Google has added more than 40 new domains on Google Maps, including six African countries: Somalia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Lesotho, Mali and Niger.

The race to feed more than 12 million people facing severe food shortages in the Horn of Africa has seen humanitarian agencies make several funding appeals. Donor governments have contributed more than US$1.46 billion out of the required $2.48 billion. So far, so traditional. What has not been counted has been the response of ordinary people in the region to the disaster unfolding on their TV screens. Here is a round-up of some initiatives that have tapped into popular philanthropy.

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, has requested Nigeria and the African Union (AU) to intervene in his country's pre-elections disagreement in order to rescue it from becoming 'another Ivory Coast.'

The Coalition of Civil Societies On Elections says it is satisfied with the conduct of general elections in Zambia. It warns however delays in announcing the results could create tensions.

Women account for more than 60 per cent of the 1,2 million people living with HIV and Aids in Zimbabwe, a recent survey has revealed. The survey, contained in a report titled: 'Know your Epidemic - Know your Response', indicated that only 20 per cent of the adult population knew their HIV status.

Educationists from the two sister Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education; and Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology recently stepped up efforts that seek to pave the way forward in achieving a more vibrant higher education policy road map.

The collapse of affordable schooling in Zimbabwe is leading thousands of children to make a perilous trek to South Africa. But some of those who make it, penniless, to Johannesburg, get what they want - a top-quality education.

'Two bus operators have died after having been shot by police in Swaziland,' Morten Nielsen from Danish NGO Africa Contact reports from the small kingdom. The shootings come in the wake of widespread police violence throughout the country during recent weeks, as well as in April, where thousands of Swazis marched for democracy and socio-economic justice.

In April, the Columbia Journalism Review raised the question of whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Africa benefit from particular representations of the continent as conflict and poverty-ridden.

Thousands of children die each year in Zimababwe from HIV-related illnesses, often because they have no access to life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs, the state-run Herald newspaper reports.

The latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines voter registration and the beginning of the campaign on the ground in the Kivu provinces and the Ituri district and highlights the electoral stakes in a region that remains fundamental for durable stability in the country.

The food security threat posed by climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the African continent, says Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson. 'Climate change is a serious threat to the agricultural field in the African continent,' Joemat-Pettersson told BuaNews at a breakfast briefing with African ambassadors to solicit support for the planned meeting on climate-smart agriculture.

The Brookings Institution finds that in January, the 10 longest serving African leaders included: Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi of Libya (42 years) , Jose E. Dos Santos of Angola (32 years) , Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mi of Equatorial Guinea (32 years), Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe (31 years), Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (30 years), Paul Biya of Cameroon (30 years), Yoweri Museveni of Uganda (25 years), Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso (24 years), Zina el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia (24 years) and Umar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan (22 years). Within a short period of eight months, almost a third of them have been removed from power.

According to United Nations figures, since 2010 some 30 refugees from Africa who have requested asylum from the Brazilian government are living in Amazon jungle states. The asylum-seekers are from Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in West Africa, Kenya in East Africa, Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, and the DRC.

Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education is a competition initiated by Teach A Man To Fish and generously sponsored by partner organisation Educating Africa. It continues to reward organizations in Africa that use innovative and entrepreneurial techniques to fill gaps in educational services across the continent. The competition is open to all organisations based in Africa working in education, from primary through to tertiary, as well as in non-formal and adult education.

Frank Mugisha, a Ugandan LGBTI human rights defender has been selected for the 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. He has been commended for his work in the LGBTI community especially in Uganda. Mugisha is the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an umbrella organisation that protects and recognises LGBTI people in the country.

President Robert Mugabe has sworn in Zimbabwe's anti-corruption commission in an effort to stem graft in the southern African country, state media reported.

The Sudanese government has banned and closed the offices of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a major opposition party, a senior SPLM-N member says.

Nigerian authorities have in recent days deported 115 illegal immigrants from the northern city of Kano amid increased security after an attack on UN headquarters in the country, an official said.

Political parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling to recruit women into their ranks to run for parliament, despite a legal requirement to do so and a belief that greater numbers of female parliamentarians are critical to advancing women’s rights.