SOUTH AFRICA

Regulations, rights media conference kicks off at Wits

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The press is powerful, and as judges we are aware of the power of the press, and when you are in a position of power, self-reflection is very important, former Constitutional Court judge Kate O'Regan said today, Wednesday, 9 March 2011, at the Regulations and Rights media conference currently taking place at Wits University in Johannesburg. [view twitterfall] Read more >>

AFRICA

Google clamps down on spam

[Shaune Jordaan] The latest hype around the SEO world has been the clampdown by Google on paid link advertising. And regardless of whether you are a small starting-off company or a powerhouse that has been around for years, you are being targeted. JCPenney and Forbes.com, two internationally known and respected companies, were penalised by Google because they used paid links to advertise their websites. Read more >>

AFRICA

Online magazine covering Africa launched

DAKAR: An online magazine analysing and commenting on events in Africa, established by French journalists, was formally launched in Dakar on Monday (7 March 2011) to give "an African vision of Africa" in its coverage. Read more >>

AFRICA

Al Jazeera: Handling traffic spikes with cloud services and Drupal

[Uzair Parker] The recent Egyptian revolution which saw the overthrow of former President Mubarak garnered worldwide publicity with millions of viewers tuning in to Al Jazeera for live broadcasting on the day-to-day events. Read more >>

AFRICA

Hylton Ross appoints Marcus Brewster Publicity

Hylton Ross Exclusive Touring, part of the JSE-listed Cullinan Holdings, has appointed Marcus Brewster Publicity's Cape Town office to handle stakeholder and media relations for the South African travel company. Originally only a Western Cape-based operation, the company recently expanded its services to Gauteng, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

MOZAMBIQUE

Adventure-fantasy radio drama launches in Mozambique

Late last week saw the launch of Mozambique's first adventure-fantasy serial radio drama Madjuba: Quest for the Talisman. Madjuba is a 13-part radio drama available in Portuguese, Changaan, and Sena, initiated by UNESCO with support from SIDA, produced by CMFD (Community Media for Development) Productions. It will be distributed to community radio stations across the country. Read more >>

AFRICA

IPS hosts roundtable to support research uptake in Africa

IPS Africa hosted researchers, reporters and policy advocates in Johannesburg last month to review the outcomes of its DFID-funded 'Changing Lives: Making research real' project and its impact on research uptake in the region. The roundtable discussion sought to review the programme and develop research communication best practices to support research uptake. Read more >>

AFRICA

CIVICUS release report on African women in civil society

JOHANNESBURG: According to a new report released by CIVICUS, women in civil society in Africa are particularly prone to intimidation and harassment. CIVICUS has called on African governments, regional bodies, the international community and civil society to do more to protect women human rights defenders on the continent. Read more >>

EAST AFRICA

Research company launches East African omnibus

[Carole Kimutai] TNS RMS has started an omnibus study in East Africa that will involve regular surveys. The results of individual questions remain the property of the client and will not be shared with other clients. Read more >>

AFRICA

Trade corridors will boost African marketplace - Davies

CAPE TOWN: South Africa is helping neighbouring African countries to develop various transport corridors in a bid to boost regional integration and create a larger marketplace for Africans, the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said yesterday, 8 March 2011. Read more >>

WEST AFRICA

ECOWAS experts discuss livestock development in West Africa

BAMAKO: Experts on livestock farming, trade and security on Monday, 7 March 2011 in Bamako, the Malian capital, began a three-day meeting to validate the draft strategic action plan for the development of livestock farming in ECOWAS member states. Read more >>

FRANCE

AFP makes a name as a digital media player

PARIS, FRANCE: Agence France-Presse (AFP) has signed up to a technical and commercial partnership in Asia, the Middle East and Africa with BlueFox, a content integrator specialised in digital signage (video, photo and text for public screens). Read more >>

FRANCE

How youth editions are explaining the Middle East revolutions

PARIS, FRANCE / DARMSTADT, GERMANY: The unparalleled recent events in the Middle East have offered newspapers an opportunity to make use of their youth pages and supplements to explain a complex situation. The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) have gathered some examples from around the world. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Two share SA Car of the Year title

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] For the first time in the 26-year history of the South African Car of the Year competition, two cars, the VW Polo and the BMW 530d, tied for the top honours. Read more >>

UNITED STATES

Emerging auto insurance and aggregator sites attracting meaningful market share

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the availability of an expanded competitive set of insurers and aggregator sites for its online auto insurance benchmarker. In Q4 2010, these additional sites accounted for 724 000 submitted quotes, making up 8% of quotes submitted online. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

National Accommodation Awards semi-finalists announced

The semi-finalists in the 2011 AA Travel Guides American Express Accommodation Awards programme have been announced. Read more >>

ANDORRA

Travel & tourism report focuses on moving beyond the downturn

ANDORRA: Switzerland, Germany and France have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the fourth Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, just released by the World Economic Forum at the Global Tourism Forum 2011 (GTF) held in Andorra. Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Spain and Singapore complete the top 10. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

The Crucible could use a little more local flavour

[Johann Smith] Nothing new can be said about The Crucible. Its history and story are in many books and plastered all over the Internet. Arthur Miller's classic, written in 1953, is a central work in the canon of American drama and has won several awards. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

White man on the loose, in Kalk Bay

[Johann Smith] Words cannot describe music. Syllables cannot substitute chords. Paragraphs will never possess the power of a melody. A music review is reality trying to illustrate and paint the abstract. After all, language is limited and, therefore, we reach for the arts. Music, in its own right, exists in a world of its own and language is alien. Read more >>