N’djamena is a rarity in the region - the trees lining the Chad capital are not scarred by plastic bags. When Marie Thérèse Mbailemdana became mayor of N’djamena in January 2010, she was determined to apply a 1992 law prohibiting the importation of plastic bags (known by the Arabic word ‘léda’); until then the law had not been strictly enforced. 'This plastic polluted the city – you saw plastic hanging on walls, on trees. And it destroys our environment. Plastic remains in the ground for centuries. No trees or plants will grow where plastic is in the ground,' she told IRIN.

The United Nations health agency has mapped out what countries can do, including raising more funds and spending it more efficiently, to ensure that everyone who needs health care can access it despite rising costs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that governments worldwide are struggling to pay for health care, which is rising as populations get older, as more people suffer chronic diseases, and as new and more expensive treatments appear.

Media workers in the employ of Nigeria's federal government returned to work last Tuesday after they suspended their three day warning strike over the implementation of a new media salary structure. The suspension came following a meeting with key government officials. Members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU) had on Monday begun a three-day warning strike to force government to implement a new media pay structure for federal media workers who are said to be earning the lowest in the west African sub region.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete appointed a new cabinet last Wednesday, with most senior ministers retaining their positions from the previous government. Kikwete named his cabinet after winning an October 31 general election overshadowed by a record low turnout and allegations of rigging.

The lack of transparency and fair political competition, as well as a recent rise in violence in Egypt left little hope that the results would reflect the will of the Egyptian people, according to Freedom House. In the six months since Egypt renewed its long-standing emergency law, authorities have increasingly cracked down on free speech and association, silenced independent media, restricted text messaging services, and obstructed public events.

Economic activity in Morocco favours certain geographical areas, putting residents of other regions at a significant disadvantage. According to recent figures from the Ministry of Finance's forecasting and research division, a number of challenges are ahead, including deepening imbalances, especially in employment and social exclusion. Sociologist Mohamed Bouchaibi told Magharebia that the situation requires an intervention, as the divide continues to widen between the regions of diverse economies.

In its state report to the recent UN Committee Against Torture review, Ethiopia implies that the relevant legislation on torture is thorough and sufficient. But in its concluding remarks, the Committee against Torture points out 27 topics as subjects of concern and makes recommendations to the state party in the following areas: definition of torture, its widespread use, impunity for the authorities, anti-terrorism measures as false pretence for torture, abductions, human trafficking and other areas of the failures of implementing the existing laws.

The rapid growth of the ICT market in Uganda has been greeted with optimism over its potential to boost the country’s development. But less attention is being paid to the increase in gender based violence due to the use of information and communications technology. The rapid adoption of mobiles has also seen a rise in invasion of privacy through SMS stalking, monitoring and control of partners’ whereabouts.

There are 91,000 children living with HIV in Malawi. A shortage of resources means that many do not receive proper treatment and care. The most recent AIDS Epidemic Update, published by UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation, estimated that there were 2.1 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV worldwide in 2007; 1.8 million were found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Campaign to End Pediatric AIDS (CEPA) estimates 370,000 African children were newly infected that year.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

A Women for Women International report being released on international Stop Violence Against Women Day (25 November) finds ‘violence against women is the single biggest threat to peace’ and countries are falling strikingly short on UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and UN (SCR) 1325 development and security goals. The report found that at the ten year mark, goals signed up to by UN members to eliminate poverty and empower women, have fallen strikingly short of expectations. While many countries are behind on their promises to meet the MDGs, particularly those goals in which gender is explicit, conflict-affected countries, are further behind.

Looking ahead to the United Nations climate change conference beginning in Cancún next week, a senior official with the world body said that talks could yield real results but was cautious to keep expectations realistic. Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning Robert Orr told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that he did not expect the conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to deliver a 'final answer' on solving climate change but remained positive about the possibilities.

The regional SADC bloc says an independent investigation in Zimbabwe, to verify reports of violence and intimidation before a general election can be held, is needed. Civic society leaders from Zimbabwe on Monday met with the SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Salamao, in Gaborone to appraise him and his secretariat on what needs to be done before parties in the Global Political Agreement call for a poll.

The US Government has finally given the names of the four top Government officials and a prominent businessman banned from setting foot in the US over drug trafficking. At the same time, US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger handed over 'crucial information' to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission on the closed Charterhouse Bank. Ranneberger said his government's decision was in response to demands that the names of those banned be disclosed.

Prosecutions have gotten underway to put behind bars eight members of an illegal kidney transplant syndicate operating in South Africa. The accused, who were exposed earlier this month after reports of unlawful transplant procedures surfaced, appeared in a Kwazulu Natal court. They face charges of illegally harvesting and selling kidneys between 2001 and 2003 at the St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban.

Scores of women's organisations from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia joined forces last week for a sensational campaign led by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR). As part of the 'One Day, One Struggle' simultaneous event on 9 November, public demonstrations, film screenings, theatre performances and workshops were held in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia.

The economies of Africa, the world’s poorest region, are under severe threat from free trade agreements that they are under pressure to sign with the European Union, the world’s richest region. Under these economic partnership agreements (EPAs), Europe wants Africa to open up its economies to European goods, services and companies. But the African countries are understandably worried their small industries and service operators will not be able to survive free competition from giant European companies, banks and commercial firms, writes Martin Khor in The China Post.

luminium giant BHP Billiton’s Mozal smelter has begun bypassing its fume treatment centres, emitting potentially dangerous fumes into the air without treating them first – despite a pending court case on the matter. There has been strong opposition from civil society and community groups. A coalition established to fight the bypass, led by local groups Livaningo and Justica Ambiental (Environmental Justice), says that the community has still not been presented with adequate evidence that the bypass will not be harmful to their health.

Home to over half of Ethiopia’s remaining afromontane forest and the centre of origin for the wild coffee arabica, Kafa is a dense tangle of forest, bamboo thickets and wetlands 475 kilometres southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa. Decades of deforestation by smallholder farmers as well as large state and privately-owned farms destroyed 43 per cent of the Kafa rainforest. But the forest is now a model of sustainable forest management.

The trial of the two women's rights defenders, Dr. Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang-Sissoho, has been adjourned to 1 December. State prosecution officer Sainey Joof told the court that the case against GAMCOTRAP was not a civil case but that it was the state that had brought the case against the two senior officers of the organisation.