Not only do women experience a higher rate of unemployment compared to men, but women also make up about two of every three discouraged work seekers. The recent economic crisis has also disproportionately affected women, with the number of females who are no longer economically active rising sharply between 2008 and 2009.

The current global food crisis is a silent tsunami, with billions of people going hungry. Hunger is indeed coming in waves, but not everyone will suffer. The recurrent food crises are making a handful of corporations very rich – even as they put the rest of the planet at risk.

Africa Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), a UK-based refugee rights organization assisting refugees who seek asylum in Egypt, is seeking an experienced human rights advocate to lead its work advising and representing asylum-seekers in the process of refugee status determination and in rare cases for resettlement in third countries. The application deadline is 22 May 2010.

The first anniversary celebration of the life and legacy of Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, pan-African friend, comrade, brother and inspiration to so many, is to be held in London on:

Date: Saturday 22 May 2010
Venue: Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre,
17 – 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA
Time: 1pm - 6pm

The celebration is open to the public and all are welcome to attend.

The celebration is jointly organised, in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, by friends of Tajudeen, including his widow Mounira Chaieb, Justice Africa, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme, the Royal African Society and Pambazuka News.

The day will comprise speeches on the life and works of Tajudeen, the launch of a book of the compilation of Tajudeen’s postcards entitled , performance poetry and traditional African music and the launch of the Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem Educational Trust.

We welcome all other organisations, groups and persons who wish to join our efforts to honour and continue the work of Tajudeen.

'Forward ever, backward never' Kwame Nkrumah (1909–72)
'Don't agonise, organise!' Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (1961–2009)

Official results of Mauritius's most recent elections released on 6 May 2010 shows a 0.5% decrease in women's representation in parliament, sliding from 17.1% to 16.6%. Unless this situation is corrected with the best loser system, Mauritius will follow the trend of gender losses in two Southern African countries that had elections in 2009, Botswana and Namibia.

With more than half of all Ethiopian adults tested for HIV in the past five years and a campaign for behaviour change in place, specialists are now calling for a more targeted approach. “Most-at-risk populations” (MARPs) have to be targeted through better understanding of how the epidemic is affecting them and in turn, to develop a more specific response.

This conference took place on the second anniversary of the first India-Africa Forum held in New Delhi in 2008. Although India and the African continent have been closely linked through long-established trade roots, there has been too little debate and analysis on India in Africa and this conference was an effort to provide a platform for a more balanced and focused debate, away from the existing overemphasis on China and its efforts in Africa.

The People's Republic of China will be among the world's largest investors for a long time to come, writes Derek Scissors. Its official foreign exchange reserves are closing in on $2.5 trillion and its financial institutions hold hundreds of billions more.

China's financial behavior is increasingly important to the United States and the international community. The created by The Heritage Foundation is the only publicly available, comprehensive dataset of large worldwide Chinese investments and contracts beyond Treasury bonds. Details are available on over 200 attempted transactions -- failed and successful -- over $100 million in all major industries, including energy, mining, transportation and banking.

China recently became the latest country to lift travel restrictions on people living with HIV, following in the footsteps of the United States. "Every individual should have equal access to freedom of movement, regardless of HIV status," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commented on China's decision.

The Trade Unions Confederation of Tanzania has called for a nationwide strike over government’s reluctance to implement a minimum 100 per cent pay hike proposal for workers in the private sector. The government had, after a series of negotiations with sector players and an industry survey settled for a minimum wage of Tsh120,000 ($88.8).

Samir Bergachi is unstoppable. Barely 23 years old, the young Moroccan is simply not content to live his homosexuality openly in a country where it is considered as a crime. For the past 6 years, Samir has been running the first Moroccan gay association, kif-kif. And only a month ago, he caused a real stir: the launching of Mithly, the first gay magazine in the Arab world. Some find his initiatives inadmissible. Others admire his courage.

Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's acting president, has been sworn in as the country's new leader following the death of Umaru Yar'Adua. Jonathan took the oath of office at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, just hours after officials announced the death of Yar'Adua following a long illness.

Reporters Without Borders has expressed deep shock at the death in unexplained circumstances of cameraman Jerry Usanga of Channels Television, whose body was found on the roadside by passers-by, on 4 May 2010. The spot where Usanga’s body was found, in Calabar, Cross River state in the south-east of the country, is close to the headquarters of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The human and environmental disruption wreaked by drought in Somaliland, where more than 60 percent of people raise livestock for a living, means the self-declared, but barely recognized, independent state should draw up its own plan for climate change adaptation, according to a new report.

About half of Djibouti’s rural population will need emergency food assistance this year due to the combined effects of drought, livestock losses, unfavourable livestock-to-cereal terms of trade and high staple food prices, according to an assessment by the government and UN agencies.

Zambia is pushing forward with formulating an anti-counterfeit draft law which will include medicines, despite the controversy that has surrounded similar laws in East Africa and despite having existing legislation which has been used to successfully prosecute counterfeiters of medicines

About half of South Africa's population is living in poverty, a problem that is not going to be solved overnight, says the Deputy Director-General of Social Development, Selwyn Jehoma. He said the poverty situation in the country was "very significant" and most people believed it would take about a generation to solve.

Sudan's largest rebel group says it will suspend peace talks with the Sudanese government because of alleged violence in the west of the country. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) accuses the Sudanese government of bombing its positions in West Darfur state, near the Chadian border.

The Merowe Dam on the Nile in Northern Sudan is one of the largest and most destructive hydropower projects in Africa. Commissioned in 2009, the project affects up to 70,000 people, many of whom were displaced from the fertile Nile Valley to arid desert locations. Thousands of people were flushed out of their houses by raising waters before they were properly resettled.