Shoppers in Malawi have been scrambling to buy basic goods, fearing huge price rises after the currency was devalued by 33 per cent. The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says that many shops had run out of staple foods such as sugar, cooking oil and bread by the end of Monday. The kwacha was devalued as part of moves by the new government to restore donor funding. The central bank announced that one dollar would now be worth 250 kwacha, up from 168, while the peg to the US currency would be scrapped.

The Brazilian government of Dilma Rousseff is taking firm steps towards stronger relations with Africa, such as the creation of a special fund to finance development projects together with multilateral lenders like the World Bank. South America’s giant is keen on establishing a strategic association with Africa, and the tool for doing that is its powerful national development bank, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), which will work in conjunction with the multilateral African Development Bank (AfDB).

FEMNET is seeking to recruit a suitable person to fill the position of Head of Communication.

A two-week-long mass strike by doctors, who demanded a pay rise from hospitals in the Nigerian state of Lagos, has taken a deadly toll on a significant number of patients in need of urgent medical care. Hospital staff say many patients have either died or continue to suffer as the strike by about 1,000 doctors paralysed the medical institutions.

In connection with a recent gang rape video, Women’sNet has issued a statement supporting the criticism of organisations like Media Monitoring Africa, who have criticized the initial coverage of the story for revealing details about the alleged victim, and the Daily Sun’s publication of a picture of the girl involved. 'Survivors have a right to anonymity, and according to our law those who circulate and use images from this video are liable for prosecution.'

Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has sparked controversy and debate over an article she wrote contending that women have not yet benefitted from the revolution and the women’s revolution won’t begin 'until the rage shifts from the oppressors in our presidential palaces to the oppressors on our streets and in our homes'. Critics have argued that while oppression does exist, her analysis is simplistic and irresponsible as it uses 'Orientalist' arguments to defame Arabic culture and serves a neo-colonial agenda of the 'white man'. In a blogpost, journalist and activist Mona Kareem called on Western media to highlight the voices of other Arab women for an accurate picture of 'Arab feminism'.

Egypt’s parliament on 6 May 2012 approved amendments to the Code of Military Justice that failed to end the unprecedented expansion of military trials of civilians, despite pleas for reform from the legal and human rights communities, Human Rights Watch said. In 2011 more than 12,000 civilians, including children, faced unfair military trials which fail to provide the basic due process rights of civilian courts, more than the number of military trials of civilians during 30 years of rule by former president Hosni Mubarak.

Zimbabwe’s new school term opened this week with teachers threatening another round of industrial action, if the government fails to meet their demands by June. The start of the last school term was marred by a nationwide strike, which only ended when the government agreed to pay teachers an extra US$58 and urgently address their needs.

At last week’s World Bank and IMF spring meetings, the G24, the group of developing countries governments made a bold bid to get debt work-out mechanisms back on the agenda. They called for a study on sovereign debt restructuring mechanisms, a topic which the IMF had ignored. The European debt crisis provided an opportunity to re-open the debate. Though the G24 call was not echoed in the International Monetary and Financial Committee’s statement, it was an important first step which shows how the problem of unpayable and illegitimate debt is increasing at international level.

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan’s office rejected accusations Okah made in Monday’s request for bail in South Africa, where he was arrested and will stand trial for bombings in Nigeria’s capital that killed 12 people during 2010 independence celebrations. In the bail request made available on Monday, Okah said Jonathan’s government orchestrated the bombing to eliminate a rival and to fan ethnic tensions for political gain. Okah has been jailed in South Africa since being arrested here shortly after the October, 2010 bombings.

African countries need more support from the private sector in order to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015, which include important development targets like poverty reduction, and improved health and education. Governments cannot do it alone, development and economic experts told delegates at the MDG Review Summit, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 3-4 May.

Farima Samake, a widow living in the village of Gwelekoro in the south of Mali, regrets obeying her husband when he took their first daughter out of school to take care of her younger brother. 'Her father decided it and I didn’t refuse,' says Farima. 'Now she is married in another village not far from here. I think our decision has been an injury to her because if she had studied her life could have been different.' Farima didn’t oppose the decision because the law dictates that a woman must obey her husband. 'In all the villages of this region, girls get married at 15 or 16, even if they go to school,' she says. 'Their parents must ask the husband to let their daughter attend school once she is married.'

Organic Agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved.

Following World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders has taken a look at the breaches of freedom of news and information in Nigeria during the first quarter of 2012. During the period in question, Reporters Without Borders recorded: the murder of one journalist, the killing of another with no proof that it was linked to the victim’s work, nine assaults, seven arrests, three journalists threatened, four instances of seizure of equipment or deletion of files, three cases of access to information being cut off, three court cases against journalists and news organisations, the closure of a press centre and a media outlet’s premises vandalised.

The two weeks since Egypt's abrupt cancellation of a Mubarak-era gas-export deal with Israel have seen an exchange of indirect threats and warnings between the two countries, culminating in an apparent Israeli military build-up on the border of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. 'In recent days, Israel appears to have begun preparing for military deployments on its southern border,' Tarek Fahmi, head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS.

South Africa’s LGBTI community has reacted strongly against a statement made by ANC MP and Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) president Patekile Holomisa on the rights of gays and lesbians. Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) questioned whether the National House of Traditional Leaders knew that their comments constitute hate speech. In a press release FEW added, 'As the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community we are enraged that traditional leaders are making such careless statements. It is such a betrayal when a body that is supposed to protect the rights of people turns around and proposes an amendment of those very rights to exclude people from the constitution. We have a constitution to protect the rights of everyone, not just those of the majority.'

This report examines the impact of the cancellation of Global Fund Round 11 funding and subsequent changes in Global Fund policies and practices relating to HIV and drug use programmes. It focuses on how future HIV and harm reduction programming will be affected by the Global Fund’s current funding crisis given the very low existing levels of funding for such programming.

High Court orders South African authorities to investigate crimes against humanity committed by state officials in Zimbabwe.

South Africa should investigate whether officials in neighboring Zimbabwe are responsible for human rights abuses there, a judge said Tuesday 8 May in an order that has grave political and practical implications. The ruling handed down in a Pretoria court Tuesday by Judge Hans Fabricius was the first under South African statutes spelling out its international law obligations. Human rights lawyer Nicole Fritz, whose South African Litigation Centre joined the Zimbabwean Exiles forum to bring the suit, said human rights groups have documented cases of torture and other crimes in Zimbabwe. Under Tuesday's order, she said, investigators from a country with a strong legal framework now will be able to hold Zimbabwean officials responsible for crimes allegedly committed during that country's political meltdown.

One day after being sworn in on 2 April, Senegal’s new President Macky Sall reversed months of public denial of the hunger affecting over 800,000 of his people - part of the Sahel-wide crisis affecting 16 million inhabitants - by calling on partners to help the country get food to those in need. UN agencies and NGOs are struggling to raise enough money to get programmes working so they can catch up with the steadily rising number of hungry people.