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While Greece descends into riotous and confusing chaos as it battles to get out of the debt hole into which it has dug itself,  the European Union looks as if it is heading for economic disaster and threatening the wellbeing of most of the rest of the world. If it is all Greek to you, then maybe you are closer to the truth than you might think.

Washington’s decision to send 100 military advisers to Uganda to assist in the government’s fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has defence and intelligence analysts keenly interested to see if this may be part of a broader trend to further increase the US military’s presence in the continent...possibly in support of its quest to access African mineral and energy resources.

The South African cricket leadership have already copped some serious criticism for their management decisions regarding the rest and recuperations of certain players, resulting in rustiness in the lead-up to the decisive third one-day international against Australia at Kingsmead in Durban. But ultimately, it seems as if some of their decisions have been vindicated, as the Proteas struck back with an emphatic 80-run win against Australia at St. George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.

The field of law has, in many ways, been the poor relation in the world-wide effort to deliver a cleaner, healthier and ultimately fairer world, according to the Climate Justice Programme. The position seems set to become even worse at the upcoming UN climate conference in Durban.

The security space is constantly evolving. As fast as technology is changing, cyber criminals with malicious intent are never far behind, adapting their methods to take advantage of new ways of attack. Mobile threats should now be on everyone's radar, writes Fred Mitchell.

Gatvol, that expressive Afrikaans word meaning “we’ve had it up to here”, says it all – people around the globe are gatvol of exorbitantly rising food-, fuel and other prices; corrupt leaders; an ever-widening wealth gap; cruel dictators; no jobs; oppression and human rights abuses; governments in bed with corrupt big business; wars; environmental destruction; poverty and hunger; failed political and economic systems; and more. You name it and it’s probably on the list.

Only eight countries in Africa – South Africa, Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Nigeria and Niger – have access to information laws. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has drafted a model access-to-information law for member states of the African Union. Vrinda Choraria encourages public comments on the draft before the deadline on 31 October.

The world’s only binding climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, will expire soon, but will the most important means to compel industrialised nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions soon become a mere footnote in history, as Der Spiegel wrote in an article last week? Will the gloves come off at COP17 starting at the end of November in Durban?

The dramatic events in Libya the last week understandably overshadowed another quite significant development on the African continent, with the announcement  earlier in October by US President Barack Obama of the deployment of around 100 “combat-equipped” US troops, mostly Special Operations Forces, to central Africa  to help the Ugandan army track down rebel leader Joseph Kony and his cultish Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Starting with the so-called Arab Spring which kicked off some 10 months ago in Tunisia before spreading across the North of Africa, through to the present Occupy Wall Street, which morphed into an Occupy the World trend (because it is not quite as formal as a movement), some of the most momentous events at the start of the second decade of the 21^st century have had a surprising feel of spontaneity about them. What the heck is happening?

New Zealand have finally buried their World Cup-final curse and  silenced the detractors who  claimed they might choke when the Webb Ellis Trophy was within their grasp. In an epic final on Sunday they displayed character and resolve in the face of a massive onslaught by Les Bleus and won 8-7 – the first time in 24 years that the All Blacks have won the Webb Ellis Trophy. And the sigh of relief in the Land of the Long White Cloud was tangible.

Developments surrounding the ongoing disciplinary hearing of Julius Malema, president of the ANC’s youth league (ANCYL), and the imminent release of the Donen Commission’s report on the Oilgate affair, have again fuelled speculation whether President Jacob Zuma is fighting for political survival. They also highlight a serious information void between government and the media, causing a distorted picture not always fully aligned to the truth. This is the first of our two-part analysis.

With Moammar Gaddafi murdered and out of the way the final factor that to some extent still united the rebel forces has disappeared and that country seems on the brink of a protracted period of chaos and tragedy of epic proportion that so often follow in the wake of Western intervention. The South African government and the African Union are probably amongst the few that can lay claim to some moral high ground in this whole sorry affair.