AFRICA

TFF launches bid for tourism recovery
The Tourism Trust Fund (TTF) is launching a series of e-tourism seminars on 3-6 June 2008 as part of their efforts to get the damaged tourism sector back on track and to look at how technology can be used in recovery initiatives.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Malawi bank rolls out internet banking
[Gregory Gondwe] Standard Bank of Malawi has rolled out an internet banking facility becoming the country's second bank where customers can access banking services from any corner of the world.

A new, improved Afrigator
African social media aggregator Afrigator yesterday, Wednesday, 14 May 2008, went live with version two of its public beta. Improvements concentrate on layout and usability, functionality, relevance, personalisation and stats. “We spent a lot of time simply thinking about what would make us want to use Afrigator more, and discovered some pretty basic flaws that needed changing. The site is not 100% yet but we definitely believe it's moving in the right direction. These are truly exciting times for us at Afrigator,” comments Mike Stopforth, one of the co-founders. For more, go to the Afrigator blog.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Jo'burg prepares for Africa Day
[Lesego Madumo] The City of Johannesburg is gearing for this year's Africa Day, on 25 May, which will see workshops and exhibitions exploring complex questions and concerns, while music, dance, poetry and arts and crafts will add a lighter note.

AFRICA

CNN Multichoice African Journalist 2008 finalists
Finalists in the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2008 Competition were announced yesterday, Thursday, 15 May 2008, by Azubuike Ishiekwene, chair of the independent judging panel. This year the competition, now in its 13th year, received a record 1912 entries from 44 countries throughout the African continent, including French- and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

Glo-ing new expansion contract
Alcatel-Lucent announced yesterday, 15 May, that it has signed a contract with Globacom (Glo), Nigeria's second largest national operator to extend the network capacity and performance of Globacom's mobile and fixed networks.

ZIMBABWE

South African newspapers face distribution veto in Zimbabwe
[Dumisani Ndlela] The distribution of South African and other international newspapers could be banned or restricted under measures meant to limit their import into Zimbabwe.

RBZ launches new Z$500 million bank note
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, grappling with record-breaking inflation, has introduced a new Z$500 million bank note barely two weeks after issuing Z$250 million and Z$100 million denominations.

Toxic grain threatens Nigerian food security
The hospitalisation of 116 girls after consuming beans sprayed with harmful pesticides at a secondary school in northern Nigeria's Gombe State on 18 April has raised concerns about how dry foods are stored all around the country.

Zimbabwe suspends duty on flour, cooking oil
Zimbabwe on Tuesday, 13 May, suspended import duty on some basic commodities, including cooking oil and flour, in response to a sharp spike in prices following the flotation of the local currency by the central bank last month.