We, members from the civil society in Malawi, call on the NEPAD secretariat to halt the implementation of the NEPAD initiative until there is wider public endorsement and a sharper focus on fighting poverty in poorer African countries. We have met several times both at national and international levels to discuss the initiative and have found that NEPAD offers little prospects of benefit for the poorest in Africa.

Malawi's High Court on Monday ruled that President Muluzi Bakili cannot ban demonstrations over a controversial campaign urging him to stand for a third term in office. The court ruling came after influential religious groups, including the Roman Catholic church and the law society of Malawi, applied for an injunction against Muluzi's threat to stop demonstrations over the third term issue.

Malawi's existing health challenges of cholera, malnutrition, malaria and HIV/AIDS have been joined by another - the bubonic plague. Seventy-one cases of the medieval-sounding disease carried by fleas and rodents have been reported in the far south of the country since April, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The Malawi Censorship Board has ordered the removal of a controversial condom advertisement that it has declared offensive and pornographic.

Lucy Susa sits outside the Mayani Health centre with twins Sainabu and Chemalenga sucking at her emaciated breasts. She's one of several hundred women who walk to the health centre, in the impoverished Dedza district in the centre of the country, for the babies' regular check up.