The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has eased technical assistance restrictions on Zimbabwe in a move seen as moving towards normalising relations with the southern African nation. This will see Zimbabwe getting technical advice to design its economic programmes and the IMF will monitor the implementation of specific projects.

A recent academic study has identified a range of mental health disorders suffered by shack dwellers in South Africa's Western Cape Province, from chronic insomnia to low self-esteem. The study, 'The Impact of Living in Transitional Communities; The Experiences of People in Blikkiesdorp and Happy Valley', was conducted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Because of budget considerations, the study was constrained to two settlements.

Gunmen have killed 20 people, including a traditional leader, in an attack on a village in northern Nigeria's Zamfara state, a local official has said. The attackers stormed Kaboro village and began shooting indiscriminately.

Experts have called on governments and development organizations to put in place measures to significantly reduce the amount of food lost in the global food delivery chain. 'The amount of food lost along the food supply chain should be reduced as a way of reducing wastage within the food production system and also as a way dealing with global food insecurity,' Joseph Alcamo, chief scientist at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), told IRIN.

Gunmen assassinated a well-known comedian and musician who poked fun at Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents in the Somali capital, police and colleagues said Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks against media and cultural figures. Warsame Shire Awale, a famous composer who had worked with Somalia's national army band before joining Radio Kulmiye as a drama producer and comedian, was attacked by two gunmen late on Monday.

This Guardian UK article lists Africa's top political tweeters, which include David Coltart, Uhuru Kenyatta and Julius Malema.

Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has insisted he had no knowledge of the alleged misuse of Irish aid by officials in his office, after Dublin suspended all government assistance to Kampala. Ireland shelved the programme on Thursday when an investigation found that four million euros ($5.2 million) had been misappropriated.

A Tunisian court ordered blogger and anti-Islamist activist Sofiane Chourabi to pay a 104 dinar (52 euro/$67) fine for drunkenness and indecency during Ramadan, he said. Chourabi has accused the Islamist-led government of orchestrating the case against him and, denying any wrongdoing, said he would appeal the decision.

Army Times news service reported that the U.S. is expected to deploy more than 3,000 soldiers to Africa in 2013. They will be assigned to every part of the continent. Major General David R. Hogg mused: 'As far as our mission goes, it’s uncharted territory.' But the presence of US soldiers in Africa is nothing new, and even though Hogg is unwilling to admit it, the obvious mission is to lock down the entire continent.

If there is such a thing as an African version of California's Silicon Valley, the country that is arguably leading the race to the future is Kenya. Household tech names such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia and Vodafone all have a presence here, and IBM recently chose Nairobi for its first African research lab. Kenyans enjoy faster broadband connections than their counterparts in Africa's economic powerhouse, South Africa. And the government plans to build a $7bn (£4.36bn), 5,000-acre technology city that is already being branded Africa's 'Silicon Savannah'.

Their conditions improving, nearly all of the children admitted to health centres for nodding syndrome have now been released, according to Uganda’s Ministry of Health; less severely affected patients have also started treatment. Even as health officials bring the symptoms under control, the cause of the syndrome remains unknown, which means all of Uganda's diagnosed patients will have to remain on treatment for long periods. And gaps in the health system - highlighted by a recent two-day strike at an affected health facility - have raised questions about the government's ability to provide consistent care.

Uganda's authorities have banned a play that criticises President Yoweri Museveni's government, the play's co-director John Ssegawa has said. He said the Media Council had ordered performances of State of the Nation to be halted until a review was held. The play highlights alleged corruption and poor governance in Uganda, ruled by Mr Museveni since 1986.

Villagers in Gokwe, Mashonaland West, have reported that uniformed soldiers are forcing them to attend political rallies, where they are being warned that more soldiers with guns will be deployed to punish them if they do not support ZANU PF policies on the constitution and in elections due next year. The report comes just a day after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, told reporters that Robert Mugabe met with Tsvangirai on Monday and agreed to call a meeting with the country's army generals, to discuss the issue of political violence and elections.

'Their attitude to workers, trade unions and economic and social rights is even more hostile than that of the National Democratic Party,' Egypt’s now-dissolved former ruling party. That is the verdict of Kamal Abu Aita, head of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), on the performance in power of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The MB withdrew its earlier support for a new law on trade union freedoms,Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Abu Aita was particularly critical of the behaviour of the MB’s labor minister, Khaled al-Azhari, charging that there was evidence he had been actively inciting employers and management against protesting workers in various institutions.

A coalition of international non-governmental and farmers’ organisations has urged Nigerian and other African leaders to guarantee transparency in the management of large-scale land transactions and freeze acquisitions, which do not conform to rules, regulations and the framework of the land declaration of the African Heads of States and Government of 2009. Nigeria, in particular, has over the years, been offering land to lure foreign investors to the economy, at heavily discounted rates, usually without requisite consultations with small land owners and farmers.

There have been considerable efforts by women to have chance in Ghanaian politics. Ghana Decides, a non-partisan project which aims to foster a better-informed electorate for free, fair and safe 2012 elections using social media tools took a personality profile look on parliamentary candidate Agnes Chigabatia. Ghana Decides is an initiative under Blogging Ghana, a Ghanaian blogging community.

The World Bank has produced its 2013 list of the best places in the world to start and run a business, ranking the UK in 7th place, below the US in 3rd and Singapore, which retained the number one spot. Germany could only manage 20th place and France secured a lowly berth at number 34 out of 183 countries ranked this week. This Guardian UK blog post notes that critics argue the World Bank rankings promote a neo-liberal agenda of privatisations, welfare cuts, limited employment rights and low wages to please and entice foreign multinationals.

Amid the doctors’ strike in Tanzania policy analysts met in Dar es Salaam recently, and they said that the on-going crises at the major hospitals are due to poor budgetary allocation, and to mismanagement of funds by some leaders in various Government circles. The analysts say the low budget allocated to the health sector is against the Abuja Declaration on Health Equity. They warned that the health sector is deteriorating fast, and it needed financial intervention.

Police in South Africa say they have fired rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades in clashes with hundreds of striking Anglo American platinum mine workers who barricaded roads outside Johannesburg. About 12,000 Amplats workers in northwestern Rustenburg who were dismissed early this month for going on an illegal strike were given an option to return to work on Tuesday morning if they want their jobs back.

Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Luuq, in Somalia's southern Gedo Region, say their overcrowded settlements are desperately short of basic needs, from shelter to clean water. 'The majority of the population here in these camps are women, children and elderly people who fled from recent battles and droughts in Bay, Bakool and lower Juba. There has been no basic human needs provision for the last months, the condition of the camps is deteriorating as there is no shelter, food or adequate health attention, and it's the raining period,' said Ali Mohamed, leader of one of the makeshift camps in the area.