LISBON, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - A gold-laden, 500-year-old Portuguese shipwreck discovered by chance off Namibia will be salvaged by the end of next week, the ministry of culture in Lisbon said Wednesday.

LISBON, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - All the contents of a 500-year-old Portuguese shipwreck discovered by chance off Namibia will be salvaged by the end of next week, the ministry of culture in Lisbon said Wednesday.

ORANJEMUND, Namibia, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Archaeologists are racing against the little time left to salvage a fortune in coins and items from a 500-year-old Portuguese shipwreck found recently off Namibia's rough southern coast.

WINDHOEK, Sept 17, 2008 (AFP) - A regional tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the land claims of 343 black Zimbabwean farmers who argued they cannot move onto seized white-owned farms as the owners were still present.

UIS, August 25, 2008 (AFP) - Having lost their only income source when the Uis tin mine that was their lifeline shut down, a community in the Namibian desert is slowly being resurrected by locals using innovative tourism.

Namibia will impose a ban on all trade with `worked ivory` from next month in a bid to assert its ...

WINDHOEK, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - A Namibian annual wildlife auction on Friday sold 175 rare species in an hour for a record price, among them the black rhinoceros and the African buffalo, the environment and tourism ministry said.

The animals were snapped up by breeders and game farm owners for 19 million Namibian dollars (2.5 million US, 1.6 million euros).

BERLIN, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - Namibia's ambassador to Berlin has demanded German universities return dozens of human skulls, remains of the colonial-era Herero massacre, that are held in their archives.

NEURAS, July 20, 2008 (AFP) - It's not a mirage on the edge of one of the world's oldest deserts, though it may seem so at first: a lush vineyard producing wine that is worth the hot and dusty trip.

Somehow, Allan Walkden-Davis has created this oasis in the Namib desert region in the southwestern corner of Africa, one of the driest places on Earth.

WINDHOEK, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Eight southern African coastal states have agreed to set up a regional task force to deal with illegal fishing in their waters and save dwindling fish stocks, fisheries ministers said Friday.

WINDHOEK, July 4, 2008 (AFP) - Eight southern African coastal states have agreed to set up a regional task force to deal with illegal fishing in their waters and save dwindling fish stocks, fisheries ministers said Friday.

WINDHOEK, June 27, 2008 (AFP) - Namibia's main opposition party on Friday called on the country's government to end its silence on the Zimbabwe crisis, saying it could have bolstered dissenting regional voices.

A regional tribunal on Wednesday postponed hearing an application by a group of some 80 white Zimbabwean farmers who face eviction from their land after the Harare government pushed for an adjournment.

WINDHOEK, May 1, 2008 (AFP) - A hunt for diamonds along the coast of Namibia has led to the discovery of a shipwreck dating back around five centuries, with its booty of gold coins and bronze cannons still intact.

WINDHOEK, April 18, 2008 (AFP) - Net profits from Namibia's largest diamond producer, Namdeb, a subsidiary of DeBeers, dipped almost by half last year despite slight increase in production, the company said on Friday.

WINDHOEK, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba made his first cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday since coming to power in 2005, with former premier Hage Geingob returning to government after a six-year absence.

WINDHOEK, March 28, 2008 (AFP) - A Namibia-based regional tribunal Friday granted temporary relief to almost 80 white farmers in Zimbabwe, allowing them to remain on their property until a next hearing in their suit on May 28.

LUANDA, March 22, 2008 (AFP) - Angola celebrated Saturday for the first time the anniversary of a 1988 battle that changed the region's political landscape, accelerating Namibian independence and the fall of apartheid in South Africa.

LUANDA, March 22, 2008 (AFP) - Angola will celebrate on Saturday for the first time the anniversary of the 1988 battle of Cuito Cuanavale which changed the region's political landscape, accelerating the independence of Namibia and the fall of apartheid in South Africa.

WINDHOEK, March 20, 2008 (AFP) - Namibia and North Korea said Thursday they hoped to strengthen their economic ties, as North Korea's head of state warned against countries plundering resources from poor African countries.

WINDHOEK, March 20, 2008 (AFP) - North Korea's de facto head of state Kim Yong-Nam is due to arrive Thursday in Namibia as part of his goodwill visit to three African nations, which also includes Angola and Uganda, officials said.

SEOUL, March 18, 2008 (AFP) - North Korea's de facto head of state Kim Yong-Nam left Tuesday on a goodwill visit to three African nations, official media said.

Kim, whose official title is president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly or parliament, left for Namibia, Angola and Uganda.

WINDHOEK, March 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Namibian court on Thursday halted the planned seizure of four farms owned by German citizens, saying the government had acted unconstitutionally.

WINDHOEK, Feb 15, 2008 (AFP) - Namibia hopes to construct a nuclear power station within ten years to ensure independent power supply in the face of a regional electricity crisis, a government official said Friday.

'We are thinking of nuclear-generated energy,' Joseph Iita, permanent secretary of the ministry of Mines and Energy told AFP.

WINDHOEK, Jan 20, 2008 (AFP) - Namibia has begun receiving electricity from western Zimbabwe after a multi-million cash injection to refurbish a worn-out power station, officials said.

WINDHOEK, Jan 12, 2008 (AFP) - Five tourists and their pilot have been killed in the southern African nation of Namibia after their light aircraft crashed into a house on take-off, officials said on Saturday.

WINDHOEK, Jan 12, 2008 (AFP) - Five foreign tourists and their pilot have been killed in the southern African nation of Namibia after their light aircraft crashed into a house on take-off, aviation officials said on Saturday.

They said the five dead tourists were believed to be from Israel, although there was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli authorities.

WINDHOEK, Dec 13, 2007 (AFP) - A white Zimbabwean farmer evicted from his land can remain on his property as he awaits further legal proceedings, a southern African regional tribunal based in Namibia ruled Thursday.

WINDHOEK, Dec 11, 2007 (AFP) - A southern African regional tribunal based in Namibia said on Tuesday that it would rule this week on an appeal filed by a white Zimbabwean farmer who was evicted from his land.

WINDHOEK, Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia's ruling party paid glowing tribute to its outgoing leader and liberation hero Sam Nujoma on Saturday at a special rally where a crowd of some 15,000 people bade him farewell.

WINDHOEK, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) - Namibia's ruling party elected President Hifikepunye Pohamba as its new leader Thursday to succeed liberation hero Sam Nujoma, the father of the country's liberation struggle.

WINDHOEK, Nov 27, 2007 (AFP) - Sam Nujoma, a former Namibian president and the father of the country's liberation struggle, reiterated Tuesday plans to step down as ruling party chief at a congress that will elect his successor.

WINDHOEK, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A former cabinet minister and senior stalwart of Nambia's ruling party, Hidipo Hamutenya, launched a new movement in Namibia Saturday, promising a different political vision and accelerated economic growth once in power.

Hamutenya resigned from the ruling South West Africa Peoples' Organisation (Swapo) and as a member of parliament last week. He joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) which was registered earlier this month by another former Swapo politician, Jesaya Nyamu.

WINDHOEK, Nov 12, 2007 (AFP) - A Namibian court Monday postponed until 25 February the extradition hearing of fugitive millionaire Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander who is wanted by the US government on 35 fraud charges.

Alexander appeared briefly in a magistrate's court, which deferred the case to allow for a constitutional challenge on which judge should hear the case.

WINDHOEK, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki told lawmakers in Namibia on Tuesday that the two neighbours' destinies were inextricably linked as he oversaw a new push to boost cross-border trade.

After talks with host President Hifikepunye Pohamba, focused on development of Namibia's offshore Kudu gas field project and electricity exports from South Africa, Mbeki was accorded the honour of addressing parliament in Windhoek.

WINDHOEK, Oct 30, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki held talks with his Namibian counterpart Hifikepunye Pohamba here Tuesday on a visit designed to boost cross-border trade and cooperation in the energy sector.

The proposed development of Namibia's offshore Kudu gas field project and electricity imports that Namibia receives from South Africa were among the topics in the initial round of discussions, Windhoek government sources said.

WINDHOEK, Oct 25, 2007 (AFP) - The presidents of Namibia and Angola called on Western countries to lift sanctions imposed against neighbouring Zimbabwe on Wednesday, calling them 'illegal' and unfair.

'The sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are illegal and unjustifiable,' Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo dos Santos said in a joint press statement on Wednesday.

TSUMKWE, Namibia, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of southern Africa's San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction.

After clashing at the start of the last century with German settlers in modern-day Namibia and then being exploited by South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s, the San, also known as Bushmen, are now threatened by the 21st century curses of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and HIV-AIDS.