"At present it consists of eight foreign ministers and is chaired by Zimbabwe. "You are never going to see action against a country like Zimbabwe when its foreign minister is sitting at the top of the table. Malaysia is also on the action group and until the membership rotates it will not be effective," he said. Reporters Sans Frontiÿres, the Paris-based lobby group for media freedom, said 13 Commonwealth countries were currently in breach of fundamental principles of free-speech. "Since the last conference in Edinburgh," said its representative in Durban, Vincent Brossel, "21 journalists have been killed in Commonwealth countries and hundreds have been arrested or tortured." But he welcomed the extension of the Commonwealth ministerial action group's remit. "At least the pressure groups will have something to work on." Don McKinnon, the former New Zealand foreign minister chosen as the new Commonwealth secretary-general by a secret consensual vote, has been described as ''the politicians' choice'', and confirmed democracy campaigners' fears with his first remarks "We must advance the democratic agen-da," he said. "But we come from different parts of the world and maybe we have different values. The Commonwealth ministerial action group is not there to be a big stick. Consensus must remain a guiding principle." One human rights campaigner said, on condition of anomymity: "We despair.

This is a gentlemen's club obsessed with the idea of consensus, and therefore produces proposals which are just too wide.". VIVENDI, the French water, communications and football giant, has delivered another snub to Vodafone's European ambitions by rejecting a pounds 7bn bid to acquire its telecoms interests. Chris Gent, chief executive of the mobile phone group, recently approached Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier with an offer to buy its 44 per cent stake in Cegetel, the French fixed-line and mobile operator. However Vivendi, whose interests stretch from British railways to the Paris St Germain football cub, has decided to retain its telecoms businesses and turned down Vodafone's approach.The rejection has come as a severe blow to Vodafone, forcing it to go- ahead with an expected pounds 65bn bid for Mannesmann, the German telecoms and engineering combine. An offer could come as early as this week.Vodafone's European strategy was thrown into disarray last month when Mannesmann announced a pounds 19.8bn agreed bid for Orange, Britain's third largest mobile phone operator. Vodafone had hoped to counter Mannesmann's move by acquiring Vivendi's controlling stake in Cegetel.Analysts believe it has been out-manoeuvred by Mannesmann, which already has a stronger presence than Vodafone in France, Italy and Germany and now threatens Vodafone's leading position in the UK. Mannesmann's acquisition of Orange is being presented as a fait accompli, after it secured the support of Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong investment group that owns 45 per cent of the mobile phone operator.Now Vivendi's snub has forced Vodafone to embark on the high-risk strategy of a - potentially hostile - bid for Mannesmann. Although Mannesmann chairman Klaus Esser is unlikely to be amenable, Vodafone is still hoping to persuade him to accept an agreed bid.

A hostile takeover would force Vodafone to pay a second premium on top of the one that Mannesmann will have to shell out to acquire Orange.There is speculation that Vodafone will recruit France Telecom or DoCoMo of Japan to acquire Orange in the event of a successful bid for Mannesmann. If Vodafone succeeds, it would mark the world's largest ever unsolicited bid and also the first time that a German company has succumbed to a hostile foreign takeover. Under German takeover law, Vodafone would have to secure the approval of 75 per cent of Mannesmann shares in order to exercise control over the company.Vodafone would only say on Friday that it was exploring ways of developing its "existing long-standing relationship" with Mannesmann.Vivendi's decision to retain its telecoms interests has dealt a blow to a number of parties that had been eyeing its Cegetel stake as a means of expanding in Europe. Both British Telecom and Mannesmann, which own 26 per cent and 15 per cent of Cegetel respectively, are also thought to have made overtures to Vivendi. Cegetel owns France's second largest mobile phone network, SFR.. CHANNELFLY.COM, which broadcasts rock concerts over the internet from a chain of alternative music venues, is to float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) later this month, writes Jason Nisse.

The business, run by Midlands entrepreneur Adam Driscoll, started life as a single venue, the Barfly, which is run from the back room of a north London pub. The Barfly is legendary as a venue where up-and-coming bands perform. It has hosted gigs from the likes of Oasis, Catatonia and Skunk Anansie before they became famous.Channelfly has signed up 16 other venues. It will film and record concerts, broadcasting them over the internet and via a radio show that goes out over 43 student radio stations.The company will charge people for viewing its webcasts but will also own the rights to each concert. If it unearths another Oasis, the footage will be worth millions.The company is raising pounds 2.5m from investors. Its sponsors, SG Securities, expects it to have a market value of at least pounds 12m.Mr Driscoll will be chief executive and James Wyllie, former manager of the Eurythmics, will be chairman..