Zambia

National Airline

A state-run airline will be established in Zambia before the deadline of June 2014, said Yamfwa Mukanga, Minister of Transport, Communication, Work and Supply in late March. The deadline was made after holding consultations with a number of renowned airlines. The absence of a national airline has negatively affected the nation's development of tourism, nontraditional exports and other industries that directly or indirectly rely on tourism. Zambia has been struggling to reintroduce a national airline since the demise of its premier airline, Zambia Airways, collapsed in 1994.

 Niger

The construction work for the Cotonou- Niamey Railway, a section of the Cotonou- Niamey-Ouagadougou-Abidjan-Lome rail line, was officially launched on April 7 in Niamey, capital of Niger. A similar exercise is scheduled to take place on May 8, 2014, on Benin's Cotonou to speed up the railway construction. Up to 40 percent of the construction cost will come from strategic partners, 10 percent each from Niger and Benin, 20 percent from Nigerian private sector partners and 20 percent from Beninese private sector partners. The railway, expected to be completed in four years, will have a considerable positive economic impact on Niger and countries in the region as it will facilitate exports of agricultural products, livestock and mineral resources. 

Swaziland

Faster Internet

The African Union Commission (AUC), through the Infrastructure and Energy Department, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology of the Kingdom of Swaziland and Internet Society (ISOC), launched the Internet Exchange Point (IEP) in Swaziland on April 10, 2014. The IEP in Swaziland will contribute to faster and more secure exchange of intra-country Internet traffic. Through the African Internet Exchange System project, the AUC has so far extended capacity building support to facilitate the establishment of IEPs in 24 AU member states including Swaziland.

Kenya

After staging a successful World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa in 2007, Kenya has thrown its hat in the ring yet again and this time is bidding to stage the 2017 World Youth Championships in Nairobi. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirmed on April 15 it had received a letter of intent from Nairobi alongside two other cities, Buenos Aires of Argentina and Greensboro, in the United States. The IAAF Council will decide the host city during its next meeting in Monaco in November. After the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup, the IAAF World Championships are the third largest sporting event in the world.

Nigeria

Nigeria Violence

More than 70 people have been killed in a bomb blast at a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Abuja, capital of Nigeria. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan vows to end terrorism. The Chairperson of the AU Commission Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma was deeply shocked and appalled by the bomb attack. She reiterated AU's solidarity with Nigeria and support to the efforts aimed at preventing and combating terrorism.

China has approved a freight railway whose fees will be based on market demand, the first of its kind in the nation, said China's National Development and Reform Commission in April. The railway, named Zhunchi, is controlled by China's largest coal producer and trader Shenhua Group, with joint investment from the group and other local companies. It is still under construction and scheduled to start operation in the first half of this year. The line will stretch 180 km, spanning the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shanxi Province. With total investment of 13.46 billion yuan ($2.16 billion), it will have an annual transportation capacity of 200 million tons.

China

China will push forward reform in more county-level hospitals this year amid a broader scale overhaul of its healthcare system launched in 2009. Medical reform will be expanded from 311 county-level public hospitals to more than 1,000 this year, covering 50 percent of Chinese counties, said the guidelines jointly released by five government departments including the National Health and Family Planning Commission in April. Authorities will ensure the optimal distribution of medical resources, establish a reasonable subsidy mechanism, and regulate the price of drugs and medical services, according to the guidelines. The reform is to improve public hospitals' management and set up a payroll and human resources system that suits the medical sector.

China 

China 

Passengers flying with Air China will soon be able to access the Internet during their flight, the company said in April after a successful trial run. During the trial, Air China passengers on flight CA4116 from Beijing to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, and passengers on flight CA4109 from Chengdu to Beijing became the first in China to use their computers and personal electronic devices to surf the Internet during their flight. The Internet service started when the airplanes climbed to an altitude of more than 3,000 meters but was powered down during takeoff and landing to maintain safety.

China

A new app to help English-speakers learn Mandarin with fun and efficiency was launched at the London Book Fair held in April. A joint project between the Chinese publisher the Commercial Press and the British cartographic company Communicarta, Linguap Chinese will be available on the Apple iOS platform for free. The app can display pictures of different objects, and a voice will pronounce the Mandarin words corresponding to those objects when the user taps on a particular object on the screen. Its interactive tools also demonstrate on the screen how a particular character should be written in the correct order of its strokes, and provides examples of common phrase in which the words are typically used.