Zambia’s Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Isaac Banda from the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) has relinquished his ministerial position with immediate effect, as pressure mounts for ministers appointed from the opposition to resign their posts. Banda is among the nine MMD Members of Parliament from the former ruling party who were threatened with expulsion by party president Nevers Mumba if they did not give up their ministerial positions.

Hopes of a new, more effective therapy for tuberculosis have been raised following the results of early trials. The study showed three drugs given in combination killed more than 99 per cent of TB bacteria after two weeks of treatment. The therapy appeared to be equally effective on the drug-resistant form of the disease in the trials of 85 patients, a team led by Stellenbosch University in South Africa reported.

This report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states that while sexual violence against women and girls has also become a central protection concern in displacement contexts, sexual violence against men and boys is less understood or acknowledged. 'It is increasingly evident, nevertheless, that this is a recurrent protection concern in situations of conflict and displacement.'

A first-of-its-kind study released by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) maps progress across 23 countries on HIV treatment strategies, tools and policies needed to increase treatment scale-up. The results show that governments have made improvements to get better antiretroviral treatment (ART) to more people, but implementation of innovative community-based strategies is lagging in some countries.

As the nineteenth International AIDS Conference continued in Washington, thousands of protesters marched on the White House with a set of demands to end the epidemic. At the forefront were calls for an end to free trade deals that protesters argue make vital AIDS medicines unaffordable. The march comprised a coalition of AIDS advocacy and activist groups organised under the mantra 'We Can End AIDS', and ended with a dramatic display when activists gathered symbols of the fight against AIDS – pill bottles and money – tied them with red ribbons, and threw them in front of the White House.

In a new report, 'Asset laundering and AIM: Congo, corporate misconduct and the market value of human rights', the business and human rights organisation Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) catalogues the inadequacies of the London Stock Exchange's regulatory framework. The Central African Mining and Exploration Company plc (CAMEC) was allowed to trade and flourish on London's junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) despite its close links to Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party (Zimbabwe), the dubious provenance of its Congolese mining assets and the unsavoury reputation of key business associates.

Roger Jean Claude Mbédé spent 16 months in prison with robbers, killers and other criminals. All he did was click the 'send' button on his mobile phone. The 33-year-old Cameroonian still can't believe what happened. On 28 April 2011, Mbédé was sentenced to 36 months in prison and fined 83,370 CFA francs (about 127 euros) for 'homosexual behaviour'. His lawyers immediately appealed the sentence and lodged an application for bail, which was rejected.

Zimbabwean government workers held protests 25 July in Harare against poor salaries after the Finance minister Tendai Biti ruled out an increment this year. The workers are demanding a salary of $564 for the least paid worker and 15 per cent of the basic salary as rural allowance for those working outside urban centres. The lowest paid civil servant earns $296.

Refugee rights organizations in Cape Town are breathing a sigh of relief following a high court judgement that will force the Department of Home Affairs to reverse a policy of not accepting new asylum-seeker applications at the region’s only Refugee Reception Office (RRO). Since the beginning of July, when the Maitland RRO in Cape Town moved to new premises, newly-arrived refugees trying to apply for asylum have been turned away and only those wanting to renew asylum seeker permits have been assisted. Maitland was the third RRO to be closed by Home Affairs in two years, leaving just three offices in Durban, Pretoria and Musina near the Zimbabwean border, where refugees can apply for asylum.

A 'Right to Know, Right to Education' fact sheet has been made available by Idasa for parliamentarians. The brochure is intended to provide the necessary information to parliamentarians to advance the right to education and the right to information.

Mauritanian journalist Obeid Ould Amegn, whose health is in bad condition, is still in the central prison of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. Obeid Ould Amegn, a journalist and an anti-slavery human rights activist, is the vice-president of the Club of Activist Journalists. He also runs the website Initi. Mauritanian police had arrested Obeid Ould Amegn on 29 April, in the capital Nouakchott, after he gave a statement to Al Arabiya TV network regarding those arrested following a book-burning protest.

It looks as though South Africa will finally lend cash-strapped Swaziland R2.4-billion, although the details, terms and conditions of the loan remain unclear. It has raised concern among pro-democracy activists who have always questioned the wisdom of the loan. Treasury spokesperson Jabulani Sikhakhane confirmed to the Mail & Guardian that a memorandum of understanding had been signed by the countries’ foreign ministers, but said 'discussions between the financial authorities are still ongoing'.

O neocolonialismo na África é dinâmico e apresenta elementos novos, como a entrada de China, Índia e Brasil na disputa pelas riquezas, mão-de-obra e mercado do continente negro, antes território das potências europeias, da URSS e dos EUA.

A study amongst 2443 people in Zambia, recruited from HIV clinics and community organisations, found that social ostracism, rejection by sexual partners and fear of not being able to handle antiretroviral therapy (ART) were the reasons people most often gave for not testing for HIV. A session at the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington heard that, perhaps surprisingly, in terms of demographic characteristics, people living in cities were far less likely to test than people in rural areas.

Fixed-term contract to December 2013
Location: London (six months) relocating to regional hub for the remainder of contract
Salary: £60,072 per annum pro rata (London);
Appropriate competitive salary when based in the regional hub

At Amnesty International (AI) we fight injustice on a global scale. To do that well, we need strong and coherent leadership across each of the regions in which we operate. Developing and rolling out our programme strategy for the Africa region that’s exactly what you’ll provide.

Kwame Dawes, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, is pleased to announce the establishment of the African Poetry Book Fund. Starting in January 2014, the Series will publish four new titles by African poets each year. In addition, the Series will publish an anthology every few years representing themes, ideas and poets from across the African continent. Of the four books published, one will be a winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and a second will be a new and selected volume by a major African poet. The winner of the Sillerman prize will also receive a $1000 in cash.

The ongoing protests in Sudan have shaken the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to its core, writes Ahmed Kodouda, senior program associate for the East and Horn of Africa Programme at Freedom House. 'To understand the complex challenge the Sudanese people face, it is imperative to unpack the ruling NCP and its internal components. Fundamentally, the NCP administration is an amalgamation of three distinct yet inextricably linked entities: the Sudanese military, the Islamic Movement in Sudan (Sudan's Muslim Brotherhood) and the ruling party (or the clique of individuals and businesses under Bashir).'

In June, the International Rescue Committee, a US based non-governmental organisation, published a report on domestic violence in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone, finding that abuse - including burning, battery, rape and psychological violence - is common in all three West African countries. The report stated that more than 60 per cent of women in the countries examined are survivors of violence, primarily by their intimate partners.

Tunisia's ex-strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been sentenced in absentia to life in prison for complicity in the murders of 43 protesters in the 2011 revolution that toppled him, a military judge has said. Hedi Ayari of the Tunis military court said that Ben Ali was judged with around 40 of his former officials, including General Ali Seriati, ex-head of presidential security, who was given a 20-year prison term.

A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study. The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined. The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for the Tax Justice Network.