Climate gamblers have been led astray since 1997 when the Kyoto Protocol was amended to let corporations buy the right to pollute in exchange for endorsing the treaty. Predictably, Washington has refused to honour this ever since.

The ECOWAS Commission has said that it roundly condemns the spate of terror attacks in different parts of Nigeria. It maintained that the attacks by Boko Haram were 'aggravating insecurity among both citizens and visitors'. According to the sub-regional group, the West African leaders have noted with regret that 'the latest deadly attacks in the country’s ancient northern city of Kano on Friday, January 20, 2012 happened in spite of the determined efforts by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to rein in those behind these attacks.' Nigeria’s violent situation has reportedly featured at the United Nations Security Council.

There is no threat, sanctions lead to war and war leads to welfare cuts: These are three of the 10 reasons advanced by the website against possible war against Iran by Western powers.

Joint operations between the police and military are becoming increasingly commonplace. But maintaining a strict demarcation between the police and the military is essential to the protection of democracy.

Allieu Sesay, a broadcast journalist working with Freetown-based Radio Democracy, was reportedly assaulted on 15 January 2012 and briefly detained by some policemen drawn from the Operation Support Division (OSD) of the Sierra Leonean police. Sesay met his ordeal when covering the arrest of Aziz Carew, a constituency chairman of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) at his Fourah Bay home in the east of the capital Freetown. This was after a bye- election which resulted in violence.

Kenya has been urged to continue providing refuge to Somalis fleeing violence and hunger in their homeland, a US State Department official said. 'We continue to rely on and advocate strongly for the protection of Somalis inside Kenya, that they should not be sent back into Somalia in order to create some sort of a buffer zone,' declared David Robinson, acting assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration. Mr Robinson spoke at a press briefing in Washington Tuesday on the status of the food crisis in Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.

World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey recently announced a new partnership with Google that will apparently empower citizen cartographers in 150 countries worldwide. This has provoked some concern among open source enthusiasts. The worry is, says this post, that Google will organize crowdsourced mapping projects and use people with local knowledge to improve Map Maker data, which will carry Google licencing agreement restrictions. Does this really empower citizen cartographers?

He changed our flag,
With cavalier insouciance,
He stood proudly to brag
While we gaped in stunned trance,
Like a rampant stag,
It was the height of arrogance,

He changes our laws with seeming impunity;
He twists them to suit his ends,
He changes the equation with intractability,
While his puppets amend;
We regress inexorably;
While sycophants defend;

He calls us stupid and drunk,
He's on a power trip,
He’s bitten off a hunk,
His mind has flipped
He's so full of spunk,
He's got a shoulder on his chip;

Absolute power carries great responsibility,
The wielder must beware the craze,
Lest he fall prey to hubristic gravity,
And stumble into an egocentric maze,
Lose touch with reality;
In a narcissistic daze;

He’s the quintessential power tripper,
And it ain’t no joke,
He’s an asset stripper,
A pig in a poke,
He’s an insatiable beak dipper
Never seems to choke,
He’s an illogical skipper,
We’re headed for broke.

Reporters Without Borders says it welcomes blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad's release late on 25 January under an amnesty announced on 21 January for around 2,000 civilians who had been convicted by military courts during the past year. Sanad, who had been detained for 10 months on a charge of insulting the armed forces, was freed from Cairo's Tora prison late in the afternoon.

Alleged brutality by security forces against journalists and proposed draconian legislation against newspapers have plunged Uganda 43 places lower in the latest press freedom ranking by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The Press Freedom Index notes that an increased number of journalists in Uganda reported more acts of violence meted out on them by security agencies. 'Journalists in Uganda were the targets of violence and surveillance during the presidential election in February (2011) and were targeted again during the brutal crackdown on the Walk-to-Work protests later in the year, when dozens of journalists were arrested,' the report indicated.

The Tanzanian government has indicated it was bowing to pressure from medical doctors in public hospitals, who have been on strike to press for improved working conditions. Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has appealed to the doctors to resume work, underlining his readiness to meet with their representatives in order to work out a lasting solution to their grievances.

Young people Tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa, according to How Africa Tweets, new research launched in Nairobi. In the first ever attempt to comprehensively map the use of Twitter in Africa, Portland Communications and Tweetminster analysed over 11.5 million geo-located Tweets originating on the continent during the last three months of 2011.

Many Kenyans are heading to the new Republic of South Sudan as investors.

Fahamu is seeking an experienced Finance and Operations Director. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Finance and Operations Director will be a hands on and participative manager who will lead a team to manage the organisation’s finance and operations (including human resources and administration).

Ethiopia, which is deemed an 'important regional security partner' by the US government and one of the largest recipients of US aid (over $1 billion a year since 2007), is forcibly relocating 70,000 people from Gambella to make land available for investment in agriculture. In doing this they are also aggravating current hunger while laying the groundwork for future famine in Ethiopia, as people are losing their livelihoods and being moved to areas where they cannot readily feed themselves.

The United Nations says it is concerned about worsening security at refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia that are home to more than 700,000 Somali citizens. The UN refugee agency says it is particularly worried about the situation in Kenya’s massive Dadaab camp following a spate of kidnappings, murders and robberies there. A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says Kenyan police are investigating whether the Dadaab attacks are being carried out by outsiders or by people within the camp.

Ugandan police clashed with opposition supporters in Kampala Tuesday 24 January after security forces tried to detain opposition leader Kizza Besigye following a protest rally over rising living costs. Police fired tear gas at protesters after they started throwing stones following an unsuccessful attempt by a plainclothed security agent to drag Besigye into a waiting van, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The latest US cable released by Wikileaks accuses Chinese ICT companies doing business in Kenya of 're-colonising Africa' with 'good and cheap' equipment. The US embassy cable, from Nairobi to Washington, says Chinese firms selling into Kenya’s ICT sector are 'throwing a lot of money around' and influence may be so great 'that it is distorting important investment decisions in the country', according to industry contacts.

The Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union has called for monitoring of human rights in occupied Western Sahara, during its 23rd ordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The PRC asked the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to provide constant information on the developments taking place in occupied Western Sahara.

Jubilant youths overran a blood-splattered police station on Wednesday 25 January after it was attacked by a radical Islamist sect, revealing a streak of popular discontent with a government that many say has failed them in Africa's most populous nation. Suspected members of Boko Haram surrounded the police station Tuesday night in Kano, ordered civilians to get off the street, began chanting 'God is great' and threw homemade bombs into the station while spraying it with assault rifles, witnesses said. The attack followed coordinated assaults on Friday that killed at least 185 people in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city.

The IMF said on Tuesday a $32 billion accounting discrepancy in Angola's state funds was linked to 'quasi-fiscal operations' by state oil firm Sonangol done on the government's behalf, but not recorded in official budget accounts. 'Preliminary data indicate that quasi-fiscal operations undertaken by the state oil company on behalf of the government, financed out of oil revenues but not recorded in the budgetary accounts, can explain a large part of the discrepancy,' the IMF said in a statement.

Malawi is losing $28 million (about MK4.6 billion) worth of fisheries resources each year due to unsustainable fishing in natural bodies, an estimate which represents 0.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Ministry of Finance and Development’s Economic valuation of Sustainable Natural Resource Use report in Malawi.

Sudan air force on Monday 23 January bombed Elfoj refugee camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, leaving 14 civilians missing and injuring another, the UN said, raising the already high tensions between the two countries. 'The aerial bombing occurred just after 10am local time in Elfoj in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state,' the UN High Commissioner for refugees said in a statement.

South African President Jacob Zuma has summoned Madagascar interim authorities for an urgent meeting in Pretoria in a fresh attempt to resolve the political deadlock in the island nation. This after a plane carrying the exiled leader Marc Ravalomanana home was turned away. The party of Ravalomanana then decided to suspend its role in Madagascar's unity government citing violation of the political roadmap.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has highlighted the recent death of two activists. Political activist Mohamed Jamal, member of a coalition of committees defending the revolution, was found bleeding from a stab wound on 21 January and died of his injuries. Meanwhile, political activist Karim Abo Zed, member of the revolution coalition in Algharbya governorate, died on the same day in a mysterious accident on the desert road, said ANHRI.

Asylum-seekers entering South Africa are no longer being issued with the necessary documents to apply for refugee status. Without a so-called section 23 permit, they are being turned away from Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) and denied the opportunity to legalize their stay in the country. The section 23 permit is normally issued to anyone entering the country who wants to apply for asylum. It gives them 14 days to report to an RRO and formally apply for refugee status, although following an amendment to South Africa’s immigration law, the section 23 permit will soon only be valid for five days.

Allegations of sabotage, mounting debt and widespread financial mismanagement….The debacle in Limpopo has spewed out a dangerous brew of bad money and political in-fighting, writes Kim Cloete in Business Day. The financial mismanagement may have been rotten to the core, but it’s the timing of the intervention that has riled Limpopo’s ANC-run administration. National Treasury says it had warned the Limpopo Treasury throughout last year that it would run out of funds if it was going to continue with its rampant spending. Eventually the situation reached a head in November when it became clear that the province was bankrupt.

Michael Sata, the Zambian president, has been 'assassinated' according to a mischievous alteration to his profile on Wikipedia. Reports about Mr Sata's death are not new – there were several in the run-up to the election – but generally they emanate from concerns about his health. A chain smoker with a history of heart problems, he is thought to travel with a cardiologist and go to bed early each night to prevent overstrain. But speaking to The Daily Telegraph last week, he insisted he was going nowhere. 'David Cameron has more physicians than me. He has all sorts, for eyes, for teeth, me I only have one person,' he said. 'I am 74, even if I died today, it would not be untimely.'

South Africa’s economic difficulties are placing Lesotho’s economy at a crossroads, as the government struggles to push big rocks up the mountain to balance the national budget. Lesotho is wrestling with a 30 per cent decline in domestic revenues and a 15 per cent budget deficit in the 2011/12 financial year. The government expects to fund the gap with loans from international financial institutions and foreign aid.

The International Criminal Court has confirmed charges against four of the six Kenyan suspects thought to be most culpable for the post election violence that followed a disputed presidential election in 2007. Charges against deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta, MP William Ruto, radio broadcaster Joshua arap Sang and civil service boss Francis Muthaura were admitted. The ruling has been highly anticipated in the country following its impact on the elections expected to be tightly contested.

Islamist militants have launched a suicide truck bomb attack on an Ethiopian military base in central Somalia, witnesses say. Al-Shabab says it killed 10 Ethiopian soldiers in the attack in the town of Beledweyne but this has not been confirmed. Ethiopian forces seized Beledweyne from al-Shabab earlier this month.

Eastern and Southern Africa, the region most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is making great strides to scale up access to prevention and treatment services, a United Nations official said today, adding that focus is on behavioural change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Of the estimated 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS across the world, almost three quarters live in Eastern and Southern Africa, Sheila Tlou, the Director of the Regional Support Team for the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) told a media briefing in Geneva.

Mobile phone company Orange has struck a deal with Wikipedia to make its digital encyclopaedia available free of data charges to millions of mobile phone users across the Middle East and Africa. The free service will be launched in 20 markets across 2012, with a spokesman from Orange saying that the aim is to increase the proportion of 2G and 3G phones to 50% of customers by 2015.

Foreign ministers of the four countries involved in the fight against terrorism by the Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – have met to discuss the issue. Nigeria and the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) are also guests at the meeting whose agenda is to 'review the terrorist threat in the Sahel-Sahara, assess joint action in the field of security and development and agree on measures to be taken to consolidate the regional strategy for implementation of the Common policy.'

The imprisoned former Liberian president Charles Taylor has categorically denied working as a United States spy and vows to sue the Boston Globe newspaper that made the revelation. Reacting to the publication through his Jamaican-born lawyer Courtenay Griffiths, Taylor said he has never worked or played any role on behalf of any US government intelligence agency in his 'personal capacity'.

The death toll from co-ordinated bombings and gunfire in the northern Nigerian city of Kano has risen to at least 178, medical sources said, making this the deadliest attack claimed by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram. Gunfire continued to echo through some areas of Kano on Saturday, despite a strict curfew imposed on Friday night which will remain in place until further notice, local officials said.

The African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) committee of experts has tabled a proposal that could lead to a settlement for the thorny oil issue between Sudan and South Sudan. The proposal was submitted at the current round of talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on post independence issues between the two countries.

The UN refugee agency is concerned about fresh violence in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has forced more than 100,000 civilians to flee their homes since November. In North Kivu province, an estimated 35,000 people have been displaced as a result of attacks and clashes between rival militia groups in Walikale and Masisi territories. At least 22 people were reported killed and an unknown number of women raped during the fighting, UNHCR said in a statement from Kinshasa, DRC, Friday.

The party of Marc Ravalomanana has decided to suspend its role in Madagascar's unity government, after a plane carrying the exiled leader home was turned away, a top official said. The main parties on the Indian Ocean island formed a power-sharing government in November, with strongman Andry Rajoelina remaining president until new elections are held, in theory later this year.

The Muslim Brotherhood's party has won 47.18 per cent of seats in the Egyptian parliament, the electoral commission announced on Saturday as it gave the final results from marathon polls. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 235 seats in the new People's Assembly, or 47.18 per cent, committee head Abdel Moez Ibrahim said. The ultra-conservative Salafist Al Nur party is in second place with 121 seats or nearly 25 per cent, while the liberal Wafd Party follows with nearly nine percent.

Thanks to generator breakdowns and the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years, blackouts and frequent power cuts have become common in Kenya. As a result, costs are soaring. Among the groups most affected are women who own small businesses. After putting in years of hard work to build their businesses and become financially independent, some say power cuts are threatening everything they’ve worked for.

The African Activist Archive Project is preserving records and memories of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s. The project is reaching out to the hundreds of organisations and individuals that supported African liberation struggles and is urging them to preserve their vital records and to make selected materials available to the public on this website. The project also assists groups and individuals to deposit their archives in public repositories, including the African Activist Archive in Special Collections at Michigan State University Libraries.

The People’s Health Assembly (PHA), organised by the People's Health Movement (PHM), is a global event bringing together health activists from across the world to share experiences, analyse global health situation, develop civil society positions and to develop strategies which promote health for all. It will look at forms of action to address identified challenges and build capacity among health activists to act.

Two journalists and a US-based blogger who was tried in absentia were convicted on charges of terrorism in Ethiopia recently and could be sentenced to the death penalty, according to news reports. Reeyot Alemu, a columnist with the independent weekly Feteh, Deputy Editor Woubshet Taye of the now-defunct weekly Awramba Times, and Elias Kifle, exiled editor of the Washington-based opposition website Ethiopian Review, were convicted in Federal High Court in the capital, Addis Ababa, according to news reports. The journalists were charged in September with lending support to an underground network of banned opposition groups, including Ginbot 7, that the government had designated terrorists, according to CPJ research.

Forum 2012, to be held 24-26 April 2012 in Cape Town, is the beginning of an exciting new series of the well-known and respected Global Forum for Health Research meetings. Under the theme of 'Beyond Aid...Research and Innovation as key drivers for Health, Equity and Development', COHRED and the Global Forum for Health Research will focus on potentials, solutions, and developing capacities - specifically in low-and middle-income countries and emerging economies - and how global collaboration canleverage this for a new era of global development support.

This seminar series explores the role the media play as political actors in developing countries and fragile states. It gathers scholars from a variety of disciplines to examine how old and new media are used to support different political agenda: from foreign countries trying to win the hearts and minds of a local population to local governments aiming at increasing their ability to communicate with, but also exercise control over, their citizens.

This page has live updates of the political posturings and the response of the street, as protesters organise marches to voice their demands to MPs, as Egypt's newly elected People's Assembly opens for the first time since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

Gender equity is a key element of any genuine program towards sustainable development. Analysis included on the Social Watch Report 2012 and the national contributions to the study prove, once again, the stagnation of the fight against these disparities, with disastrous consequences on the struggles against poverty, climate change and food security.

There is strong evidence that NATO carried out war crimes in its eight-month war for regime-change in Libya, according to a report released Thursday by Middle East human rights groups. The report is based upon a fact-finding mission to Libya conducted by the Arab Organization for Human Rights, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the International Legal Assistance Consortium. The investigators conducted extensive interviews with victims of war crimes as well as witnesses and Libyan officials. The mission carried out on-site field investigations in and around Tripoli, Zawiya, Sibrata, Khoms, Zliten, Misrata, Tawergha and Sirte.