HEALTH: Vaccines Spark Controversy In Nigeria

The government of Nigeria has rushed health workers to Daramba, a village on the border with Niger, following an outbreak of whooping cough - one of the six main killer diseases for children.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Making Every Drop Count

The prospect of a future plagued by water shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa is coming under the spotlight this week, in Nairobi.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Rebels Demand Bonus for Giving Up Arms

Liberia has developed a programme to disarm some 40,000 combatants whose future seems uncertain after 14 years of a brutal war that also destabilised neighbouring countries.

/UPDATE/TRADE: Stakeholders Seek To Restore Diamond’s Integrity To The Market Place

Since the discovery of diamonds some four thousand years ago, connoisseurs have marvelled at the four "c’s" of the stones: their cut, colour, clarity and carat. Derived from the Greek word "adamus" which means unconquerable, diamonds indeed seemed unstoppable, generating an industry worth some 70 billion dollars a year.

CORRUPTION-NIGERIA: Money Launderers Will Be Hung Out to Dry

The proficiency of Nigeria’s drug traffickers and fraudsters has earned the country an unhappy reputation – that of being a money-laundering haven.

/REPEAT/ECONOMY-AFRICA: Making Gambling a Safe Bet

Love it or hate it, the gambling industry is making inroads on the African continent. If not closely monitored however, it could bring with it a host of evils such as money laundering and fraud - not to mention gambling addiction.

LABOUR-NIGERIA: Trade Unions Threaten to Resume Strike

Nigeria's trade unions have announced that they would call for mass action to protest government's refusal to revert to the old price of fuel.

POLITICS: Zimbabwe Could Overshadow Commonwealth Agenda

Don McKinnon hopes that December's Commonwealth summit in Abuja, Nigeria will not be dominated by Zimbabwe, but it appears that circumstances might override that wish.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: The Dawn of a New Era

Africa's oldest republic, Liberia, has entered a new stage on the road to peace and democracy.

TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: Access to Computers Remain a Distant Dream for Women

At 50, Nyende Namisi, a peasant farmer in rural western Kenya, has never seen a computer before.

POLITICS: China Wins Diplomatic War, Pushes Taiwan Out of Liberia

The eve of the inauguration of a power-sharing government in strife-torn Liberia has seen a dramatic shift in the West Africa nation's relation with the Chinas.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: A New Gov’t to Be Installed This Week

The United Nations Mission in Liberia embarked on a major drive last week to take the arms off the streets of the capital, Monrovia, ahead of the inauguration of a power-sharing government this week.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Gays, Lesbians Fight Conservative Gov’ts, Unkind Society

It can pass for any high-class restaurant in Kenya's capital Nairobi. With the serene environment, soft piped music and colourful lights, curiosity of passers-by is aroused, and some are tempted to get inside for a swig.

MEDIA: A Bad Week for African Journalists

The African media had a bad week throughout the continent, as governments closed private radio stations and newspapers, and arrested editors, reporters and publishers in what press freedom organisations consider an effort to eliminate the free flow of information.

LABOUR-NIGERIA: Unions Call Off Strike

If the strike had gone ahead as planned, it would have paralysed Nigeria.

LABOUR: Nigeria, Benin Join Forces to Fight Child Trafficking

Barely two weeks after 116 children were returned to neighbouring Benin, another set of 120 children kidnapped from that country have been rescued by the Nigerian police.

CULTURE-ZAMBIA: Reality Show Star Under Fire from Media, Women’s Groups

Now in the saddle of 'stardom', Cherise Makubale is finding that perhaps the 106 days she spent in the 'Big Brother Africa House' in South Africa, and the100,000-U.S.-dollar prize was easy pickings compared to the scrutiny her private life is getting now.

LABOUR: Panic Food Buying as Nigerians Brace for a Long Strike

Past experiences have taught Nigerians an important lesson: always stockpile food before any industrial action.

POLITICS: UN Seeks to Transform Liberia from Failed State to Nation at Peace

Determined to transform Liberia from a failed state in turmoil to a nation at peace, a top UN envoy has unveiled plans to stave off a crisis that has destablised the sub-region.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Fresh Violence Threatens Fragile Peace

Liberia's president Moses Blah has blamed the UN peacekeepers for failing to prevent this week's shooting incident in which at least three persons were killed in the capital Monrovia.

HEALTH: Male Circumcision, HIV’s Missing Link?

The perceived correlation between low HIV infection and male circumcision is one area that AIDS researchers are yet to be convinced about.