday's critical election, which is pitting the country's 85-year-old president against a young opposition demanding his departure. The increasingly tense atmosphere on the ground has many concerned there may be unrest if President Abdoulaye Wade is declared the winner of the vote.

DAKAR, Senegal - This is Africa, the place where human history began and where the new world order is evolving. Twice I've stood in Senegal, on the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean, meeting people and sharing experiences that make me understand my own family history and black history much better. Each trip, first in December 2010 for the World Festival of Black Arts and Culture and now this past December with the World Summit of Mayors, has made me want to go deeper - to explore more, to learn more, and to understand more about this continent and our world.

IN THE U.S., musicians occasionally like to take political stands - Kelly Clarkson recently came out for Ron Paul - but in West Africa a singer may soon be running the whole show. World music icon Youssou N'Dour says he plans to run in Senegal's presidential election next month, challenging an 85-year-old incumbent whose plans to seek a third term have sparked violent protests. Two-term limits can have that effect on voters. And if you thought the Republican field in Iowa is crowded, N'Dour joins some 20 other candidates already running against President Abdoulaye Wade . "For a very long time, many Senegalese of different backgrounds have called for my candidacy for the presidency . . . ," N'Dour said.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A $5 million award for good leadership in Africa - withheld the previous two years because of a lack of qualified candidates - was finally bestowed Monday on Cape Verde's former president for promoting democracy and development on his archipelago. The Mo Ibrahim Prize committee said that during his decade in power, Pedro Verona Pires had helped lead the tiny nation off the western coast of Africa out of poverty. And he left at the end of his second term in office earlier this year, dismissing the possibility of removing term limits from the constitution.

A few miles from the worst violence to hit the city in 25 years, beach volleyball players dived headlong in the sand, the most summery of Olympic sports on display less than a year before the London Games. The matches were played under the shadow of the London Eye big wheel, and not far from Buckingham Palace and No. 10 Downing Street. Yet no historic backdrop could block the images of rioting and looting that have swept the city the last three days after the fatal shooting of a local man by police.

Sixers guard Willie Green will join NBA players and African natives DeSagana Diop (Senegal), Luc Mbah a Moute (Cameroon) and Hasheem Thabeet (Tanzania) in Basketball without Borders Africa. The African edition of the NBA and FIBA's global basketball development and community outreach program will be held in Dakar, Senegal, Aug. 5-8. The camp will provide Africa's top 60 young players coaching and counseling about education and health. "It is of particular significance that Basketball without Borders Africa is being held here in Dakar for the first time," said Amadou Gallo Fall, vice president of development for the NBA in Africa, and a native of Senegal.