The Rio+20 summit from 13 to 22 June was disappointing to many, but it could still succeed through the mandated follow-up actions on a high-level political forum, sustainable development goals, finance and technology, says The South Centre, which gives an in-depth assessment in its latest bulletin. Individual articles include:
- The Rio+20 Summit and its Follow Up
- Rio+20: Summit Adopts Text, Ends With Positive Speeches
- Rio+20: An Inside View on the Tough Fight Over Means of Implementation (Finance and Technology)
- Sustainable Development As An Answer To Economic And Financial Crises
- Food Issues in the Rio+20 Spotlight
- 'It's Not Fair to Require Emerging Countries to Contribute As Much As Rich Countries,' Says South Centre
- Indian PM’s Speech at Rio+20
- Chinese PM’s Speech at Rio+20
- South Centre Seminar in Rio on World Economy

Kenyan women match men almost coin for coin in the now vibrant mobile money transfer market, surveys published by an international polling firm show. According to three studies on payments and money transfer behaviour carried out in Kenya and another 10 sub-Saharan African countries carried out by Gallup and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both genders are involved in mobile money transfers in equal measure.

Gunmen killed several people in an attack on two Christian villages in central Nigeria's Plateau State early Saturday, officials said. Although police and army spokesmen could not give an exact toll, one politician said at least 23 people had been killed and blamed Muslim herdsmen for the attacks.

The battle for supremacy between Nigeria and South Africa and an attempt by France to play a bigger role in African issues, are likely to influence who becomes the next head of the African Union Commission in this week’s polls. There is a growing competition between Nigeria and South Africa for the control of the continent’s economic and political scene after South Africa offered the candidature of Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, contrary to the unwritten rule that big economies should stay away from the leadership.

A large tract of near-pristine Afromontane forest has been found in Angola's Namba Mountains, tripling the amount of this habitat that was thought to survive in Angola. The site meets the criteria for a new Important Bird Area (IBA), holding one globally threatened species, and assemblages of restricted range and biome-restricted bird species. Afromontane forest is the most localised and threatened habitat type in Angola. By the early 1970s, only 200 hectares was estimated to remain, mainly at the Mount Moco IBA, and perhaps in the Namba Mountains, where most forest was thought to be degraded by logging.

A former Zimbabwean diplomat has warned that the country’s massive international debt is a 'ticking time bomb', which threatens to destroy any hope of economic recovery. The country’s bill is believed to be hovering between 8 and 10 billion dollars, which Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono warned in May was 'a serious developmental constraint for the economy'. According to former diplomat Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, the lack of agreement on solutions to the staggering debt 'could trigger civil strife and instability in the not so distant future'.

While Botswana’s government has never officially admitted to forcibly relocating the G/wi and G//ana communities of the Basarwa indigenous group to make way for diamond-mining operations in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), critics have long suspected this to be the main motivation for the removals. When it became known in late 2010 that Gem Diamonds would begin mining operations in the CKGR, suspicions seem to have been confirmed. Basarwa were granted the rights to occupy land within the CKGR, as a result of a court ruling in 2006, after years of attempted negotiations, struggle and litigation. There is concern over monitoring and ensuring that the needs of the communities in the CKGR are met, says this article from

The United Nations has in a new report expressed grave doubts about the widespread practice of detaining migrants. States use a variety of reasons to justify this practice and some see irregular migration as a national security problem or a criminal issue, notes the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, in his latest report to the Human Rights Council. However, he warns, there are a number of human rights issues at stake. Different categories of migrants are subjected to detention, including migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation, asylum-seekers awaiting the outcome of their asylum application and failed asylum-seekers awaiting removal.

Call for applications for masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2013: The Programme on the Study of the Humanities in Africa (PSHA) at the University of the Western Cape invites suitably qualified candidates to apply for masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships for the 2013 academic year. The PSHA is an exciting research platform based in the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) dedicated to redefining Humanities research in and about the postcolonial world and making sense of the driving forces of globalization and nationalism. It is backed by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Seventy-five US family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural organizations representing more than 300,000 individuals and 4,500 farms filed a brief on July 5 with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. asking the appellate court to reverse a lower court’s decision from February dismissing their protective legal action against agricultural giant Monsanto’s patents on genetically engineered seed. The plaintiffs brought the preemptive case against Monsanto in March 2011 in the Southern District of New York and specifically seek to defend themselves from nearly two dozen of Monsanto’s most aggressively asserted patents on genetically modified organism (GMO) seed. They were forced to act preemptively to protect themselves from Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits, fearing that if GMO seed contaminated their property despite their efforts to prevent such contamination, Monsanto would sue them for patent infringement.

Across regions, young people are disproportionately affected by unemployment, underemployment, vulnerable employment and working poverty, says this article from the UN Focal Point on Youth, which looks at youth unemployment in the aftermath of the financial crisis. 'Even during periods of economic growth, many economies have been unable to absorb large youth populations into the labour market. In recent years, however, the global financial and economic crisis has further hit young people particularly hard in the developed world.'

A prominent Sudanese opposition politician has been arrested, amid growing unrest over economic hardship. Kamel Omar was taken from his home by unknown men who showed no warrant, a spokesman of his party said. A government official said he was held for alleged links to Darfur rebels, as well as to the recent protests.

Sudanese security forces fired tear gas on Sunday after demonstrations broke out at the University of Khartoum, where nationwide protests against high prices began last month, a witness said. The university is where an unprecedented three weeks of national protests began on June 16, when students first voiced their opposition to high food prices.

One week after its creation, IndustriALL Global Union announced its intention to shine a light on Rio Tinto’s unethical behavior around the world, starting with the release of a report on the company’s operations in Africa. Speaking to journalists at the Foreign Press Association in London, the newly elected General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union Jyrki Raina said, 'Rio Tinto’s operations in Africa are a story of displaced communities, broken promises, cozy arrangements with local dictators and the oppression of union involvement.'

A report on Monday said 1.63-million Malawians, out of a population of 13-million, would need food aid after crops failed in the south of the country, despite a bumper harvest of three-million tonnes nationwide. The study was conducted by the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, which comprises several government departments, the United Nations, embassies and humanitarian agencies. Only 200,000 people required food aid last year.

Well-known blogger Usamah Mohamed, known on Twitter as @simsimt, was detained by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) during protests in Sudan, and continues to be held in custody. Mohamed has been a long-time critic of Sudan’s government. His arrest came after he posted a video on why he would join the mass protests for Al-Jazeera’s The Stream.

Zambia’s immediate past president, Rupiah Banda, says he has sent a letter to former US President George W. Bush’s offices, offering an apology on behalf of the Zambian people following a controversial debacle in Lusaka in which President Michael Sata referred to Bush as a 'colonialist'. During a ceremony held at State House in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, on Wednesday, President Sata castigated President Bush in front of an audience as a 'colonialist' who had returned to pay back the resources that had been stolen from Africa.

The death of rare conjoined twins in Cameroon last week stirred debate about society’s perception of the disabled and children with birth defects. While the government and nongovernmental organizations offered support to the twin’s family, community members and local leaders vary on whether they call the rare medical condition a gift or a curse, reports Global Press Institute.

Between 11- and 20-million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. The photo gallery on the site of photographer Mary Beth Meehan were taken inside the homes of undocumented residents in New England, with 'the goal of using the texture of their living spaces to make visible these human beings, and to provide a window into the very personal paths they have chosen'.

This study (by Salimah Valiani, Associate Researcher, Centre for the Study of Education and Work, University of Toronto, With a Foreword by Samir Amin) traces the structural forces creating the conditions for the increased supply and demand of temporary migrant nurses around the world. It is argued that technology-driven health care cost escalation, the restructuring of nursing work, persistent undervaluing of nursing labour, and concerted state effort to produce nursing labour for export, put in motion, the global integration of nursing labour markets. Please click for details of launch events in Kenya and South Africa.