WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY-ZIMBABWE: Less Press, Little Freedom

Last year, Zimbabwe earned itself a place on a list of the ‘World’s Worst Places to Be a Journalist’, published by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Twelve months on, little has changed.

INT’L LABOUR DAY-KENYA: A Murky Future for Textile Workers

The silence in the room was deafening. Thousands of sewing machines lay unused in one of the production units at Upan Wasana, a textile factory located in Ruaraka, on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

INT’L LABOUR DAY: Unemployment Weighs Heavily on South Africa

More than a decade after apartheid was brought to an end, South Africa still basks in the glow of that political achievement. On the economic front, however, there is considerable anxiety about unemployment in the country.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: All Aboard the ‘Johannesburg to G8’ Bus

Calls for debt relief to be awarded to African countries have become "de rigueur" in non-governmental circles and a good many news publications. But does the matter crop up during dinner conversations across the continent? Is it sufficiently important to crowd out sports talk amongst people riding mini-bus taxis on their way to work?

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: No Simple Path for ARV Delivery

Bonisiwe Maphumulo sits on a straight-backed chair in the sun outside her thatched, one-room home in rural Msinga. What she says next is, most probably, a lie.

CULTURE: Class, Not Race, War Grips Zimbabwe

Blamed, along with the opposition party, for a lot that has gone wrong in Zimbabwe, many among the white minority have packed their bags and left.

TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Textile Firms Fight for Survival

Southern African textile firms are feeling the effects of the quota system which was scrapped by the World Trade Organisation in January.

HEALTH-ANGOLA: Neighbours On Full Alert for Marburg Fever

There are fewer cases of Marburg fever being reported out of Angola this week, but medical experts say it is too soon to say this indicates the hemorrhagic virus is waning.

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Teenage Suicides on Upswing

Passions of the heart rather than financial woes account for a growing number of suicides in Southern African nations as diverse as prosperous and well-developed South African and small, traditional Swaziland.

HEALTH: The Best Defence against AIDS, In the Long Run, Will Be Economic

If one wants to find out how AIDS is increasing hunger and malnutrition, one can expect to harvest an abundance of depressing information. But soon, this may change.

RIGHTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: The Missing Link in the Fight against AIDS

A group of traditional dancers, donning colourful artificial animal skins and headgears, formed a circle around a drummer, entertaining guests heading to an AIDS event.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Only a Few Can Afford Life-prolonging AIDS Drugs

Emily Muronda, 55, spent seven months in hospital in 2003. She had been down with AIDS-related complications, which saw her in and out of the hospital, that year. Muronda's ailments included tuberculosis, severe vaginal thrush and pneumonia.

RIGHTS: Help Is On the Way to Assist Swaziland’s Elderly Financially

Gogo (granny) Dube, a small but spry white-haired woman of 67, has had to raise five grandchildren since her daughter and son-in-law, the children's parents, died of AIDS-related illnesses within months of each other in 2000.

HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE: More Policies Needed to Help Farmers Affected By AIDS

Lying outside her hut on a tattered mat, 20-year-old Maria struggled with her breathing as she tried to explain why she and her five orphaned nieces and nephews in her charge had not eaten.

DEVELOPMENT-MALAWI: Bad Policies, Not Drought, Leave Millions Hungry

Around two million Malawians need food aid this year, the sixth year in a row that food shortages have hit the country, due to a prolonged drought affecting the greater part of Southern Africa.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Popular Uprising Seems an Unlikely Course of Action

The landslide victory of Zimbabwe's ruling party in last week's parliamentary elections has strengthened the voice of those who have been arguing that change in the southern African country cannot come through the ballot box.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: The High Cost of Death Hurts the Living

South Africa's first comprehensive look at the financial lives of poor families has uncovered a fascinating world where things are not always as they appear.

ENVIRONMENT-SWAZILAND: Indigenous Trees Facing Extinction

Can carved masks, toy drums and grass baskets pull Swazis out of the chronic poverty that grips two-thirds of Swaziland's population?

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Mugabe Extends a Hand of Friendship to Opposition

Supporters of Zimbabwe's main opposition party look frustrated and helpless following their defeat in the Mar. 31 elections which civil society groups claim were rigged by President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/ENVIRONMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Animal Wars Far From Over

The recent shooting death of an off-duty game ranger by poachers has reminded Southern African conservationists that the ''animal wars'' that peaked during the 1990s are far from over a decade later.

ENVIRONMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Animal Wars Far From Over

The recent shooting death of an off-duty game ranger by poachers has reminded Southern African conservationists that the ‘'animal wars'' that peaked during the 1990s are far from over a decade later.