A parliamentary commission hopes to reconcile tensions between the government and the media with specific recommendations, commission co-ordinator Jamal Eddine Naji said on March 9th at a press conference in Rabat. Parliament launched the commission March 1st to spur a national debate about the press between media representatives, members of parliament, political figure, the government and the public.

Kenyan farmers can now insure some of the costs of growing crops against bad weather by using mobile phone technology that links solar-powered weather stations to an insurance company.

An international initiative that seeks to promote more openness about how countries profit from their oil, gas, and mining resources should not weaken its modest membership standards because governments are unable or unwilling to meet them, Human Rights Watch has said.

Whenever gender empowerment is a vibrant topic of discussion internationally, some of the countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America are invariably singled out for their success stories in politics, education, health care or civil liberties even as Africa is mostly left out of political reckoning - and wrongly so.

Nigeria's acting president should make sure that the massacre of at least 200 Christian villagers in central Nigeria on March 7, 2010, is thoroughly and promptly investigated and that those responsible are prosecuted, Human Rights Watch has said.

Pregnancy is the leading cause of dropouts for school girls in Tanzania. And a national law forbidding young mothers to return to school after giving birth did not make it any easier for them to continue their education. But thanks to pressure from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the Tanzania government has now adopted a new law that allows young mothers to continue their education at their former schools.

* One year Certificate/Diploma of Higher Education/ BA degree.
* One year MA
* One term full time course

The medical humanitarian organization Mèdecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is deeply concerned by the rapidly worsening situation in the isolated area of Hauts Plateaux in the region of Uvira, South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

With the 15th-year review of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women taking place at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women in New York, South African teachers and education experts say they fear that a special focus on the advancement of girls is getting lost amidst the growing levels of poverty in the country.

While gay rights are slowly expanding around the world, including in Africa, human rights activists note some political, media and religious leaders are leading sometimes violent campaigns in the opposite direction. Activists say they feel the tradition of tolerance no longer applies to homosexuals in that West African nation.

Former Debswana Managing Director, Louis Nchindo, and seven other De Beers executives, among them Gary Ralfe and Nicky Oppenheimer, pocketed millions of Pulas in bonus schemes that ripped the government of Botswana off – a confidential report has revealed.

The African Union (AU) has demanded an urgent election timetable, leading to the return to constitutional order in Niger following the ousting of President Mamadou Tandja in a coup on 18 February in the West African nation.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is building on initial success to reduce child labor in northern Uganda by launching a new program to further tackle the underlying poverty that forces many families to send their children out to work.

South African President Jacob Zuma is expected in Zimbabwe next week amid reports that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC has written to his office saying they want a deadlock to be declared.

Oukasie, Sharpville, Orange Farm, Siyathemba: images of violent protest action against poor service delivery have dominated the news in the past few weeks, signalling growing frustration with the Jacob Zuma administration’s failure to address the implosion of services in parts of South Africa. But all too often, media coverage does not help us to understand the complex forces that gave rise to such protests, writes Jane Duncan.

In this week's emerging powers news roundup, East Africa is the new frontier for oil exploration, China Eximbank to continue to invest in Africa, India- Africa project partnership conclave to discuss $9 billion worth of projects, and Tata Communications increases investment in Africa.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria, Professor Maurice Iwu, announced here Thursday that the commission would release the comprehensive time-table for the conduct of the 201 1 general elections on Tuesday.

The Johannesburg-based World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) has condemned the continued detention of three members of the Malawian civil soc iety organisation. CIVICUS said it found no evidence to suggest any incitement of violence against members of the ruling party as alleged by the authorities in Malawi.

Britain, Malawi’s main bilateral donor, has cut aid to the southern African nation this year after Malawi bought a $13.26 million presidential jet last year, a senior British diplomat has said. Malawi’s finance minister told parliament recently that the government had made some payments towards the purchase of the 2 billion Malawi kwacha ($13.26 million, Sh1 billion) jet.

Reporters Without Borders celebrates World Day Against Cyber Censorship on 12 March. This event is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all. It is also meant to draw attention to the fact that, by creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet.