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INTERNATIONAL NEWS U.S. Pays Wrongly Detained Woman Special from GIN Tsungai Tungwarara of Zimbabwe has been awarded a $45,000 settlement stemming from a January 2002 arrest at an airport in San Francisco. Tungwarara was traveling to the US to visit her mother who was living legally in San Francisco after being granted asylum. Officials jailed and strip-searched her claiming that she wanted to study in the U.S. and was violating her tourist visa. ''It was quite traumatic. I was excited to see my mother. The last thing I expected was to spend the night in jail,'' she said. ''They put me in a cell with convicts. I've never been convicted of a crime.'' Tungwarara's lawyer, Tony Schoenberg, said an official told Tungwarara, ''We won't allow these people here- not after September 11. Go back to the jungle.'' She was then forced to return to Zimbabwe at considerable price to her family. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office denied that any racist statements had been made and denied all other wrongdoing. Tungwarara has since completed a law degree in South Africa and has obtained a new visa to live with her mother in the U.S. Read more

Benin's President Steps Down After 29 Years of Rule By Braden Ruddy -Special from GIN Mathieu Kerekou, the leader of the West African nation of Benin for the least three decades, relinquished his rule on Wednesday. He had reached the constitutional age limit, and has been replaced by Boni Yayi- the recent election winner. Pro-democracy advocates celebrated the decision to peacefully hand over power, especially as many neighboring leaders try to hold on by changing laws, constitutions, and are usually only replaced as a result of violent coups or death. Continue Reading Rebels Attack Military Base in Chad By Braden Ruddy - Special from GIN In another sign that the violence in Darfur is spilling over to neighboring Chad, an army base in the south eastern city of Haraze Mangueigne, Chad, was attacked by rebels from the Chad's United Front for Democratic Change (FUCD) Chadian officials accuse the government in Khartoum of backing the rebels,, a charge which Sudan denies. In a telephone interview with the Reuters news agency, Abdel Rahman Abdel Karim, an FUCD leader said, ''This is only the beginning- our morale is very high.'' FUCD is trying to overthrow Chad's president Idriss Deby, who has been in power since 1990. It is a coalition of rebel groups led by Mahamat Nour from bases in Darfur along the Chad-Sudan border. The hour-long battle at the army garrison resulted in four injuries while 50 prisoners were captured, the rebel leader said. A significant number of Chad's army officers have also deserted to join FUCD. Deadly Racist Outbreak in Russia Reported Special from Gin In the latest in a series of attacks on people of color in Russia, a Senegalese student died from a shotgun blast reported to be the work of a neo-Nazi. Russian police say they have arrested a man in connection with the murder. Samba Lamsar, 28, had been studying in St. Petersburg's Telecommunications Institute. He was shot dead leaving a local nightclub. A shotgun emblazoned with a swastika was found near the scene. Hundreds of students took to the streets to protest over the killing. Senegalese diplomats have lodged a formal complaint with Moscow over the shooting. The murder comes amid a growing wave of racist and ultra-nationalist attacks against foreigners and non-whites, most of which have taken place in Moscow and St Petersburg. Last month a St Petersburg court found a teenager not guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old Tajik girl in 2004. The teenager was instead convicted of hooliganism, and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. Aliu Tunkara, who heads Africa Unity, a civic group for Africans in Russia, called the ruling a recipe for more violence. ''Since nobody was punished for the murder of the girl, people with similar nationalist attitudes now feel they have nothing to fear in committing such actions,'' he said. In an interview with ''Moskovskii komsomolets,'' Tunkara explained that extremist groups operate with the assistance of the police. ''Do you know how 'pleasant' it is to chat with our police officers? At each step, you hear such expressions as 'hey, chief gorilla, come here!''' According to figures from the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, there were 25 fatal racial attacks in Russia in 2005.