Read our primer on the bill that plans to promote universal access to electronic communications and encourage the use of e-government services. Critics say the bill will put the .za domain under government control and will not improve service.

Human Rights Watch says corruption within both the public and private sectors in Sierra Leone is endemic. "It permeates all levels of government and most business transactions. Scandals involving the looting of state coffers and development aid are commonplace," says a HRW report.

The New York-based Carnegie Foundation will help the universities of Pretoria and the Western Cape offer post-graduate LL.M and M.Com courses on trade and investment over the next three years. The two universities have received about R10-million to present joint courses on trade and investment in Africa.

Journalists and media houses operating in Zimbabwe that did not meet the deadline for registration are now illegal. This is because the government of that country decided journalists and media houses operating in the country should be registered and accredited at a fee by the end of June this year.

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, is deeply disturbed by the decision of the government to deport the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British newspaper, The Guardian. On the basis of information provided to IPI, on 15 July, Andrew Meldrum, a United States citizen who has lived in Zimbabwe for over 20 years and who holds a permanent residency permit, was informed by the Department of Immigration that he must leave the country within 24 hours.

Andrew Meldrum, a correspondent for the Guardian, who was served with a deportation order on 15 July, has appealed against the order to the Minister of Home Affairs John Nkomo and the High Court.

A new body of Internet Service Providers, the Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) has pledged to tackle all the obstacles facing the ICT industry especially as they affect Internet access in the country.

After more than a decade of digging, researchers in Chad, Central Africa, have made the fossil discovery of a lifetime: a nearly complete skull of the oldest and most primitive member of the human family yet known. Nicknamed Touma - or "hope of life" in the local Goran language - it belongs to an entirely new genus and species of hominid, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. And at almost seven million years old, it has taken scientists several crucial steps closer to the point in time at which humans and chimpanzees diverged. Yet as is the case for most spectacular finds, this one raises as many questions, if not more, than it answers.

This rather amusing article takes a look at the effects of Yahoo's rather over-rigorous spelling filter for their email users.

This course looks at the use of ICTs in sustainable development, provides specific examples of the use of ICTs for development purposes and provides a broad picture of ongoing programmes in the area. The course is delivered through a combination of CD-ROM and email-based discussion list and will take place between 14 September and 14 December.

More than 500 IT and telecoms professionals and policy makers from across the continent are expected to attend the fourth annual African Computing and Telecommunications summit.

Journalists have been barred from the proceedings of the Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin panel set up by the National Judicial council (NJC), to probe the bribery allegation leveled by the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Ishaya Bamaiyi, and his co-accused against a Lagos High Court Judge, Justice Augustine Ade-Alabi. It was the second time that journalists would be barred from the panel's sitting. Newsmen had earlier on April 1 been asked out of the venue of the panel's sitting at Kirikiri prisons, Lagos.

Popular Gabz FM radio presenter and MISA-Botswana Chairperson Solomon Monyame and Gabz FM management have been jointly sued for the sum of Botswana Pula 1.7 million (approx. US$279,330) in damages over announcements broadcast on the station's breakfast show on 6 June 2002. On 6 June, Monyame announced between 6:45 and 6:55 a.m. (local time) that he would interview Radio Botswana 2 (RB2) announcer Gloria Kgosi on allegations that she was harassed by Botsalo Ntuane, executive secretary of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), on RB2's premises, thus delaying the airing of the national news by seven minutes.

The International Federation of Journalists has expressed sadness at the "tragic loss" of Angels Banda, President of the Zambian Union of Journalists, as well as the first President of the Southern Africa Journalists Association that was launched last year. Angels Banda was killed on Friday in a car accident while attending a union-backed seminar near Lusaka.

The International Federation of Journalists, the world's largest organisation of journalists, set out its action plan for the UN World Summit on Information Society to take place in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005, and called for globalisation to respect social and professional rights of journalists. The Swiss Federation of Journalists (SFJ), representing the IFJ during the Preparatory Committee for Civil Society from 1 to 5 July 2002 in Geneva, introduced the position of journalists during a working session on media professionals.

Colonel Jean François Denguet, Police Services director-general, recently threatened to kill Radio France Internationale (RFI) and RSF correspondent Alain Shungu. The incident took place in Brazzaville. The death threat followed the publication of an article in which it was reported that the colonel banned a meeting that had been organised by opposition leader André Milongo in Makélélé. In addition, the colonel also threatened to personally contact the Communications Ministry and see to it that the journalist's accreditation was revoked.

Melese Shine, editor-in-chief of the weekly "Ethiop", was released on bail of 12,000 birr (approx. US$1,440) on 25 June 2002. He had been detained since 19 March when he was charged with publishing and disseminating an article defaming the head of government, and publishing an interview with an alleged member of an illegal group. Gizaw Taye, the editor-in-chief of the "Lamrot" newspaper, was also released on bail on 24 June. He had been held since 15 March on press charges. It is estimated that there are at least 80 such cases waiting to go to trial involving journalists. Lubaba Said, the former editor-in-chief of the "Tarik" newspaper, continues to serve her one-year sentence handed down on 3 April for "fabricating news that could have a negative psychological effect on members of the armed forces and disturb the minds of the people".

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has back-pedalled on its recently issued threat that the Malawi Institute of Journalism radio station (MIJ FM) risked losing its broadcasting licence for what MACRA described as anomalies and bias in its reporting.

International PEN, the world association of writers representing members in 95 countries, is deeply concerned about the continued detention of the journalists Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Mattewos Habteab, Dawit Habtemichael, Medhanie Haile, Temesken Ghebreyesus, Emanuel Asrat, Adowit Isaac, Fesshaye Yohannes, Said Abdelkader, Selayinghes Beyene, Simret Seyoum and Fitzum Wedi Ade. All the detentions took place in the aftermath of the closure of the private press on 18 September 2001. International PEN considers the prolonged detention of the journalists without trial to be thoroughly alarming, and is particularly concerned by the transfer of the nine journalists on hunger strike to undisclosed locations.

Freedom-of-expression organisations have raised concerns over the fate of Hassan Bility, a prominent Liberian newspaper editor. The journalist is missing and feared dead, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), while Human Rights Watch (HRW) is concerned that he may be at risk of torture and ill-treatment. Bility, the editor of the independent weekly "The Analyst," was arrested on 24 June, together with three other Liberians, on suspicion of operating a rebel terrorist cell in Monrovia, says HRW.