If only silencing social media was as easy as putting political opponents in prison!

Samir Amin discusses the role played by four key components of the opposition to Mubarak – the youth, the radical left, middle-class democrats and the Muslim Brotherhood – and the strategies used to oust the regime.

The head of a parliamentary science committee has expressed dismay at drastic cuts planned for Nigeria's capital development budget for science. The cuts were highlighted last week (9 February) during a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. The government will slash the budget, which funds buildings and equipment but not salaries, from 53 billion naira (US$350 million) in 2010 to US$33 million in 2011.

Reporters Without Borders says it is deeply concerned about the continuing deterioration in the climate for the media in Côte d’Ivoire. Harassed, threatened and exposed to physical violence, journalists are now finding it virtually impossible to work freely. The press freedom organisation has urged civil society and the two rival camps led by Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara to respect freedom of expression and the right to news and information.

This guide will show you how social media offer researchers an opportunity to improve the way they work. One of the most important things that researchers do is to find, use and disseminate information, and social media offer a range of tools which can facilitate these activities.

AWID's Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms initiative is an advocacy-research project that seeks to strengthen the responses of women's rights activists to the rise of religious fundamentalisms across regions and religions. The February 2011 edition of the Facing Fundamentalisms Newsletter is now available. Email [email][email protected] to subscribe.

A senior United Nations official has welcomed a verdict by a military court in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which marked the first time that a high-ranking commander and several other army personnel were arrested, tried and sentenced for conflict-related sexual violence in the conflict-prone nation.

A project in South Africa supports mathematics education in schools using the web, social networking and mobile apps to deliver learning material directly to students’ cell phones. Teachers can also use the content in their classroom lessons. Students can practise mathematics exercises from a cell phone at any time and receive immediate feedback.

Amid revolutionary struggles across North Africa and the Middle East that have already toppled dictatorial regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, details continue to emerge of the corrupt ties between these dictators and leading French politicians. These revelations are embarrassing the French political establishment, including the main bourgeois 'left' opposition party, the Parti Socialiste (PS), writes Kumaran Ira on the World Socialist Web Site.

This page shows an infographic that maps out Twitter accounts active during the Egyptian revolution. 'Someday in the near future, the chart you see below might be looked at as a hero's roll call - the same way that war heroes are listed at the sites of famous battles. Or, it might simply be useful to social scientists, hoping to understand the role Twitter played in bringing about the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship. Either way, it's an astounding document of a once-in-a-lifetime event,' says the article posted with the page.

The London Guardian has established an interactive map that syncs with Twitter feeds relevant to protests currently prevalent in the region. The page makes it possible to click on a region, following which the relevant Tweets for that country show up.

The Transformation Audit, which annually tracks matters of social justice in the South African economy, will be launched in Cape Town later that evening, with Auditor-General, Terence Nombembe, as keynote speaker. Titled 'Vision or Vacuum?', this edited volume focuses on the quality of economic and political governance in South Africa and how they impact on the achievement of shared prosperity for all South Africans.

Issue one of the 2011 Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Southern Africa newsletter is now available. Visit their page to read the newsletter and to sign up for forthcoming editions.

Murdered gay rights activist David Kato was mocked at a UN-backed debate on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill, according to a US diplomat in Kampala in a leaked American embassy cable. The diplomat said Kato, who was bludgeoned to death near his home in the capital, Kampala, last month, delivered a well-written speech against the bill, but his words were almost inaudible due to 'his evident nervousness'. Throughout his talk a member of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission 'openly joked and snickered' with supporters of the bill, the diplomat claimed in the cable.

Taranga FM, a privately-owned local language radio station which was shut down on 13 January 2011, has reopened after the Gambian authorities issued a warning to the station’s management to stop reviewing what they described as 'opposition' newspapers. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s sources reported that the station is now back on air without its popular 'Xibari besbi', news and current affairs programme that reviewed newspapers in the Wolof language for most uneducated Gambians.

The ANC is a 'complete mess' and its young cadres have no interest in history, but simply want access to jobs and personal enrichment, according to a United States embassy cable obtained by City Press through the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. According to the cable, the ANC's Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli told a US diplomat that crippling divisions were plaguing the ruling party.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has backed calls for reform of the media law in Rwanda following the ruling of the High Court in Kigali which sentenced the editor and a journalist of the private newspaper, Umurabyo, to lengthy jail terms for 'ethnic discrimination, genocide ideology, defamation and inciting civil disobedience'. 'The need for reforming the Rwandan media law to decriminalize press offences is urgent in the light of this harsh ruling against the two journalists,' said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office.

Twenty four per cent of adults living in urban centres are now using the internet, according to the latest Zimbabwe All Media Products and Services Survey (ZAMPS). The figure represents a two per cent increase in the last three months alone.

Egyptian protestors were furious at Mubarak for upholding his own interests and those of Western powers and foreign companies at the expense of the country’s people. Mika Minio-Paluello takes a closer look at oil company BP’s relationship with the regime.

The global media's attention is focused on the revolutions sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East, with Egypt – and to a lesser extent Tunisia – being most prominent. But not all revolutions are blessed with this level of attention. The West African nation of Gabon is currently also in popular revolt. What, you haven't heard about it yet?