Italy, which did more than any other country to legitimise Libya and its mercurial leader, is going through a foreign policy nightmare as civil strife in its former colony threatens its energy supplies, international image and the stability of some of its blue chip companies. Italy imports about 80 per cent of its energy needs. About 32 per cent of Libya's oil output goes to Italy - making up about 25 per cent of Italy's imports - and about 12 per cent of Italy's gas comes from Libya.

The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) has rapped Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel over the knuckles for his open letter criticising government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi for his remarks on coloureds.Manuel wrote an open letter to Manyi following comments the government spokesperson made in a TV interview a year ago that coloureds were 'over-concentrated' in the Western Cape.

On 10 March 2011, in the case of Kiyutin v Russia, the European Court of Human Rights held that refusing a residence permit to a foreign national solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status amounted to unlawful discrimination, says this Interights statement. 'This landmark case is a significant boost to the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Europe, as the judgment contains two important "firsts": not only has it explicitly recognised that PLHIV are protected as a distinct group against discrimination in relation to their fundamental rights; but it has also recognised that PLHIV are a "vulnerable group" and any restriction of their rights attracts a higher degree of scrutiny on the part of the European Court.'

In this episode of Palestine Studies TV, Dr. Leila Farsakh discussed the implications of the protest movements in the Arab world on Palestinian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Dr. Farsakh is a professor of political science at the University of Massachussetts, Boston, and a member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Palestine Studies.

The promotion, protection and realisation of human rights still do not regularly factor into the behaviour of Commonwealth members of the UN Human Rights Council, both domestically and at the Council, says a new report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative called 'Easier said than done'. The findings of the report said there was an alarming lack of adherence by Commonwealth countries to the domestic human rights commitments.

Up to one million foreign workers and others trapped in Libya are expected to need emergency aid because of fighting in the North African nation, aid officials said as they sought $160 million to deal with the crisis. UN officials say that amount is only for the next three months - and they expect the crisis to go on longer than that. The UN is also effectively frozen out of sections controlled by leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces and is only seeking humanitarian aid for opposition-controlled areas.

Djibouti has told the United States that an independent election observer mission is 'illegal' and suspended its partnership with the US-funded mission. Djibouti’s foreign ministry sent a diplomatic note to the US Embassy dated 2 March requesting the end of the partnership, alleging it had participated in and supported a violent 18 February opposition rally in which at least one person was killed, accusations the group denies.

Unidentified gunmen killed an Al-Jazeera cameraman and wounded his colleague near the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi in an ambush on Saturday, according to the Qatar-based satellite station. This is the first confirmed death reported in the Libyan conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said.

Under an overcast sky, nearly 200 members of the Djiboutian Army’s elite 1st Rapid Action Regiment honed their infantry skills, mentored by members of the US Army National Guard’s 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment. The training included instruction on squad movements, convoy operations, contact drills, camp security and marksmanship.

Libya said on Sunday it welcomed an African Union panel formed to try to end the Libyan crisis and said it would facilitate its work, while condemning an Arab League resolution calling for a no-fly zone over the country. The African Union announced on Friday the leaders of South Africa, Uganda, Mauritania, Congo and Mali would form a panel that will travel to Libya shortly.

While the South African Department of Trade and Industry has stepped up criminalisation of pirated books, movies, and music, consumer patterns show that obtaining pirated media is widely accepted. In fact, a case study in Hanover Park, a poor neighbourhood outside Cape Town where the Association of Progressive Communication investigated CD piracy, most residents made no distinction between pirated and legal goods. Some people interviewed found the concept of piracy completely foreign, and all respondents felt that their use of pirated goods was legitimate, given their economic situation. Average consumers feel they have no choice but to turn to cheaper alternatives because the price of original goods is simply too high for them to afford.

The Unemployed People's Movement (UPM) reports that two people from the eThembeni shack settlement died in a fire. The organisation said the community could not successfully fight the fire on their own as the taps are very few and very far away. The fire brigade could not get into the settlement because there is no road leading in to it. The fire came as the UPM held a vigil. One of the reasons for the vigil was to highlight 'concern at the criminalisation of our struggles and movements'.

South Africa is waiting for another 1976 uprising to happen, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Wednesday. Vavi said the level of violent protests over service delivery showed people’s frustrations with a lack of implementation in solving rampant unemployment, poverty and lacking infrastructure. 'Somebody used the term that Johannesburg is living between a ring of fire with people barricading their streets everywhere to say we’ve had enough.'

The Nyeleni Newsletter is now available online in three languages: English, Spanish and French. This edition of the newsletter has a special on factory farming. The newsletter is published every two months on the website. Each newsletter comes with an additional document - a list of reports and more references that can be downloaded from the same website.

In response to a pelting critique from academics, economists and grassroots organisers worldwide, the 2011 'State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report' plans to address the controversies surrounding a development scheme that many believe to have failed. A tempest of questions, censures and confusions has battered at the doors of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), whose small-scale loans many are calling 'micro band-aids' on the wound of inequality that the world is currently nursing.

The latest newsletter from African Peoples Advocacy (APA) contains articles on the plight of migrants in Libya, the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, the Ugandan elections and further information about events and activities.

More than 450,000 people have fled their homes because of the crisis in Ivory Coast, the UN refugee agency says. Some 370,000 people have fled their homes in Abidjan, while a further 77,000 have crossed into neighbouring Liberia, according to the UNHCR. It said the 'unfolding tragedy' in Ivory Coast had been overlooked while international attention has been focused on North Africa.

A report recently released by Tax Justice Network-Africa, 'Tax Us If You Can: Why Africa should stand up for tax justice', addresses both domestic and international challenges facing African countries in their efforts to raise domestic resources to finance development. The report emphasises the importance of tax noting that, 'In Africa, tax revenue will be essential for establishing independent states of free citizens, less reliant on foreign aid and the vagaries of external Capital.'

Reporters Without Borders has carried out a new survey of online freedom of expression for World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, marked on 12 March. 'One in three of the world’s Internet users does not have access to an unrestricted Internet,' Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. 'Around 60 countries censor the Internet to varying degrees and harass netizens. At least 119 people are currently in prison just for using the Internet to express their views freely. These are disturbing figures.'

The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD) is a resource for conducting research and analysis on various forms of social and political unrest in Africa. It includes over 6,000 social conflict events across Africa from 1990 to 2009, including riots, strikes, protests, coups, and communal violence.