The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) has expressed its condemnation on the closing of the transmission of El Badr channel by the Egyptian government. It considers this act to be a violation of the right to freedom of expression and opinion, which is guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and International Convention of Human Rights. On 1 October 2010, the Egyptian satellite company Nilesat shut down the transmission of El Badr channel and thus violated the previously agreed-upon terms and conditions.

If you are an African journalist or aspirant journalist under 30 and would relish the chance to study on the continent’s premier Journalism Programme and then join the Reuters news team for 6 months work experience, read on. With the FitzGerald Prize, Thomson Reuters is offering a scholarship to do a post graduate BA hons degree at the University of The Witwatersrand ’s Journalism Programme in Johannesburg followed by a stint in a newsroom in Africa.

Produced in collaboration with the ETC Group, this special issue presents a range of articles discussing the staggering developments in bio- and nanotechnology and the alarming implications for the African continent and the global South at large. Firoze Manji and Molly Kane outline the sheer scale of this 'technological tsunami', the immense challenges for Africa’s self-determination and the action by activists to challenge the corporate assault on bio-sovereignty.

Attajdid Movement secretary Ahmed Ibrahim went on trial for an article published by his party newspaper, the editor of Progressive Democratic Party newspaper Al Mawkif went on a hunger strike, and jailed Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous left a prison cell for a Sousse hospital, all in the course of a week.

Using Norway-based Green Resources Ltd’s plantations as a case study, Khadija Sharife looks at whether clean development mechanism projects like those undertaken by Green Resources in East Africa can actually bring benefits to people on the ground.

Despite supposedly self-evident claims to its ability to solve social and health problems in Africa, developments in nanotechnology should be met with serious critical reflection, writes Kathy Jo Wetter. In a discussion of what nanotechnology is and the risks associated with it, Wetter underlines that the technology offers new opportunities of monopoly control ‘over both animate and inanimate matter’, while government regulations worldwide remain completely inadequate to address its unique risks.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has stressed the importance of all presidential candidates having fair access to media coverage. Soro called on media representatives to ensure strict compliance with article 30 of the election law, which states that candidates must have fair and impartial access to the state - owned media. 'The success of this presidential election, due to be held on 31 October after several years of delays, will require fair and equitable media coverage of the campaign,' Reporters Without Borders said in response.

Kenya’s agriculture has a history of producing for lucrative exports while the government upholds the marginalisation of dispossessed groups and reports of famines, writes Khadija Sharife. Resources that should be sustainably used to tackle Kenya’s famines are depleted, Sharife argues, as part of a disturbing, broader trend which sees land completely dominated by elite interests and in which ‘[o]wnership that could be allocated to those requiring land for food production is instead shifted to those with capital (foreign) or political access.’

Google is working on a new service called 'Baraza', which will enable Africans to interact and share knowledge by asking and answering questions, reports the White African Blog. Baraza is the term used for meeting place in Swahili, with Google's interest in developing the service being in seeing more African content coming online.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has expressed deep sorrow and complete solidarity with the board of 'Nichane', a Moroccan magazine that has decided to close down indefinitely as a result of financial difficulties arising from an advertising boycott. Pro-government companies had decided not to place any ads in the magazine because of its editorial line in support of freedoms and addressing corruption.

The Mozambican Parliament has assured the Mozambican branch of the regional press freedom body Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Mozambique) that a Bill on Freedom of Information will be debated in the near future. Announcing this on 28 September 2010 the Director of MISA-Mozambique, Alfredo Libombo, said that all three political parties in the Assembly (the ruling Frelimo Party, the former rebel movement Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement, MDM) were in agreement on this, and that the assembly’s bill will be based on a draft that MISA deposited with parliament almost five years ago, in November 2005.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is sponsoring the Guardian's Global development site is being heavily criticised in Africa and the US for getting into bed not just with notorious GM company Monsanto, but also with agribusiness commodity giant Cargill, reports the London Guardian. Seattle-based Agra Watch - a project of the Community Alliance for Global Justice - was outraged. 'Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well being of small farmers around the world… [This] casts serious doubt on the foundation's heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa,' it thundered.

The October issue of the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC) Lasting Impacts publication, 'Food Security and Nutrition' has been published. This is the URL for the October issue: Or, you can navigate in from the Lasting Impacts homepage (http://www.idrc.ca/lastingimpacts) and click on October.

Following the International Forum on Food Sovereignty held in Mali in February 2007, the social movements that brought this initiative to life have decided to create a tool for communication and exchange in order to continue the fight for food sovereignty and to defend the interests of disadvantaged groups such as small - scale farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and those living from pastoralism. The situation of these groups continues to deteriorate due to the ongoing assaults of an increasingly inhuman capitalism. A new wave of landgrabbing can now be added to the problems of our times, a reality which the World Bank seeks to legitimize in its latest report. It is therefore urgent and critical for social movements to regroup and to strengthen our alliances in order to deal with the offensive of neoliberalism, unprecedented in the history of mankind. This newsletter aims to bring a small stone to the edifice of resistance that will be built to counteract transnational corporations, the World Bank and their allies. We urge all organisations and all movements committed to the struggle for food sovereignty to embark with us on this journey. The newsletter will be published every two months on the website. The next edition is on climate change. Send your contributions by the 10 October. For any further information, please contact [email][email protected]

For the first edition, visit: http://nyeleni.org/DOWNLOADS/newsletters/nyeleni-newsletter-en.pdf

South Africa plans to invest in a solar power energy park in order to help meet increasing electricity demands, the department of energy has announced. The solar park will be built in the Northern Cape Province and generate 5,000 megawatts of energy, about 11 per cent of the country's current power capacity.

On 9 September 2010, the International Press Institute (IPI) granted the 'Free Media Pioneer' to Okapi Radio, the UN radio in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The radio has been broadcasting since 2002 in an effort to contribute to the peace building process in the country.

As the 2010 peace talks involving leaders from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, and the United States–began, Egyptian bloggers were already expressing skepticism about their outcome. The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram saw things differently using Photoshop to place Mubarak front and center in the lineup of heads of state. As a result of Al Ahram's creative reporting, bloggers, both in Egypt and abroad, have taken the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic skills, using Photoshop to further doctor the image.

Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate Access to Information Day with a call on the government to show commitment and implement the Access to Information Act, passed by Parliament five years ago. The activists were also asking the government to either repeal or amend existing laws that are a draw-back on the right of access to information. The say the negative laws include the Oath of Secrecy Act and the Official Secrets Act, whose provisions are at variance with the Access to Information Act and Article 41 of the Constitution.

The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate. Students, journalists, policy makers and everyone else can play with the tool to create visualizations of public data, link to them, or embed them in their own webpages.

Journalists in the Somali capital have for the first time announced the launch of the Federation of Somali journalists that brings together all the existing media groups in and an outside the country as well as journalists individually. The launch of FESOJ, calls upon all relevant stakeholders and most prominently the Government of Somalia and the rebel groups to respect and promote the rights of the journalists and the freedom of the expression.