An aggressive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign has had a positive impact on the sexual behaviour and attitudes of Swazis, a new survey has found. More than 40 percent of the land-locked kingdom's adults are HIV positive. The study was commissioned by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and conducted by the Mexico-based research centre, Community Information and Epidemiological Technologies (CIET).

Swaziland's decade-long economic malaise took a sharp downward turn with the central bank's disclosure this week that growth had slowed to its lowest level in 40 years. The Central Bank of Swaziland's governor, Martin Dlamini, said in a candid admission, "This year's unimpressive economic growth implies a deterioration of the standard of living as measured by per capita income," in the bank's annual report to the government, covering the period March 2005 to February 2006.

A pro-democracy group is threatening protest action against sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch if steps are not taken to start meaningful constitutional reform. The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an ad-hoc pro-democracy alliance of trade unions, human rights and legal support and advocacy groups, has given the Swazi government until early next week to respond to their concerns or face what they said would be a "peaceful march" to King Mswati III's Lozitha Palace, 20km southeast of the capital, Mbabane.

A pro-democracy movement is challenging the assertion in Swaziland's new constitution that the people want to be governed by an executive monarch in a court action demanding that the government back its claim by publishing the evidence.

Recent clashes between Swazi university students and riot police have brought a burgeoning education crisis into sharp relief, but went unreported by the state radio and television networks. Street battles erupted after students marched on Prime Minister Themba Dlamini's offices demanding that the government honour its university scholarship commitments.

Recent clashes between Swazi university students and riot police have brought a burgeoning education crisis into sharp relief, but went unreported by the state radio and television networks.

On August 24 2006, the minister for public service and information, Themba Msibi, warned the Swazi media against criticising the king, instilling further fear into an already timid press which cannot freely operate due to a perpetually hostile environment that continues to prevail despite the kingdom's new Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression.

Pre-school children in Swaziland are the focus of a novel large-scale reading project that aims to push literacy levels to 100 percent among the adult population and encourage independent thinking. Although the country of about one million people has a literacy rate of more than 80 percent - relatively high compared to other countries in the region - this figure is misleading, according to the Swaziland Reading Association, as the ability to read does not necessarily translate into critical thinking.

Swaziland's chiefs have condemned the new constitution as a plot by political progressives to "steal the country" from them. At a gathering of traditional leaders, called this week by the country's executive monarch, King Mswati, chiefs discussed the new constitution, which includes a Bill of Rights permitting freedom of assembly and speech, among others.

In one of the biggest demonstrations seen in Swaziland in years, HIV-positive people marched on the offices of the prime minister and the national AIDS council this week to protest an "insulting" new media campaign. The project by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) seems to suggest that HIV is caused by sexual infidelity. It was launched last month without consulting people living with the virus.

Polygamy is enshrined as a man's right in Swaziland's new constitution, but women led by King Mswati's eldest daughter are having none of it, taking on the traditionalists that run the country. "Polygamy brings all advantages in a relationship to men, and this to me is unfair and evil," Princess Sikhanyiso told the press this week in an ongoing debate that has stirred deep emotions.

King Mswati III, Swaziland's executive monarch, has finally signed a law empowering the government's Anti-Corruption Unit, 10 years after the body was established. "Corruption remains a challenge for this government. We will rely on the full cooperation of the public, business and the media," Prime Minister Themba Dlamini told a group of local newspaper editors as he announced royal assent to the long-deferred legislation.

A new constitution has granted Swazi women a degree of protection that is shocking tradition-bound Swazi men as an education campaign tours the conservative kingdom outlining those hard-won rights. "The rights of HIV-positive women, inheritance issues for unwed couples, child maintenance and domestic violence - all these new issues for Swazis are addressed in law. The traditional family structure cannot cope with these," said Sibonlo Mdluli, one of a team of eight lawyers addressing community meetings across the country.

This course, organised by The Southern African Media Training Trust (NSJ), is meant for journalists in the South African Development Community (SADC) region. The aim of the course is to equip journalists with the ability to understand, analyse and report professionally on issues relating to antiretroviral roll-out.

Swaziland's largest opposition group, the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), has held its annual general meeting in South Africa. The official reason for crossing the border to the town of Nelspruit rather than meeting on home soil is the fear that "royal hit squads masquerading as police would disrupt the conference", said PUDEMO president Mario Masuku.

Deaths of parents from AIDS-related illnesses in rural Swaziland has slowed the rate of school construction, school officials told Prime Minister Dlamini during a visit to the north of the country. "Construction of our high school was financed by parents. Unfortunately, most of these parents have passed away and everything has stopped," said Phindile Magagula, a community leader in Ludzibini.

Swaziland says global warming is the key culprit in encroaching desertification, which is causing habitable areas and croplands to disappear and exacerbating the impoverished country's food security crisis, rather than looking closer to home for the reasons.

A group of men took to the streets in protest after a number of well-publicised incidents reported attacks by women, but some analysts say the real scare is the changing role of women in society. But some social analysts felt Swazi men were less concerned about random acts of violence by women against men than the evolution of women's role in society.

Acting Chief Justice Jacobus Annandale said the right of the public to information could not be undermined at the behest of an individual. He was referring to the alleged serial killer, David Simelane, who applied for a ban on media coverage of the case. Annandale said the right to freedom of the media and the public's right to receive information were enshrined in the country's constitution

Offered by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the WFP Award for Humanitarian Journalism aims to recognise journalists' efforts to deliver consistent, in-depth coverage of humanitarian issues relating to people and communities affected by poverty, food insecurity and HIV/AIDS in Swaziland.