Bulawayo Magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Thursday 08 November 2012 ended the four-day detention ordeal for three Counselling Services Unit (CSU) representatives who were finally charged with causing malicious damage to property, in contravention of Section 140 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, four days after their arrest. According to State prosecutor Marlvin Nzombe, the three CSU representatives together with some unidentified individuals smeared some MDC graffiti on an information centre located in Mpopoma high density suburb in Bulawayo 07 October 2012.

Libya's former prime minister will be put on trial for crimes he allegedly committed during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was extradited from Tunisia, which he fled to in September 2011 after the fall of Tripoli to rebel forces. Along with Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's most prominent son, Mahmoudi is one of the few remaining keepers of the many state secrets under Gaddafi, who was killed on October 20 last year.

African leaders were criticised for failing to prioritise immunisation with life-saving vaccines for children under five years of age to prevent deadly infectious diseases. Delegates and speakers at the International African Vaccinology Conference in Cape Town said there was little political will among African leaders who were out of touch with the needs of their communities. They also agreed that more pressure must be put on African countries to develop and produce their own vaccines to drive prices down and meet demands.

The third investigation by Partnership Africa Canada into illicit activity in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector, this report focusses on ongoing trade irregularities, the lack of transparency of diamond revenues, and examines ways ZANU officials and the global diamond industry have colluded to pull off the biggest plunder of diamonds since Cecil Rhodes.

A total of 176 countries Monday 12 November adopted what World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan called a 'game-changing' global agreement to combat the illegal tobacco trade. PANA reports that the pact was ratified at a meeting in Seoul, South Korea, on WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The agreement came into force in 2005. 'The treaty envisages an international tracking system which aims to halt the smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products - a trade which accounts for 11 per cent of the total tobacco market and costs governments an estimated US$40 billion in lost tax revenue,' the WHO said in a statement.

Studies have revealed that residents of Zimbabwe's capital Harare literally drink their waste. A government owned newspaper at the weekend described pollution levels at Harare's water source – Lake Chivero – as comparable to a 'sewage pond'. It said recent tests on water samples detected about 2mg/l (two milligrammes in every litre of water) of phosphates or human and animal waste, exceeding the 0,5mg/l recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A group of 17 political parties, NGOs and human rights associations in Egypt have called for loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be ended immediately, citing a lack of transparency and the undemocratic nature of the current development. They are continuing their protests of a potential $4.8 billion IMF loan to Cairo in order to allow the Egyptian government to overcome pitfalls in spending.

West African nations have agreed to send a 3,300-strong invasion force to take back northern Mali from Islamists. The agreement occurred at an emergency summit of ECOWAS, a bloc of West African nations that has been discussing military actions in Mali for the last several months.

Zimbabweans providing cheap labour in the fast-growing Chinese mines bear the brunt of extremely harsh conditions and low wages, a Johannesburg-based advocacy group, Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) reveals in its research, the first such report detailing China's labour practices in the country. Hard labour, exposure to risky conditions, violation of labour laws, long working hours, non payment of overtime, disregard of public holidays and use of Chinese language in corporate literature were among extreme conditions faced by workers at most Chinese interests in Zimbabwe, the report said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Cameroonian officials to drop criminal charges against a journalist arrested last month in the southwestern town of Buea for covering a secessionist gathering. The journalist is free on bail but faces a fine and up to six months in jail. Baature Edua Mvochou, a Nigerian national and editor of African Drum magazine published [in] Jos, Nigeria, still faces a charge of unlawful assembly.

In this blog entry, Julia Farrington, Head of Arts at Index on Censorship, reports on the launch of Arstfex, the first international civil society network dedicated to promoting free expression for artists. 'There are clearly parallels between investigative journalists and artists who reveal uncomfortable truths. But when controversy breaks, artists are much more exposed because they use their own personal language to tell the story, and bring their own experience and imagination into the narrative.'

Mercy Womeh attends the J Chauncey Goodridge school in Monrovia, Liberia's capital. She pays her school fees by crushing rocks, earning 35 Liberian dollars ($0.47) for each bucket. Three years ago, her family moved from the countryside to the Monrovia suburb of Gbawe Town to find work. But in a country with 85% unemployment, crushing rocks was the only option.

Reporters Without Borders says it is relieved to learn that radio reporter Hassan Ruvakuki was finally allowed to testify to the court in the central city of Gitega that is hearing his appeal against his terrorism conviction, for which he was given a life sentence last June. Prosecutor-general Emmanuel Nyandwi thinks that the mere fact the Ruvakuki entered Tanzania clandestinely, and without getting permission from his employer, shows that he was linked to the 'terrorist' group.

On Monday 12 November police in Bulawayo arrested 79 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) for staging a peaceful demonstration against the water crisis in the city. All the activists were released after police realized the holding cells at police stations were without running water, a scenario that could have made the situation even worse.

Morocco's Prince Moulay Hicham, King Mohammed VI's first cousin, has said in a television interview the spirit of a new constitution adopted last year in a bid to stifle Arab Spring protests remains 'frozen'. The constitutional changes, introduced by the king to curb his near-absolute powers, followed mass protests in the north African country, and as similar unrest toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

The Civil Society on Monday launched a campaign against corruption which they said would go on until Government takes action on corrupt public officials. Representative s of various civil society organizations converged at Uganda Manufacturing Association Hall in Nakawa dressed in black T-shirts wielding placards with anti-corruption slogans. Leading the group, Irene Ovonji-Odida from Action Aid International Board of Trustees, said wearing black symbolized they had started mourning and mobilizing citizens to rise up against the evil of corruption.

The Tanzanian Budget Explorer is an initiative to make information about the way the Treasury allocates taxpayers money more accessible: transparent, easy to understand and exciting to follow. Public access to information about how the government spends money in Tanzania is beginning to improve. When available in reports or budget books, however, this information often is too bulky and complex to grasp. It can be a time consuming job to understand, and many people simply don’t have time to invest in doing it.

'I don't want to die of hunger and cold,' says Patrick, one of many sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco desperate to reach Spanish shores and start a new life in Europe as winter approaches. More than 90 of them, including women and children, have died in the past two weeks as they braved the perilous crossing, according to a toll calculated from reports by Spanish and Moroccan authorities and members of the African migrant community.

Following widespread land wrangles in the oil-rich Albertine region, the Ministry of Lands has announced plans to resolve this through guidelines to aid in compensation of customary land owners. 'It is crucial at the moment since people’s rights are at stake and we have the responsibility of protecting the poor and their property. We therefore have to put in place guidelines to ensure that those big oil companies and investors have an arrangement to adhere to and operate within the laws,' Ministry spokesman, Dennis Obbo, told Oil in Uganda.

One of Swaziland’s most vocal pro-democracy groups has called for a new law to ban hate speech against homosexuals. The call by the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) follows a debate in the Swazi House of Assembly in which MP Aaron Sotsha Dladla called for gays and lesbians to be outlawed in the kingdom. Dladla said a new law should be put in place to deal with ‘this mushrooming anti-social’ behaviour of gays and lesbians. He went on to make a number of disparaging comments about homosexuals.