Website offers free manuals for NGOs and other workers in the South, including "Interviewing and Counselling at the Grassroots" and "How to build a Good Small NGO". Three manuals are also available in French and the Counselling manual in Somali. There is a Resource list and a chance for South-South problem solving.

Former Rwandan prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu testified on Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as the first defence witness for Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son, Gerard who stand accused of crimes against humanity and genocide, the tribunal reported.

In a significant step to bridge the digital divide, the United Nations Development Programme has set up an an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Trust Fund to make technologies crucial for development more widely accessible to and more affordable for Egyptians.

The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) has announced the launching of a telemedicine project, with assistance from ITU. This short news item has details.

The Internet Association for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is encouraging you to participate in it's 'At-Large' study. Read on for details.

The II Global Congress of Citizen Networks - held in Buenos Aires from the 5th to the 7th December 2001 - established some basic guidelines for new social institutions on the Net. Read more in this interesting article by Luis Angel Fernandez Hermana.

RSF has called on members of the Eritrean parliament to ask for the immediate release of all journalists languishing in jail in Eritrea. "Parliamentarians today have an opportunity to show goodwill and their commitment to press freedom. They must take a firm approach vis-à-vis the executive and call for their release," stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "We recall that Eritrea has become the only country in the entire African continent without a single independent publication," he added.

Ntezimana, an official with the Association Modeste et Innocent (AMI), an organisation promoting non violence in Rwanda, and director of its magazine Ubuntu, and Mr Muremangingo, chief editor of Ubuntu, were arrested on 26 and 27 January, respectively, in Butare and detained in the city's central prison. While the reason for the arrests remains unclear, Mr Ntezimana and Mr Muremangingo have reportedly been questioned over the activities of their organisation and their use of the word "ubuyanja", a term which was also used by former president Pastor Bizimungu in setting up an opposition party that is now outlawed.

Foreign journalists are being forced to leave Zimbabwe as the threat from Robert Mugabe's government makes it too dangerous to work there.

Zimbabwe's parliament pressed ahead with the passage of a highly restrictive press bill in preparation for the March presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe faces an uphill battle.

The Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) has declared Zimbabwe's controversial and draconian media Bill, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, as unconstitutional. The PLC chaired by Harvard trained lawyer and ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), member of Parliament Dr Eddson Zvobgo declared that 20 sections of the Bill are unconstitutional as they infringe on Sections 20 of the constitution of Zimbabwe.

The government of President Robert Mugabe has embarked on a programme of action designed to curtail and in some cases deny his people basic rights that he guaranteed them by taking an oath to uphold the inviolability the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the tenets of international and regional agreements signed by his government. Over the past two years, freedom of expression and freedom of the press have come under an ever-tightening siege, that has often spilled over into open violence and acts of sabotage against the media. This period has also seen the introduction of draconian ill-advised legislation enacted to handicap the private media, curtail the powers of the judiciary, and to strengthen the state security apparatus to deal with any activity considered to be damaging to the image of the president and his government. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) sees it as its duty to bring to your attention that, as citizens of the world, we need to stand up and put our voices together to express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. We are calling on you to assist us by adding your voice to the various actions initiated by MISA. We invite you to participate in the dialogue on Zimbabwe, sign a petition that will be sent to world forums, fax your views to President Mugabe, write your own letter to world organisations.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling party called a meeting of its legislators on Wednesday to patch up a rift over a tough media bill some party members have criticized as unconstitutional.

Nominations are being sought worldwide for the International Women's Media Foundation's 2002 Courage in Journalism Award. The award honours women working in the news media who have demonstrated extraordinary strength of character in pursuing their profession under difficult or dangerous circumstances - including physical danger, government oppression, political pressure, or other intimidating obstacles.

Is it a journalist's job to "speak for the planet"? Is environmentalism an "agenda"? How do the media industries themselves affect the natural world? MediaChannel affiliates have been looking hard at how the mass media cover — and affect — environmental change. And now new media are providing opportunities for information sharing and campaigning around environmental issues. We talk about the way our media environment is transforming. What does this mean for the physical world.

The government-owned media’s overwhelming bias in favour of
the ruling party, including the flagrant omission of a crucially important High Court ruling that overturned a government decree by ordering the Registrar General’s office to prepare a common voters’ roll that would allow the electorate to cast their vote anywhere in the country in the upcoming presidential election.

The Right to Refuge is a radio project of BBC World Service Trust. The project targets audiences in key geographical regions where refugees have become a priority issue. Each programme has different stories, experiences and concerns but the main aim of this education project is to give voice to refugees themselves - the often unheard voices of women, children and the elderly.

The four radio stations of Timbuktu, Mali, received a suitcase radio from UNESCO to encourage the production of programmes using the information resources of Internet. The suitcase radio comprises a complete broadcasting unit and can also be used as a production studio. It is to be housed in the community telecentre of Timbuktu, a UNESCO-supported project, in order to enable radio staff to produce "radio browsing" programmes.