Seven senior government officials have been charged with the theft of public funds, say Zambian police. Those charged include Treasury Secretary David Diangamo and a former official of the state-owned Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) Samuel Musonda.

Government should maintain the current stand not to accept Genetically Modified foods by employing the precautionary principle, Zambian scientists who recently went on a fact finding mission on GMOs have recommended.

Unless Zambia redoubles its efforts in 2003, it is in danger of missing Millennium Development Goal targets set in education and health care, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) country representative Dr. Stella Goings has warned.

Zambia's over-stretched health facilities are inadequate at the best of times, but the situation is especially grim for the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS.

Life expectancy among Zambian adults is falling, according to the findings of two new databases, raising concerns over the impact of HIV/AIDS. The recently published Demographic Health Survey and the 2000 Census of Population and Housing have revealed a "significant deterioration in adult survivorship", the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report.

Nearly half of Zambian urban voters received gifts from politicians to influence their vote in presidential elections at the end of last year, Transparency International Zambia, an anti-corruption lobbying group, said.

Zambia faces a "tremendous crisis" if efforts to fight hunger and HIV/AIDS are not improved, Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy on HIV/AIDS, said on Sunday at the conclusion of a trip through Zambia and five other African nations.

With about half of all new adult HIV/Aids infections taking place among young people, a recently launched UN Children's Fund project is empowering the youth to become a part of the solution to reverse this trend.

Zambia will need to spend at least $270 million over the next three years to fight the spread of HIV, Finance Minister Emmanuel Kasonde announced as part of the nation's three-year development plan, Reuters reports.

Zambia is facing the worst food crisis for over a decade. This year, people’s usual defence mechanisms – such as fishing or collecting wild fruit – simply won’t be enough. The people in Manchamvwa village are using simple technology and equipment to work their way out of this crisis.

The Lions Club of Chilanga has helped lift the burden off government in caring for the needy, UPND Chilanga MP Captain Cosmas Moono has said. On a fund-raising walk by the Lions Club of Chilanga on Saturday, Capt. Moono said it was encouraging to see how consistent the club had been in helping to look after the terminally ill.

President Levy Mwanawasa's opposition to the abuses and injustices of the Chiluba regime won him a lot of support and respect from a great a majority of Zambians. But many are starting to wonder how blind his quest for justice is.

The latest report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network says that distribution of private and government relief food in Zambia has been very slow. As the first drops of the rainy season fall, only half the expected fertiliser and maize seed deliveries have been completed.

A task force investigating the extent of plunder of national resources has frozen 41 bank accounts of implicated individuals.

With a population just shy of 10 million people, Zambia is at a crossroads in coping with a series of overlapping crises. Arguably the most devastating among them is the rapid spread of HIV, currently infecting 20% of the country’s entire population. As a result, scores of children have been directly affected. NetAid invites you to give young girls in Zambia the priceless gift of education. Your valuable donation can be given on behalf of a friend or family member who will be notified of your present.

Lawyers for Zambia's ex-president Frederick Chiluba last Thursday defended their client's right to keep the immunity from prosecution he enjoyed while in office, which parliament voted to lift earlier this year. Chiluba's lawyers told nine Supreme Court judges that lawmakers erred by lifting his immunity without bringing specific criminal charges against him.

Zambian civil society has clashed with foreign financiers over qualifying conditions and benefits of a global debt relief facility. At a forum in Lusaka on Thursday November 14, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) defended factors that are used in determining eligibility under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). But Chrispin Mphuka, of the Catholic Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, argued that the impact of the HIPC initiative had not been felt by ordinary Zambians. He said that it was unclear how and where the money had been used.

Allegations of vote-buying and irregular campaign financing have emerged in a court case challenging the legality of President Levy Mwanawasa's election victory. The Zambian Supreme Court, hearing an election petition by the three main opposition parties which began in September, opened this week with the testimony of top members of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) who served under former President Frederick Chiluba.

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application made by President Levy Mwanawasa's lawyer, Michael Mundashi, who was seeking the citation of Arthur Simuchoba, editor of the privately-owned newspaper "The Monitor", and Chali Nondo, his chief reporter, for "contempt of court", for commenting on an ongoing election petition against Mwanawasa's election in December 2001.

Aids activists have criticised a Zambian official for his proposal to round up everyone infected with HIV and force them into isolation camps. Alex Chama, deputy minister for Luapula province, made his comments during a parliamentary debate Wednesday. Aids activists said it was sad to see a government minister express such attitudes in a country where an estimated 20 percent of people are HIV positive.