Progressio seeks a Public Fundraising Manager (£32,896 per annum plus benefits). This is a two-year/full time contract, based in Islington, London. This is an exciting new position for a dedicated and skilled individual with strong fundraising skills and a creative mind who is looking for a good career move to prove themselves.

The Media Specialist will organize and coordinate key media events that will maximize press attention for UNIFEM's strategic areas, thereby ensuring maximum visibility and outreach for UNIFEM's work.

A US policy that forces groups fighting AIDS overseas to denounce prostitution in order to receive federal funding violates free speech rights, a judge ruled Tuesday (May 9). The Supreme Court “has repeatedly found that speech, or an agreement not to speak, cannot be compelled or coerced as a condition of participation in a government program,” said U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.

Politically motivated prosecutions of independent news weeklies are rolling back press freedom in Morocco, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today (9 May). Today the Casablanca appeals court confirmed a fine and one-year suspended sentence against the director of al-Mash`al (“The Torch”) weekly for “insulting” a foreign head of state.

France is to become the first European country to hold a national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery. Wednesday's (10 May) day of commemoration has been ordered by President Jacques Chirac, who says the stain of slavery on history must not be forgotten. He will attend a special ceremony in the nation's capital designating 10 May as Slavery Remembrance Day.

HREA is calling for applications for the distance learning courses Human Rights Monitoring, Introduction to the European System of Human Rights Protection and Promotion and Project Development and Management in the NGO Sector, which will be offered from September-December 2006.

Students at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government have launched the school’s first public policy journal focused solely on Africa. The Africa Policy Journal aims to provide rigorous analysis and practical solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing policy challenges. A student-led initiative, the online journal recognizes many policy challenges are specific to Africa.

The NEPAD e-Africa Commission, a body mandated with the development of a continental ICT infrastructure network, is taking a tough stance over ownership of the proposed Eastern Africa undersea cable system (EASSy). The Commission appears to be set on a clear collision course with the consortium formed to promote the project, which prefers the 'Club' or members-only ownership, against the Open Access, favored by the World Bank. For months now, the US$240m project has been marred by controversy over its ownership and financing, with consortium members openly bickering against each other.

A new scramble for Africa is under way as multinationals from all over the world take a new interest in acquiring communications companies on the continent. The temperature for fresh deals has also been raised by a number of companies on the continent itself seeking to shape a regional or indeed international strategy for themselves, reports Balancing Act News Update.

The High Court in Kenya has ordered the eviction of more than 700 families, which have been living on a privately-owned piece of land in Nairobi's Embakasi area. Justice J. B. Ojwang ordered the Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, to evict the squatters from the land owned by Orbit Chemical Industries Limited. The court also quashed an order issued by Justice Gideon Mbito on August 29, 1996, barring the company from evicting the squatters. The court said the leave to commence judicial review proceedings in those circumstances was an abuse of the judicial process.

President Yoweri Museveni has said the government will soon set up a ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT). Museveni said the ministry would ensure effective, systematic coordination and development of the ICT sector. "The government of Uganda is committed to an ICT-led socio-economic development strategy. In order to realise this, all the key stakeholders, including the education institutions that produce the required human resource, must work hand in hand," he said.

Rwanda has been chosen as the headquarters for the proposed $280mn East Africa submarine cable, said an official at the Rwanda Information Technology Agency. Outgoing Director Dr Shem Ochoudho confirmed that Rwanda had been chosen. The six countries directly involved with spearheading the project are Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda South Africa and Tanzania. There are 23 countries involved in total.

The BarCamp formula of ad-hoc "open source conferencing" will hit South African shores this winter when BarCamp Cape Town gets underway in June. Running from 15 to 16 June, the BarCamp concept is based on FooCamp, an annual geek fest where leading technologists brainstorm, collaborate and generally have fun at O'Reilly headquarters in California, USA.

A US technology executive has pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to a congressman in charges stemming from an investigation of Representative William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat. Prosecutor Mark Lytle said Jackson paid $367,500 in checks and wire transfers over a four-year period to a company controlled by the congressman's wife in exchange for help promoting iGate technology in Africa.

An online boycott of “Ezi Mozo,” an Egyptian juice manufacturer, whose TV ads on many Mideast channels featured close-ups of young women dancing provocatively and seductively whispering the product’s name, is just one of the growing number of Arabic-language online boycotts. For years there have been Arabic-language Web sites discussing current events and issues, but the effective use of economic boycotts in the Arab world is relatively new.

Africa today has a wealth of natural and experienced talent within the continent and the Diaspora and offers enormous potential in terms of opportunity and investment. Connecting Africa to the global world, ReConnect Africa is a unique online publication and portal that provides readily accessible information and essential services for employers who recruit, manage and develop African human resources and for graduates and professionals in Africa and the Diaspora seeking opportunities in employment and business in Africa.

Two Botswana Television (Btv) crew, a journalist and an unidentified cameramen were arrested by Zimbabwean authorities at the Matsiloje border gate on Sunday (April 30).

To help America's journalists adapt to rapid change, and to advance news values in the digital age, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation recently launched the Knight New Media Center. Jointly operated by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center offers competitive fellowships to support training for New Media journalists at all levels.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) invites journalists from developing countries with at least five years' news media experience to apply for the International Journalism Exchange. Each year, the programme brings 10 young newspaper editors to the United States to meet editors at major U.S. newspapers and learn how journalism is practiced in the country. This year's programme takes place from 7 October to 11 November 2006.

A scarf tied around her head and her five-month pregnancy just showing under a robe, Serkalem Fassil appeared shy and scared as she talked about life in Kality Prison. Her English is not good, she explained, but yes, the baby is OK. And yes, she added softly, it’s very hard in Kality. Fassil, 26, who worked on three Amharic-language weeklies, is among at least 14 journalists held in this crowded, sweltering prison alongside dozens of political opposition leaders. They are being tried jointly for genocide and treason, charges that could bring life imprisonment or the death penalty. The journalists are the most notable example of a government crackdown on the press that began in November when post-election street protests drew a show of official force, violence flared, and more than 40 died.
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* Trial of opposition journalists resumes