The mountain kingdom of Lesotho faces a number of unique hurdles with regard to HIV and AIDS. The country is landlocked within South Africa, the epicentre of the pandemic, and because of limited job opportunities and high unemployment rates within Lesotho, many of its citizens work as migrant labourers in neighbouring South Africa.

Thank you for the attention you have brought to the country of Haiti. In response to your New York Times op ed piece I wanted to widen your perspective a bit. I don't pretend to represent anyone. I've been living in Haiti since 1985. I grew up in New England with my Haitian mother and my American father during the 1960's and 1970's. Though my parents were both teachers, I'm nothing more than a musician/innkeeper. When I arrived in Haiti, the Creole pig, an indigenous Haitian pig which was the backbone of Haitian peasant life, had recently been wiped out because of a supposed threat of swine flu.

Aghast, betrayed and angry describe the reactions of many South Africans to their government's refusal of a visa to the Dalai Lama. They describe, too, widely held views on the role that South Africa has played on the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, and in respect of the crisis in Zimbabwe. Why, many are asking, has South Africa squandered its enormous moral capital and its commitment to human rights to side with some very questionable regimes?

In 2006 while we were being forced to live on the pavement – due to evictions – the Mayoral Committee of Housing promised the Gympie Street Residents that they would be given accommodation in old Woodstock Day Hospital after negotiating with Provincial Government. At the same time as this was going on Mrs Zille ignored a personal plea from the children of Gympie Street to address their educational needs, which were being denied due to the fact that they were being forced to live on the pavement and did not have access to proper meals for six weeks.

To the dignitaries gathered at Johannesburg's convention centre last month, haunting tales of a Chinese exodus from Africa must have seemed far from the truth. Beneath vast red banners, South African officials and their counterparts from Beijing unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of the first representative office of the China Africa Fund, a $5bn vehicle to further the Asian giant's investment splurge on the continent.

Conventional wisdom has it that, in the eyes of China, Latin America and Africa are largely interchangeable: vast tracks of land full of precious commodities. It’s simple, really: China invests billions building mines, derricks, roads and schools abroad in exchange for a steady supply of oil, iron ore, copper and bauxite to feed the factories back in Zhejiang.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, is calling for global initiatives to reactivate financial flows to Africa, including government grants, concessional loans and lines of credit. This is the crux of a message Prime Minister Taro Aso is carrying to the G20 summit in London Thursday, Japan's ambassador Takahiro Shinyo to Germany told German parliamentarians last week.

Thailand's commerce minister and rice exporters will visit African countries next month in a bid to secure rice deals, a senior official said on Monday. "It's a roadshow that includes trade and investment in Africa and, of course, rice will be the main issue we'll talk about," said Apiradi Tantraporn, director general of the foreign trade department at the ministry.

A spectacular concert in an atmosphere of joy and freedom marked the end of the inaugural Nguva Yedu ~ Thuba Letu ~ Our Time youth arts festival in Harare. 600 people packed the Book Café car park for the final concert on Saturday 28 March, which presented 10 hours of outstanding poetry and some of the southern African region´s top music acts.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation SABC, has produced a remarkable documentary about conditions in Zimbabwean prisons which will be screened nation-wide on Tuesday. Produced by SABC’s Special Assignment team, the film entitled “Hell Hole” takes viewers into Zimbabwe’s prisons – which it ways have become virtual death traps for prisoners.

IGLHRC, Global Rights, INTERIGHTS, ICJ-Kenya and CAL are pleased to announce a call to writers, in the broader sense of the word, to submit pieces of writing of less than a thousand words on the topic LGBT rights are human rights.

Madagascar's transitional leader Andry Rajoelina unveiled his new administration Tuesday and immediately froze all mining contracts, defying regional powers who have ordered him to reinstate his toppled predecessor. Rajoelina, who forced president Marc Ravalomanana to step down earlier this month, said he was ordering a review of all mining contracts with foreign firms to ensure greater revenues from drilling and extraction rights.

Join us as we seek to remember and celebrate Haiti and its Revolutionary history. We shall remember the slave revolution of 1791-1804 which was the only successful slave revolution in history. In addition we shall seek to create awareness about recent political events in the country such as the kidnapping of Aristide, the disappearance of Pierre- Antoine Lovinsky and the deployment of a United Nations military force (MINUSTAH), actions that were all coordinated by imperialist forces.

As leaders of the world's most productive economies meet in London on Thursday, street activism around the need for poverty alleviation and action on climate change is expected to divert the world's gaze from official proceedings. For African governments and civil society organizations, any diversion which focuses attention on issues of social justice will be welcome.

China’s contribution to the International Monetary Fund will exceed Japan’s when new quotas are implemented, making it second only to the U.S., under a new formula agreed by the IMF last year, a People’s Bank of China official said. The central bank official, who declined to be identified, told Caijing that the IMF passed a resolution in 2008 to adopt the new formula this year. But the implementation was postponed after G20 finance ministers agreed in London last month conduct the next IMF quota review in 2011, bringing it forward from the original schedule of 2013.

2 April 2009 may yet be marked as the day on which, through the catalysis of a global economic crisis, China definitively emerged as a 21st-century world power. Just a few months ago, the talk in western capitals was still about graciously inviting China to join the western club of G7 plus Russia. Now G20 is widely accepted as the new top table of world politics, and China is already seen as one of the biggest players at that table. The question now is: what kind of world power will China be?

The summit of the Group of 20 leading high-income and emerging countries in London on Thursday seems set to achieve progress. But achievement must be measured not just against past performances, but against “the fierce urgency of now”. Unfortunately, it will come up short.

The East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) will be operational in June 2010 instead of June this year, according to a project official. The delay means that the cable, owned by African and international telecommunications operators, is again the subject of speculation and allegations about the lack of seriousness of the project developers.

Standard Chartered has restated its confidence in the continuing resilience of the Africa-China trade and investment corridor. Commenting, Anil Dua, Regional Head of Wholesale Bank, Africa, said: "Trade between Africa and China exceeded $100 billion in 2008." Standard Chartered Bank's senior Wholesale Banking executives have just returned from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzen, China where they met with leading Chinese corporates with commercial interests in Africa.

Despite the challenges that the global economic crisis poses to Africa and other developing regions in the southern hemisphere, South-South trade still offers huge opportunities as there is room for growth beyond the current levels. According to Jean-Louis Ekra, president of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) - a multilateral organisation that finances and promotes trade with African countries - the potential benefit from South-South trade may offer the same financial gains as trade with richer, Northern countries.