African and Caribbean News

[SciDev.Net]A team of international experts has drawn up the Soil Atlas of Africa - the first such book mapping this key natural resource - to help farmers, land managers and policymakers understand the diversity and importance of soil and the need to manage it through sustainable use. (AllAfrica)

[African Arguments]The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have driven the global development agenda since September 2000, when Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 191 member states surprised the world by unanimously agreeing and making, the Millennium Declaration. The Millennium Declaration was both a surprising and encouraging outcome for global progress. Not long before the Millennium Declaration was signed, just the previous year, world leaders failed to launch "the Millennium Round" of tr (AllAfrica)

[IPS]Niamey -A decade ago, less than a third of school-aged girls in Niger were in class. Today, though significant cultural and religious opposition remains, nearly two-thirds of girls are enrolled in school. (AllAfrica)

[Capital FM]Nairobi -Seventeen protestors who staged the 'Occupy Parliament' demonstration using 31 live pigs last Tuesday have been charged with cruelty to animals. (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]A new government plan, "Youth in Agriculture", is expected to create jobs for youth. (AllAfrica)

[IPS]Lilongwe -Lloyd Phiri, a fisherman from Senga Bay on Lake Malawi's shores in Malawi's central region, knows that the lake's water levels are dropping. He can see it in his catch, which has shrunk by more than 80 percent in recent years. (AllAfrica)

[FrontPageAfrica]Barely a week after her now infamous declaration that she was "enjoying this benign neglect" and "I wish they will continue it for a long time," when asked to response to a much-publicized blackout by major newspapers and radio stations in Liberia, protesting anti-media statements attributed to the head of her Executive Protection Service, Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf now says she is looking forward making up with the local media. (AllAfrica)

[IRIN]Garissa-Nairobi -The presence of foreign militias in parts of northeastern Kenya, and their collusion with security officials and business people there, may be to blame for a rise in insecurity in the region, where multiple gun and grenade attacks have been reported over the past two years. (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]As Nigerian troops intensify their search for criminals and members of the Boko Haram in Maiduguri, the Joint Task Force on Saturday imposed a 24 hours curfew in places identified as hot spots of Maiduguri,the Borno State capital. (AllAfrica)

[New Era]President Hifikepunye Pohamba last Friday declared a national emergency due to the devastating drought that has already killed 4 000 large and small stock. (AllAfrica)

[SAPA]Nelson Mandela's daughters are suing him for the rights to his artworks and control of his millions, The Star reported on Monday. (AllAfrica)

[HRW]Nairobi -Zambian authorities should dismiss all charges and release two men arrested for engaging in homosexual acts, Human Rights Watch said. The police should immediately cease forensic anal examinations, which are intrusive, invasive and constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of international law. (AllAfrica)

[Focac]Cairo -The recent "Tamarrud" (Arabic for " Rebel") campaign that aims to pressurize Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to call for an early presidential election has stirred up mixed reactions in the country. (AllAfrica)

[IPS]Washington -With casualties in the long-running conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) now surpassing every conflict since World War II, U.S. policymakers and advocates are stepping up campaigns to raise awareness and push legislation aimed at encouraging new negotiations, assisting in government reforms, and pressuring the neighbouring countries that have propped up the DRC's government. (AllAfrica)

[Sudan Tribune]Khartoum -A new report argues that the Sudanese government's struggle for control of Darfur's gold resources, rather than inter-tribal conflicts is behind the recent surge in violence in the war-torn western region. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]Egypt's security forces have not received any orders to initiate an armed operation to free the security personnel kidnapped in Sinai, a senior security source told the state-run news agency. (AllAfrica)

[IPS]Johannesburg -In this column, Mandeep Tiwana, policy and advocacy manager of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, writes that civil society organisations around the globe face grave threats to their efficacy and existence. (AllAfrica)

[IPS]Nairobi -Victoria J. married in 2009 at age 14, and became pregnant shortly after. "I started labour in the morning on a Friday ... The nurse kept checking and saying I would deliver safely. On Monday she said I was weak. (AllAfrica)

[CAF]Democratic Republic of Congo and West Bromwich midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu played party pooper at the weeked in an amazing 5-5 English Premier League draw with Manchester United. Mulumbu scored with nine minutes left and the Baggies equalised soon after at the Hawthorns to deprive Alex Ferguson of a victory in his final match as boss of the Red Devils. (AllAfrica)

[Council on Foreign Relations]Having cut short a trip to South Africa and annulled a planned state visit to Namibia, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria declared a "state of emergency" in three northeast states on May 14. (AllAfrica)

[New Dawn]The Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) has threatened to resist in any manner to stop the Government of Liberia from embarking on any process of exploiting the Mount Wologizi in Lofa County. (AllAfrica)

[allAfrica]Cape Town -Zambia police have reportedly freed the university students detained on the president's orders after they protested against the government's decision to drop the maize and petrol subsidies. (AllAfrica)

[AfricaPlus]The political transitions that allowed many Africans to experience a degree of citizenship have been major achievements of the past quarter-century. But power corrupts, no less than before, and new democratic governments can corrode from the inside out. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Maiduguri and Abuja -Thousands of people including women and children have fled the border towns of Borno and Yobe states into Niger Republic to avoid being caught up in the military operation aimed at rooting out insurgents from the areas, reports said yesterday. (AllAfrica)

[Aswat Masriya]Unknown assailants opened fire at a central security forces camp in Rafah's al-Ahrash on Friday morning but there were no casualties, a security source said. (AllAfrica)

[SAPA]Cape Town -The police and NPA were responsible for deciding whether the Gupta family would be prosecuted for the irregular landing of their plane at Waterkloof Air Base, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said on Sunday. (AllAfrica)

[Leadership]The military has withdrawn some troops from Mali to participate in the ongoing operation against the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three states last Tuesday. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Yola -Nigeria's borders with Cameroon Republic, Niger and Chad have been closed as part of the implementation of the emergency rule imposed by President Goodluck Jonathan, authorities said yesterday. (AllAfrica)

[Ghanaian Chronicle]Kumasi -The National Youth Organiser of the People's National Convention (PNC) and leading member of the Alliance For Accountable Government (AFAG), Abu Ramadan, has challenged a remark made by His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, that sought to suggest that the Supreme Court was being given the opportunity to hear the electoral petition currently before it. (AllAfrica)

[Addis Fortune]Ethiopia secured close to 2.2 billion dollars from export during the last nine months of the current fiscal year, which only shows a 2.8pc increment compared to the same period last year. (AllAfrica)

Ugandan police raid the offices of at least two newspapers following reports that President Yoweri Museveni is grooming his son to succeed him and people opposed to the plan could be killed. (BBC News)