The state security agency is probing links between various loose-knit 'business forums' fomenting xenophobic violence across the country. The move comes as momentum builds in the number of attacks against foreign-owned businesses across the country and follows ­violence directed at Somali business people in Port Elizabeth. On Wednesday 1 June, police held back a crowd of more than 100 – including members of the Greater Gauteng Business Forum (GGBF) – in Ramaphosa informal settlement near Germiston, east of Joburg, as they attempted to forcibly close foreign-owned businesses there.

A senior Egyptian general admits that 'virginity checks' were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities. The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the 9 March protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks. The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

Global efforts to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV are abundant, ranging from government initiatives to the multi-stakeholder Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria to NGO projects of all sizes. Much of this international body of work focuses on technical, bio-medical approaches to HIV prevention and treatment and fails to recognise the value of grassroots women's work in breaking silence, raising awareness and expanding access to testing and care - a crucial component in linking marginalised communities to testing and available treatment. Increasingly, grassroots women's groups are taking leadership within their communities by creating local programs for HIV/AIDS care and prevention that incorporate and respond to local contexts and needs.

From 9-26 April, Nigeria held parliamentary, presidential and governorship elections. During the last parliamentary term, only 7.3 per cent of the representatives in Nigeria’s upper and lower houses were women. In this year’s election, 200 out of 2400 (8.33 per cent) candidates for the House of Representatives and 80 out of 720 (11.11 per cent) candidates for the Senate were women. Abiola Akiyode of the Lagos-based Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) says that overall, 909 out of 10037 (9.06 per cent) candidates for all elective positions were women. These positions include the Presidency, governorships and parliamentary seats. There has been an overall regression in women’s representation in political decision-making positions.