Magharebia

Zahra Ouaziz was first inspired to train seriously as a runner after seeing Nawal El Moutawakel win a gold medal for her country in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Olympics. "She was an inspiration to all Arabic women," Ouaziz said. A supportive family attuned to athletics helped her progress. Father Mohamed trained Zahra and her sisters Nadia and Selma are also star runners.

Nancy Ajram, who revolutionized Arabic music videos with her massive hit "Akhasmak Ah" (I am not Talking to You), continues to conquer the region's music market. The impact the singer has made on popular culture in the Arab world is deeply felt across the Arab world and North Africa.

For many artists in French-speaking Arab countries, the frustration of not being able to express themselves fully in one language turns into a motivation to find other venues of self-expression. Like many 20th-century Arab artists, Houria Niati turned to the language of art and multi-media. Her work not only reflects her experience and beliefs, but also challenges long-held cultural stereotypes about Algeria and Algerian women.

Khaled is considered one of the world's premier rai musicians. Born in the 1960s in Oran's Sidi Al Houri district, Khaled modernized the rai genre when he burst onto the scene in the 1980s. First known as Cheb Khaled, he dropped the prefix in the early 1990s.

Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the oldest independent newspaper in Sudan, has been awarded the 2005 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

The locust invasion that devastated crops in Western and Northern African countries this year is far from over. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that such outbreaks generally last for several seasons and could cause greater crop damage for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in 2005.

For four nights in August 2004, Tunisian singer Latifa delivered great theatrical performances of "The Reign of the Shepherds" at the Beiteddine Festival in Mount Lebanon. The musical, written and composed by Mansour El-Rahbani, transported the audience to a world in which a despotic king refuses to submit to the will of the people.