The refusal of the minister of public works to answer questions on her role in clinching dodgy police lease deals amounts to a criminal offence. This is one of several damning findings in public protector Thuli Madonsela's final report on the police lease saga, which concludes Madonsela's investigation into dodgy police leases, worth R1.8-billion, in Pretoria and Durban with businessman Roux Shabangu, which was exposed by the Sunday Times last year. Shabangu is an associate of President Jacob Zuma's.

'In many countries, IDPs are exposed to violence and to various violations of their rights, either by the State or by armed non-State Actors (ANSAs). ANSAs have various obligations towards IDPs under international law, which can be found in the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, but also in the Rome Statute and the Kampala Convention, as well as the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (the 'Guiding Principles'). However, the vast majority of violations committed by ANSAs against IDPs and other civilians are perpetrated with impunity, as national governments have lost the monopoly on the use of force and their judicial systems may function poorly.' Visit to download the report.

South Africa has set the stage for the mass deportation of more than one million Zimbabwean immigrants later this month in a move that could alter its status as the world's largest country of refuge. South Africa has been a beacon for asylum seekers due to liberal immigration laws, proximity to African trouble spots and massive economy compared to the rest of the continent that has attracted millions seeking wealth they cannot find at home. About one in five of the 845 800 asylum seekers globally in 2010 sought refuge in South Africa, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Lucy Dollokieh, a mother of four from Liberia’s Nimba County, developed severe pains when urinating and thought she had been cursed by a witch, but when a volunteer came to her village describing diabetes symptoms she recognized them, went to a nearby hospital and was diagnosed with diabetes. She now injects herself daily with insulin. With low awareness of the disease’s symptoms and only one hospital in the country that can diagnose it - Ganta Methodist Hospital in Nimba County - the vast majority of the estimated 50,000 cases in Liberia go undiagnosed, according to the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF).

Just a few hours before South Sudan's independence, the popular Arabic daily 'Ajras Al-Hurriya' and five English-language newspapers were suspended - a worrying start to the relationship between north and south, report the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and Index on Censorship. Sudan's National Press and Publication Council said the papers were closed because the owners and publishers are from South Sudan, and, under the country's Press Law, they must have Sudanese nationality, reports ANHRI.

Both supporters and opponents of constitutional changes offered by Morocco's king have protested in their thousands, indicating debate over the country's future sparked by the "Arab Spring" uprisings has not ended. Sunday’s opposition protests organised by the youth-based February 20 Movement took place in three cities and passed off without any clashes. The movement is a loose national network that was inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

Outbreaks of measles and cholera in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed hundreds of people, with thousands more infected, says an official of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO). 'Since September 2010, 115,484 measles cases and 1,145 related deaths have been reported in South Kivu, Katanga, Maniema, Kasaï Occidental, Equateur, Bas Congo and Kasaï Oriental provinces,' Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO media and advocacy officer, told IRIN. According to Jasarevic, a lack of government funding halted follow-up mass immunisation activities in the regions, leading to the measles outbreak.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the Democratic Republic of Congo's ban of a private broadcaster favourable to opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. Radio Lisanga Télévision (RLTV), based in the capital, Kinshasa, lost its signal without formal notice, the station's director-general, Basile Olongo Pongo, told CPJ. The same day, Congolese Communication Minister Lambert Mende issued a decree indefinitely banning the station across the country over 'programs that are promoting violence and contribute to disturb public order,' according to news reports.

The website is dedicated to the declaration launched on 1 November 2010 by South African Artists Against Apartheid. You can follow the campaigns and events initiated by South African Artists Against Apartheid on this website, as well as recent news relating to international cultural boycott activities.

A new collection of stories, research and good practice is showing how African climate and poverty activists are leading the global fight for climate justice - finding creative, inspired ways of using life-saving knowledge networks to share climate change and poverty research. But their voices are often ignored by African governments when it comes to policy, and funding for African-led research and knowledge sharing is not seen as a priority. 'New voices, different perspectives' is a pioneering pan-African ‘encyclopaedia’ of the brightest and best ideas in climate change adaptation. It’s the result of a collaboration between over 200 of the continent’s leading development researchers, community activists, NGOs, climate scientists and international donors at the AfricaAdapt Climate Change Symposium held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 'New voices, different perspectives' offers a stark message to African politicians in the run up to the UN climate negotiations to be held in Durban, South Africa, this December: African governments can only lead the global fight for climate justice if they start to seriously value indigenous knowledge, community-led responses and African-led research. Apart from the publication, a video animation can be watched at:

Following a hearing before an British immigration judge, Tanzanian gay asylum seeker Edson 'Eddy' Cosmas was released from Harmondsworth Removal Centre at 5pm and was also removed from the 'detained fast track' process. The judge's decision has not been written but a witness at the court hearing said that it was on the basis that previous immigration judiciary decisions could be regarded as possibly 'unsafe' and that more time was needed for both a psychiatrist's report as well as for an expert witness of the situation of LGBT in Tanzania to be found.

There has hardly been a week without headlines on mobile apps in the last six months. The launch of the Apple apps store in July 2008 has undoubtedly been a turning point in what is today considered as a sector that generates at the global level US$ billion of annual revenues through apps downloads. Consultancy and research company, Balancing Act, has just released a new report entitled 'Mobile apps for Africa: Strategies to make sense of free and paid apps' which analyses the nascent apps ecosystem in Africa while providing an analytical framework allowing African mobile operators or other stakeholders to decide on what strategy to adopt regarding mobile apps.

As part of contributing to the African Women’s Decade (2010-2020) through provision of information on the themes of the Decade, the African Women’s Journal for July-December 2011 will focus on the theme: Women’s Education and Training in Africa.

'The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) notes with concern the continued disregard of the voice of the people of Zimbabwe as witnessed by the lack of commitment to consult the people in the whole negotiation process. ZESN is of the view that the timelines that have been set are unrealistic and fail to address a number of pertinent concerns that are essential before the country can hold a new election.'

The United Kingdom has announced the suspension of all general budgetary support to Malawi indefinitely, effective 14 July. The International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said they suspended aid based on concerns about governance, democracy, suppression of freedom of expression, chronic fuel shortages and a deteriorated tobacco industry. Relations between Malawi and UK soured in April this year when President Bingu wa Mutharika expelled British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane Dyet and the UK reciprocated.

A new report by an international coalition of marine scientists makes for grim reading. It concludes that the oceans are approaching irreversible, potentially catastrophic change, reports the New York Times. The experts, convened by the International Program on the State of the Ocean and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, found that marine 'degradation is now happening at a faster rate than predicted'. The oceans have warmed and become more acidic as they absorbed human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They are also more oxygen-deprived, because of agricultural runoff and other anthropogenic causes. This deadly trio of conditions was present in previous mass extinctions, according to the report.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

Make Every Woman Count (MEWC) is a newly established African women's organisation. The organisation has launched a website, which provides timely and accurate information regarding the African women's movement. Please visit the website for more information

Surgeons say there are no statistics on cosmetic surgery in Kenya, a country where half the population lives at or below the poverty line. But among higher-earning women here, tummy tucks and breast reductions are on the rise, according to surgeons interviewed for this story. Sue, who declined to give her last name to protect her privacy, is in her 40s and has one child. She says that after years of emotional abuse from her husband, she paid $5,500 to have a tummy tuck and a breast lift to boost her self-esteem.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party has renewed its calls for new elections this year, rejecting a timeline that his own negotiators hammered out last week, a state daily reported. 'The politburo is unanimous that elections should be held this year,' Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told the Herald newspaper after the party's top decision-making body met in the capital. On 6 July, negotiators from Mugabe's party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed on a timeline for election preparations which would put the polls in 2012.