In May last year, IPS reported that teachers in Swaziland were at loggerheads with government over the delicate matter of admitting AIDS orphans to schools free of charge. With the new academic year looming, has the situation improved? Certainly, Education Minister Constance Simelane is making all the right noises. "What everybody should know is that children are the country’s future. They should be given first priority," she said.

An upbeat New Year's message by Prime Minister Themba Dlamini has been rebutted by Swaziland's pro-democracy groups, with labour unions calling for a general strike in January to protest lavish royal spending and a controversial draft constitution. "Poverty has been a great enemy for both social and economic development in our country. His majesty's government has put measures in place, and I hope this will go a long way to addressing this challenge," said Dlamini in his New Year's address, without offering specifics.

Swaziland's King Mswati has bought a $500,000 (£260,000) luxury car. Reports of the absolute monarch's latest purchase contrast with accounts of suffering in Swaziland, which has the highest Aids rate in the world. The Maybach car has a television, DVD player, 21-speaker surround-sound system, fridge, cordless telephone and sterling silver champagne flutes.

Read the obituaries in Swaziland, and you will discover that many people here die from unspecified "lingering illnesses". Attend funerals, and you may hear that tuberculosis, dysentery, diarrhea – even flu – are also proving surprisingly lethal. Virtually no-one, it seems, is dying of AIDS. This is despite the fact that an HIV prevalence of 38.8 percent has given Swaziland the highest AIDS infection rate in the world.

Shame was replaced by solidarity at the launch of an umbrella body of organisations of Swazis living with HIV/AIDS this week. The Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (SWANNEPHA), comprising 46 organisations with memberships ranging from a handful to over 1,400, aims to reduce stigma and discrimination and "build a positive image of people living with HIV and AIDS".

The Swazi government faces mass protest action by labour unions, human rights groups and banned political parties over the treatment of a local chief and his followers, who were evicted from their land for a second time by royal police in defiance a court ruling. The government's previous refusal to abide by a Court of Appeal ruling, allowing the chief and his people to return to their homes, resulted in the resignation of the entire bench and sparked a rule-of-law crisis.

Swaziland's High Court judges resumed work on Wednesday, ending a two-year hiatus created by their en masse resignation in protest over the government's refusal to abide by their judgements. Registrar of the high court Shiyumhlaba Dlamini told IRIN the judges' return to work followed an assurance that the government would adhere to court decisions.

Government's unmet commitment to finance the education of AIDS orphans and children from indigent families could lead to the imminent closure of all primary schools in the country, headmasters have warned. "If government fails to pay by 10 November, we would be compelled to close down all schools," said Themba Shabangu, chairman of the Swaziland Head Teachers' Association, in a statement.

A United Nations conference has given Swaziland the green light to export some of its white rhinos and bring in trophy hunters to shoot the animals. The motion was passed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which is meeting in Bangkok. It follows last week's lifting of a ban on hunting the rarer black rhino in Namibia and South Africa. Swaziland claims money raised from exports of live animals or trophy hunts will be used for rhino conservation.

Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Swaziland have ranked last for the way their governments run public affairs in a U.N. survey of 28 African countries that was released Tuesday. The four countries fell short on corruption , political representation, economic management and respect for human rights, said the survey by the U.N.'s Economic Commission for Africa. Cameroon, Angola, Kenya and Nigeria are ranked as the most corrupt of the 28 countries surveyed.

Some Christian clergymen and journalists locked horns early this week at a seminar in Swaziland over the use of condoms and masturbation as some of the safe practices in the fight against HIV and Aids. A South African Anglican reverend, Jape Heath, introduced the duo practices to the workshop participants, while the Arch-Deacon of Anglican, Diocese of Swaziland, Shongwe Londoloza, immediately disagreed, saying the two practices were anathema to African values and Christianity as a whole.

King Mswati the Third has announced that construction on the proposed Millennium Airport was to go ahead in his country, against recommendations by the International Monetary Fund that everything should be done to cut non-essential spending in the impoverished nation. Swazi officials insist there is a need for a new international airport capable of accommodating aircraft that are large – and likely to get even bigger over time. However, no business plan has ever been publicly presented to show how the investment would earn a return.

Thousands of people gathered in the small kingdom of Swaziland on September 21st for the first public talks on the country's long-awaited new Constitution. Swaziland was expected to adopt the Constitution before the end of the month, but pro-democracy groups have said the document - which has been in the making since 1996 - did not curb the powers of King Mswati III, but rather strengthened his hold on the poor southern African nation.

An HIV/AIDS testing and counselling centre that will be the template for other such facilities in Swaziland's urban areas opened this week in the centrally located town of Manzini. "This is a holistic centre offering many services - that reflects the holistic approach needed for living with HIV-AIDS: counselling, blood testing, nutrition, exercise and all-round physical and mental health, with the added expertise of legal and other kinds," said Rudolph Maziya, national director of the Alliance of Mayors Initiative to Combat AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL).

Up to 60 percent of Swazi infants are likely to incur brain damage due to vitamin deficiencies, while a wide spectrum of the population are at risk of malnourishment, according to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report released last Thursday. "The price of the current food shortage crisis is being paid by children and others, who are suffering stunted growth and diminished performance at school and on the job," Siddharth Nirupam, UNICEF Swaziland's programme officer for health and nutrition, told IRIN.

Prime Minister Themba Dlamini outlined the Swazi government's new economic growth strategy in parliament on Wednesday, and also touched on international concerns over democratic reform. The premier called for a programme to improve environmental management, and said a land policy had been developed and was awaiting approval.

Former government leaders joined human rights attorneys in criticising officials perpetuating Swaziland's rule-of-law crisis at a conference sponsored by the Law Society of Swaziland this week. The crisis began two years ago when the royal government refused to obey High Court rulings limiting king Mswati's power to rule by decree.

A dramatically lower number of Swazi teenage girls are being infected by HIV than was previously estimated, suggesting a turning point in the battle against HIV/AIDS in a country with the world's highest HIV infection rates, a new report has revealed. The findings in the report, 'A Baseline Study on HIV Risk Factors', commissioned by the UN Childrens' Fund (UNICEF) are derived from interviews and blood tests of over 1,000 Swazis in two rural areas and revealed that only six percent of girls aged from 15 to 19 were found to be HIV-positive, with most of the HIV infections occurring among older girls.

The University of Swaziland last week became the first site of a new rapid HIV testing procedure which allows a greater number of people to be tested. "The approach of 'Negative Determination' is designed to make it easy for those who may still be negative to find that out, without having to go to hospitals or special voluntary counselling and testing centres (VCT)," said Tizzy Maphalala, programme coordinator for the UN children's fund (UNICEF).

A new radio drama aimed at transforming Swazis' knowledge of AIDS into a change in personal behaviour began broadcasting this week. "The show's purpose is to give information, but I think it is fundamentally different from other attempts at AIDS communication in Swaziland during the past 15 years," said Alan Brody, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) country representative, who is sponsoring the drama.