The Seventh Session of India-Tanzania Joint Commission on Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation was held in New Delhi from 13-14 January 2009. The Indian delegation was led by Mr. Nalin Surie, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs and the Tanzanian delegation by Hon. Prof. David H. Mwakyusa, MP, Minister of Health & Social Welfare of Tanzania.

Seeking organisations to expand and strengthen the network of human rights organisations in Nigeria, Mexico, and Russia that provide the basic infrastructure for a national human rights culture based on the rule of law. Grants are awarded only to organisations that define clear objectives for their work and measures of progress toward those objectives. The foundation provides multi-year support. Deadline: Rolling deadline.

Awarding innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity. Individuals, for-profit companies, and not-for-profit organisations are eligible to apply. The purpose of the Tech Awards programme is to inspire future scientists, technologists, and dreamers to harness the power and "promise of technology to solve the challenges that confront us at the dawn of the 21st Century". Deadline: March 27 2009

Since 1987, the Prix Ars Electronica has served as an interdisciplinary platform for everyone who uses the computer as a universal medium for implementing and designing their creative projects at the interface of art, technology and society. The 23rd Prix Ars Electronica - International Competition for CyberArts is open for entries now! We kindly invite you to submit your latest projects! If you know any further interesting works we'll be happy to get your recommendation! The deadline for submissions to the 2009 Prix Ars Electronica is March 6, 2009.

For Stephen Marks, given the interdependency between the United States and China, President Obama will have to tread carefully on trade as well human rights issues. He cautions there is a “danger of mounting economic crisis converting into political instability in which the smallest miscalculation, in Washington or Beijing could have unforeseen consequences.”

Amidst the deepening international financial crisis, China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, allayed African fears that Beijing would be downscaling its trade and investments across the continent. Speaking during the final leg of his African visit in South Africa, Yang confirmed that China . He also added that Africa was not insulated from the global credit crisis and therefore by working together in international meetings, China and African governments can lead the way towards reforming the international financial architecture and contribute to global economic stability.

Horace Campbell’s is a timely and necessary call on the African person to seriously reflect the Zimbabwean condition in the light of the so-called neocolonial/neo-imperialist politics.

While we do not deny the horrors of these 'neo-influences', we sadly underline the tendency to over-emphasise them and the failure to see Mugabe & Co.'s ugliness. I was participant in the CODESSRIA Conference, and, yes, the argument by Mamdani, Shivji... (lead proponents of the Statement) about Zimbabwe seemed intellectually so strained (a colleague saw it as vacuous!).

Of course to talk of military intervention in Zimbabwe is naive, but to continue praising Mugabe's banal conceptualisation of 'independent Zimbabwe' is surely a madness.

The incoming Obama administration will need to put human rights at the heart of foreign, domestic, and security policy if it is to undo the enormous damage of the Bush years, Human Rights Watch said in issuing its World Report 2009. US leadership in promoting human rights will be vital, Human Rights Watch said, because at present the most energetic and organized diplomacy addressing human rights is negative - conducted by nations trying to avoid scrutiny of their own and their allies' abuses.

Guinea's military government has announced reforms which they say will include a review of mining contracts. Guinea has one of the world's biggest reserves of aluminium ore, and is a major exporter. The government says it has created a new committee to examine and revise mining contracts in the country.

The United Nations has warned that the global fin ancial turmoil has sparked a crisis in the global trading arena, whose impact would affect the growth of African economies which have for a long time depended on export-led growth. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) announced Thursday in its World Economic Prospects 2009 that African economies would feel the severe effects of the sliding global trade prospects and the falling cost of oil prices.

The Togolese government has increased assistance to the private press to 350 million CFA francs this year from 75 million CFA francs in 2008. The government said on Thursday the assistance would help the press improve performance through several components, namely training and equipment.

Royal Bank of Scotland has warned it may become the fourth big investor in just a few days to pull billions of dollars out of the Chinese banking system, fuelling fears that China’s faltering economy could be hit by massive capital outflows in coming months. Reports indicate the British bank, now controlled by the U.K. government, has been in talks with Chinese regulators for the past few days to sell down its 4.3% stake in Bank of China worth $3.7-billion.

The Sino-Indian 'Hand-in-Hand 2008' military exercise that concluded recently at Belgaum in Karnataka may have hit headlines, but is no revelation to those who have observed India's military diplomacy in recent times. China apart, India has engaged many countries this year alone, under the rubric of military diplomacy. While the Navy led the show, with many bilateral and multilateral exercises, the Air Force and the Army too engaged themselves in significant joint exercises.

The commitment by China last year of US$9 billion for investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has made Beijing one of the most influential players in the Congolese economy almost overnight.

The world's eyes are on the Middle East, but due south, in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is flaring up once again. The good news is that Somali pirates, who had given the world's navies a lesson in intransigence after brazenly attacking 111 merchant vessels in 2008, have released a Japanese-operated South Korean-owned bulk carrier, as well as a three other ships this week.

The first weeks of 2009 find China consumed by the same anxiety as the rest of the world. No one in Beijing's top leadership wants a repeat of 2008's high-wire ride (the Beijing Olympics) and lows (the Tibet protests, the Sichuan earthquake, the contaminated milk-powder scandal). But the year of quiet development and consolidation that it might hoped for is not in prospect, for China shares with other leading players such as the United States and the European Union the predicament of a global economy in deep crisis.

Indian engineering firm Angelique International will build two hydro power plants in Cameroon as part of a 125 billion CFA francs ($251.5 million) aid deal, the central African country said late on Tuesday. State-owned Export-Import Bank of India will loan the money to Cameroon, the second such deal signed between the Gulf of Guinea nation and Angelique in the past two months.

Young researchers, doctoral students, education specialists, administrators living in one of the ERNWACA member countries are invited to participate in the ERNWACA Grants Programme for interdisciplinary Education Research

In the usual start to its New Year diplomatic calendar, Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jeichi, has embarked on a four nation African tour. Landing in Rwanda, as the first stop of his visit, the foreign minister was invited to the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, which was funded by the Chinese government to the value of US$8.9 million. As a goodwill gesture the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda

Today’s resource boom in Africa, driven by Asian economic growth, offers new opportunities for resource-rich African countries. Contrary to the experience of previous booms, however, most mining profits now accrue to foreign companies, leaving little room for governments to use revenues for pro-poor investments or to mitigate adverse distributional impacts.