The long awaited world summit on the media and children will kick-off in South Africa towards the end of March 2007 to map out strategies on the representation of children in the media. The conference is expected to address the representation of children in the media and how the media in general have contributed to the way children are seen.

The Egyptian Minister of Education, Dr Yousry Al-Gamal, has officially launched the NEPAD e-Schools Demonstration (Demo) Project at Al-Haddain Secondary School in El Behaira Governate, Egypt. The project is a joint venture of the Egyptian Government, HP Consortium, ORACLE Consortium and NEPAD e-Africa Commission.
Egypt is the sixth country to launch the project after Uganda, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya and Rwanda. It is also the first North African country to launch the NEPAD e-Schools.

AfDevInfo is a new online research resource for libraries, media, business and government. AfDevInfo tracks the mechanics of political and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

On 7 March 2007, acting under orders from Butembo Mayor Wabunga Singa, a group of police officers from the mobile intervention unit invaded the studios of RTNC's local station.

The High Court of Swaziland has dismissed a E750,000 (approx. US$100,000) lawsuit against the "Times of Swaziland" newspaper filed by the Minister for Education, Themba Msibi. The case was dismissed on grounds that the wrong parties were cited in the particulars of claim.

Kachabe Enterprises is a small manufacturing enterprise based and located in one of the busiest markets in Lusaka, Zambia. The company staff was trained by a local computer company.

Eight African ministers responsible for information communication technology (ICT) have wound up a three day ministerial conference held in Entebbe, Uganda. The ministers have been grappling with how to strengthen networking among ministers responsible for the different facets of ICT as a basis for knowledge and experience sharing as well as formal and informal linkages aimed at promoting the use of ICT to support development within the regional contexts.

A one-year prison sentence has been imposed on Mburu Muchoki, the editor of the tabloid weekly The Independent, for libelling the justice minister and called on the government to amend the laws so that judges in future can pass fairer sentences for press offences.

Heavy prison sentences have been passed by the regional court of Hargeisa, the capital of the northern breakaway state of Somaliland, on the publisher of the privately-owned daily Haatuf and three of its journalists for allegedly defaming the government, the president and his family.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/fikeleportrait.jpgFikele Vilakaz, director of the Coalition of African Lesbians, talks to Sokari Ekine in the first of our .

The interview is part of an online exhibition produced by Gabrielle Le Roux and Sokari Ekine which combines audio content with portraits drawn during the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi. It pays tribute to the inspiring activists who risk their lives in the fight for sexual rights in Africa, India and Latin America.

Music in this podcast is brought to you by Busi Ncube from Zimbabwe, kindly provided by Thulani Promotions.

Kachabe Enterprises is a small manufacturing enterprise based and located in one of the busiest markets in Lusaka, Zambia. The company staff was trained by a local computer company, Coldreed training in computer skills, recordings and other IT skills. Kachabe used these IT skills to effectively advance its business in production and market out reach to its clients through market information.

An appeals court in Cairo has overturned a prison sentence for an Egyptian journalist convicted of defaming President Hosni Mubarak. Ibrahim Eissa, the editor of the weekly newspaper al-Dustour, had been sentenced to one year in prison for criticizing Mr. Mubarak. The appeals court overturned the jail term but substituted a fine of almost four thousand dollars.

More than twenty African countries have been invited to the United States to discuss with US investors, Africa's communications and technology needs. Participating countries are expected to include Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Uganda has just launched a government project to fight poverty. The project is locally referred to as "Bonna Bagaggawale" which literally means "let's all get rich." And to boost this rural financial scheme, government has also introduced a software system known as Loan Performer to ease the rural accounting system.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/segunafolabi.jpgSegun Afolabi, winner of the 2005 Caine Prize for African Writing, the leading literary prize for short stories from the African continent, speaks to Robtel Pailey of Pambazuka News. In the podcast, Segun, from Nigeria, reads an excerpt from his award winning short story 'Monday Morning'. He discusses the impact of winning the prize on his literary success, the situation of publishing in Africa, and the themes of migration, diaspora, memory and loss.

Segun Afolabi's winning story is available in a collection of Caine Prize entries entitled, The Obituary Tango ( , 2006). The story is reproduced in this podcast with the kind permission of Random House.

The music in this podcast is brought to you by Busi Ncube from Zimbabwe and kindly provided by Thulani Promotions.

For the first time during the eight-month disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter of the pro-government Banjul-based newspaper "Daily Observer", the Gambia Police Force officially denied ever arresting him.

The Kalamu Peace Court in the city of Boma, in Bas-Congo province sentenced Popol Ntula Vita, a reporter with the Kinshasa-based weekly "La Cite Africaine", to three months in prison without parole and a fine of US$6,450 in damages. The journalist was prosecuted for "defamation and damaging allegations" against Thomas Ndombasi, the local head of the public tax office (Direction générale des Impôts, DGI), and three of his colleagues.

South Africa is joining countries such as Brazil, India and Uganda in implementing open-source software in all government departments -- and getting rid of widely used Microsoft Windows desktop programmes that come with expensive licences.

Only a decade ago many southern Africans thought a mobile phone was a luxury reserved for rich chief executives of multinational companies. The rapid expansion of mobile phone networks has changed this but some challenges remain, particularly in making the service more user-friendly, reports IPS.

A swiss entreupeneur is aiming to use satellites to transmit up-to-date educational materials. He aims to establish the technology not through programs run by traditional aid organizations but through a series of self-sustaining businesses.