Hundreds of women have taken to the streets of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and the central city of Jos in rallies against Sunday's massacre near Jos. The women, mostly dressed in black, demanded that the government protect women and children better.

This week, the US State Department is honoring Ann with the 2010 International Women of Courage Award. With this award the US government pays tribute to outstanding women leaders worldwide, recognizing the courage they've shown as they struggle for social justice and human rights. In over a decade as a women's rights activist, nobody deserves this award more than Ann Njogu, writes Janet Walsh.

The chairperson of the ANC's biggest and most influential region in KwaZulu-Natal, John Mchunu, has been awarded tenders worth at least R40-million by the eThekwini municipality. Mchunu recently made headlines for allegedly vetoing the completion of a R1.5m elephant sculpture project for the new Warwick Avenue interchange, apparently because it was the symbol of the IFP.

The African Union (AU) has called for minor const itutional amendments in Guinea, a review of the voting rules and the extension of the voters' registration exercise, to accommodate thousands of other Guineans in exile across West Africa.

IGAD Heads of State and Government have urged parties to the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to remain committed to the implementation of outstanding issues in the agreement. The IGAD leaders, meeting in Nairobi Tuesday, asked the parties to the CPA to particularly move towards completing the North-South Abyei border demarcation and redeployment of forces.

Have we seen a response so far from the capitalists and their governments that suggest that they are going to change from neo-liberal globalisation? Will they look once again to the kind of Keynesian capitalism that worked so well for them in the 40's, 50's and 60's and regulate capital flows, invest in public services and seek to grow capitalism by stimulating demand and providing full employment? Or are they still wedded to the same system of mobile capital, speculation and the privatisation of public goods?

Conference will be a space for activists and analysts to debate the underlying causes of the global crisis, the responses of states, including South Africa and the response of the dominated classes to the global crisis and possibilities for alternatives to capitalism.

An Expression of Interest form is available

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Former rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who now serve in the army are running mafia-style extortion rackets in the mines, campaigners say. The country has some of the world's richest mines, which provide minerals to the global electronics industry.

For the two decades that he has been free, Souleymane Guengueng has constantly relived the two years he spent in a Chadian prison, where he watched hundreds of cellmates die from torture and disease. Thrown in jail in 1988 for still-unknown reasons, the deeply religious civil servant took an oath before God: If he ever got out alive, he would bring his tormentors to justice.

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.

Mawuli Dake

Momar Dieng

Many are saying food is becoming the new oil. In the past two years there has been a remarkable increase in purchases of large-scale farmland by foreigners throughout Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

"Anyone concerned about the future of the planet," writes Professor Ted Benton of the University of Essex, "should read this book. The contributors give powerful evidence and argument to show that the carbon trading regimes favoured by the world's elites will not work -- and are, indeed, set to make things worse. But the message is not negative. There are alternatives, both effective and desirable."

Inadequate healthcare is just one of many challenges facing the 16,200 refugees in this sprawling camp in western Uganda, which is served by a single doctor. Among those waiting in one of the camp’s two health centres when IRIN visited was Mirian, 30, whose child was shivering with fever, most likely caused by malaria.

The International Awards is accepting applications for the position of Project Manager (new position) and Programme Research and Admin Officer (new position), based at the International Award. To apply for either of these positions, please email CV along with a detailed statement, which outlines your suitability for the position, to [email][email protected] The deadline for applications for the Project Manager role is Thursday 11th March 2010 – by 3pm. Interviews will be taking place at the Award House on Monday 15th March. The deadline for applications for the Programme Research and Admin Officer is Monday 29thMarch 2010 by 12 noon with interviews being held at the Award House w/c 5th April.

An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens

Anti-C-300' pamphlets, buttons and large signs are everywhere at this year's the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's (PDAC's) annual convention, as Canadian mining industry groups turn the heat up in efforts to block the controversial legislation. Bill C-300, if approved, would allow Canada's government to investigate complaints about Canadian resources firms operating in foreign countries and withhold taxpayer-funded financing, such as from Export Development Canada, from transgressors.