Two Mauritian business partners of Nyimpine Chissano, son of president Joaquin Chissano, have been accused of involvement in embezzling $20 million from the national pension fund.

As part of the campaign to force the Mozambican government to investigate the assassination of economist Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua, a group of prominent Mozambicans has nominated him posthumously for the 2003 Integrity Award of the anti-corruption body Transparency International (TI).

Sixteen years of civil war, cyclic floods and severe drought have collectively caused much hardship in Mozambique. But the current drought, affecting about 600,000 people, alongside the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are together pushing a growing number of families to the brink of survival.

Sixteen years of civil war, cyclic floods and severe drought have collectively caused much hardship in Mozambique. But the current drought, affecting about 600,000 people, alongside the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are together pushing a growing number of families to the brink of survival.

The celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos Cardoso, one of Mozambique's top investigative journalists, was both a triumph of the openness of the court proceedings, and an indictment of the corruption among the country's rich and powerful.

How far will Mozambique go with its promising economic recovery if the price is a damaged environment, nature conservationists are asking? ''From a proposed new highway that will devastate the rainforest in the Inhambane province, to the potential destruction of coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, sacrificed to shipping, mining and tourism, red warning flags are being raised all over this beautiful country,'' conservationist Manuel Chissano told IPS.

Cholera has claimed 33 lives in Mozambique since the first case of the present outbreak was diagnosed in the northern province of Niassa in September 2002, reports Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

A famine early warning agency has warned that southern Mozambique faces yet another poor harvest this year, which was likely to lead to a "dramatic increase" in food insecurity. In a report based on field assessments and analysis of satellite imagery, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said that insufficient and erratic rains over the last three months has resulted in extremely poor harvest prospects throughout southern Mozambique, and in parts of the central region.

The man convicted of being the leading figure behind the murder of Mozambique's prominent journalist Carlos Cardoso now declares that it was not the President's son that had ordered the assassination.

The celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos Cardoso, one of Mozambique's top investigative journalists, was both a triumph of the openness of the court proceedings, and an indictment of the corruption among the country's rich and powerful.

The number of cholera cases reported in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula has now reached 65, since the first case was diagnosed about two weeks ago, reports Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

Heavy flooding in 2000 and 2001 and a subsequent drought and food crisis have had an extraordinarily negative impact on children in Mozambique, Save the Children Fund (SCF) said in a new report.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is to inject CA $20 million (about US $13.2 million) into a project to support education in Mozambique through the procurement of learning and teaching materials.

An international relief agency this week said the effects of food shortages in Mozambique were a lot worse than what had been reported. Following a visit to the southern African country, World Relief President Clive Calver said there was a grotesque unawareness about the impact of the food crisis, especially in remote areas.

Thirteen percent of the people in this south-east African country have HIV: approximately 1,100,000 people. Close to 500 people are newly infected each day. An entire generation of Mozambicans is in mortal danger. Médecins sans frontières (MSF) runs five HIV-identification projects in Mozambique. Starting this month (January), MSF will open a new service in the country: treatment with anti-retroviral therapies; medicines which, although not able to eradicate the virus, can prolong the lives of HIV+ people for many years by effectively suppressing it.

Authorities have confirmed nine hunger-related deaths in an isolated area of north-western Mozambique. The country is among six nations in Southern Africa experiencing food shortages due largely to consecutive droughts, failed government policy and the impact of HIV/AIDS. About 15 million people face hunger in the six affected countries.

The purpose of this job is to guide the development of Fundo de Credíto Comunitário as it becomes a regulated financial institution which promotes sustainable growth among the economically active poor in Mozambique.

Judge Augusto Paulino has set Friday 31 January as the date for the verdict and sentencing of the six men accused of the murder of Carlos Cardoso. The final day of the trial ran into the early evening, as the three prosecution lawyers and five defence lawyers gave their final statements, and three of the defendants also gave final statements. Carlos Cardoso was murdered "because he was a journalist who denounced abuses, who did not shut up, who would not forget any matter, who insisted on following what he regarded as most important, and who would not allow any of the illegalities he had written about to fall into oblivion," declared the Cardoso family lawyer, Lucinda Cruz, in her final statement.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is preparing to launch a blanket supplementary feeding programme this month in seven provinces in Mozambique, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and development NGOs. The beneficiaries are an estimated 141,000 children aged six to 59 months and 71,000 pregnant and lactating women in 22 of the country's poorest food deficit districts, UNICEF said in a report released on Monday.

In the latest testimony in the trial of murdered journalist Carlos Cardosa, Mario Matola, who earlier admitted stealing the car used for Cardoso’s murder, has told the court his previous confession was false and that he had nothing to do with stealing the car. In the earlier statement, he said he worked with Anibalzinho (accused of organizing the killing, and now "escaped"), and that Anibalzinho made his living by trafficking in stolen cars between Mozambique and South Africa.