The organisation Greenpeace has chosen the firm Mercadona as one of the worst firms of 2011 due to the fact that this company has taken advantage of the resources of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, and in acquiring 30 million tins of sardines, Mercadona has been supporting the occupation and thereby the ensuing oppressive rule by Morocco.

The Canadian Association Against Impunity (CAAI), expressed its profound disappointment with last week’s decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal overturning the decision of the Quebec Superior Court in the case against Anvil Mining Limited. While acknowledging the difficulties that the victims have encountered in their attempt to obtain justice, the appeal Court ruled that they lack the necessary legislation to allow the case to proceed in Quebec. Anvil Mining, a Canadian corporation, is accused of providing logistical support to the Congolese army who raped, murdered and brutalised the people of Kilwa in the DRC. According to the United Nations, an estimated 100 civilians died as a direct result of the military action, including some who were executed and thrown in mass graves. The CAAI, an NGO coalition representing relatives of victims of the 2004 Kilwa massacre, filed a class action in 2010 against Anvil Mining for its alleged role in the massacre. Anvil Mining denies any wrongdoing.

This edition of The Real News Network interviews the authors of a new report that calls for sweeping agricultural reform. The report states that the fundamental causes of the global food crisis remain. 'We sit poised on the verge of another food price spike that could push millions into poverty and hunger,' says one of the authors. Three of the main issues raised are the use of biofuels, which have driven up demand, financial speculation in the food system and land grabs.

Africa Today on KPFA 94.1 FM carries an interview with Yao Graham, executive director of the Third World Network in Accra, Ghana. Graham has written extensively on development and the role of extractive industries in Africa.

The International Refugee Rights (IRRI)’s experience over the last seven years is that in the enthusiasm to embrace the promise of international justice there has often been inadequate space for honest reflection on the practice and reality of international justice, particularly from the perspective of local advocates and local communities in Africa. This lack of debate has, not least, stunted assessment of how the objectives of international justice might be more effectively pursued. In response, IRRI is launching a discussion paper series entitled 'Just Justice? Civil society, international justice and the search for accountability in Africa'. The series will reflect local perspectives on international justice as it is being experienced in Africa.

More than a billion people in the world still lack access to electricity, while another one billion have unreliable access stalling efforts for improving health, livelihoods and conserve the environment. Findings from a new research published by the Worldwatch Institute (WI) urge governments and development organisations to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, a statement released by the Institute said.

The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market. Malawi continues to reel under severe economic problems after the country’s major donors cut aid to the country last year. Up to 40 percent of Malawi’s national budget has been dependent on donors and donors funded 80 percent of the country’s development budget.

Kenya's military has struck al Shabaab targets in one of the most devastating attacks against the al Qaeda-linked insurgents since it launched an operation in Somalia to crush the rebels last October, a Kenyan army officer said on Saturday. Military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said the force estimated that more than 100 al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack. Al Shabaab dismissed the military statements as propaganda.

This February, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), in partnership with the Applied Research Center’s Drop the I-Word campaign against the pejorative 'illegals', will be hosting an online nationwide book discussion about the critically acclaimed book 'The Warmth Of Other Suns', by author and Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson. The book chronicles the Great Migration, in which an estimated six million African-Americans migrated to cities in the north and west to escape oppressive conditions of the south’s Jim Crow caste system between the 1910s and 1970s.

It did not come as a surprise that the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament (INTA) voted in favour of the EU-Moroccan Agriculture Agreement on the 26 January (23 votes in favour, 5 votes against, one abstention). By voting overwhelmingly in favour of the agreement, the members of the Committee have clearly rejected the report by the French Green, José Bové. From his point of view, the agreement does not bring any good, neither for Morocco nor for Europe, in the sense that it only serves to reinforce an 'export-based industrial agriculture at the expense of family farms and small-scale farming on both sides of the Mediterranean.'

The latest edition of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid newsletter produced by the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Network is now available on their blog. The latest issue includes the following highlights:
- United States practice advisory concerning asylum applications for long term residency or family reunification put on hold under the Tier III provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act
- Somalis in Kenya suffer the consequences of Kenyan war in Somalia
- Life in exile: challenges facing refugees and organisations working to support them in Cape Town
- Arbitrariness regarding access to the asylum procedure in Bulgaria
- Longing to repatriate or resettle? Bhutanese refugees in Nepal
- How language testing used to authenticate asylum claims fails to recognise the reality and complexity of language.

A number of truce initiatives succeeded to temporarily stop the violence near the Ministry of Interior (MOI) as sporadic clashes continued on Sunday. A tense calm earlier in the day followed fierce clashes on Saturday night despite other calls for calm. Hundreds of women organized a march in downtown Cairo, taking off from Qasr El-Aini Street in the vicinity of the Cabinet and the People's Assembly condemning the violence. (http://bit.ly/zM7Vde)

Libya's Lap Green Networks has dragged the Zambian government to court over its decision to take over telecoms and Internet service provider Zamtel. The Libyan government says the takeover is illegal, as the company was genuinely acquired and rightly belongs to the Libyan people. A report by a Zambian commission of inquiry, which was constituted by that country's president Michael Sata last year, concluded that the sale of Zamtel to Lap Green Networks by the previous government was 'fraudulent and irregular'.

Thousands of Touareg refugees fleeing clashes in northern Mali entered Mauritania in recent days, escaping the fighting between the Malian army and Touareg rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azaouad (MNLA). 'Since January 28th, a lot of Touareg refugees have moved in here. Most of them have arrived on vehicles,' said Sheikh Ould Ahmed, a teacher in the border town of Fassala.

In January 2012 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) went to Libya on an information gathering mission and to establish contact with the new, rapidly growing civil society in the country. The mission went to Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi and held lengthy discussions with the representatives of the interim government, members of the National Transition Council (NTC), lawyers, journalists and representatives of human rights organisations. The mission noted the NTC was being increasingly reproached for its political incompetence and its lack of transparency, both in managing current affairs and in taking political decisions. FIDH is also worried about the growing disconnect between Tripoli and the Eastern part of the country.

Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions. But by many accounts, an unintended consequence of Kenya’s new devolutionary constitution has raised the stakes considerably. The prospect of real political and budgetary power - concentrated since independence in distant Nairobi - rather than water, pasture and cattle-raid vendettas, now drives the violence.

The Catholic University of Eastern Africa is organizing for an International conference 26-30 June at their main campus in Nairobi under the theme 'Africa’s Golden Jubilee: Assessing 50 Years of Scholarship and Development in Africa'. Please click on the link provided to read more information.

The Tax Justice Network has launched a new monthly podcast. In each 15 minute show, they discuss the latest news relating to tax evasion, tax avoidance and the shadow banking system. The January edition deals with the Vodafone vs India landmark tax case, compares Bill Gates and Mitt Romney’s attitudes to taxation and talks about Egypt's offshore wealth.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has written a strongly-worded letter to to President Robert Mugabe outlining his problems with the coalition government. The leaked letter addresses areas such as land, violent acts, diplomatic protocol, arrest of ministers, appointment of government staff, hate speech, media laws and elections.

The Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (DASO) recently released a controversial poster as part of their anti-racism campaign. The 'In OUR future, you wouldn't look twice' poster shows a naked mixed-race couple embracing. The poster has caused a huge stir on Facebook, Twitter and blogs and even generated viral spoof posters. Global Voices Online has summed up the online reactions and posted some of the spoofs.