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Today's top stories
Special focus on media freedom
 [Professor Kwame Karikari] When on 18 March this year the Daily Nation, one of Africa's biggest and most successful independent newspapers, celebrated its 50th anniversary, Charles Onyango Obbo, a columnist for the Nairobi, Kenya, paper, wrote, "It has mostly been hell on earth for the African media for most of these 50 years. In fact the freest period for the African media generally has been the 15-year period between 1990 and 2005." Read more >>Sudanese journalists said on Monday (9 August 2010) that the government has suspended direct censorship of daily newspapers. Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services notified editors that they would no longer visit newspaper offices before publication to remove articles deemed to be unsuitable, according to a report by news agency Reuters. Read more >>The Sudanese government suspended the BBC's licence to broadcast in Arabic on FM radio stations in four cities in north Sudan on Monday (9 August 2010). An Information Ministry statement published by the state news agency SUNA on Sunday said the suspension was related to violations of the accord governing BBC activities, including the smuggling of satellite equipment. Read more >>Marketing
 [Walter Wafula] Business executives and individuals can now issue digital contacts to their counterparts after BlueCube, a short messaging service (SMS) company, introduced a service to replace paper contacts with e-business cards. Read more >>Advertising
 The Loerie Awards has announced the Print Crafts judging panel for the 2010 awards. Print Crafts categories include Art Direction, Writing, Photography, Illustration and Typography. Read more >> The Loerie Awards has announced the Radio Crafts judging panel for the 2010 awards. Radio Crafts categories include Direction, Writing for Radio Advertising and Original Music and Sound Design. Read more >>Eventing
 Africa in Motion (AiM), a UK-based African film festival, is taking place from 21 October to 5 November 2010 at Edinburgh's Filmhouse Cinema and other venues across the city. This year's festival takes as its main theme 'Celebrations', in commemoration of 50 years of independence of 17 African countries, as well as celebrating the fifth birthday of the festival. Read more >>Advertisement:
Mobile
 Kuwait-based telecommunications group Zain on Monday (9 August 2010) reported net income up 488% to US$3.085 billion for the half-year ending June 30, 2010, boosted by a capital gain of US$2.653 billion from the sale of Zain Africa. Read more >>Advertisement:
[Erik Hersman] Kenya is quickly gaining a competitive advantage in the mobile payments space. Led by mobile operator giant Safaricom with their Mpesa product, the market locally sees huge value in mobile money transactions. Add to that a regulatory system that is relaxed enough for innovation to be encouraged, and you have a great space for interesting things to happen. Read more >> Production
 LOS ANGELES, CA: Submissions for YouTube's Life in a Day project closed on Saturday, 31 July 2010, with a total of 80 000 submissions representing 197 countries in 45 different languages. Footage from remote regions in South Africa, the Middle East and Africa have been uploaded to the site due to the efforts by groups and organisations that participated. Read more >>Retail
[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's central bank has called on government to halt what it called "deindustrialisation through over-reliance on imports of finished goods" after the distribution and retail sector accounted for the biggest jump in imports by value during the half year to June. Read more >> [Charles Mpaka] BLANTYRE: Cecilia Gondwe waits in the shade of a tree at the Mwanza Border Post between Malawi and Mozambique. Somewhere inside, a clearing agent is completing elaborate paperwork on her behalf. The agent will deal with customs officials, going over forms, calculating import and excise duty... Read more >> Mixed messages about the economy and concern about house prices and the impact of public spending cuts are forcing retailers to plan ahead for another cautious Christmas in the UK, according to retail experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read more >> BERLIN, GERMANY: Google said on Tuesday (10 August 2010) it would allow Germans to opt out of its disputed Street View navigation service ahead of its launch in the country this year but privacy watchdogs were still not happy. Read more >>FLORIDA, US: The first speakers for the Festival of Media: LatAM 2010 have been announced. The event, under the theme of 'The Future of Media Innovation', will take place 24-26 October 2010 in Miami, Florida, USA. The festival aims to provide a forum for discussion of regional issues and global themes impacting upon the development of advertising and communications in Latin America. Read more >>
"A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." - Edgar Watson Howe
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