Middle East & Africa

AFRICA: Rats have a mixed reputation. They are kept as lab animals or pets, but many people fear them as disease carriers. Now rats are becoming real-life heroes. They are helping to clear Mozambique of landmines.

MIDDLE EAST:  If you are interested in the Middle East, but can't speak or write Arabic, you may find it nearly impossible to find out what people there are saying about the West. Help is on the way, in the form of a new website that translates news articles from Arabic into English, and vice versa.

SOUTH AFRICA: With just four months until the World Cup 2010 begins in South Africa, a million tickets are still available. A representative of the city of Johannesburg says an exaggerated fear of crime is keeping some tourists away.

ISRAEL:  What country has more technology companies listed on Nasdaq than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India and China combined? The US? Think again.

IRAQ: Under Saddam Hussein, mobile phones were banned in Iraq. Now, 20 million Iraqis have mobiles. For some business dealings, prepaid phone cards have become as valuable as cash.

ANGOLA: You may not know that the African nation of Angola has one of the world’s fastest-growing economies — it grew by more than 14 per cent in 2008. Good job prospects have attracted tens of thousands of Portuguese workers.

AFRICA: According to a new report, Africa’s population has now passed one billion. With the world’s highest birth rates, the African continent is expected to have two billion people by 2050.

SAUDI ARABIA: For the first time in 30 years, Saudis in the capital city of Riyadh are allowed go to the cinema. The activity had been prohibited by religious leaders as a way to discourage men and women from meeting at public gatherings.

IRAQ: The rivers Euphrates and Tigris flow through the land once known as Mesopotamia, which has been called "the cradle of civilization". This region largely corresponds to modern day Iraq, where, promisingly, the National Museum has been reopened.

GAZA STRIP: Following three weeks of bombing by Israel, an uneasy peace in the Gaza Strip has brought with it an attempt to return to daily life. Children are going back to school — and the businesses that smuggle goods into the region through underground tunnels are back at work.