The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations have revealed. Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are also now being observed in China and Japan and there are the first signs of African collapses from Egypt, according to the report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The authors, who include some of the world's leading honey-bee experts, issue a stark warning about the disappearance of bees, which are increasingly important as crop pollinators around the globe.

The revelation of gargantuan levels of corruption in the government’s fuel subsidy programme is sparking a groundswell of activity among the opposition and civil society groups. Opposition politicians, civic activists and trade unionists are joining forces this month to demand action against grand corruption at the heart of government. They promise it will be their biggest show of strength on Nigeria’s streets since protests in January that forced the government to back down on its plans to abolish the fuel subsidy scheme.

An activist serving life imprisonment with hard labour for printing and distributing T-shirts calling for an end to dictatorship in The Gambia must be freed, global rights body, Amnesty International (AI), has said. The global rights body made the call as it marked its annual Day of Action, calling for improved human rights in the West African country.

From 12-14 July, the International Detention Coalition hosted the first Africa Regional Immigration Detention Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. 18 organizations from 10 countries participated, including representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Senegal. Over the three days, participants had the opportunity to share detention related skills, experiences, challenges and opportunities, thereby building relationships, learning from each other and engaging on thematic issues including legal framework for detention, monitoring places of detention, working with vulnerable people in detention, self care and advocacy techniques.

Global funding for humanitarian aid interventions saw the biggest shortfalls in 10 years in 2011, according to a new report, raising questions about the international community’s ability to meet a 20-per cent greater need for 2012 driven by drought and conflict. The launch of the 2012 Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) report last week coincided with the release of new mid-year data by the UN that scaled up earlier projections of humanitarian needs from 7.9 billion to 8.8 billion dollars for 2012.

The current political instability in Bamako and the insecurity in northern Mali continue to trigger important influxes of refugees into the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, says UNHCR. Altogether, the crisis has now displaced over 400,000 Malians.

The head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Stephen Rapp, who leads the US Office of Global Criminal Justice, told the Guardian the Rwandan leadership may be open to charges of 'aiding and abetting' crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country.

The Kenya representatives at the ongoing Sex Workers Freedom Festival have won accolades for their passion and for spearheading a protest against US policies that do not favor sex workers. To begin with, John Mathenge, who was heading the delegation with two other female sex workers from the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA) and the Bar Hostess and Empowerment Programm (BHESP), was accorded the Global Youth Activist on Sex Workers Award by the Global Network of Sex Workers Project (NSWP).

The international workshop and seminar, 'Agrarian Reform and the Defense of Land and Territory in the 21st century: The Challenge and Future' culminated on 15 July in a celebration in Sibaladuang, Sungai Kamuyang Village, Limapuluh Kota Regent, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Delegates from 26 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe attended. The final declaration of the international workshop was read out, outlining some of the key elements of a new vision of agrarian reform and the sovereignty of peoples over their territories. Among them were that peasants and family farm production play the central role in the building of food sovereignty.

A virtual lecture hall, enabling lectures to be streamed to university campuses from around the world, aims to plug the gap in scientific teaching staff at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), which has suffered years of brain drain. The Virtual Lecture Hall (VLH) was launched last month (29 June) at UZ’s College of Health Sciences (UZ-CHS) and Faculties of Science and Veterinary Science, by the UK-based Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) and Econet Wireless, the mobile communications company funding the project.

By selling the presidential jet and getting rid of 60 limousines driven by high-ranking officials, Joyce Banda, Malawi’s new president, is making waves. But even before trimming the fat from the state budget, Ms. Banda made headlines when she announced her intention to repeal the country’s anti-gay law shortly after her April swearing-in. If she has her way, Malawi would be one of the rare African countries to do so, reports Africa Renewal Online.

Zambia’s Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Isaac Banda from the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) has relinquished his ministerial position with immediate effect, as pressure mounts for ministers appointed from the opposition to resign their posts. Banda is among the nine MMD Members of Parliament from the former ruling party who were threatened with expulsion by party president Nevers Mumba if they did not give up their ministerial positions.

Hopes of a new, more effective therapy for tuberculosis have been raised following the results of early trials. The study showed three drugs given in combination killed more than 99 per cent of TB bacteria after two weeks of treatment. The therapy appeared to be equally effective on the drug-resistant form of the disease in the trials of 85 patients, a team led by Stellenbosch University in South Africa reported.

This report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states that while sexual violence against women and girls has also become a central protection concern in displacement contexts, sexual violence against men and boys is less understood or acknowledged. 'It is increasingly evident, nevertheless, that this is a recurrent protection concern in situations of conflict and displacement.'

A first-of-its-kind study released by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) maps progress across 23 countries on HIV treatment strategies, tools and policies needed to increase treatment scale-up. The results show that governments have made improvements to get better antiretroviral treatment (ART) to more people, but implementation of innovative community-based strategies is lagging in some countries.

As the nineteenth International AIDS Conference continued in Washington, thousands of protesters marched on the White House with a set of demands to end the epidemic. At the forefront were calls for an end to free trade deals that protesters argue make vital AIDS medicines unaffordable. The march comprised a coalition of AIDS advocacy and activist groups organised under the mantra 'We Can End AIDS', and ended with a dramatic display when activists gathered symbols of the fight against AIDS – pill bottles and money – tied them with red ribbons, and threw them in front of the White House.

In a new report, 'Asset laundering and AIM: Congo, corporate misconduct and the market value of human rights', the business and human rights organisation Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) catalogues the inadequacies of the London Stock Exchange's regulatory framework. The Central African Mining and Exploration Company plc (CAMEC) was allowed to trade and flourish on London's junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) despite its close links to Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party (Zimbabwe), the dubious provenance of its Congolese mining assets and the unsavoury reputation of key business associates.

Roger Jean Claude Mbédé spent 16 months in prison with robbers, killers and other criminals. All he did was click the 'send' button on his mobile phone. The 33-year-old Cameroonian still can't believe what happened. On 28 April 2011, Mbédé was sentenced to 36 months in prison and fined 83,370 CFA francs (about 127 euros) for 'homosexual behaviour'. His lawyers immediately appealed the sentence and lodged an application for bail, which was rejected.

Zimbabwean government workers held protests 25 July in Harare against poor salaries after the Finance minister Tendai Biti ruled out an increment this year. The workers are demanding a salary of $564 for the least paid worker and 15 per cent of the basic salary as rural allowance for those working outside urban centres. The lowest paid civil servant earns $296.

Refugee rights organizations in Cape Town are breathing a sigh of relief following a high court judgement that will force the Department of Home Affairs to reverse a policy of not accepting new asylum-seeker applications at the region’s only Refugee Reception Office (RRO). Since the beginning of July, when the Maitland RRO in Cape Town moved to new premises, newly-arrived refugees trying to apply for asylum have been turned away and only those wanting to renew asylum seeker permits have been assisted. Maitland was the third RRO to be closed by Home Affairs in two years, leaving just three offices in Durban, Pretoria and Musina near the Zimbabwean border, where refugees can apply for asylum.