This symposium will bring together students of media, journalism academics, communication professionals, civil society groups among others to discuss the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Kenyan media reportage of it.

IPID (the International Network for Postgraduate Students in the area of ICT4D) together with GSHCID (Graduate Students in Human-Computer Interaction and Development) are organising a workshop for "young" researchers to be held on Friday 17 April 2009 8:30am - 5:00pm at Carnegie-Mellon's campus in Doha, Qatar.

The Department for International Development will announce a £1.4 million three-year project that will lay the foundations for financial services to be made available through new and emerging technology across Africa and Asia, to bring access to the poor in developing countries. International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander said the introduction of Mobile phones, text messages and fingerprint recognition could soon bring branchless banking to millions of the world's poorest people and could redeem them from poverty.

Facebook is not just a way to get back in touch with old classmates from school or see what your “friends” are up to. Activists around the world are taking advantage of this new virtual space to expand their reach and establish more immediate and interactive contact with individuals and organisations from an ever wider range of backgrounds. ITeM, an APC member in Uruguay, talked with APCNoticias about how it is using this web-based tool, and shared some practical advice for others who are experimenting with social networks and other Web 2.0 tools.

Morocco is determined to protect its children from potentially harmful online activities. Thanks to a new public-private partnership from UNESCO, Microsoft Maroc, and Morocco's National Children’s Rights Observatory (ONDE), parents and educators are getting help catching up to their children's web sophistication in order to better protect them.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the murder of Said Tahliil Ahmed, Director of HornAfrik- a radio and television station in the Somali Capital Mogadishu- who was gunned down on 4 February 2009. "We condemn this murder which is the result of the lawlessness in Somalia," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office.

The High Court has awarded a family, including a one-year-old baby and a child of eight, £150,000 damages after the Home Office accepted that it had unlawfully arrested and detained them. On 9 February 2009, in the face of court proceedings brought by the family, the Home Office accepted that the family's arrests and subsequent detentions were unlawful as they could not have been lawfully removed back to the Republic of Congo.

Egyptian police have released a pro-Palestinian blogger who was detained last week during a rally. Egyptian-German student Philip Rizk was held on Friday, north of Cairo, where he helped organise a protest in support of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses said he was bundled into a white van with no licence plates, which then sped off.

Gambia’s Information and Communication Department has been taken over by President Yahya Jammeh’s office while the newly-appointed Information Secretary (Minister) Omar Ndow has been redeployed, the government said in a statement received on Thursday.

GISWatch is a groundbreaking publication, which will impact on policy development processes worldwide and could make a difference in your country if more people hear about its findings. GISWatch is an annual watchdog report which this year asks: How do we ensure access to the internet is a human right enjoyed by everyone? The report highlights the importance of people's access to information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, and where and how countries are getting it right (or wrong), and what can be done about it.

As the gap between the fierce political rivalries of Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) narrows, there are fears that the independent media will be squeezed even more. In the past decade, while Zimbabwe lurched from one political crisis to another and the economy went into freefall, the independent media were lambasted by President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government for their often critical views, and subjected to increasingly repressive media laws.

Boussada Ben Ali, the managing editor of the independent weekly L’Action, was today sentenced to three months in prison and fined 50,000 CFA francs (about 76 euros) for “publishing false information”. The journalist immediately appealed against the sentence but will remain in custody at Niamey prison where he has been since 26 January while awaiting the outcome of the appeal.

Reporters Without Borders is shocked by the murder of Francis Kainda Nyaruri, a freelance journalist based in the southwestern town of Nyamira, whose decapitated body was found on 29 January in a nearby forest. He had been missing since 16 January. “We would like above all to express our deep sympathy to the victim’s family,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge the competent authorities, especially Nyanza province police chief Larry Kieng, to do everything possible to establish the motive for this appalling murder and to bring those responsible to justice, keeping in mind its shocking symbolism for the Kenyan population.”

Reporters Without Borders condemns the way the Gambian authorities continue to hound The Point, a privately-owned daily based in Banjul. Its editor, Pap Saine, was charged with publishing false information yesterday, two days after being arrested and then freed on bail for reporting the arrest of a Gambian diplomat. Saine is to appear in court again on 19 February.

The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) issued a statement Monday (February 2nd) condemning the government's confiscation of the January 31st issue of Attariq Aljadid, a newspaper operated by opposition party Attajdid Movement, and expressing solidarity with members of Tunis radio station Radio Kalima, which was shut down last Friday.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for urgent humanitarian action by the international community over the plight of Dawit Isaak, a journalist and writer who has been held in Eritrea without trial for almost eight years and who is believed to be seriously ill.

A telemedicine programme will start in Cameroon this month in partnership with several international institutions, including UNESCO, the main promoter of the project, Cameroonian scientist and economist, Jacques Bonjawo, has said. Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred via telephone, the Internet or other networks.

On 26 January 2009, the matter of freelance photojournalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere, who is held on allegations of banditry, was heard before Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa. The judge ordered police to investigate and present a report on allegations that Manyere was tortured while in unlawful detention. Manyere was kidnapped and held incommunicado for more than three weeks.

The United Nations and African Union (AU) joint chief mediator for the peace process in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region today expressed grave concern over renewed combat in the southern part of the vast region, saying it undermines hopes for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. “The escalation of violence violates the spirit of the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement on the Conflict in Darfur of 2004 and constitutes a breach of various Security Council resolutions,” Djibril Bassolé said in a formal statement released in Khartoum.

AAAGRrrr! is an e-newsletter for information on African agroecological alternatives for food sovereignty: the right of all people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. This newsletter provides updated information on AGRA- The Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa, a $500 million project to re-introduce the decades-old Green Revolution into African food systems. This new Green Revolution is being led by seed and fertilizer companies, is targeting traditional African food crops, and plans to prepare African agriculture for the widespread introduction of genetically modified seeds.

Pambazuka News will feature extracts relevant for Africa from this newsletter in our new section .