ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: Two Standard journalists arrested on libel charges

HARARE: Reporters Without Borders has condemned yesterday's arrest of Nevanji Madanhire, the editor of independent weekly The Standard, and Patience Nyangove, one of his reporters, as well as the charges of criminal defamation and "publication of false statements prejudicial to the state" that have been brought against them. Read more >>

EAST AFRICA

Ethiopia accuses two jailed journalists of terrorism plot

NEW YORK: The Ethiopian government, on Wednesday, 29 June 2011, publicly accused an editor and a columnist of involvement in a terrorism plot, according to news reports and local journalists. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the Awramba Times newspaper and Reeyot Alemu, columnist for the weekly Feteh, have been held incommunicado under Ethiopia's far-reaching anti-terrorism law since last week. Read more >>

EAST AFRICA

Puntland authorities arrest online journalist

NEW YORK: Police arrested Faysal Mohamed, a reporter for the Hiiraan Online website on Wednesday, 29 June 2011, in the port town of Bossasso in the semi-autonomous republic of Puntland, local journalists told CPJ. No official charges have been brought against him, although the deputy commander of the Bossasso District Police told journalists that Mohamed was arrested for publishing a "false news report" on Hiiraan Online. Read more >>

EAST AFRICA

Sudan mounts contrived legal cases against journalists

NEW YORK: The Sudanese government is continuing to aggressively target individual journalists and publications through contrived legal proceedings, politicised criminal charges, and confiscations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday, 29 June 2011. Read more >>

AFRICA

Will in-stream advertising kill the Twitter experience?

[Graeme Lipschitz] Twitter's recent announcement that it is going ahead with in-stream ads is yet another attempt by the microblogging platform to effectively monetise without losing its opt-in/opt-out appeal. This follows the removal of Quickbar, a form of intrusive promoted tweets that appeared in Hootsuite users' timelines, in March. Read more >>

AFRICA

Successful online African businesses require 'big five'

[Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia] Africa's total international Internet bandwidth reached 520gbps in December 2010, a 78% increase compared to 2009, Digital Mark sales manager Ian Drummond revealed in Johannesburg this week, adding that sub-Saharan Africa's bandwidth increased by 125% to reach 208gbps. African entrepreneurs, buoyed by this 'mini-revolution', are flocking online to start businesses. But, they would have to be aware of the 'big five' if they are to be successful. Read more >>

AFRICA

Google goes social with Facebook rival

WASHINGTON: Google, the king of Internet search but a bust on the social front, launched its rival to Facebook on Tuesday (28 June 2011), a social networking service called Google+. Read more >>

AFRICA

2011 Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards winners announced

LONDON: Diageo announced the winners of the 2011 Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards at a ceremony in London last night, Thursday, 30 June 2011. Now in its eighth year, the awards recognise journalists and news organisations that have excelled in quality business journalism and have presented fair and balanced stories about the continent's risks and opportunities. Read more >>

MOROCCO

Thomson Reuters, IMIST to celebrate partnership

CASABLANCA: Thomson Reuters, a source of information for businesses and professionals, hosted a welcome event on Thursday, 30 June 2011, to celebrate its partnership with Institut Marocain de l'information Scientifique et Technique (IMIST). Read more >>

ZIMBABWE

Zim teen the new face of Louis Vuitton

[Ray Maota] Zimbabwean-born Nyasha Matonhodze, 16, is turning heads on high streets across the world after being chosen as one of the faces of Louis Vuitton's 2011 Autumn/Winter campaign. Read more >>

JAPAN

Google Android leads acceleration in smartphone adoption in Japan

TOKYO, JAPAN: comScore Japan KK, a wholly owned subsidiary of comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest insights into mobile usage in Japan from its comScore MobiLens product. Read more >>

UNITED STATES

MMA publishes brand marketer's guide to mobile web; mobile apps

NEW YORK, US / LONDON, UK / SINGAPORE / SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL: The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) (www.mmaglobal.com) has published Getting Started - A Brand Marketer's Guide to the Mobile Web and Mobile Apps: Not an Either/or Proposition. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Family wagon or hatch hunter?

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] If you are cruising along in your cheeky little hatch and you see an SUV with a gaping Scooby-style air scoop on the bonnet looming in your rear-view mirror, don't snigger because this ain't just any El Cheapo backyard enhanced family transporter on the way to dropping the kids at school. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

In the swim

Regus finds fitness-fanatical South Africans hide swimsuits under corporate clobber... They also might be found to be hiding anything from embroidery work (yes, you read correctly) to a coffee machine (and you read correctly again). Read more >>