Climate fight must enlist biodiversity and communities
[Carole Kimutai] UN-led efforts to address climate change, conserve biodiversity and fight poverty could cancel each other out unless the close links between these global challenges are given more attention, says a paper published today (18 February) by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Boost for football
[Walter Wafula] Footballers participating Uganda's local challenge, the Super League, received a financial boost from Gateway Television (GTV), when its founder disbursed UGX306 million to the Federation Ugandan Football Association (FUFA). Each club in the Super league will receive UGX17 million.

AFRICA

Mobile company's subscribers top a million
[Walter Wafula] Mark Kaheru, Uganda Telecommunication (UTL)'s PR Manager, says the company has attracted the new subscribers to its GSM network upping them from over 740,000 at the close of the 3Q of last year to a million presently, and is aiming to top two million subscribers by the end of 2008.

UGANDA

New cost-effective accounting software promises great savings
[Walter Wafula] Saving Plus, accounting software that could save microfinance institutions and saving and credit cooperatives from losing millions of shillings to accountants, has been launched in Uganda.

WEST AFRICA

Independent press censorship in Chad
Privately-owned press have reportedly been harassed and censored by the governments of Chad and Sudan after rebels, who have been accused of being in the pay of Khartoum, launched an offensive against the Chadian capital, N'Djamena.

New software for visualising network services
AIRCOM International, a leading independent mobile network planning and optimisation consultancy, have successfully developed a software prototype that will allow telecoms operators to visualise how their network is servicing their customers.

SOUTH AFRICA

US newspaper heavies form online ad flotilla
One of the problems with online ads is that they can be geotargeted, which means they targeted to a specific geographical area such as, say, the Bay Area; but advertisers cannot control which sites the ads appear on. "Much of the advertising is blind and therefore not appealing to brands," Sterling Market Intelligence Founding Principal Greg Sterling said.

Rwanda implements NEPAD agri plan
Rwanda is reviewing its progress towards implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) compact signed in March 2007.

AFRICA

UN injects US$2 million towards African governance
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has allocated an amount of US$2 million for a programme aimed at supporting African countries to strengthen and deepen African Public Sector and Governance Reforms.