Authorities in Nigeria have said that three separate bomb explosions in the country's northeast have killed at least 25 people and wounded many others. The attack on Sunday targeted outdoor beer gardens in the city of Maiduguri. Authorities have accused the Boko Haram group, which demands the adoption of sharia law, or Islamic law, throughout Nigeria, of being behind the attacks.

Libyan doctors living in South Africa and the DA have welcomed the international arrest warrant for the leader of their war-torn country, Muammar Gaddafi. But President Jacob Zuma has expressed disappointment. 'President Zuma is extremely disappointed and concerned over the issuing of a warrant by the International Criminal Court against Colonel Gaddafi,' presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa said. 'It’s unfortunate that the ICC could take such a decision while the AU through its ad hoc committee has done so much.'

Over a thousand ZANU PF supporters, bussed in mainly from rural areas, stormed the offices of the Ministry of Finance on Monday (27 June) and shockingly threatened to beat up or kill Minister Tendai Biti. The ZANU PF thugs, who held office workers hostage from 11am until early evening, sang derogatory songs against Biti and his MDC-T party. The crowd, which initially gathered at the ZANU PF provincial offices along Fourth Street in central Harare, marched to Biti’s office building under a police escort.

The UNHCR has written to the Government of Mozambique reminding it of its obligations under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugee and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention. This follows reports of deportations by the Mozambique authorities. In one report, 93 asylum seekers were deported to Tanzania in the early hours of Tuesday morning (21 June). The group, comprising 59 Somalis and 34 Ethiopians, had recently arrived by boat near Mocimboa da Praia in northern Mozambique. Most were young men but among them was a woman, four children, and three elderly men. Many were suffering medically as a result of their journey.

Devolving power to local authorities is helping Cameroon step up its fight against a two-year cholera outbreak, say government and aid agency staff. In 2010 decision-making and financing on health, water infrastructure and education was devolved to the country’s 376 local government councils. Slow to get going at first, since early 2011 these councils have more effectively fought to prevent cholera, said Casimir Youmbi, programme manager of Plan International in Cameroon.

Urban farming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is providing a livelihood for thousands of city dwellers, with vegetables bringing in good money for small growers and helping to alleviate high levels of malnutrition nationally, agricultural officials say. The demand for vegetables and the high prices they command in DRC cities - up to US$4 per kilo - has pushed many jobless residents into becoming small-scale growers. Most of the green spaces along the roadsides of the capital, Kinshasa, have been transformed into small farms.

Of all the vulnerable groups in the country, the most affected are nearly a million children, most of whom either stay home or have returned to schools looted or destroyed during the fighting.
The UN Children's agency UNICEF and the US-based non-governmental organisation Save the Children have been actively involved in a 'Back to School' initiative with support from the Ministry of Education.

A police officer and two others have been arrested as suspects in the stabbing death of journalist Ibrahim Foday of 'The Exclusive' newspaper near Freetown, Sierra Leone, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Foday was beaten and stabbed on 12 June in the east of the capital while covering clashes between neighbouring villages Kossoh and Grafton over a piece of land, report the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and other IFEX members.

The number of clinical trials in developing countries has surged in recent years but the legal and ethical frameworks to make them fair are often not in place, the 7th World Conference of Science Journalists, in Qatar (27–29 June), heard. By 2008, for example, there were three times as many developing countries participating in clinical trials registered with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) than there were in the entire period between 1948 and 2000, with many 'transitional' countries, such as Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, taking part.

For the past five years, water has been seeping out of the ground beneath parts of Nouakchott, undermining foundations and transforming some areas of the Mauritanian capital into uninhabitable marshes. Recent studies by the government suggest that nearly 80 per cent of the overall surface area of Nouakchott could be submerged in less than a decade - in 20 years at most. One scenario predicts the disappearance of the city by around 2050.

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Cancún in December 2010, the World Bank was granted the interim trusteeship of the newly established Green Climate Fund (GCF). Recent events indicate that the Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) will also have an influential role in the design of the fund. The Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), a collaborative MDB climate finance initiative housed at the Bank, are being pointed to as ‘a best practice’ model for the GCF. This paper critically assesses the appropriateness of the CIFs as a model for a global climate finance fund. It finds that in terms of institutional arrangements the CIFs have achieved some notable progress that acknowledges some of the critical issues raised by civil society groups. However, in operations and performance there are serious concerns.

The African Union panel on Libya met on Sunday in Pretoria on mediation efforts to end the four-month war, after South African President Jacob Zuma’s visit to Tripoli last month failed to reach a deal. The leaders of Mauritania, Uganda and Mali as well as Congo-Brazzaville’s foreign minister met with Zuma as Libyan rebels said they expect to receive an offer from Muammer Gaddafi 'very soon' that could end the four-month war.

More than 300 Swazi cancer patients being treated in South African hospitals have been repatriated, according to the Cancer Association of Swaziland, (CANASWA), after the government of King Mswati III could not meet their medical costs. Most of the cancer patients in South Africa were recipients of a special fund for the poor - in the absence of a national health system - but Health Minister Benedict Xaba told parliament recently the fund was exhausted.

A new analysis of the global power plant market launched by Greenpeace International shows that since the 1990s, installations of wind and solar grew faster than any other power plant technology. In addition, renewable energy expanded rapidly, to reach its biggest market share in 2010 and providing enough capacity to supply electricity to the equivalent of one third of Europe. The Greenpeace report, 'The Silent Energy Revolution: 20 Years in the Making', also highlights how renewable energy power plants accounted for more than a quarter (26 per cent) of all new power plants added to the worldwide electricity grid over the past decade, compared to nuclear power stations representing just two per cent of new installations in the same period.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, has been proactive about fighting sexual and gender-based violence. The Liberian government and the United Nations jointly committed to reducing gender-based violence by 30 per cent by the end of 2011. The Ministry of Gender and Development also has a special unit dedicated to tackling sexual and gender-based violence, the Gender-Based Violence Task Force, which aims to coordinate violence prevention and response. Despite the end of the nation's civil war, many Liberian women still face violence daily.

Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, a detained former Minister of Information and Communication and three others have been charged with treason for allegedly distributing anti-Jammeh materials, demanding an end to the authoritarian rule of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. Dr Janneh, an outspoken former minister went missing after his arrest on 7 June 2011. Dr. Janneh was whisked towards Banjul, the capital to an unknown location. On 13 June 2001, he was seen publicly for the first time after his arrest.

The Egyptian authorities must earn the trust of the people by abolishing repressive laws and ending abusive practices, the Secretary General of Amnesty International said in Cairo. Speaking after his week-long visit to Egypt, his first official trip to the Middle East and North Africa, Salil Shetty called on the Egyptian authorities, including the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), to use the post-Mubarak transition period to carry out urgent reforms and lift new repressive steps such as the law banning strikes and the use of military trials against civilians.

Members of the Unga revolution committee in Nairobi received an invitation of solidarity from Taita Taveta community leaders to visit their area to witness the violation of their rights to food by an increasing number of elephants that stray from the Tsavo National park during planting and harvesting seasons. 'The systematic destruction of the maize crops during this season has exposed the said peasant farmers in Taveta to food insecurity and hunger.'

Some Chinese companies are being blamed for importing fake anti-malaria drugs into Ghana, a country where China has so far enjoyed a very good name for its massive economic investment. On 19 June, Ghana’s Food and Drugs Board (FDB) issued a statement to warn the public against the sale of counterfeit Artesunate tablets on the market which laboratory analysis had confirmed contained no active anti-malaria ingredient.

At the Centre for Treatment of Acute Malnutrition with Complications (CRENI) in the town of Amboasary Sud in the Anosy region of southeastern Madagascar, Samina Tahiaritsoa, 20, cradles her son, Lambo, 3, who still weighs less than six kilograms after 10 days at the centre. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), two out of three Malagasy live in poverty and 50 per cent of children younger than five have stunted growth due to malnutrition.