Accra- Ghana (PANA) – A community--based organisation in the eastern region of Ghana has announced that it has started the production of bio- diesel in Ghana from palm kernel oil. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- African experts in science and technology plan to meet Monday in Tunis to discuss how to accelerate socio- economic transformation and Africa's integration in the global economy, the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced Friday in a press release. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- The Forum on NICT Best Practices, heard here Friday, the success story of Egypt's e-governance project, part of Microsoft's commitments for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- UNIDO (UN Industrial Development Organisation) and Microsoft on Thursday signed an accord in Ouagadougou to implement a common initiative to equip African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with second-hand computers collected from big companies. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) – The optimum use- of opportunities offered by the New Information and Communication Technologies (NITCs) should enable Africa make crucial strides toward integration and create a conducive environment for the active participation of the continent in the global economy," Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, said here Thursday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo on Friday urged the member states of SADC (the Southern African Development Community) to invest in the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), given their crucial role in regional integration. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – The Institute of Food Tech-nology (ITA, French acronym) of Senegal has won a prize worth US$100,000 offered by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya and the World Bank signed here Wednesday a $85 million loan agreement to finance the country's two Internet broadband connectivity projects that are expected lower the cost of communication and internet services in the country. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Morocco's Salim Mounir Alaoui, has been elected President of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an international standards organisation on telecommunications, official sources said here. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A senior UNESCO official has criticised multi-national pharmaceutical firms which conduct clinical trials in developing countries without adequately informing their volunteers of the possible risks involved in such researches. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria became the first country in Sub-Saharan African to launch a communication satellite when its NIGCOMSAT-1 lifted off into space Sunday from China, where it was built. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- An international telecommunications meeting ended in the Gambian commercial city of Serre Kunda, Thursday, with the more than 100 participants analysing the growth of mobile phones, and the general cost of telecommunications in Africa. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Nine African countries have won the first ever awards given in the continent for promoting the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by governments in fulfilling their public service delivery functions, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) announced here Wednesday. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberia's sole government-run university now has a US$2. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) - – The South African government has announced the launch of a continent wide competition for accredited African architects and designers to submit proposals for the construction of what has been described as a uniquely African Parliament. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia Tuesday licensed a privately owned firm to roll out a US$160 million wind electricity generation project, warning the country's energy supply situation had reached alarming levels. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- The national coordinators of the projects of the African Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) convened here Monday to discuss nuclear scientific and technical cooperation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The vice chancellor of the Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) based here, Abdou Salam Sall, has called on sociologists to invest in research in social, political and economic problems facing their countries and continent. Full text...

Cairo- Egypt (PANA) -- Egypt successfully launched its third Satellite Tuesday morning from the Kozmoderm base in Kazakhstan, the Egyptian Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister, Hani Hilal, said here Wednesday. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) – A meeting of experts fr-om the African and Malagasy Council on Higher Education (CAMES) kicked off Tuesday in Yaounde as a prelude to the 24th ordinary session of organisation's meeting 12-13 April in the Cameroonian capital. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibian environmental and human rights groups have joined ranks to oppose the government's plan to partner with Russia to build a nuclear plant, which is seen as a panacea to the country's electricity woes. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Libya and Britain have signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance scientific and technical co-operation between the two countries. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – UNESCO and the Internation-al Astronautical Federation (IAF) Wednesday signed a partnership agreement in Paris, reinforcing the UNESCO-European Space Agency "Open Initiative on the Use of Space Technologies to Support the Monitoring of UNESCO Natural and Cultural Heritage". Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- An African sub-regional forum on 'best practice sharing' in the use of the New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) for development convened here 7-9 June, organisers revealed Tuesday. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Three Russian firms, Techsnabexport, Renova and Vneshtorgbank, have established a joint venture to produce uranium and possibly establish a nuclear plant in Namibia, media reports said here Monday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Wednesday urged researchers to accelerate their work and contribute to the country's development in order to satisfy the Mozambican people's yearning to escape from poverty. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo Tuesday laid the foundation stone for the African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST)- one of the four campuses under the Nelson Mandela institute (NMI). Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's communication satellite, which is being fabricated in China, is 100 percent ready for launch, according to the Director-General of the National Research and Development Agency, Robert Boroffice. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- Rwanda and the US have signed a new agreement on science and technology, official sources said here Thursday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has pledged to support the Mozambican Institute of Information and Communications Technologies (MICTI) in training its middle-level technical staff, according to Mozambique's news agency (AIM). Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The African Union (AU)'s Executive Council holding its 10th Ordinary Session here was expected Saturday to adopt a recommendation on declaring 2007 as the launching year of building constituencies and champions for science, technology and innovation in Africa. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- African scientists participating in the Science and Technology Exhibition that started here Thursday have decried the slow progress made by African countries in the use of research and innovative technologies. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Mozambican government's Energy Fund (FUNAE) plans to install 2,500 solar panels by the end of June in Inhambane and Sofala provinces, as part of its rural electrification project based on renewable sources of energy, media reports said Wednesday. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) – America's Genesis Futuristi-c Technologies plans to help African countries make software, the company's managing director, Jacques Bonjawo, said in an interview with PANA in Paris Tuesday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – UN Organisation for Educat-ion, Science and Culture (UNESCO) Thursday called for the respect of the ethical dimensions in the handling of scientific and technological research in Africa, in order to guarantee the interest of the continent in the implementation of the results of science. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – The results of SITA's first--ever Global Airline IT Security Survey released Wednesday, have revealed "deep concerns" about (Internet Protocol) IP-based network security with 80% of those surveyed feeling increased pressure to respond to IT-related security threats. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Faced with a critical shortage of electricity, a Ghanaian cabinet minister has said the government would soon begin consultations with the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) on how it would help generate nuclear power to supplement hydro-electricity. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Standard Bank has become the third leading financial institution in South Africa in the last 12 months to install the anti-money laundering (AML) system, media reports said here Wednesday. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Senegal will host the 2007 annual conference of the African Science Academy Initiative (ASADI), organisers have announced. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Experts have identified scarcity of water and the inefficient management of existing river basins as major impediments in achieving food security in Africa. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- The 2nd Annual International Conference of African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) opened here Wednesday, with a call on the various national academies to help provide evidence-based advice to tackle hunger and poverty in Africa. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Representatives of various science academies across Africa this Wednesday began brainstorming in Yaounde, Cameroon, on the need for planning, developing and management of science fora as a tool that can be used to set scientific and economic development agenda. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- Scientists attending an African science conference here have urged African leaders to give priority to science and technology if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- A meeting is underway here by representatives of various science academies across Africa on efforts to place science at the centre of policy makers' agenda in the continent. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Cameroon will host the 2nd Annual International Conference of African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) 15-16 November in the capital city of Yaounde, the organisers said. Full text...

Kribi- Cameroon (PANA) -- The best way to promote oil research in Africa would be to develop south-south partnership, according to several participants at the just-ended international conference on geo-sciences in the Gulf of Guinea. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The Francophonie University Agency, AUF, run by the Paris-based International Francophonie Organisation, OIF, has opened a digital camp in Algiers, to assist Algerian researchers and students, OIF sources said here. Full text...

Lyon- France (PANA) – The president of the Microso-ft computer software manufacturer, Bill Gates is determined to enable 45 million Africans to gain access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) by 2010, Africa Director of the Microsoft American Group disclosed in the southeastern French city of Lyon. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) - – The first meeting on the global initiative against nuclear terrorism opened here Monday with many countries, including the US, which has declared war on terror represented. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- Mozambique now has more than 20 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), from just one in the 1990s, with some 600,000 people using the services in the country some 19 million. Full text...