Another journalist has been killed in violence-ridden Mogadishu, report the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Mohamud Mohamed Yusuf, a journalist for the private station Radio Holy Quran, was shot in the stomach twice as he was covering the fighting on 4 July in the neighbourhoods surrounding the station, says NUSOJ.

A UN assessment has revealed that flooding in northern Namibia during March severely disrupted HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention services. The floods, caused by heavy rains, affected more than 350,000 people in six regions with some of the highest HIV-prevalence rates in the country. The north is also one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Namibia, with limited social services, employment opportunities and infrastructure.

The Special Nigerian edition of the methodological workshops that is on offer for 2009 is designed for doctoral students and young, mid-career African researchers based in Nigeria. The working language to be employed during the workshop will be English. The session will be led by a director who will be assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods.

As a matter of substance, SAIFAC and Constitutional Law of South Africa (CLOSA), the Centre for Human Rights hope to push the boundaries for legal debate within South Africa. One way to accomplish this end is by having lawyers, judges, legal academics, and academics from other disciplines engage in meaningful discourse about subjects that do not – for better or worse – engage the majority of public lawyers in this country.

Chambi Chachage pays tribute to Professor Haroub Othman, a man passionate about the Pan-African ideals of peace, justice and unity, who was ready to be among 'what is left of the leftists'. Chachage writes that while his encounters with Professor Othman were 'brief, albeit memorable', they were 'filled with lasting humane impressions'.

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Unemployment among young South Africans is hovering at 30 percent, shooting up to over 60 percent for youths in their late teens and early twenties. But tertiary education and skills development seem not to be making much of a dent in what is now regarded as a crisis. According to a 2008 report by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a conservative think tank that researches the effect of poverty and unemployment on South Africa's economic growth rate, 65 percent of the four million youths between 15 and 24 that were available for a job in 2005, were unemployed.

Stakeholders met on July 1 in Harare to discuss Zimbabwe’s external debt, which threatens the welfare of its citizens who have been ravaged by a deep social, economic and political crisis. The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), a coalition of institutions and individuals focusing on social and economic justice, convened the meeting under the theme “The Economy in Transition Dialogue Conference: Towards a Sustainable Public Debt for Zimbabwe”.

The African Network of Professionals ,(ANOP) is calling for participation in its major event – “The Congress of African Professionals”. The congress will be held in Accra, Ghana on 11th - 13th November, 2009 at Accra, Ghana. The theme of the Congress is “Professionalism in Africa: Problems and Prospects”. There will be a pre-congress workshop on the 10th November, 2009 at same venue.

Chambi Chacage broke the news of Professor Haroub Othman's death on 28 June to friends and colleagues. Here are some of the memories, thoughts and feelings of people whose lives Othman touched, upon hearing the news of Othman's 'passing on'.

Don Deya pays homage to the late Haroub Othman: 'The professor. The activist. A sophisticated city gent with an amazing grassroots and rural touch. Knowledgeable, knowing and known. Wise, skilled, experienced. Self-assured and quietly assertive, yet so humble to a fault. A strategic thinker, who published prolifically, networked furiously and patiently planted small seeds now that would reap whirlwinds later. One of a diminishing breed of genuine, gentle, generous pan-Africanists who could see clearly where we were coming from and what we urgently needed to do in order to get to where we so desperately need to go.'

The late Haroub Othman, professor of development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, 'worked very hard and was singularly dedicated to his work and his people', writes P. Anyang’ Nyong’o, in a tribute to 'a friend and a comrade'. Professor Othman died on 28 June 2009.

The human rights body has urged the Angolan government to halt unlawful detention and torture of people suspected of rebel activities in oil-producing province of Cabinda. According to the 27 paged report released by Human Rights Watch today, Angolan armed forces and state intelligence officials have arbitrarily arrested 38 people belonging to the Liberation Front of the Enclave of Cabinda accused of state security crimes in Cabinda between September 2007 and March 2009.

The University of South Africa (UNISA) together with Gay Umbrella, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisation in the North West Province, have joined forces in a two year systematic research project that will provide important insights into the rural perspective of gays and lesbians. The project is set to focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals in rural areas of the North West Province with a view to get a closer look at their lives and the challenges they face on a daily basis in terms of empowerment.

Inaugurated last year by Deutsche Welle, a radio project called “Learning by Ear” is reaching into parts of Africa where computers are yet to be seen. Today, more than 33 million people on the African continent are able to listen to this distance-education programme. Its popularity lies in its unconventional format and true-to-life stories that embrace diverse themes depicted in the form of features, interviews and even soaps.

Socialist scholar Giovanni Arrighi was a man who lived the knowledge he was seeking and who built his life around it, writes his former student Salimah Valiani.

Africa’s poor and vulnerable communities rarely have the opportunity to share their valuable experience and learn from others in broader or more formal exchanges of knowledge on climate change adaptation. The AfricaAdapt network, which is funded by the joint UK Department for International Development (DFID)/International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa Programme , is launching its new Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund promoting new ways of sharing knowledge that can help address this problem.

It is with great sadness that I report that Giovanni Arrighi passed peacefully yesterday morning in Baltimore (Thursday June 18, 2009), with his partner Beverly Silver, and his son, Andrea, at his side.

Caroline Mbewe, 14, would prefer to be in school, but instead is a domestic worker for an affluent family in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. "My bosses treat me well but I don't want to continue working. I want to be like their daughters; I want to go to school," she told IRIN. As in the rest of the developing world, poor families in Malawi are often forced to send their children out to earn a wage rather than complete their education.

Gender Links is inviting submissions from women and men across Southern Africa who are involved in polygamous relationships. We will select an assortment of these experiences and life stories to be included in a special collection of "I” Stories, that will be published in a book series, on the GL website and offered to in the mainstream media across the region. Each "I” Story will share the personal experience of someone who has been involved in a polygamous relationship – husbands, wives, and children. Those wishing to use a pseudonym are welcome to do so, and should indicate this when submitting.