Chances are that, no matter where you live on Earth, land acquisitions for mining, oil and gas might soon be at your door, says this report from the Gaia Foundation. 'This trend is now a major driver of land grabbing globally, and poses a significant threat to the world’s indigenous communities, farmers and local food production systems, as well as to precious water, forests, biodiversity, critical ecosystems and climate change. This report alerts global citizens to the dynamics in the extractive industries as a whole, and shows the alarming scale of this overall trend.'

Millions of newborns, children and mothers continue to die needlessly, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where rates of child mortality are the highest in the world. In this region one out of every eight children die before their fifth birthday, twenty times the rate of industrialised countries. Speaking at a Healthcare in Africa conference yesterday (WED) Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children, said although there has been a reduction in the under five mortality rate, the death of newborns was still the 'stubborn piece of the problem'.

Jolted by a public outcry since the start of the year, Nigeria's government has announced a series of measures to address oil industry corruption in the world's eighth biggest producer. It is an issue that may come to define Goodluck Jonathan's presidency. But two recent audits of the oil industry reviewed by Reuters show billions of dollars in irregularities despite years of government promises to clean it up.

A new gender law in Mauritius that requires one-third of candidates in local elections to be women represents another small step towards parity in decision-making. The gender quota is contained in the new Local Government Act that entered into force on 1 January 2012 and compels all political parties to field more women to contest in local elections due by April this year. Under Mauritian law, the town and village councillors are elected every five years and their main role is to ensure the smooth running of five towns and 108 villages, overseeing the provision of services such as garbage collection and road maintenance.

Twenty-five South Africans who suffered at the hands of the apartheid security police have claimed a small victory after a United States court ratified a settlement between the claimants and General Motors. Khulumani Support Group attorney, Charles Abrahams, has been quoted as saying that, 'The settlement is a small amount. It was a show of good faith on the part of General Motors, considering that they are bankrupt.' The claimants and the Khulumani Support Group, a lobby group for financial reparations for victims of apartheid, will share an amount of $1.5-million.

The third Global Health Watch report shows that health financing, including dwindling support for AIDS, is one of the challenges facing global health. The third edition of the Global Health Watch report provides an analysis of health challenges facing the world today. It also seeks solutions to these challenges. The new edition identifies three main issues that affect people around the world. 'We talk about the three acts – the three main crises that face poor people every day...the crises of finance, of food and fuel, which are life crises squeezing people’s lives throughout the world,' said Peter Benjamin of the People’s Health Movement, during the launch of the report in Johannesburg.

The Tunisian unemployment rate reached 18.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, with nearly three-quarters of jobless citizens under the age of 30. The rate marks a 0.6 per cent rise from the second quarter of 2011, according to data released by the Tunisian National Institute of Statists (INS) on 23 February. The total number of jobless Tunisians was reported at more than 738,000, a jump of 33,500 people.

Nicolas Sarkozy has declared there are too many foreigners in France, deliberately using extreme-right rhetoric to regain ground in his difficult re-election battle. The French president is already under attack by religious leaders and from within his own party for veering to the right and stoking anti-Muslim sentiment by forcing the marginal topic of halal meat into the centre of his campaign. He has now vowed to cut immigration by half and limit state benefits for legal migrants.

Newmont Gold has allocated around 20 per cent of its 'core assets' to two projects in Ghana - both of which have now come under fire from local communities. Human rights abuses have been reported from the Ahafo mine. And, in February, the people of Yayaaso, Adausina, Ntronan and surrounding communities in the Birim North District, eastern Ghana, carried out a peaceful demonstration against Newmont' proposed Akyem project.

Sweden, whose citizen has been jailed by Eritrea for more than ten years without charge, has moved to block the flow of diaspora money to the isolated Red Sea nation. Its parliament, Riksdag, is preparing legislation to block a two per cent mandatory tax collected by Eritrea from its citizens living in Sweden. Sweden has been demanding that Asmara releases Eritrean-born Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak who has been in jail since 2001 for being critical of President Isaias Afewerki's government.

The North Gauteng High Court is to hear an application to compel SA to abide by its legal obligations to investigate and prosecute high-level Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity. The case, which has been set down for hearing from March 26-30, is the first of its kind in SA. The court would have the opportunity to provide guidance on the scope and nature of the obligations placed on SA by signing up to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Thousands of people who have returned to their homes in areas close to Ndélé, in northern Central African Republic's (CAR) Bamingui-Bangoran region, after years of displacement, are living in difficult conditions as the security situation is still precarious, say officials. Between 2009 and 2011, Ndélé was the scene of fighting between government troops and various armed rebels, forcing thousands to flee.

Public universities in Kenya have become ethnic bastions, reveals a report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission presented to Parliament on Tuesday. The Big Five ethnic groups in Kenya dominate the work forces of the centres of higher education, the report shows. Although the Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo and Kamba, make up 66 per cent of the country’s population, they take up 93 per cent of the jobs at Masinde Muliro University, 89.8 per cent at Moi University, 87.3 per cent at Egerton University, 86 per cent at Jomo Kenyatta University, 82.3 per cent at the University of Nairobi and 81.7 per cent at Kenyatta University.

Tanzania’s Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has warned medical doctors in public hospitals to refrain from a nationwide strike saying the government could react with very drastic measures against them. 'At present, we see no reason to apply the force of law. We are trying to do what is humanly possible with a patriotic sense in order to avert a disaster that could affect poor patients whose lives are in the hands of medical staff,' Pinda said at a press conference he called to address the issue.

East Africa is in the middle of a major scramble for oil and gas resources as exploration firms rush to seal deals and optimism grows about more oil strikes. Last year saw at least 17 notable deals in East Africa, including five corporate ones worth over $250 million combined, more than double the number in 2010, which was just eight. Mid this year, Tullow, a wildcat oil prospector, is expected to announce the results of the wells it is currently drilling in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Libyan leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil has said he will defend national unity 'with force' after tribal leaders and a political faction declared that the east would become a semi-autonomous region. 'We are not prepared to divide Libya,' Jalil said, calling on eastern leaders to engage in dialogue and warning them against remnants of the former regime in their ranks.

The Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has criticised ‘empty’ promises of media reform made by the country’s coalition government. The criticism comes with less than a week left for Media and Information Minister Webster Shamu to implement key media reforms, after an alleged agreement by the principals in the unity government. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a press conference recently that this agreement had been reached during a weekly meeting with his coalition partners more than two weeks ago.

In 2009, 37 poor families won the right to receive permanent houses in terms of an order issued by the Durban High Court. The families must now return to court to force the eThekwini Municipality to obey the order. The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) and Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM) are suing the Mayor of eThekwini on behalf the families, who now live in the Richmond Farm Transit Camp near KwaMashu, Durban.

The Municipal Services Project, which explores alternatives to privatisation, has a new website which is well worth a visit. It has links to publications, blog posts and a twitter feed.

Newly independent South Sudan has some of the highest blindness rates in the world. Endemic diseases that have been stamped out in other post-conflict countries are rife, and the only fully functioning eye centre is in the capital, Juba. 'There is only one ophthalmologist in South Sudan and that's me,' says Wani Mena, who is also the Ministry of Health's representative for eye care and head of the country's main hospital. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends one ophthalmologist for every 400,000 people, while South Sudan has one for more than nine million people.