Fewer people are dying from AIDS-related illnesses and being infected with the HIV virus than at any time in the last decade, but more progress is needed in prevention, testing and treatment, a report from the United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS) said. Fewer people are dying from AIDS-related illnesses, with the number of deaths declining to 1.7 million in 2011. New cases of HIV infections were 2.5 million, the lowest level since 2001, according to UNAIDS figures for the last decade.

The UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, controversially endowed by Equatorial Guinea, was finally awarded in Paris 17 July, after years of wrangling and postponements. The three prize winners - from Egypt, Mexico and South Africa - each received US$100,000 from Equatorial Guinea's vice president, Ignacio Milam Tang, amid speculation about whether the country's dictatorial president, and the prize's original funder, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, would attend in person (he did not).

On 15 July 2012, the Swazi Observer issued letters of suspension to its editor, Thulani Thwala, its weekend editor, Alec Lushaba, and the newspaper's chief financial officer (CFO) and senior manager, Mr. Nala Nkabindze. No explanation was given for the suspension. Both editors have been suspended for one month and await the outcome of an investigation into the matter. National Director of the Swaziland Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Swaziland), Comfort Mabuza, has condemned this development, branding it a clandestine action to silence the editors and prevent them from the informative and critical reporting that they are known to facilitate in Swaziland.

The Moroccan government on 2 July confirmed its decision to withdraw support for UN Western Sahara Envoy Christopher Ross. The Moroccan government had earlier announced that it had lost confidence in the UN envoy and accused him of 'biased and unbalanced guidance' in brokering unofficial talks between Morocco and the Polisario.

Human rights organisations have condemned the acts of violence committed on 26 June 2012 against Dr. Stephen Ulimboka, Chairperson of the Special Committee of Doctors, and called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry mandated to shed light on the circumstances of this aggression so that its authors can be brought to justice. Dr. Ulimboka was kidnapped and beaten while leading a strike by doctors seeking improved working conditions in public hospitals.

After 18 months of having its funding nearly completely cut off by a payment industry blockade, WikiLeaks says it’s finally found a new workaround that allows it to receive credit card donations. And after a legal victory against Visa in Iceland, the group is literally daring the card companies to shut down payments to his site again.

Mali has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate atrocities that have taken place in the country since January 2012, the chief prosecutor said. A mix of local and foreign Islamist fighters, including some fighters linked to al Qaeda, are in control of northern Mali after they hijacked a rebellion initially launched in January by secular Tuareg separatists. About 300,000 people have been displaced in a conflict marked by killings, rapes, torture, and attacks on cultural sites.

Senegal stopped renewing agreements allowing European fishing vessels in its waters in 2006, but now an expanding artisanal fleet and local industrial boats enjoying exclusivity under lax regulations are being blamed for malpractice and degrading the country’s main economic and food resource. 'In terms of environmental degradation, the responsibility is shared. Artisanal fishermen are responsible for habitat destruction. Although industrial vessels and foreign ships are often blamed, artisanal fishermen contribute hugely to the disappearance of species,' said Moustapha Thiam, the director of Senegal’s Maritime Fishing Authority, a Fisheries Ministry department.

An independent, global medical and humanitarian organization says African nations are not receiving adequate international funding to fight HIV/AIDS, leaving them to face catastrophic consequences without enough medication. Experts at Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Congo is only able to supply anti-retroviral drugs to 15 per cent of the people needing them and 'patients are literally dying on our doorstep'. In a statement released in Johannesburg ahead of the United Nations world AIDS conference in Washington starting 22 July, the organization said countries worst affected by the pandemic were the least able to provide 'the best science' available to fight it.

Cameroon has joined a Congo Basin initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes in forest cover in an effort to curb deforestation and help Central African countries access carbon finance. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo and Central African Republic (CAR) signed an agreement with the French government and geo-information provider Astrium Services ahead of UN climate talks in South Africa late last year. Cameroon followed this June, gaining a license to use images from the SPOT satellite Earth Observation System which could assist in protecting its rich forest reserve.

UNESCO’s decision to issue a controversial prize sponsored by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is disappointing and irresponsible, seven civil society groups said. A ceremony to award the prize was scheduled for July 17, 2012, in Paris. Obiang, in power for 33 years, leads a government known for corruption and repression.

'The main role of #SudanRevolts is to provide a strong unified brand for communicating the Sudanese revolution, which in turn is made up of various groups and individuals that include youth groups, university students, women groups, and recently trade unions have been joining too. The most remarkable aspect of this revolt is that it attracted even individual citizens who suffer day in and day out from the regime's repeated failures, corruption and brutality,' says Rawa Gafar Bakhit, representing Sudan Change Now, in this interview on the website.

The early results of Libya's parliamentary election show a liberal party in first place in the country's first free vote since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The election commission on Tuesday said the National Forces Alliance (NFA), led by Mahmoud Jibril, the former interim prime minister, secured 39 of the 80 open seats. Those projections also meant the NFA won only 20 per cent of seats in the 200-seat assembly.

State hospitals and health clinics across Sierra Leone are facing severe shortages of drugs that should be supplied under the free healthcare programme because practitioners are diverting them for private sale, investigations by the Sierra Leone Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) show. User fees for children under five and pregnant women were scrapped in 2010, allowing them to consult health practitioners and receive medication free of charge. One in 21 women in Sierra Leone dies from pregnancy or other causes, while over 17 per cent of children die before their fifth birthday, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

News that Eskom plans to seek a nearly 15 per cent electricity price hike this year has sparked a call for greater energy efficiency, while the DA says the state-owned company’s monopoly should be ended. DA deputy energy spokesman David Ross said he would write to the Competition Commission to ask it to examine the case for separating Eskom’s electricity generation and distribution components.

Angola's political opposition have accused the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of irregularities ahead of general polls set for late August. 'We call on the CNE to take the necessary decisions to correct these irregularities to ensure that the electoral process is truly free, fair and transparent,' said Abel Chivukuvuku, president of the Broad Convergence of Angolan Salvation (Casa) coalition after meeting the CNE. 'The number of voters is unclear, the CNE cannot say how early or foreign voting will be organised, or give the publication date of the voters' roll.'

The global battle for natural resources - from food and water to energy and precious metals – is only beginning, and will intensify to proportions that could mean enormous upheavals for every country, leading academics and business figures told a conference in Oxford. Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, who convened the two-day Resource 2012 conference, told the Guardian: 'We are nowhere near realising the full impact of this yet. We have seen the first indications – rising food prices, pressure on water supplies, a land grab by some countries for mining rights and fertile agricultural land, and rising prices for energy and for key resources [such as] metals. But we need to do far more to deal with these problems before they become even more acute, and we are not doing enough yet.'

The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, has been fined U.S.$5 billion over the massive oil spill that occurred at its Bonga oil field on December 20, 2011. This was disclosed by the director general, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Dr. Peter Idabor, when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Environment.

Liberia has no plans to abolish Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) despite mounting demands by local and international organisations, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said. President Sirleaf said, 'to hastily abolish the practice could spark off a serious societal crisis'. FGM is widely practised in Liberia with thousands of young girls annually initiated in traditional 'schools' known as the Sande Society in preparation for mutilation.

What is the future of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)? This was President Mutharika's flagship programme, which put Malawi on the forefront of international development debates and provided subsidies for seeds and fertiliser. Through the FISP, which was implemented against fierce donor resistance, Malawi was able to break free from a vicious cycle of hunger and food insecurity. This article from Africa Report examines whether the FISP will continue under new president Joyce Banda.