This new publication by the Association for Progressive Communications and the International Development Research Centre gathers several reports from developing countries on how ICTs are and can be applied to help communities experiencing water-reated stress, adapt to climate change. While drawing on current experiences in the field of water management and sustainability, the perspective of the authors is primarily from the ICT for development (ICT4D) sector.

Huge reserves of underground water in some of the driest parts of Africa could provide a buffer against the effects of climate change for years to come, scientists have said. Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have for the first time mapped the aquifers, or groundwater, across the continent and the amount they hold.

In the midst of the chorus of widespread condemnations of the imposition of values and norms alien to Africa under the pretext of human rights, the Gambian leader has made his position clear, denouncing in the strongest term possible terms what he called 'ungodly gay marriages', saying his country has no 'room for gays and lesbians'.

This brief update from the United Nations Fund (UNICEF) reports on recent developments in polio-endemic Nigeria. As of 13th of April 2012, 20 new cases of wild poliovirus (WPV) have been reported in eight states, compared to nine cases for the same time period in four states in 2011. The polio eradication programme is addressing challenges in campaign quality while dealing with a deteriorating security situation. In key infected states (Borno, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe), more than one in three children has received less than four doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

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.

The trial of seven Free State policemen accused of murdering and assaulting protester Andries Tatane continued last week. Tatane was killed in Ficksburg during a service delivery protest, allegedly by public order police, on 13 April last year.

The recent deaths of journalists in Nigeria, Lebanon, Somalia and Indonesia bring the number of journalists killed so far in 2012 to 36 - which means this year is on track to be the deadliest for the media since International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping records in 1997. 'We are witnessing, by a significant margin, the deadliest start to a year for the media in recent memory,' IPI executive director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. 'As movements for democracy spread across the world, journalists - whose work is critical to any free society - are increasingly coming under violent attack.'

Teachers have threatened another national strike to press for better housing allowances. They are also demanding increases in commuter, medical, hardship and other allowances. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said its members were unhappy with the government’s failure to involve them in budget preparation through which they would have made their proposals.

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has upheld the expulsion of Julius Malema as the party’s youth league leader, a statement has said. The ANC's statement said: 'In respect of the present disciplinary hearing, the [ANC National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal] NDCA confirms the sanction imposed by the NDC that the appellant be expelled from the ANC.' Malema, 31, was suspended in November after being found guilty of three of the charges against him - including bringing the party into disrepute by calling for regime change in Botswana.

The South African Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, has called for Southern African countries to develop a comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to end gender-based violence (GBV). In her keynote address to the opening session of the third annual Gender Justice and Local Government Summit in Johannesburg, Xingwana, added that countries must continue to focus on the links between HIV and AIDS and GBV in strategies for prevention, response and support.

Gay rights activists in Uganda want the government to declassify homosexuality as a mental health disorder. Activists have expressed concern that most health workers interviewed said homosexuals were mad people deserving psychiatric intervention.

The Moroccan Parliament is debating a new bill that would give the prime minister some of the power now held by King Mohammed VI. The proposed law is considered among the most important political reforms brought by the new constitution in Morocco, since the power of appointments was limited to the king under the previous constitution.

When the US military wants to head into un-chartered, or minimally chartered territory, they call on the experts of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or the NGA. By compiling the most current satellite imagery, existing maps, and layers of data like roads, rivers, and towns they are able to create custom maps and imagery for specific locations or events. Currently, two Geospatial Analysts from Stuttgart, Germany are mapping out the terrain for African Lion 2012 in southern Morocco. AL-12 is a bi-lateral exercise between US Marine Corps Forces, Africa, the Utah National Guard, and the Kingdom of Morocco. It's the 8th annual African Lion exercise in the country.

In March 2012, the Government of Uganda tabled the Communications Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012 (the Bill), a major piece of legislation intended to consolidate and harmonise two existing and overlapping laws – the Uganda Communications Act and the Electronic Media Act – and merge the regulators they establish into a single Communications Regulatory Authority (the Authority). Article 19 has pointed out that the bill is out of step with international standards in many and significant ways. Most notably, with the exception of the funding arrangements, it fails to provide any credible safeguards of the Authority’s independence from the Government.

Evidence that British intelligence services colluded with Libyan spies by passing over details of refugees who fled the North African country is to be investigated by the UK Parliament. Allegations that MI5 housed two Libyan agents in a central London safe house, providing them with details of asylum claimants who could be coerced into working for Gaddafi's regime, will be examined by MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee, the Home Office said.

This report compiled by the National Association of Professional Environmentalists and supported by Friends of the Earth International investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. It assesses the impacts on rural communities and on the local environment, and questions who benefits from these
projects.

Pacifying the six rebel groups that hold sway across the north and northeast of the Central African Republic (CAR) is both a key component of the country’s security reform and a prerequisite for the economic development needed to end the spiral of armed conflict and criminality that has dogged the state since 1996. But funding shortfalls and the 12 January 2012 arrest of a prominent rebel leader have put the brakes on the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process, the active phase of which got under way in August 2011.

Guest Speakers: Denis Goldberg, Sipho Pityana, Eusebius McKaiser and Richard Calland.

This special issue is the culmination of an ESRC-funded research project to examine the impact of rising powers on the global politics of development. The research has identified a second tier of rising powers beyond the much-studied BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), including Turkey, South Africa, South Korea and Mexico, that will play a critical role in future politics of development.

The Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and 100 representatives of the rural masses met for two days to discuss the impending Traditional Courts Bill. The conference unanimously expressed deep reservations about the bill in its current form. 'The bill will have serious consequences for rural women and the rural population in general in terms of equal access to justice and it erodes the traditional justice system as it were by imposing the senior traditional leaders as the sole adjudicator.'