Thousands of people in Cote d'Ivoire poisoned by toxic waste face being cheated out of $45m in compensation after the money, which was deposited in a bank account in the West African country, was frozen. At the same time, a local figure, claiming to be president of the National Co-ordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Cote d'Ivoire and who is unknown to the victims' lawyers, has now applied to have the cash moved to the association's account.

A new report released by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors without Borders, documents both extensive achievements in expanding AIDS treatment in recent years, and the threat that funding slowdowns will not only stall expanding treatment, but also force life-threatening cutbacks for patients already on treatment.

Market liberalisation has encouraged massive private investment in Africa's cellular networks, according to a report released by the World Bank. The result was a major revolution in information and communications technology (ICT), which helped boost economic growth to an annual 4 percent between 2001 and 2005, the report on Africa's infrastructure by the World Bank said.

Ace Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the New Crusading Guide grabbed two awards at the 2009 edition of the Norbert Zongo Awards. He scooped the Norbert Zongo Grand Prize in Investigative journalism and the Segbo Excellence in Investigative Journalism 2009, for his groundbreaking expose on the work of Chinese human traffickers in Africa.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced the vote on Friday October 30, 2009 by the National Assembly of a legislation reinforcing the powers of the High Authority of Audio-visual and Communication (HAAC) and which seriously threatens press freedom and freedom of expression in Togo.

In preparation for this Regional Conference as well as to facilitate informed input to the draft regulations as published by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the Kenya ICT Consumers Association in partnership with Akiba Uhaki Foundation, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Article 19, the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights(KNCHR) and the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya Chapter(ICJ-K) has organized the 2-day Kenyan Convening in Nairobi to discuss the key issues and where necessary offer innovative Civil Society alternatives.

On 18 October 1967, 10 days after Che Guevara’s death, the details of the revolutionary hero’s last moments finally emerged. Before a nation in mourning, Fidel Castro gave this speech. In this emotive text brought to you by Pambazuka News, ‘El Lider Máximo’ revisits the journey of his comrade-in-arms, revealing Che’s human side, his military prowess, his philosophy and his great revolutionary pedigree.

While the Zambian government is seemingly content to make nonsensical noises on the subject of the country's Freedom of Information (FoI) bill, it should accept critical perspectives as the words of people who love their country, writes Henry Kyambalesa.

Whatever else it is, information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy-making can often be symbolic, especially in poor countries. The vision is one of social upliftment, and a new golden age of possibilities brought on by technological roll-out.

A Tanzanian court has sentenced four men to death by hanging for the murder of a 50-year-old albino man. Local media late on Monday reported the case, which brings to seven the number of people sentenced for murdering albinos following the first conviction of three people in September.

Moroccan courts on Friday (October 30th) convicted two journalists of desecrating the national flag and failing to show proper respect for a member of the royal family. Editor Taoufik Bouachrine and caricaturist Khalid Gueddar were put on trial after the daily Akhbar al-Youm published a cartoon of Prince Moulay Ismail's wedding in its September 27th edition.

Nearly 30,000 victims of toxic dumping in the Ivory Coast may be deprived of £30m compensation after an African court froze the bank accounts into which the money has been paid. British lawyers for the victims are concerned that the legal action is the first step in the expropriation of the funds, released to the claimants this year by Trafigura, a London-based international oil trading company.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced the vote on Friday October 30, 2009 by the National Assembly of a legislation reinforcing the powers of the High Authority of Audio-visual and Communication (HAAC) and which seriously threatens press freedom and freedom of expression in Togo.

"All shall call." This phrase was popularised by Pallo Jordan in the mid 1990's, and became a catchphrase of telecommunications transformation in South Africa. It echoed the idea espoused by Jordan at the Plenipotentiary meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that access to telecommunications was a right, not a privilege.

Seeking to minimise the perceived damage done to it by the recent conviction of one of its top members, Bode George, Nigeria's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has endorsed the conviction. George, a former deputy national chairman of the PDP, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment, along with five others, last week for a contract scam while he served as the chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Rwandan journalist, Amani Ntakandi of the bi-monthly Rus hyashya published in Kigali, has been released by the people's courts, 'Gacaca', of Mbazi in the south of the country, after serving a three-month sentence for "illegally" reporting on the proceedings of these courts.

Fana Soumah, a television newscaster with the state-owned Guinean Broadcasting Corporation, was violently assaulted by a soldier in Conakry, the Guinean capital, the sub-regional rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), said in a statement.

Gibril Gottor, a reporter for Radio Kolenten, based in the Kambia district of northwestern Sierra Leone, was violently assaulted by a group of men on 10 October 2009 for allegedly "sabotaging" the government. The men are believed to be supporters of the ruling All People's Congress Party (APC).

Fifty-seven IFEX members and other rights organisations joined the Arab Network for Human Rights (ANHRI) to condemn the recent targeting of Moroccan journalists who have been hit with lawsuits, high fines and jail sentences, threatening media diversity. Orchestrated by the monarchy, newspapers have been shut down as the government ramps up its repression of independent journalism, report IFEX members.

Whatever else it is, information and communications technologies (ICTs) policy-making can often be symbolic, especially in poor countries. The vision is one of social upliftment, and a new golden age of possibilities brought on by technological roll-out. Sometimes these promises can feel like fantasy in contrast to the real spadework of laying cables, orbiting satellites, and securing billion-dollar investment deals that don’t exploit the poor.