Africans are coupling their already extensive use of cell phones with a more recent and massive interest in social media — Internet-based tools and platforms that allow people to interact with each other much more than in the past. In the process, Africans are leading what may be the next global trend: a major shift to mobile Internet use, with social media as its main drivers.

Judges in one of the world's most controversial war crimes trials have been deliberately slowing down proceedings, senior US officials believe, causing significant delays to proceedings. Secret cables reveal US doubts about the trial in The Hague of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, amid allegations that one of the judges has manipulated proceedings so that she can personally give the verdict in the case.

Ugandan President Museveni fears that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has thrown his weight behind his opponents. A leaked cable from the US embassy in Kampala says the Museveni government suspected Mr Odinga was working with the opposition because Mr Museveni supported President Kibaki during the election dispute in 2007/8. The Orange Democratic Movement party, which Mr Odinga leads, accused Uganda of sending soldiers to help quell anti-government protests in parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces in January 2008.

Online activists have attacked and at least momentarily disabled several Tunisian government websites in the latest act of protest against the country's embattled leadership. As of Monday afternoon, local time, at least eight websites had been affected, including those for the president, prime minister, ministry of industry, ministry of foreign affairs, and the stock exchange. The attack, which began on Sunday night, coincided with a national strike, planned to take place on Monday, that organisers said would be the biggest popular event of its size since Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency.

Beatrice Namuzibira’s class of 90 pupils is not even considered a large one, compared to classes in other schools. Universal primary education has filled classrooms beyond capacity across Uganda, putting a strain on teachers. But her teaching - and her home life - have received fresh inspiration, thanks to innovative online modules for teachers offered by the Teacher Education for Sub-Saharan Africa project (TESSA), a network created to support effective teaching in every subject area.

Thirty-four per cent of Moroccans admit to having paid a bribe in the past 12 months, according to a recent study by Transparency International. For its 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, released on 9 December, the Berlin-based organisation interviewed more than 91,500 people in 86 countries and territories. Nearly one thousand heads of household, including 483 women, participated in the survey.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasised his warning against attacks on the United Nations peacekeeping force in Côte d'Ivoire or attempts to obstruct their work, saying there will consequences for those responsible, as the UN human rights arm reported 'massive violations'. In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed deep concern over the growing evidence of massive violations of human rights taking place in Côte d'Ivoire since 16 December, and reiterated her determination to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.

For Geneviève Zongo, every 13 December revives excruciating memories of the loss of her husband Norbert Zongo, editor of the weekly L'Indépendant. He was assassinated in 1998 while investigating the murder of a driver working at Burkina Faso's presidential palace. More painful still is that the killers who ambushed Zongo's car, riddling it with bullets and torching it, have never been brought to justice.

As families count the cost of another military operation against militants in the Niger Delta, analysts say up to now government efforts to quell violence are hampered by corruption and fail to get at the deep-seated causes of unrest in the region. Residents told IRIN hundreds of families are still displaced more than two weeks after the crackdown. According to the military's Joint Task Force (JTF), the 1 December attack by its troops on the village of Ayakoromor, 50km south of Warri, was a planned operation, targeting suspected criminals. But the Red Cross says thousands of people fled, many taking refuge in swamps, then heading to nearby villages.

South Africa is no stranger to hosting major United Nations (UN) events. In 2001 the World Conference Against Racism was hosted in Durban and in 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) took place in Johannesburg. In late 2011 the contentious climate change negotiations will continue at the UN 17th Conference of the Party (COP 17) in Durban where the South African government is hoping they could clinch the deal for a 'fair, balanced and ambitious outcome', on climate change. Judging from the outcome of the recently concluded COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico; obtaining a multi-lateral agreement through which those most to blame for causing climate change take responsibility for the damage they are causing to those most affected by climate change, is unlikely to happen, writes Michelle Pressend, who coordinates the Trade Strategy Group (TSG) at the Economic Justice Network and Global Network Africa at the Labour Research Services in Cape Town.

The north of Sudan will reinforce its Islamic laws if the south secedes as a result of next month's referendum, President Omar al-Bashir has said. Bashir said the constitution would then be changed, making Islam the only religion, Sharia the only law and Arabic the only official language. Correspondents say his comments are likely to alarm thousands of non-Muslim southerners living in the north.

Tunisian activists pounced on the latest Wikileaks US Embassy Cables, dedicating a new website to republish and discuss the revelations related to their country, reports Global Voices. Tunileaks, was launched by Nawaat one hour after the whistle-blowing site unleashed the cables on 28 November. The first release contained 17 cables issued from the US Embassy in Tunisia. They mainly dealt with the neglect of human rights in Tunisia and the restrictions on freedom of expression.

The global development landscape is changing rapidly with the growing role of China, Brazil and other 'emerging' economies. In this new context, African countries have seen a significant increase in trade, foreign direct investment and official development assistance from the South. However, 'While some emerging economies have a strategy for Africa, Africa does not have a strategy towards the emerging economies,' notes a new report of the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA). So that both sides can gain from this relationship, African countries need to adopt a coordinated, coherent strategy and exercise greater ownership over their growing interactions with emerging economies, urges the report, 'Africa's Cooperation with New and Emerging Development Partners: Options for Africa's Development'.

Mauritius plans to summon Britain's top diplomat in the country after a leaked US cable suggested a new marine park around the disputed Chagos islands was a ploy to stop uprooted islanders returning home. Mauritius' Foreign Affairs Minister Arvin Boolell was quoted in local newspapers as saying the classified document confirmed his government's belief that the protected area was in fact a smoke-screen.

Donors continue pressing the Tanzanian government to fight against corruption as Transparency International’s global report indicated a dramatic increase in corruption worldwide, reports the Tanzania Corruption Tracking System. Speaking at the end of a week long Poverty Eradication Review and Annual Policy Dialogue, the General Budget Support (GBS) group of development Partners in Tanzania spoke tough against the government’s slow pace in the fight against corruption. Over 14 donors contribute to Tanzania’s budget through the GBS modality.

The world's biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter - called 'biomass' - into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. This new 'biomass economy' represents a trillion dollar industry but it will not feed the people or stop climate change. In order to shed light on this new economy, farm leaders from the Global South participated in a public forum to share their reality and propose alternatives. Presented by Food Secure Canada with: Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, Development and Peace, ETC Group, GRAIN, Greenpeace, Inter Pares, National Farmers Union, Peoples Food Policy Project, The Ram's Horn, Union Paysanne, USC Canada. Eight videos from the forum are available through the link provided.

This report from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) says the analysis of the current context in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) makes obvious the existing persistence gender imbalance in all the domains of economical, social, cultural and political development. Access of women to decision making tables, as well as to national economical resources and production factors remains very limited. The situation has deteriorated in latter years with the negative effects of wars in repetition, to the current persistent insecurity. In fact, 61.2 per cent of Congolese women live underneath the poverty threshold. Furthermore, in the DRC, the situation of gender-based violence; particularly domestic violence on women and young girls is very worrying. Collected national data on various forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) demonstrates how it strongly correlates with under-development (human, economic, social and infrastructure).

Supporters of Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo have vowed to fight to the death to keep him as president of the world's top cocoa producer as pressure grows for him to quit after a disputed election or face sanctions. His rival Alassane Ouattara has won almost unanimous international backing after his eight-point lead in a 28 November presidential vote was overturned on grounds of alleged fraud by the Constitutional Council, led by a staunch Gbagbo ally.

With mounting unemployment spurring discrimination and the politics of polarisation on the rise, United Nations officials have decried the human rights violations, xenophobia, and exploitation faced by many of the world's 214 million international migrants. 'It is important to recall, particularly in these turbulent times, the fundamental role that migrants play in strengthening the global economy,' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message marking International Migrants Day, calling on the very many States that have yet to do so to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families.

'Control and Sexuality' by Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Vanja Hamzi? examines zina laws in some Muslim contexts and communities in order to explore connections between the criminalisation of sexuality, gender-based violence and women’s rights activism. It is hoped that the publication will help activists, policy-makers, researchers and other civil society actors acquire a better understanding of how culture and/or religion are invoked to justify laws that criminalise women’s sexuality and subject them to cruel, inhuman and degrading forms of punishment.