New Ministry Spokeswoman

Hua Chunying is the newly-appointed spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, becoming the ministry's fifth spokeswoman since the post was created in 1983. She and spokesman Hong Lei will rotate the responsibility of holding the ministry's daily news conference. Hua began her diplomatic career almost 20 years ago when she joined the ministry's former Department of West European Affairs in 1993. Hua is expected to balance and complement Beijing's customarily masculine tone in China's complicated diplomatic environment.

'Icon of Africa Award'

Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda has been awarded the prestigious Icon of Africa Award by the UK-based Voice Magazine for his role in the liberation of Africa. "The people of Africa are creative and hard-working. They deserve every opportunity for advancement in their standard of living. And I know that there are many people worthier of this award than my humble self," Kaunda said.