The head of Egypt’s military intelligence has promised Amnesty International that the army will no longer carry out forced ‘virginity tests’ after defending their use, during a meeting with the organisation in Cairo on Sunday. Major General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), discussed the issue with Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty months after the organisation publicized allegations of the forced ‘tests’. Major General al-Sisi said that ‘virginity tests’ had been carried out on female detainees in March to 'protect' the army against possible allegations of rape, but that such forced tests would not be carried out again.

The presidents of China and Sudan have cemented economic ties between their countries during a state visit by Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese leader, to Beijing. China is a major buyer of Sudanese crude oil, and is keen to ensure the partition of Sudan into two states will not descend into fighting that could disrupt supplies and damage Beijing's stake on both sides of the new border.

The French military has confirmed that it airdropped weapons to civilians fighting in rebel-held areas in the western part of Libya. Colonel Thierry Burkhard, a spokesperson for the French general staff, told Al Jazeera that the military had dropped assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers to groups of unarmed civilians it deemed to be at risk. The Le Figaro newspaper and the AFP news agency reported that France had dropped several tonnes of arms, including Milan anti-tank rockets and light armoured vehicles.

This report, from 2010 and published by the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health, highlights 11 key categories of diseases and other health consequences that are occurring or will occur due to climate change. The report also examines a number of cross-cutting issues for research in this area, including susceptible, vulnerable, and displaced populations; public health and health care infrastructure; capacities and skills needed; and communication and education efforts.

In this article, UNHCR Public Information Intern Dasha Smith speaks to Neil Grungras, who has spent many years advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex refugees and asylum-seekers, and is the founder and executive director of the San Francisco-based Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM). This interview comes at a time when accounts increasingly emerge of persecution and violence towards refugees and asylum-seekers in parts of the world based on sexual grounds.

The International Criminal Court's deputy prosecutor rejected charges it unfairly targets Africa, saying the victims were also African and that indictments were led by referrals from Africans themselves. In a joint interview with Reuters and France's TV5 in the Ivorian capital, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the high rate of referrals in Africa could just as easily show that leaders on the continent were taking their responsibilities to international justice seriously.

The infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate are globally regarded as among the best indicators of the health of a community, argue three University of Cape Town professors in this article about informal settlements. 'In Khayelitsha about 60 children among every 1,000 born alive die of diarrhoea-related illness before their fifth birthday - 10 times more than in our southern suburbs. That under the prevailing conditions this number is not appreciably higher could be ascribed to households doing their utmost to maintain as high a standard of hygiene as possible.'

The Climate Change Media Partnership has published a briefing paper that recommends ways for policymakers to support a better class of climate change journalism that is relevant to local audiences, builds public awareness of the issues and contributes to improved policymaking. Climate change journalism can protect people and promote sustainable development - but only if it is accurate, timely and relevant, the brief says.

On 23 March, the University of Johannesburg in South Africa cut all ties with Ben Gurion University in the Negev in Israel. Salim Vally is a senior researcher at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg and the coordinator of the Education Rights Project. While he was in Montreal in May 2011, giving a lecture at McGill University in Montreal entitled .

Haitian President Michel Martelly, who came to power in mid-May, must urgently rehouse homeless quake survivors still living in camps nearly a year and a half after the disaster, and meet the basic needs of those who remain in urban slums, says a new report from the International Crisis Group (ICG). The Brussels-based think tank warns the new government faces an 'immediate crisis' amid the growing frustrations of these vulnerable groups in the capital, with 650,000 people still waiting for permanent housing in more than 1,000 unstable emergency camps dotting Port-au-Prince. With the onset of the hurricane season, storms have already flooded 30 camps, driving people to abandon their tents.

Amnesty International’s 2010 annual report on Senegal found that sermons by religious leaders fuel homophobia and undermine the fundamental rights of gay people in that country. The report was presented recently to media and civil society during a press conference held at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Dakar. Seydi Gassama, director of Amnesty International Senegal said, 'The situation of human rights in Senegal is far from brilliant. Religious tolerance is one of the characteristics of Senegalese people and we cannot tolerate religious leaders that pronounce threats against homosexuals.'

TB is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV in Zambia, according to Justin O'Brien, policy, advocacy and communications manager for The Zambia AIDS Related Tuberculosis Project, ZAMBART, a nongovernmental organisation that aims to improve the quality of life of people with HIV and TB. About 70 per cent of Zambian TB patients have HIV, according to the World Health Organisation. Dr. Peter Chungulo of ZAMBART says that poverty and malnutrition, or undernutrition, also contribute to TB infections, whether it's new cases or relapses.

The countrywide shortage of neurologists is preventing people with epilepsy from getting proper care in the public sector. Epilepsy is supposed to be diagnosed by a neurologist, but in Gauteng there are only three hospitals with neurology departments. This means that everyone in the province who has epilepsy has to visit either Johannesburg General, Chris Hani Baragwanath or Pretoria Academic hospitals. Epilepsy can, for the most part, be controlled by daily medication but people normally only receive a six-months prescription.

Fahamu’s Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the , a monthly publication that provides a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News. You can also read the newsletter on our blog.

Sudan has agreed to bring some former rebels into the its army and the south played down a northern threat to shut oil pipelines, as the country's halves scramble to prepare for the south's looming secession. South Sudan is due to become the world's newest independent state in less than two weeks, but the two parts of the country have yet to iron out tough issues, from the mutual border to how they will share oil revenue and divide $38 billion in debt.

VIOLENT RIOTS AGAINST POWER CUTS IN DAKAR
Tidiane Kassé

Dakar has had a night of riots, with the masses taking to the streets since the end of Monday 27 June to protest against power cuts. In several areas of the city, the electricity supply is only available in a sporadic manner for a few hours – sometimes a few minutes – with sessions that can last for close to 24 hours.

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SENEGAL: WHEN WADE BACKED DOWN ON 23 JUNE
Tidiane Kassé

The 17th amendment to the Senegalese constitution, which was to take place on 23 June, fell through. The people took to the streets of Dakar – as well as in the towns upcountry – to protest against the proposed bill that President Wade had forwarded to Parliament. This was a bill whose aim, had it gone through, would have opened up an avenue for Wade's son, Karim, take on the succession to power, but also would have guaranteed him an easy victory in the 2012 presidential race.

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THE ERA OF THE BADLY ELECTED PRESIDENT!
Alioune Sarr

If the bill proposed by Abdoulaye Wade passes, 25 per cent of votes cast would be enough to become president of the republic. In a country which counts 12 million inhabitants with an electoral body of 4,917,160 voters, then 1,229,290 votes would be enough for one to be elected in the first round of elections. For Alioune Sarr, never would we see a president so badly elected.

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WHY I VOTE AGAINST
Samba Diouldé Thiam

A public revolt forced President Abdoulaye Wade to withdraw the bill he proposed to amend the constitution, yet it was already before parliament. Although the liberal majority was already ready to let the bill pass by mechanical vote, members of parliament from the ruling party – as well as those from the opposition – were ready to vote against. Samba Dioulde Thiam is one of them. He explains his reasons why.

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GUINEAN CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORTS THE STRUGGLE OF THE SENEGALESE PEOPLE

The National Council of Organisations of Guinean Civil Society, faithful to its cause of being watchful and in accordance to its values and principles, notably in terms of human rights and democracy, insists on expressing their concern with regards to the events that took place in Dakar on 23 Thursday June 2011.

The conflict that began in Libya on 17 February 2011 with a popular revolt against Gaddafi’s regime has triggered a mass exodus of the civilian population into neighbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled, mainly into Tunisia and Egypt. An International Federation for Human Rights report, based on the findings of a mission to the Egypt-Libya border, reveals the vulnerable situation of refugees and migrants stranded at the Salloum Land Port and presents numerous accounts of violence targeting Sub-Saharan African migrants in Eastern Libya.

Eucharia Uche, the coach of the Nigerian national women’s soccer team, the Super Falcons’ has said she will use spirituality to combat lesbianism on the side. Speaking about what she termed, 'spiritual warfare', she recently said, 'I came to realize it is not a physical battle; we need divine intervention in order to control and curb it [lesbianism].' As soon as she was hired as the first female coach of Nigeria’s powerful women’s national soccer team, Uche expressed her concern about rumoured lesbians on the national side, describing it as a 'worrisome experience' at a seminar.

According to a recent study by the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), the SADC region will continue to require more energy in the future for its developmental needs, reports Kizito Sikuka for Southern African News Features. Member State utilities through SAPP have identified a number of priority projects for commissioning over the next few years to address the energy situation in the region. Most of these projects are targeted at renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro and wind – which are less polluting to the environment compared to other forms such as coal. These projects include the Mphanda Nkuwa hydropower project in Mozambique, Itezhi Tezhi hydropower in Zambia and the Kudu gas project in Namibia.

This Greenpeace report examines the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in many herbicides sold throughout the world, including the well-known formulation, Roundup. 'Glyphosate based herbicides are used widely for weed control because they are non-selective; glyphosate kills all vegetation. Glyphosate has been promoted as "safe". However, mounting scientific evidence questions the safety of glyphosate and its most well known formulation, Roundup. The evidence detailed in this report demonstrates that glyphosate-based products can have adverse impacts on human and animal health, and that a review of their safety for human and animal health is urgently needed. The widespread and increasingly intensive use of glyphosate in association with the use of GM (genetically modified, also called genetically engineered or GE) crops poses further risks to the environment and human health.'