Ugandan human rights activists are concerned that President Yoweri Museveni's proposal to do away with bail for people suspected of committing certain crimes could swell the country's already overcrowded prison system and exacerbate severe problems in delivering health services to inmates. Museveni announced the move to amend the Constitution and the Penal Code in May following 'Walk to Work' protests over high food and fuel prices. The proposed law would allow judges to deny bail for at least six months to people arrested for treason, terrorism, rape, economic sabotage and rioting.

In this video, John Bellamy Foster, editor of Monthly Review and co-author of 'The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences' discusses the causes of the current global financial crisis. 'You’ve all heard of the 700 billion bailouts…but the US government has so far committed over five trillion dollars to directly bailing out or providing a backstop to financial operations…you’ve probably only heard of the 700 billion…they’ve been bailing like hell and they’re failing…every part of the world is now in state of economic crisis.'

African Speakers of Parliaments and Presidents of Senate have unanimously adopted a landmark resolution on a Declaration of Commitment to prioritise parliamentary support for increased policy and budget action on maternal, newborn and child health in African countries. The milestone Declaration of Commitment was adopted at the 3rd Pan African Speakers Conference 17 - 18 October, which was convened by the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

It will soon be a quarter of a century since the death of Thomas Sankara. He joined Lumumba, Um Nyobé, Felix Moumié, Osendé Afana, Ben Barka, Outel Bono, Pierre Mulele, etc in the pantheon of the worthy sons of Africa assassinated by the colonialists and their African accomplices. But today, when Africa more than ever needs the spirit of the Sankarist action, Guy-Marius Sagna considers it regrettable that Sankara is not the reference he should have been.

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For 50 years now, France has covered a state crime it has had since 17 October 1961, when the Parisian police attacked Algerian demonstrators and killed more than 200 of them. Some were killed by bullets, while others drowned in the Seine River. From General de Gaulle to Sarkozy, this massacre has been covered like a deliberate political decision, because it has never been disapproved. Emmanuel Terray thinks "it is high time that this accomplice silence ends!”.
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Paul Biya is set for a third term in office. A well locked electoral system offers him re-election without encountering any opposition. It is in this respect that the Cameroonian autocrat has gone after the popular movement which had destabilized him in 2008, where the repression caused about 140 deaths. According to Pierre Sidy, the political opposition failed for "not taking the political direction of these social movements and for not succeeding in structuring and anchoring them in the popular quarters”.
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The Durban+10 Coalition conference passed in near indifference from international media. Not shocking when it is known that the states which control the world had wanted to empty the Durban Declaration of all its contents ten years ago. The conference against racism, discrimination, xenophobia and associated intolerance, fights on in the same logic. Behind their masks of virtue, racism, xenophobia and intolerance continue to nourish them. ‘Some’, notes Mireille Pennon-Mendès-France, ‘do not hesitate to bring back to the surface the theory of the supremacy of the ` white race' as the only race that can save humanity’. Interventions such as that carried out by NATO in Libya do not justify themselves differently.

Ugandan police released opposition leader Kizza Besigye on Monday 31 October, hours after detaining him for the second time in a month, but warned they would keep seizing him if he tried again to take part in protests against surging prices. Besigye was mobbed by supporters after he walked free from the Kasangati police station on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala, and drove off in his car, a Reuters witness said.

Through photography and video, Her Story Wins will document the personal stories of US & Kenyan women political candidates as they run for office in the 2012 elections. Her Story Wins will highlight the social and physical obstacles that girls and women face in translating leadership skills to political aspirations, and more importantly celebrate the valuable impact women have on their communities when they run for and get elected to office. Visit the website to find out more.

This video shows how African women have, for a long time, been taking a back seat in many aspects of life, but also that the trend is changing and now women are taking on men, even in such areas as the crowded entertainment industry in Niger.

The Angola Monitor covers the politics, economics, development, democracy and human rights of Angola. It is published quarterly by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA). The latest issue covers the deportation of southern Africa civil society leaders, Angola’s hosting of the SADC Summit, rumours about whether President dos Santos will stand down before elections in 2012, objections to the proposed changes to electoral law, discussions with the DRC over oil, the sale of properties at Cidade do Kilamba, recent protests and the authorities response, the halting of evictions in Lubango, the conviction of a newspaper editor for libel and the recent floods in southern Angola.

The Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation is a comprehensive and cumulative website resource that provides continually updated cutting-edge knowledge, experience and lessons learned for those working in the field of transforming violent ethnopolitical conflict.

Libya is plunging into a cycle of tribal violence and retribution which, if left unchecked, could undermine the authority of its new leaders, spur new forms of insurgency and throw the country back into chaos, says this Reuters article. More than a week after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, anger is on the boil again with what many Libyans see as the inability of the interim government to rein in its brigades and stop a wave of revenge attacks. The cycle of retribution appears already to have started. The town of al Jemel, a scattering of sandy homes in the palm-studded desert southwest of Tripoli, is one example. Residents said brigades from faraway Misrata had appeared at their doorstep a week ago, breaking into people's homes and looking for Gaddafi loyalists.

Preparations for the Rio+20 meeting that could decide whether humans survive or not are hotting up. 1 November 2011 is the deadline for official contributions to its Zero Draft document but over the next seven months decision-makers and campaigners will need all the facts they can lay their hands on. 'Earth Grab - Geopiracy, the New Biomassters and Capturing Climate Genes' - essential, cutting-edge climate science in everyday language - is published this week (27 October 2011). The authors reveal information that the large corporations who profit from climate change do not want the public to know.

LDPI is launching a Small Grants Competition Part 2: 2011-12. Grants of up to US$3000 per study are available to successful applicants who wish to undertake original field research, carry out follow up fieldwork on an ongoing related initiative, or write up a paper based on research that is being/has been undertaken on any of the following themes (or combinations).

'Farmers represent 1/3 of the world’s population, 1/2 of its poor, and over 800 million of the hungry. As the planet’s primary ecosystem managers, farmers are best placed to ensure sustainable development and contribute to a green economy. However, there is a concern that today’s agricultural policy and governance fall short of contributing to sustained food security, eradicating poverty and catalyzing sustainable rural development. Yet African countries are primarily agricultural economies with 70% of the population engaged in agriculture.'

Land-related conflicts are increasing in Tanzania where more than 12,600 such cases are recorded every year, if the last twelve months' figures are anything to write home about. Mr Godfrey Eliseus Massay, an official with the Land Rights, Research and Resources Institute (HAKI-ARDHI), has revealed that such land cases that were reported between mid- last year and June 2011 had reached 12,643.

Reporters Without Borders says it fails to understand a decision by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to urge countries that have given asylum to Rwandan refugees to withdraw their refugee status by the middle of next year on the grounds that political life in Rwanda is back to normal. 'What normalization is UNCHR talking about?' Reporters Without Borders asked. 'President Paul Kagame was reelected with 93 per cent of the vote in 2010 in an election in which his main opponents could not take part. One is in prison and another is in exile and escaped an assassination attempt. The Rwandan authorities do not tolerate criticism. The independent press is harassed.'

This article from Media Lens looks at the mainstream media coverage of Gaddafi's killing. 'We suspect that most journalists are not actually unfeeling brutes. They are conformists wary of the high price they can be made to pay for even the suspicion that they might be "apologists" for an official enemy,' says the article in response to many of the crass headlines that have been seen in some newspapers.

Since 1998, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) has produced The World's Abortion Laws map to visually compare the legal status of abortion in different countries - and to advocate for greater progress in ensuring access to safe and legal abortion services for all women worldwide. Visit the website for more information.

Gmedia Center is a Geneva based initiative whose overall objective is to empower media to further civil society goals on human rights and democracy. Gmedia Center will facilitate the necessary interaction between international actors and the media to enhance journalists’ capabilities in human rights reporting and maintain these connections through a global web community dedicated to furthering civil society goals.

Over 50 campaigners joined the family and friends of Jimmy Mubenga recently in a vigil on the first anniversary of his death. Mubenga died on 12 October 2010, after being restrained by private security guards from the company G4S on a BA flight at Heathrow airport during a deportation attempt to Angola. Jimmy's wife, five children and his wider family are still waiting, one year on, to see if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will charge the three officers involved.