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.

Zambia's government estimates that some unscrupulous mining companies may owe the country up to $1 billion in unpaid taxes. What difference could that make to Zambia? A staggering one when we consider that Zambia’s external debt in 2011 was $1.6 billion. Countries like Zambia need fairer international tax rules to stop companies from dodging the taxes they owe, says this Christian Aid blog post.

Zambia's never ending borrowing frenzy continues under the new government without parliamentary oversight, reports the Zambian Economist. 'First we had the announcement that Government has signed a US$50 million loan agreement with the World Bank for "livestock development and animal health project". Separately, the World Bank informed us that it had approved another US$60 million credit to Zambia as part of an effort to reinforce the existing electricity transmission network...The World Bank loan was clearly not enough because Government also is borrowing US$30 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for upgrading of the same power transmission line.'

On 30 April 2012, Chairperson of the Technical Committee On Drafting The Zambian Constitution (TCDZC), Justice Annel Silungwe launched the 2012 First Draft Constitution for purposes of wide consultation with the public. The committee started work on the draft charter on 1 December 2011 and was supposed to have produced the draft in February 2012 but failed to do so. Regardless, this first draft consists of several progressive articles and clauses on media freedom, freedom of express, right to access information and even freedom to state-owned media.

Zambia's President Michael Sata has warned Western diplomats against meeting his country's opposition leaders, saying such acts amounted to meddling. 'We do not do it in Europe, and why should they do it here? I am therefore directing the minister of foreign affairs to address the issue of diplomats meddling in internal affairs of the country,' Sata said on state radio.

The 21-member Civil Society Constitution Coalition (CSCC) has welcomed the Draft Constitution released recently, saying some clauses provided for in the document were progressive. CSCC spokesperson, Leonard Chiti, said the coalition had noted some progressive clauses provided for in the document and that it would protect them so that other interest groups would not take advantage of their numbers or influence to water down or remove them.

Organic Agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.

As a member of a small team of country-based researchers, the field researcher will work closely with the research coordinator to deliver timely, fact-based and first-hand experiential findings on the impacts of large-scale land deals on rural women.

Zambia President Michael Sata has with immediate effect suspended Justices Philip Musonda, Charles Kajimanga and Nigel Mutuna. The President has since appointed a tribunal which will be headed by Justice Lovemore Chipoka of the Malawi High Court to investigate the alleged misbehavior of the three Judges. The terms of reference would be based on the allegations that the trio interfered with a case involving the Post newspapers, Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ and JNC holding limited and Mutembo Nchito.

LAP GreenN, the Libyan Investment Authority’s international telecommunications arm and a major foreign investor in Zambia, said on Monday that it was disturbed by the decision last week in the Zambian High Court not to grant interim protection for its seized assets, which were legitimately purchased at a cost of US$257 million. In a statement, made available to PANA here, LAP GreenN said it had decided for valid reasons not to appeal the court decision, but to address the issue in its case against the government, which is scheduled in the Zambian High Court on 9 July, 2012. LAP-GreenN is an US$8 billion telecommunications investment arm of Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) and it claims that its assets in Zambia now have a market-value of approximately US$480 million.

Lawyers for Zambia's ex-president Rupiah Banda accused prosecutors Thursday of pursuing his son on politically motivated charges of corruption in the sale of the national telecom firm to Libya's LAP Green. Henry Banda is living in South Africa. After his father lost elections in September 2011 the elite Government Investigative Wing announced that he was wanted for questioning over the $257-million sale of fixed-line operator Zamtel to the Libyan firm.

All seven districts in Barotseland, the western region of Zambia, where a two day mass rally was convened Monday, have backed calls for the region to secede from the rest of Zambia, state radio reported Tuesday 27 March. The Barotse National Council which called for the meeting said Mongu,Sesheke,Kalabo, Senanga,Kaoma,Shangombo and Lukulu supported the secession of Barotseland.

The World Bank has said that it will soon hand over to the Zambian government details and names of senior government officials in the previous MMD government who received a bribe from Alstom Corporation of France. The World Bank slapped a hefty 9.5 million dollars fine on the Alstom Corporation, a major French engineering company and blacklisted two of its subsidiaries, Alstom Hydro France and Alstom Network Schweiz AG (Switzerland), after it admitted to bribing a Senior Zambian government official.

Michael Sata has threatened to dismiss all public service workers and replace them with staff from his own political party if they take threatened strike action. The staff have threatened to go on strike over prolonged negotiation over salaries and other conditions of service. During his election campaign Sata announced a 100 per cent salary increase for health sector workers, who have since expressed their concern that the promise would not be fulfilled.

Three Zambian students were severely beaten in Saint Petersburg Russia on the night of 18 March, leaving one of the students in a coma. Police are studying records of CCTV cameras to establish the circumstances of the incident which many believe was a racist attack. Racist assaults are frequently committed by skinhead gangs, which have grown in number in recent years in Russia and specifically Saint-Petersburg.

Libya's investment authority says it is suing Zambia's government for seizing its controlling share in a mobile phone network. A Libyan telecommunications enterprise that owns 75 per cent of the Zamtel network says the seizure last year by the government of newly elected President Michael Sata was 'illegal and unconstitutional'. The investment authority said in a statement that the network filed demands at the Zambia High Court for $480-million worth of compensation in asset value along with unspecified additional payouts for operating losses should the business not be handed back.

Zambia environment authorities on Saturday closed a copper mining plant operated by the Mopani Copper Mine company after health complaints from local residents continued to drag the mine. The move was seen by locals as an attempt to crackdown on poor conditions at mines across the country and comes after environmental activists called on the government to enhance oversight on mining operations in the country. The plant, which is controlled by Swiss commodity trader Glencore AG, was placed under the spotlight for its pollution levels.

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) will speak against the discrimination of people on the basis of sexual orientation, chairperson Pixie Yangailo has said. Reacting to comments made by a section of Zambians after United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon called for respect for sexual orientation, Ms Yangailo stressed that the Commission will oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation. Mr Ban, who is visiting Zambia, said on Saturday that no one should be stigmatised or discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation.

There are more than 20 community radio stations in Zambia. Most have a coverage radius of less than 20 kilometres. Yet they are significant to both rural and urban dwellers, whose interests range from politics to agriculture. But Zambia’s progress towards meeting this new demand for information is meeting some obstacles. The country recently dropped four places on the Reporters Without Borders index of press freedom. Gagging of journalists, censorship and political interference have all negatively affected the quality of service delivery to Zambia’s listening audience.

A Save the Children report has cited Zambia as one of the ten countries with the slowest annual reduction of stunting between 1990 and 2010. Rising food prices and malnutrition are putting future global progress on child mortality at risk. According to a press release by Save the Children Zambia director Marc Nosbach, 45 per cent of children in Zambia were chronically malnourished and there has been no significant improvement in reducing the rate in the last few years.