An uphill battle against mining, waged since 2007 by the impoverished South African Amadiba community, last year appeared to have been won. Now it's beginning again. A local subsidiary of Australian firm Mineral Resource Commodities has renwed its application to prospect for mineral sands along the Transkei's Wild Coast. The traditional owners of the area are outraged.

The EU and the US have been asked to help the African Union force in Somalia (Amisom) to wrest the port of Kismayo from Somalia's Shabaab Islamists, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Tuesday 12 May. 'Our aim is to get to Kismayo by August,' Odinga said, saying that taking the Shabaab’s last bastion would entail an 'operation by land, sea and air'. 'We have asked the EU to help us with the Atalanta forces that they have there; they are reluctant,' Odinga told a meeting with international media.

The film Seeds of Freedom charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolise the global food system.The film highlights the extent to which the industrial agricultural system, and genetically modified (GM) seeds in particular, has impacted on the enormous agro-biodiversity evolved by farmers and communities around the world, since the beginning of agriculture. You can watch a preview of the film through the URL provided.

According to a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), pneumonia and diarrhoea are the leading killers of children under five years despite the fact that there are a number of cost effective interventions to curb these illnesses. Far fewer children are dying today than 20 years ago – In 1990, 12-million child deaths were recorded, compared to 7.6-million in 2010.

Gay rights activists in Uganda have launched a new documentary tracing gay love in pre-colonial Ugandan society. Kabaka Mwanga II, widely believed to have been gay, ruled Buganda from 1884 to 1897. The documentary, 'Gay Love in Pre-colonial Africa: The Untold Story of Ugandan Martyrs' was premiered in Kampala last week ahead of the 3 June public holiday to commemorate the burning to death of Ugandan martyrs.

Why has peace in Somalia been so hard to come by? Someone needs to get rid of the Western powers and their roadmap to nowhere.

In ‘Global History: A View from the South’ Samir Amin shows us how we can overcome the exploitative pressures of global capitalism.

Governments from all over the world will meet in Río de Janeiro, Brasil from 20-22 June to commemorate 20 years since the 'Earth Summit', the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development. In this statement, La Via Campesina says they will mobilize for the event, 'representing the voice of the peasant in the global debate and defending a different path to development that is based on thewellbeing of all, that guarantees food for all, that protects and guarantees that thecommons and natural resources are put to use to provide a good life for everyone andnot to meet the needs for accumulation of a few.'

The British government has denied legalising gay relationships is a precondition that it has set for Malawi to be a beneficiary of its aid. The United Kingdom (UK) Secretary for International Development Andrew Mitchell said at a press briefing he had alongside President Joyce Banda at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre. Mitchell said even though the UK champions the promotion of human rights, it has not particularly attached its aid to gay rights as had been earlier reported.

South Sudan has shut down more than 20 private universities, placing the future of higher education on the spot in a country where public universities are partially operational. The move that has left thousands of students confused is part of streamlining the higher education system. Country's minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Peter Adwok Nyaba, said the institutions have been operating on letters of no objection that were only meant to enable them to acquire and develop land.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, will take place in Rio de Janeiro from June 20 to 22, twenty years after the celebration of the 'Earth Summit' in the very same city. There are several topics in the agenda resulting from intense negotiations that are still underway. In this respect, the World Forum of Civil Society Networks - UBUNTU - has issued a statement calling for mobilization at all levels in order to ensure that this new 'Earth Summit' measures up to the serious occasion we are going through. 'The world cannot afford another fiasco in Rio. It is time for responsibility. And, above all, it is time for action.'

India has found a new gateway to project its Africa diplomacy as it explores a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is engaged in a range of activities in the emerging continent. This possibility of collaborating in Africa emerged from talks between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. With Africa suffering a host of debilitating health problems like malaria and HIV/AIDS, health has been identified as a focus area for prospective cooperation.

The film highlights the extent to which the industrial agricultural system ­? and genetically modified seeds in particular ­? has impacted on the enormous agro?biodiversity evolved by farmers and communities around the world.

The challenge of Africa Liberation Day 2O12 is for this generation to reflect on their commitment to the vision of Pan-Africanist pioneers who worked so hard to bring Africans to where they are today.

The real definition of ‘austerity’ means nothing more than corporate fleecing of the common people while enriching an avaricious elite.

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) learned today (28 May) that US multi-national seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred has been granted permission by the Competition Appeal Court, to acquire the nation’s last major independent seed company, Pannar seed. The ACB was an intervening party, opposing the merger in the public interest.

In a sign of their rising cooperation on key international economic issues, members of the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have decided to disclose their contributions to the $430 billion global fund that was created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shield the world economy from the European debt crisis. Countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand did not disclose their contribution to the fund created in April during the IMF-World Bank spring meeting. IMF had, however, said that the amount put together by the emerging economies was close to $68 billion.

Donor governments and multilateral institutions have provided grants and loans to private companies operating in developing countries for decades. However, since the 1990s the scale of this support has increased dramatically. In 2010 external investments to the private sector by IFIs exceeded $40 billion. This report assesses whether external (non-domestic) public finance for private investments in the South lives up to promises to provide finance to credit-constrained companies in developing countries and to deliver positive development outcomes.

One month after human rights defender Mr Biram Dah Abeid was arrested, a peaceful anti-slavery march was violently cracked down. Several activists were severely injured and the wife of Mr. Abeid, Leila Mint Ahmed Khliva, was injured by a grenade. Since Mr. Abeid, president of the ‘Initiative de Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste de Mauritanie’ (IRA) was arrested on 29 April 2012, his whereabouts continue to remain unknown.

Last week five of the UN's smallest member states, describing themselves as the 'small five' (S5), challenged the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, over the misuse of their veto powers. But hours before it was to be debated and voted in the 193-member General Assembly, the resolution unceremoniously disappeared from the hallowed precincts of the United Nations.