13 December marks the first anniversary of the Kalahari Bushmen’s landmark victory in Botswana’s High Court. But the Botswana government has failed to uphold the court’s ruling, and most of the Bushmen remain stranded in resettlement camps. The court ruled that the Botswana government’s eviction of the Bushmen was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’, and that they have the right to live on their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and hunt and gather there.

A draft bill to regulate Algeria's journalism industry is being finalised and has been opened up to a closed-door debate. During a November 21st meeting on the 2008 budget, Communications Minister Rachid Boukerzaza said the bill had been submitted to over one hundred media professionals for review.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned as “intolerable and vindictive” the sentence handed down to Tunisian journalist Slim Boukhdir on charges stemming from a search by police on the group taxi he was riding in. It is the latest targeted attack on Boukhdir who has been frequently harassed by Tunisian authorities says the IFJ.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged Somaliland authorities to withdraw their decision to expel 24 Somali journalists who fled the violence in Mogadishu over allegations that they are endangering the "security and stability” of the region.

ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship are alarmed by the continuing assault on press
freedom in Egypt. Next week, no less than three cases will come to trial. All three represent a serious infringement of the right to free expression. It is the culmination of a year-long campaign of intimidation against journalists and bloggers.

Fahamu’s AU Monitor initiative is seeking young African journalism professionals and students for a three week internship to report from the African Union Summit being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2008. The internships will be for the period between January 16 to February 6th, 2008. The journalists will be provided training on the African Union and its organs and will be expected to produce daily reports from the summit meetings (including pre-summit civil society meetings).

Used electronic equipment poses health risks to people who might want to recycle them. Mr Martin Muteti, a consultancy manager with Practical Action, an NGO, points out that the country is sitting on a time bomb if no legislation is enacted against irresponsible disposals of electronic equipment.

With the development of technology such as the 3G card - the mobile success story of 2007 - providing consumers with increasing access to online, banking and other services, mobile communications is at a tipping point similar to that of the Internet a few years ago. This is according to the findings of the Mobility 2007 study released on Tuesday, 20 November 2007.

President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has accepted a mediatory role in the diplomatic impasse between Britain and Zimbabwe, his office has said. Museveni assumed the responsibility following a request from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday. Brown reportedly made the request during a meeting on the sidelines of the just-ended Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Ghana is to host the 12th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) in April 2008, under the theme 'Science, Technology, Innovation (STI) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)s for Development (ICT4D)'.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Cameroon’s Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni to intervene after media group TV + dismissed 8 journalists and media workers accused of being the organisers of a recent strike protesting their working conditions.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) protests the arrested of journalists Abdiqani Hassan Farah and Mohammed Shakale in Las Anod town of Sool region. On Monday, 26 November 2007, Somaliland armed forces arrested the two journalists separately in the city centre of Las Anod, according to news reports and journalists in Las Anod who reported to NUSOJ.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the new government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to order an immediate investigation into a minister after he reportedly ordered police officers to beat two journalists in his office in retaliation for a critical news report.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the recent waves of attacks on media in Somalia which have included arrests and censorship. On Monday 26 November, two journalists were arrested by forces in the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland for their work in a disputed town. The same day, the mayor of Mogadishu restricted media coverage of the conflict between the government and Islamist insurgents.

A recent crack-down on piracy in Kenya has driven a number of internet cafes to open source. The Business Daily in Nairobi reported that the raids on the internet cafes came after the expiry of the October 30 deadline set by the Kenya Copyright Board. Interestingly, the estimated value of the pirate software found on confiscated machines was just short of the value of the machines themselves.

US citizens will buy 30 million new digital televisions this year alone, sending their old lead-laden TVs to the dump, or more likely, overseas to China or India. Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition says it is “an astonishing number that will send millions of pounds of lead to landfills or overseas.” Non-digital TVs contain up to eight pounds of lead, which is a potent neurotoxin. While new digital flat screen TVs don’t have lead, they do contain mercury, another neurotoxin.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has filed another suit at the Community Court of the Economic Committee of West Africa States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria against the Government of the Gambia over a case of illegal detention and torture of journalist Musa Saidykhan.

The Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adjourned its judgment in the case of the “disappearance” of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter for the pro-government Banjul-based “Daily Observer” newspaper to November 28, 2007.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/MutolaChamanculoRing_s.jpgI Stories is a series of first hand accounts of gender violence from across Southern Africa produced by for the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Violence.

The 5th International Conference on Open Access ended last week in Bagamoyo, Tanzania after successful deliberations. Leadership, ICT infrastructure for development, ICT infrastructure, M-Applications and ICT in business were some of the issues that were discussed at the conference.