News stories by Servaas van den Bosch, page 6

'At home we have a bar,' says grade seven learner David Bravo* (14). 'When my mother puts on the music I cannot concentrate on (my) schoolwork anymore. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I just sit there and watch the people.'

African hip-hop prides itself on a more positive portrayal of women, but traditional cultural attitudes towards women still dominate the industry, say Namibian female rappers.

Independent power producers argue that small hydroelectric plants have a key role to play in avoiding an energy shortfall in the Southern African region.

Posters in the arrivals hall of Copenhagen’s airport reminded delegates what is at stake here in the next two weeks. 'I am sorry,' a visibly aged Angela Merkel tells the world in 2020. 'We could have stopped catastrophic climate change... we didn’t.'

Tomorrow’s polluters are today’s emerging economies. To develop without retracing the polluting steps of the West, requires green technology, an expensive option for Africa.

As debate ratchets up ahead of working out a climate change deal, a Dutch study says emissions from deforestation and land degradation are far lower than has been assumed. Will this have an impact on a deal to protect forests in Africa?

The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation party (SWAPO) has won legislative elections in Namibia, with voters also giving incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba a second five-year term in office. New comers Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) will become the official opposition.

'It was like writing my first exam. I was nervous and didn’t want to make a mistake. I must have checked the ballot 10 times.'

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has again suspended the observer status of a human rights watchdog it accuses of lying about mistakes on the voter’s roll.

'We have been here since four in the morning, my baby is tired,' says Melisia Shinedhimha (24) outside the polling station in Okuruyangava, one of Windhoek’s poorest townships.