pimg src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/election_violence_map.jpg"/Traditionally, the greatest power that governments have held over their people has been information. The promise that connectivity brings to Africa is that people are now using that abundance of information for oversight of government and more interaction with administrations. To say that the propagation of internet and mobile connectivity in Africa has been disruptive is an understatement. /p pA number of web and mobile applications are undermining the efforts of dictators and totalitarian governments, allowing them to be more readily be held accountable for their actions. In this post we profile some of them./p p align="right"emSponsor/embr /a href='http://d.openx.org/ck.php?n=12142amp;cb=12142' target='_blank'img src='http://d.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=861amp;cb=12142amp;n=12142' border='0' alt='' align="right" //a/p h2Democratizing Information Through Technology/h2 pWhen the Ethiopian government instituted an SMS filtering service to censor mobile communication, the developers behind a href="http://www.feedelix.com/"Feedelix/a responded swiftly. They created their product Feedlix, a java-based client that supports Amharic, Chinese and Hindi characters. The application then uses GPRS, through internet protocols, to mimic SMS and bypass the censoring filter put in place by the government./p pa href="http://www.sokwanele.com/"Sokwanele/a is a civic action support group campaigning for freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe. Their website includes an 'election violence map' that provides detailed information related to localized occurrences of violence related to the election. During the most recent crisis in Zimbabwe, Sokwanele was used to a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/archives/131"get information out of the country/a when the government began restricting communication./p pimg src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/violence_map2.jpg" //p pa href="http://www.mzalendo.com/"Mzalendo/a is an aggregation platform for tracking the actions, activities and communication of Kenya's Parliament. For people who want to make sure their elected officials are staying on task, it's invaluable./p pWhen Moroccan blogger Mohamed Erraj was jailed for disparaging the government in his online magazine, a href="http://www.hespress.com/"Hespress/a, it was through the efforts of other bloggers (like the writers at a href="http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/09/08/morocco-the-post-that-led-mohammah-erraji-to-jail/"GlobalVoicesOnline/a) and people using applications like Twitter that his story made international news. The added pressure of having the whole world paying attention is perhaps what convinced the Moroccan government to let him free where traditionally his actions could have resulted in much harsher punishment./p h2Rethinking Africa/h2 pIn conclusion, Africa is producing some very unique and innovative technologies. There's more to the continent than the things you see on TV - something people, especially in the tech industry, seem to forget. Where most other markets in the world are incredibly saturated, Africa offers the opportunity to start afresh: new ideas and a billion new people to use them. /p pIt's a big place; nearly one billion people and a land mass where the sum is greater than that of China and the United States combined. For social entrepreneurs and investors, the innovation occurring here is a huge sign of progress that could potentially change the continent's world standing forever. The most exciting aspect for me, however, is the decreased reliance on developmental aid and foreign groups to provide these solutions. The number of African developers who are beginning to create applications that offer solutions for their own communities is increasing and that, more than anything else, will shape the future of Africa./p blockquotep"If Africa is surprising, then you're not paying enough attention." a href="http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog"Ethan Zuckerman/a at PICNIC08/p/blockquote pYou can read more articles by a href="http://twitter.com/appfrica"Jon Gosier/a at a href="http://appfrica.net/blog/archives"Appfrica.net/a./p pstrongSee also:/strong a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_in_africa_part_1.php"Social Media in Africa, Part 1/abr / and a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_in_africa_part_2_mobile.php"Social Media in Africa, Part 2: Mobile Innovations/a/p stronga href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/africa_democracy_social_media.php#comments-open"Discuss/a/strong pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/7-nnDL6r1iZQv5sxke2et3gjH9U/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/7-nnDL6r1iZQv5sxke2et3gjH9U/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=G4HN3zlE"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=G4HN3zlE" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=OqXkJLtS"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=3JfGv7aL"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=3JfGv7aL" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=DKKdrX9j"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=DKKdrX9j" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?a=1TNoSlFi"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/readwriteweb?i=1TNoSlFi" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~4/1c02D6hvKaE" height="1" width="1"/

Shares in London and Europe gained sharply after the UK government announced an injection of £37bn into Britain's biggest high street banks

Unprecedented investment in RBS, Lloyds TSB and HBOS will see crackdown on bonuses and dividends

Britain's biggest banks revealed plans to raise up to £43.5bn from shareholders and the government on Monday in an unprecedented attempt to save the UK's financial system from collapse. Fred Goodwin became the most high profile casualty of the crisis in the UK as he agreed to step down as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to raise £20bn of new money - including £5bn directly from government.

Most Asian stock markets recovered Monday after last week's historic sell-off as governments in Europe and beyond intensified efforts to stabilize the world's troubled financial system.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's government on Monday said it planned to invest up to 37 billion pounds (47 billion euros, 64 billion dollars) in ailing British banks Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB.

The world's governments will fail to meet their agreed target of curbing biodiversity loss by 2010, conservationists tell the BBC.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea may reward North Korea for reaching a compromise to save a crumbling nuclear disarmament deal by sending a delayed shipment of steel aid to its destitute neighbor, a government official indicated on Monday. pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/a9WFx2GkhhzCyIdkYYYIhPJwo4A/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/a9WFx2GkhhzCyIdkYYYIhPJwo4A/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=CbFO2nAV"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=iiMfT4WR"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?i=iiMfT4WR" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=RvYLkPCN"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?i=RvYLkPCN" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~4/QRlStqu9R0g" height="1" width="1"/

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs a new economic stimulus plan that pumps billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and budget relief for cash-strapped state and local governments, Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday. pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/-KcJX2n-HDOLNqFWZGcoTM_Moik/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/-KcJX2n-HDOLNqFWZGcoTM_Moik/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=gOx8P4VB"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=8J9lAK68"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?i=8J9lAK68" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.reuters.com/~f/reuters/topNews?a=2B7iXVUx"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/topNews?i=2B7iXVUx" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~4/kpmKCsk3H54" height="1" width="1"/

Is the United States Government preparing for great uprest? sa href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84"Preparing for martial law./a/s a href="http://www.metafilter.com/75116/Active-Army-unit-to-be-stationed-within-US"Bringing the troops home./a Are they expecting a large amount of people to die as a result? a href="http://www.metafilter.com/75116/Active-Army-unit-to-be-stationed-within-US"Why buy 500,000 airtight coffins and store them near Atlanta?/a br / a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=qhl=engeocode=q=33%C2%B033%2757.36%22N+83%C2%B029%276.26%22W+ie=UTF8ll=33.565929,-83.485065spn=0.004765,0.011362t=hz=17"Google Map of the area with the coffins./a br / Would the financial crisis be a valid trigger of a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_and_Homeland_Security_Presidential_Directive"Directive 51/a? br / Are the quot;coffinsquot; really just a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080723180325AA96uRt"burial vaults/a?br / a href="http://www.conspiracycafe.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19054"Should I invest in tinfoil or not/a?br / br / smallI found the amount of tinfoilhattery to be amusing and thought I'd share it with you all./small

LONDON (AFP) - The British government will on Monday announce plans to take controlling shares in HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), two of the banks worst affected by the global financial crisis, media reports said.

What would have happened if the 700 billion bailout money was divided amongst US citizen residents 21+ who made less then a certain set amount a year?

I mean think about it. The government cuts the people a check, they get a chunk of it back via taxes, then the rest is obviously going to be spent. Paying for college, paying off mortgages, paying off cars, buying this and that...etc. etc.

Would something like that not kick the economy up? Just something that popped into my head after reading how a company like AIG who was about to file bankruptcy yet gets bailed out and wastes over half a million dollars for an executive "retreat/meeting".

The world's governments will fail to meet their agreed target of curbing biodiversity loss by 2010, according to experts questioned by BBC News.

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Daring to utter the ‘L’ word: Obama on track to a landslide  —  WASHINGTON — Barring a dramatic change in the political landscape over the next three weeks, Democrats appear headed toward a decisive victory on Election Day that would give them broad power over the federal government.

Read full story for latest details. pa href="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/edition?a=pRhdx3"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/edition?i=pRhdx3" border="0"/img/a/p

Read full story for latest details. pa href="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/cnn_world?a=ke8Jb5"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/cnn_world?i=ke8Jb5" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=fANZM"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=fANZM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=gncCM"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=gncCM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=idsYm"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=idsYm" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=3VH3M"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=3VH3M" border="0"/img/a a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?a=ryXLm"img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_world?i=ryXLm" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~4/418980484" height="1" width="1"/

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Unprecedented 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves on offer to Western oil companies

Jon Cruddas: Free-market finance has failed. If the government truly realises, it will bring post offices to the rescue

Government moves to cut public drunkenness met with anger from licensees

Halifax Bank of Scotland’s (HBOS) £12 billion rescue deal with LloydsTSB has been thrown into uncertainty because of the bank’s request for an emergency capital injection from the government.

The Government forced banks to ask for more money from taxpayers last weekend by increasing the banks’ funding requirements for the second time in a week, it emerged last night.