Zambia's main opposition leader Michael Sata launched on Friday a court challenge to demand a recount of the vote in the October 30 presidential election, his party's lawyer said. "I know that (my colleagues) are currently in court filing a petition. I am now working on some more documents which we will submit to the court next week," Winter Kabimba, lawyer for Sata's Patriotic Front, told Reuters.

A Kitwe based Roman Catholic Church priest Father Frank Bwalya has been arrested and detained on Wednesday for airing what is being deemed as biased post election analysis. He was charged with conduct likely to cause a breach of peace amid violent protests in the mining town of Zambia

In response to an invitation extended by the Government of Zambia, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) deployed a short term Observer Mission to the Presidential and Mwansabombwe and Ndola Central Parliamentary By Elections in Zambia of 30th October 2008. Under the leadership of Mr Leshele Thoahlane, Chairperson of the EISA Board of Directors and Former Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of Lesotho, the EISA Election Observer Mission consisted of 20 members from different African countries.

Michael Sata, leader of Zambia's opposition Patriotic Front party, said he will launch legal proceedings challenging the result of the country's presidential election held last week. Sata alleges vote-rigging and voter intimidation and on Tuesday demanded a recount after losing to centrist politician Rupiah Banda, who was sworn in as president on Sunday.

Superinfection among heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa may be surprisingly frequent, according to findings from Zambia presented on Tuesday at the 48th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington DC. Researchers from the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project presented evidence that 3 out of 34 people among heterosexual Zambian couples were superinfected during the time of the study.

Early results in Zambia’s knife-edge presidential election gave a clear lead to Michael Sata, the opposition challenger whose lavish pledges have unnerved investors, for control of Africa’s biggest copper producer. Totals from 19 of the 150 constituencies showed Mr Sata had secured about 60 per cent of ballots cast, with Rupiah Banda, the acting president, trailing on 30 per cent, and the balance going to two other opposition hopefuls.

Zambia’s government has announced plans to get its people a greater share of the country’s vast copper wealth. But with its proposals still in the balance, action is still needed. These plans could provide an extra $415 million of copper revenue, allowing it to triple expenditure on health in a country where average life expectancy is 37. The proposals could net Zambia an extra $415 million in 2008 alone. Add your voice and call on Zambia's biggest copper company, KCM, not to undermine Zambia’s development – and abide by the government’s decision. Email them now!http://www.christianaid.org.uk/issues/powercorruption/actions/zambia.as… .

Zambia's acting President Rupiah Banda on Friday called for peace and unity ahead of next week's presidential elections, in which he is one of the frontrunners. Banda urged his compatriots to come out in large numbers and cast their votes next Thursday to elect a replacement for president Levy Mwanawasa, who died on August 19 after suffering a stroke.

The first group of election observers from southern Africa has arrived in Zambia to observe the presidential elections scheduled for 30 October. At least 25 election observers from Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission (SEOM) had arrived in Lusaka as of 14 October and were dispatched to different provinces with assistance of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ).

A pilot project to introduce payphones, connected to satellite networks, is providing telephone services to remote communities and helping to develop the telecoms market in Zambia. The unprecedented success of mobile phones across Africa is well documented and clear for anyone to see. But leave the cities and main roads, and the mobile phone is quickly transformed from an economic success-making tool into an interesting but essentially useless accessory.

EISA hereby launches its election observer mission to the forthcoming Presidential Elections in Zambia which will be held on 30 October 2008. Leading the delegation is Mr Abel Leshele Thoahlane, Chairperson of the EISA Board of Directors and Former Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of Lesotho. The mission will consist of 20 members drawn from civil society organisations in all regions of Africa.

Zambia has struck a trade deal with the European Commission (EC) that wall give the southern African nation full access to markets in the European Union (EU). The announcement was made by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in a statement on Wednesday. The 27 member EU has deals with poor countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) to replace the former Cotonou trade arrangements deemed illegal by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Zambia’s presidential candidates have filed nomination papers with the High Court for the forthcoming election as the campaign begins. Four candidates, including acting President Rupiah Banda, will contest the election. According to Ernest Sakala, the country’s Chief Justice, "Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata, Hakainde Hichilema and Godfrey Miyanda have validly filed the nomination to contest the 30 October presidential elections."

Zambia government, has called upon all broadcasters, both commercial and community, to desist from live phone-in broadcast programmes that involve members of public.

The UN Refugee Agency and the governments of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this week intensified efforts to encourage the last 51,000 Congolese refugees in camps in northern Zambia that the time is right to go home.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) will use biometric data to identify those replacing their lost voter registration cards for the Oct. 30 presidential election. The election follows the Aug. 19 death of President Levy Mwanawasa at Percy Military Hospital in Paris. The ECZ has already established a permanent register, capturing biometric data from voters in the form of fingerprints, said ECZ deputy director of IT Brown Kasaro in an interview.

During the pre-antiretroviral therapy era, the mortality rate in HIV-infected Zambian children was 7- and 25-fold higher than in HIV-uninfected Zambian children, respectively, according to the results of a prospective study published in the September 15th edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Hundreds of Zambian men are enthusiastically queuing to be circumcised as part of measures to curb HIV/AIDS in that country. Reports say men are put on waiting lists for close to four months or more and are sometimes turned away due to lack of doctors and inadequate health centers for such cases.

Camfed Zambia this year launched an ambitious child abuse prevention initiative, funded by Irish Aid. Camfed’s Zero Tolerance to Child Abuse Campaign breaks through the culture of silence surrounding child abuse, and calls on all sectors of Zambian society to put an end to it.

Zambia's ruling MMD party chose the country's Vice President Rupiah Banda as its candidate for a presidential election due in November, a party official said on Friday.