Media reports that Zambian Watchdog reporter George Zulu is in police custody are not true, the reporter told the International Press Institute, while expressing concern that the newspaper's staff is being intimidated by police who want them to reveal their sources on a controversial story. IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie called on Zambia's new government to be diligent in protecting the rights of journalists to report freely and in calling to task police or other officials who would intimidate journalists or pressure them into revealing their sources.

Reporters Without Borders visited Cameroon from 26 September to 2 October to assess the degree of media freedom during the campaign for the 9 October presidential election and to promote a series of reforms that are needed to improve media freedom, including a new media law and the decriminalization of press offences. 'The media's coverage of the campaign is trying to be balanced but the campaign itself is not,' Reporters Without Borders said. 'President Paul Biya, who is running for reelection, and the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Rally (RDPC) are everywhere. Biya is the only candidate to be seen on campaign posters. The opposition is hardly managing to make its voice heard. Everyone agrees that there is little political debate and this is reflected in the media.'

Evicted from their homes in 2009 when the government initiated efforts to restore Kenya's largest water tower, the Mau Forest Complex, thousands of the affected families are still without permanent shelter. The fact that the country's policy on internally displaced persons (IDPs) has remained in draft form since 2009 does not give the evictees hope that their plight will be resolved soon.

Visit this Facebook page to find out more about the ecological Internet campaign against the hubris that humans can or should geoengineer our shared biosphere.

Every graduate in Ghana is mandated to do a year’s national service. The programme coordinated by the National Service Secretariat was introduced 30 years ago. The purpose was for graduate students to give their first fruits of labour to their country. Students should also be posted to areas where they can best apply the knowledge acquired at university. This documentary highlights concerns the programme is not achieving the purpose for which it was introduced.

This documentary investigates the alleged sexual exploitation of female students in some of Ghana’s schools, especially the tertiary institutions. In this piece, former students talk about how their lecturers pestered them for sex in exchange for grades. For some of the victims the experience has completely changed their outlook on life.

The counterfeit medicine business is a big business in Ghana. Experts say only 60 per cent of anti-malarial medicines in the country are genuine; the remaining 40 per cent are fake. As a result hundreds of people are dying yearly. But the institutions charged with the responsibility of dealing with the problem appear not to have the capacity to end it. This documentary investigates the counterfeit medicine business and reveals the business doesn’t look like ending now.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) are delighted to announce the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) to be awarded for the first time in February 2012. This prestigious and well-endowed award aims at encouraging innovations that contribute to sustainable development in Africa. The amount allocated towards the winners for the selected innovators and entrepreneurs, in the three thematic areas of ICTs; Green Technologies; Health & Food Security are two generous prizes: First prize USD 100,000; and USD 50000 for the second prize.

Tunisian authorities refused to grant Palestinian bloggers visas to attend the Third Arab bloggers meeting taking place in Tunis from the 3-6 October, 2011. The meeting is an attraction to Arab bloggers and activists, and an opportunity for them to exchange expertise and learn from each other. The event is co-hosted by Global Voices, Nawaat and Heinrich Böll Foundation and is attended by around 100 bloggers from nearly all Arab countries.

Three former Anglo American workers who were left destitute and devastated by lung disease acquired in their line of work have expressed their desire for justice, reports The New Age Online. Wilson Mafulwane, Daniel Thakamakau and Alpheos Blom form part of hundreds of former Anglo American workers who are squaring up against the global mining giant in a court battle domiciled in Johannesburg and London. Their course closely resembles the Cape PLC case where 7,500 South African asbestos miners successfully sued for more than £21m (about R268m) in a London court.

The ECOWAS Community Court in Abuja, Nigeria, on 26 September adjourned indefinitely its hearing over applications for the review of two landmark judgements brought before by it by Gambian authorities involving two Gambian journalists. The first relates to the illegal arrests and torture of Musa Saidykahn, a former editor-in-chief of the banned The Independent newspaper. In the second case, the Gambian government was ordered to release Chief Ebrima Manneh, a foreign editor of the privately-owned, pro-government the Daily Observer newspaper and compensate him. Costs were awarded against the authorities in both cases.

Prior to the 2010 South Africa World Cup, submarine fibre optic cabling was laid to improve the speed and reliability of broadband. Despite this, Internet World Statistics reports that only 11.4 per cent of Africans have internet access, far below the global average of 30.2 per cent. Considering that a World Bank study suggests every 10 per cent of broadband penetration increases developing countries' per capita GDP growth by 1.38 per cent, the scarcity of Africa's online network has significant economic repercussions.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has criticised Algeria’s new media bill, saying the new legislation does not liberate the media. ANHRI released a statement calling the new media bill endorsed by the Algerian Ministers Council a step forward in terms of abolishing the imprisonment penalty for journalists in publication cases, but the wording of the bill itself, along with the severe fines which replace the jail time, still restricts freedom of expression.

Tensions between the Burundi government and the local press are bound to increase as several media defied an order not to investigate or discuss a recent massacre. While officials say the measure is 'temporary' and necessary to safeguard national unity and the course of justice, independent journalists are asserting their right to publish information in the interest of public accountability.

The INTERIGHTS Quarterly Update is a regular email containing summaries of recent news, including updates on litigation, events and publications.

Peter Wuteh Vakunta seems convinced that George B. N. Ayittey has written ‘a blueprint for oppositional militancy, a veritable modus operandi for undoing dictators in the contemporary world’. He thinks it is a must read for every student of African politics.

Reporters Without Borders has registered at least eight serious press freedom violations ranging from arbitrary arrest to shooting attacks on journalists in the past two months in the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland and the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland. In most of these cases, there has been no investigation and no one has been punished.

Four ZANU PF youths were convicted and sentenced to 18 years in jail over the 2009 murder of MDC-T activist Moses Chokuda. Farai Machaya, the son of Midlands Provincial Governor Jason Machaya, together with his co-accused Abel Maphosa and brothers Edmore and Bothwell Gana, were all found guilty during a week-long trial at the High Court. Tawengwa Chokuda, the victims father said: 'The way he (Moses) was killed was ruthless. He was beaten to death, tied with ropes and dragged like an animal.'

Google has updated its maps to include the newly independent nation of South Sudan. The move follows a campaign by a South Sudanese journalist, who posted an online petition calling for the new nation to be marked on web maps. He said his country was still missing from websites including Microsoft, Yahoo! and National Geographic.

A Sweden-based journalist was publicly threatened in connection with her reporting on the case of Dawit Isaac, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for a decade without charge, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. A day earlier in New York, bodyguards for the Eritrean leader Isaias Afewerki pushed and threatened two Swedish journalists seeking to speak to the president about the Isaac case, the journalists said.