africa

One of America’s flagship weekly national news magazines, Newsweek, faced a Title VII Civil Rights Act gender discrimination case from 46 of its female employees in 1970. Despite that important case so many years ago, in 2009 a group of Newsweek’s female reporters wrote with dismay that not much had changed. 43 of 49 Newsweek cover stories that year were written by men, and, across America, women got only one byline at a major magazine for every seven bylines by their male colleagues.

South Africa has generally had strong relations with Zimbabwe, but some say a last week's hiccup over criticism of election preparations reveals the diplomatic fine line the southern African nations walk. Last week, Lindiwe Zulu, a top international advisor to South African President Jacob Zuma, voiced concern that Zimbabwe was not well-prepared for the July 31 election, saying Zuma had spoken to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe by phone about the matter.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday launched Free & Equal, an unprecedented global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. At a press conference held in Cape Town, South Africa, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay was joined by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Justice Edwin Cameron of the South African Constitutional Court to announce the year-long project.

Directed by Andrew Brown, a Ph.D candidate in performance studies at Northwestern University, "Home/Affair" uses theater to communicate a political message about lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transgender refugees in South Africa. Homosexuality is illegal in 38 African countries, so South Africa, with more liberal laws regarding discrimination, has become a haven for gay refugees fleeing persecution.

For Africa, the period since mobile penetration figures became significant has been characterised by innovation and technology-driven value added services. These are increasingly being tailored to meet the spending and consumption needs of consumers. For example, Kenyan-based Safaricom's M-PESA has tapped into the "unbanked" portion of the population by taking advantage of the country's high mobile penetration levels.

Building the nation's "soft power" - the kind of intangible influence the United States enjoys through its cultural strength and global connections - has emerged as a key priority in recent years and was repeatedly emphasised by former president Hu Jintao. "China's impact in Africa should not be underestimated. China is the most influential world power in Africa at present; its soft power is overwhelming," said Anthony Desir, a partner of the Strategic African Mineral Investment Fund, an African resource consultancy.

The relaunch of BBC Afrique, the World Service’s French language service for Africa, has increased the hours of transmission and introduced a new more interactive style of presentation. However an Over to You listener says that it also means he no longer hears English language programmes – we hear from BBC Afrique’s editor why the service has changed in response to developments in African radio, and the balance between French and English programmes.

Thirty U.S. doctors and nurses from across the country were sworn in at the White House today as the first class of Peace Corps Global Health Service Partnership volunteers. The new volunteers will leave this weekend for one-year assignments as medical or nursing educators in Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda, where they will work alongside local faculty to train the next generation of healthcare professionals.

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