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Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) delivers a speech at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on March 25, 2013. Photo: Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday vowed to strengthen Sino-African ties and continue providing no-strings-attached aid to the African continent, during a state visit to Tanzania, the second leg of the leader's first overseas trip.

Lu Shaye, director-general of African affairs at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently had an online chat with Chinese netizens in which he addressed a wide-range of questions on China's relations with Africa, including RMB settlement, fake drugs, pirates, soft power and debt relief. The translated version of that discussion is below.

Carnage: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. Catwalk: Armani, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent. War is ugly. Fashion is beautiful. War projects the worst of humanity. Fashion displays sartorial splendor in its highest. War is fraught with danger, even for journalists and especially for photographers who must get up close to their subjects to frame an image.

An international rights group has criticised Malaysia for deporting six ethnic Uighur Chinese who were seeking asylum, saying it has put the men's lives in danger. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the forced return of the men to China on 31 December was a grave violation of international laws.

By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - Farmers in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly taking up small-scale irrigation schemes as drought threatens the security of food supplies, a report by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said.

Chilean prosecutors are investigating 61 schools in Santiago, the capital, over allegations that students were sexually abused. According to the Associated Press, several teachers have recently been accused of sexually molesting children at schools in the affluent eastern portion of Santiago.

Luis A. Walker, the Air Force boot camp instructor embroiled in a sex scandal that has rocked one of the nation's busiest military training centers, has been convicted of rape and sexual assault. A seven-person jury of military personnel at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Friday found the Staff Sergeant guilty on all seven counts he faced, along with 28 specifications of misconduct, My San Antonio reported.

A Syrian girl remembers being kidnapped and kept in an apartment with other young girls. Each day, people in charge of the units would inject the girls' thighs with an unknown substance, leaving them paralyzed. With the girls unable to move, they were then raped by security forces.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - "Let's hope they show up," the doctor said, as I waited in the patient examination room at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital's Perinatal HIV Research Unit. It was exactly where I had been sitting 10 days earlier, the day I arrived in South Africa.

People fleeing the Syrian city of Homs have accused the security forces of committing atrocities, including summary executions and cutting the throats of prisoners.

Chilling images covertly filmed by the man, who risked his life to bring the plight of what he claims are civilian patients to world attention, are to be broadcast on Channel 4 News tonight.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, stranded in the desert after rebels and a NATO missile strike wrecked his escape convoy last October, apparently wanted to stage a last stand as his enemies closed in, a U.N. report said on Friday.

The brand is preparing to unveil a sporty ready-to-wear and accessories collection at London Fashion Week. The Nicole Richie Collection is set to debut on the home-shopping network's "The Buzz on the Red Carpet - Live From L.A." show on Feb. 24.

The FBI in the 1940's and 50's was always on the look-out for Commies and Charlie Chaplin was in their sights but today, for the first time, it has been revealed that the Feds asked Britain's domestic security agency MI5 to look into his activities.

LONDON - The disputes playing out in London courts increasingly feature tough guys with private jets who deploy armies of attorneys to fight over obscene piles of cash. What they lack, however, is British plaintiffs or defendants.

Late afternoon in southern Syria and a night sky is fast descending on a dark and terrified town, down the valley from Homs. An iron door creaks open and a young trader, Mahmoud, bounds up the stairwell of his home carrying a video camera, which he has just used to film himself digging his own grave.

The Colbert Report has canceled tapings for Wednesday and Thursday, a fact that has riled Stephen Colbert fans across the web today. Comedy Central, the Viacom property that airs the popular news satire broadcast, put out the following statement: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the show will air repeat episodes on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16."

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Fifty years after Tanzania's independence, an innovative, crowd-funded project is working to preserve the nation's history and music. Tanzania was at the cutting edge of Africa's struggle against colonialism and white minority-rule, and the nation's music became famous for mixing traditional rhythmns and harmonies with electric guitars.

BOSTON - An ancient mine believed to be the source of gold that belonged to the queen of Sheba has been uncovered by British archaeologist Louise Schofield. Schofield, an archaelogist and former British Museum curator, led the excavaction on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, reported The Guardian.