DEVELOPMENT: ACP Nations Opt for Trade on Their Terms

Leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States wrapped up their fifth summit Friday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum - this after two days of debate over trade relations between the ACP, a 79-member grouping that includes some of the world's poorest nations - and the European Union (EU).

DEVELOPMENT: Trade Agreements, Darfur in the Spotlight at ACP Gathering

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is taking place under the theme 'United for Peace, Solidarity and Sustainability'; however, negotiations at the meeting may have a somewhat less harmonious tone.

RIGHTS-KENYA: “He Dismissed Me to Return Home and Satisfy My Husband”

"I ran to the police station on two occasions after my husband had come home late at night...and started hitting me, chasing me around the house holding a knife. This happened many times, until one day he cut my palm and cheek," recounts Linda*.

DEVELOPMENT: ACP States Feeling the Pinch of 2007 Trade Deadline

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will kick off on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, amidst fierce speculation over the fate of trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and ACP nations.

ENVIRONMENT-AFRICA: Kenya Makes Business Sense of Renewable Energy

The 12th session of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came to an end in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, recently with little mention of cleaner sources of energy.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Marital Bliss Amidst Anti-Gay Prejudice

Bongani*, resplendent in a tailored suit in brilliant white, alighted from a white Mercedes Benz adorned with golden ribbons. By his side appeared Sipho* in a black suit and elegant yellow silk necktie. It was their wedding day.

WORLD AIDS DAY-KENYA: “Children Have Received a Raw Deal”

Which citizens is a government most accountable to? Those who voted it into power? Or is it more the people who're too young to cast ballots - too short, even, to reach the table in a voting booth: the children?

HEALTH-AFRICA: The Promise and Problems of Telemedicine

As the 11th annual conference of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth drew to a close Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, the ability of Africa to adopt and sustain telemedicine to improve delivery of health care in under-serviced rural areas came under discussion.

AFRICA: For Good Health, Think eHealth

The 11th conference of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH) kicked off Monday at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, where delegates from around the globe gathered to discuss the benefits and challenges that eHealth (electronic health) offers to both the developed and developing world.

ENVIRONMENT-AFRICA: The Past a Warning for the Future

A prolonged drought in East Africa in the 1890s not only killed tens of thousands of the native Maasai people, it also reshaped the ecological and political landscape - this according to new research published in the current issue of the 'African Journal of Ecology'.

RIGHTS-KENYA: The First Land Policy – But Perhaps Not the Best Land Policy

Historical injustices that have resulted in landlessness amongst Kenyans have been the focus of recent public discussions on a land policy - the first to be drawn up in the East African country.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “What Is WSF? Something That Will Bring Me Medicine?”

In just two months time the World Social Forum (WSF) will get underway in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, marking the first instance in which Africa is acting as sole host of the event.

ENVIRONMENT-AFRICA: Greenhouse Gas Targets Elusive After Climate Talks

International talks on climate change held at a conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ended Friday without having established a solid timetable for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: If You Can’t Escape Climate Change, Adapt to It

A conference on climate change, about to wrap up in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, has heard that adaptation to the effects of shifting weather patterns can play a key role in efforts to address climate change - alongside the bid to lessen greenhouse gas emissions.

DEATH PENALTY: Uganda’s Laws Favour Execution

In 2003, Corporal James Omedio and Private Abdullah Muhammad stood before a public firing squad for killing Irish Catholic priest Declan O'Toole, his driver Patrick Longoli, and his cook Fidel Longole.

ENVIRONMENT-AFRICA: Changing Climate, Changing Lives

Marginalised communities attending a United Nations conference on climate change being held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have given accounts of how their lives are being altered for the worse - something they blame on climate change.

DEVELOPMENT: Turning the Tide on Human Suffering

If the world's growing water crisis remains unresolved - depriving clean water to more than one billion of the world's six billion people - it will jeopardise the U.N.'s longstanding battle to reduce global poverty, hunger and disease by its targeted date of 2015, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) warned Thursday.

MAURITIUS-ECONOMY: Helping the Sugar Industry Regain its Sweetness

The Mauritian government has embarked on a campaign to transform its sugar industry as international sugar prices plunge, leading to a loss in the country's foreign exchange earnings.

DEVELOPMENT: Report Details Toll Taken by Lack of Water, Sanitation

The 2006 Human Development Report, 'Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis', focuses on the ongoing problems that surround provision of potable water and sanitation. The document is being launched Thursday in Cape Town, South Africa, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

RWANDA: Controversy Over Plan to Join East African Economic Community

Rwanda and Burundi may be sworn in as new members of the East African Economic Community (EAC) when the grouping holds its next summit, Nov. 30, in the Tanzanian financial centre of Dar-es-Salam. The regional organisation presently comprises Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and is headquartered in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.

POLITICS-DRC: Electoral Officials Get Tough on the Rumour Mill

As ballots are counted from Sunday's historic vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rhetoric from candidates and false poll results circulating via e-mail and text messages have prompted warnings from electoral officials. Authorities fear a repeat of first round election violence related to news of results.