It is a sign of the times that the second-largest cross-border acquisition by an Indian company involves Africa. The Bharti Airtel deal of $10.7 billion to acquire most of Zain Africa is, first, a measure of the changing footprint of global finance. Second, given that the African continent is being heralded as the global economy’s next frontier, the deal is an important chapter in the evolutionary narrative of India and Africa, which has lately been getting overshadowed by China’s presence in the continent.

The Chinese government will fund the construction of a new science university in Malawi as part of the country’s ambitious initiative to open five new institutions of higher learning in the next decade, according to President Bingu wa Mutharika. China is funding major development projects in Africa, in a diplomatic initiative aimed at building good relations on the continent and averting criticism that it is only after Africa’s rich natural resources.

ARTICLE 19 and the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) submitted a joint oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council's 14th session welcoming the annual report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr Frank La Rue. In the statement to the Human Rights Council on 4 June, ARTICLE 19 and CIHRS expressed their strong support for the Special Rapporteur's opinion that laws on "defamation of religions" are incompatible with international human rights law on freedom of expression.

The entry of a Swedish-led oil consortium into southern Sudan in 1997 triggered civil war and crimes against humanity, claims a European coalition of aid agencies. The European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) has called on the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate into the possible complicity of the consortium in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On World Day Against Child Labour 2010 on Saturday 12th June, leading NGO Plan International is concerned the problem is on the increase in Niger where children are being forced to work because of the food crisis. Children are being pulled out of school and sent to work for money or food to supplement their family's income.

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) celebrated 10 years of empowering women and women organizations through the use of ICTs on 1st and 2nd June 2010 at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Uganda. Among the activities to mark the celebrations, was a one week SMS awareness campaign which took place from 24th to 29th May 2010, a two day exhibition and a one day symposium.

Alpha Condé, the "eternal opposition leader" of Guinea who is widely believed to have won the 1993 presidential election, is gathering the largest crowds as Guinea's first truly democratic poll has kicked off.

BET, the acronym for the three northern regions of Chad – Borkou, Ennedi and Tibesti – comes up regularly in meetings of international aid agencies frustrated by the lack of information and difficulty of access to the remote territory. Drought in 2009 triggered the government’s call for international assistance, but no one really knows the full extent of the problem, according to a local NGO.

South Africa sees growing opportunities for trade with other developing countries as new economic powerhouses emerge and Europe is engulfed by economic and currency weakness, its trade chief said on Wednesday. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the changing world economy meant South Africa could intensify trade ties with countries such as Brazil, India and China at the expense of links with traditional partners such as the European Union.

This year’s edition of the AEO finds Africa’s economies weakened by the global recession and at the same time under pressure to make additional efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The world economic crisis brought a period of high growth in Africa to a sudden end. Average economic growth was slashed from about 6% in 2006-2008 to 2.5% in 2009 with per capita GDP growth coming to a near standstill. The global crisis of 2009 had its strongest effect on southern Africa, where growth was slashed (from the average over the preceding three years) by almost 8 percentage points to negative growth of around 1%.

Last month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a division of the State Department, recommended that the US deter foreign mining in Eritrea following allegations of religious oppression taking place in the small African nation. "The U.S. government should...prohibit any foreign company's raising capital or listing its securities in the United States while engaged in developing Eritrea's mineral resources," the report read.

As the 2010 World Cup kicks off this Friday, thousands of football fans will arrive in South Africa to cheer on their favourite teams. HIV awareness and prevention is also a high priority during this time. HIV can spread particularly among young people, through the dangerous combination of alcohol and unsafe sex.

With the World Cup finals looming, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) turned to football to tackle the lingering problem of xenophobia in South Africa's townships. The partner organizations, together with the Africa Diaspora Forum, have just staged a pilot Township Soccer Challenge. The initiative began in May and culminated last Saturday in Mohlakeng, when Randfontein beat Tembisa 5-0 to earn bragging rights to being the best township team in Gauteng Province.

Cameroonian writer, diplomat and civil servant, Ferdinand Leopold Oyono, died on Thursday in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital, at the age of 81.

He was the author of two influential novels - The old man and the Medal and Une Vie de Boy written in the 1960s.

According to Geoges Etoa Oyono, who is the nephew of Oyono, the writer complained of weakness as he came out of the presidential palace where he attended the lunch offered in honour of the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon.

Oyono was an official at the UN in the 1970s and Cameroon's ambassador to the United Kingdom. He returned to Cameroon in 1985 and was appointed secretary-general of the presidency of the Republic.

He was minister of Foreign Relations and minster of Culture and worked for the setting up of copyright authority in the country.

The global economy is likely to grow 2.9 per cent to 3.3 per cent in 2010 and 2011, the World Bank said. The bank, however, said that "Europe's debt crisis poses problems for global growth". In its latest Global Economic Prospects 2010, it said global economic recovery continued to advance "but Europe's debt crisis has created new hurdles on the road to sustainable medium term growth".

Al-Shabaab, one of the Islamist movements opposing the Somali government yesterday decreed a total ban on Somali speaking Universal TV. The group accused the London-based broadcaster, widely viewed in Somalia, of showing cartoons negatively depicting Prophet Mohammed. In the decree issued in Mogadishu, the top Council of Al-Shabaab quoted verses of the Koran (Muslims’ Holy Book) explaining the punishment to be faced by anybody undermining Prophet Mohammed a result, the movement described Universal TV as a tool used by non-Muslims to undermine Islam.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Zimbabwe remain internally displaced as a result of government policies and actions. The two largest groups of internally displaced people (IDPs) are farm workers and their families who have been displaced as a result of the fast-track land reform programme, which began in 2000 and continues to this day; and people displaced as a result of arbitrary evictions in Zimbabwe's towns and cities.

This brochure reflects a consensus of 40 international experts who convened in New York on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development. Together they reviewed evidence and developed recommendations on how to reduce inequities in access to family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services, particularly for disadvantaged populations. These actions are urgently needed to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

The United Nations human rights chief has urged the Kenyan Government to reconsider setting up a special tribunal to pursue accountability for the crimes committed during the violence that followed the disputed December 2007 elections. “I have been assured that this option is still open,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement issued at the end of a three-day visit to Kenya.

A former Nigerian rebel leader has said he would abandon an amnesty programme with hundreds of his followers if the government did not quickly provide jobs and development in the Niger Delta oil region. Ateke Tom, an ex-gang leader in the oil-producing Rivers state, told Reuters that life for his "boys" had yet to improve eight months after agreeing to surrender arms and participate in the government's amnesty programme.