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The efforts of Central African nations to consolidate peace and further development are being thwarted by weapons trafficking, top United Nations officials warned today, calling on Member States to do all they can to eradicate this scourge. (AllAfrica)

The Security Council today agreed to extend the United Nations panel of experts monitoring compliance with sanctions related to the conflict in Somalia for another year and to expand its mandate to try to maintain the arms embargo imposed in the region. (AllAfrica)

As the lobbying for ministerial posts into the new cabinet reaches fever pitch, the Peoples Democratic Party has advised that Acting President Goodluck Jonathan seeks wider consultations with the party and its leadership in the selection of ministerial nominees whose name are expected to be sent to the Senate for screening next week. (AllAfrica)

Zimbabwe is back to square one. The Global Political Agreement was signed in 2008. On Thursday South African President Jacob Zuma announced that the main political parties in Zimbabwe had finally agreed to implement what they had signed up to, after more than a year of haggling. (AllAfrica)

MPs have suggested more than 100 amendments in the first five chapters of the proposed constitution. (AllAfrica)

President Jacob Zuma has been urged to rein in the ANC's Youth League and bring his bodyguards to book. (AllAfrica)

Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), the largest solar energy project, has recently gained the support of the US company First Solar and both the Tunisian and Algerian governments. (AllAfrica)

This week, acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet, further securing his tenuous hold on the country's top post amidst rising unrest in the Niger Delta and flaring religious tensions in the central region of the country. (AllAfrica)

Nearly 17 years ago, President Museveni proclaimed an enduring "integrationist" relationship between his government and Buganda kingdom for national as well as regional unity and progress. (AllAfrica)

Countries whose leaders have refused to relinquish power have the worst press freedom. Such leaders had created a difficult environment for journalists, thus stifling the free flow of information, the International Press Institute (IPI) director, Mr David Dadge, told the Pan Africa Media Conference on Friday. (AllAfrica)

A key focus of the Pan African Media conference has been new media forms and how they are likely to shape the future. (AllAfrica)

Possibly due to his criminal past, the Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama could not get a US visa in time for a planned tour to publicise his book. (AllAfrica)

Malawi's government has set itself a major challenge this year, announcing plans to more than double the number of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to half a million by the end of 2010. (AllAfrica)

After torrential rains and floods claimed lives in Kenya's North Rift region, hundreds of displaced people are now in dire need of relief aid. (AllAfrica)

Villagers in Zukpuri Traditional Area had poor access to potable water supply and very low sanitation conditions. In the dry season, women and children often spend over three hours daily looking for water from the Black Volta River, located some 4 kilometres away. Past attempts to combat waterborne diarrheal and guinea worm disease by advising people to sieve and boil water before drinking were unsuccessful due to deeply entrenched spiritual and cultural beliefs. (AllAfrica)

The two-day Pan Africa Media Conference ended on Friday with a clarion call to African journalists to take charge of the continent's renaissance. (AllAfrica)

As tensions continue to brow between Sinoe and Rivercess Counties on land disputes, the Senior Senator of Rivercess County J. Jonathan Banney has called on his citizens to be claimed as the authorities of both counties including the national government is striving to put things under control. (AllAfrica)

A Local NGO working toward tracking and monitoring the PRS activities in Liberia, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Tracking Network has concluded a four-day workshop in Monrovia. (AllAfrica)

An Executive of the Conau Group in Liberia has called on Liberians to take advantage of the good opportunities of investment in the country. (AllAfrica)

The Civil Peace Service of the Mano River Region has ended a partners’ workshop in Monrovia. (AllAfrica)

Kenyan peacekeepers were today awarded UN medals for their contributions to peace in Liberia, which they have made through mentoring Liberia’s police, corrections and immigration sectors. In her remarks to the 22-member Contingent, UN Envoy Ellen Margrethe Løj took the opportunity to emphasize the need to “entrench reconciliation in Liberian society”, urging peacekeepers to continue with their efforts to consolidate peace in the country. (AllAfrica)

A women group under the banner “the United Women for Peace and Reconciliation” has held a mass rally to raise funds to support Girl’s education in Monrovia and its environs. (AllAfrica)

The Training Department of the General Auditing Commission (GAC) in collaboration with the Swedish National Audit Office (SNAO) on March 12, 2010 conducted a two-day workshop in the training room of the Commission. (AllAfrica)

The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted to summon Defense Minister Brownie Samukai to appear before plenary on Tuesday, March 19, 2010 at 8:45 am to give reason for entering into a contract with two GSM Companies on behalf of the Liberian government. (AllAfrica)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its bid to focus on other significant programs which in the long run will bear fruits to the true meaning of its existence is targeting Liberia for the launch of its newly approved program “Youth Volunteer Program.” (AllAfrica)

A prominent Liberian female gospel minister, Founder and pastor of  Potter’s House Assembly, Emma Mai Gbabo says Liberians should began seeking for God divine wisdom to enable them critically review their character and leadership capability before pledging their support to any political candidate or political party in the forth coming 2011 presidential and general elections in the country. (AllAfrica)

Today Friday, March 19, 2010, all ears, all eyes of interested parties, ordinary Liberians and foreigners alike look to the Criminal Court B at the Temple of Justice where the final verdict is expected to be handed down in the drawn-out Angel Togba murder trial. (AllAfrica)

Former House Speaker Edwin M. Snowe has informed his constituents that he would not be seeking re-election in the 2011 parliamentary. (AllAfrica)

The maritime freight of goods importation to Angola is very expensive because of the weak negotiation capacity of local importers said on Friday in Luanda the general director of National Importers Council (CNC), Francisco Agostinho Itembo. (AllAfrica)

A senior commander of the Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab, is assassinated inside an area held by his own forces. (BBC News)

Nigeria recalls its ambassador to Libya after leader Muammar Gaddafi suggested Nigeria be divided into two states. (BBC News)