Leeds is host to thousands of African people who have been forced to flee war, persecution and poverty in their mother continent and come to Britain in search of refuge and a better life. Yet most are living in day to day destitution, fear of arbitrary detention and brutal deportations.

Tropical forests' ability to store carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change makes them more valuable than alternative uses like pasture or lumber, and rich countries ought to pay tropical countries to preserve their forests, the World Bank says. However, some environmentalists caution that while reducing deforestation is vital, a so-called carbon trading system is the wrong approach and too complicated to implement.

The UNITWIN directory, now in its fifth edition, is now available online. It is an important networking tool for one of UNESCO’s major education networks. UNITWIN is the abbreviation for the UNIVERSITY TWINNING and networking scheme.

Following historical general elections in Sweden in the last week of September that brought the centre-right "Alliance for Sweden" to power, the new Prime Minister, Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, announced his Cabinet on Friday, October 6, a day after he was elected by Parliament.

The Centre for Democracy & Development, a West African NGO with headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria is searching for a coordinator for its international office based in London. Job title: Coordinator (International Office) P/T (3 days a week) Scale and Salary: Negotiable

The model of trade liberalisation, deregulation of capital and erosion of labour standards has not translated into an improved standard of living for the people nor has it eliminated poverty, rather it has led to the weakening of public policies, particularly social policies. We think that these negotiations are framed in and deepen the same model.

This column has raised the issue of corporal punishment in schools previously. It has queried the lack of implementation of the existing policy, and the absence of additional policies to protect children in schools against caning and other forms of beatings. It has presented avenues for teachers to learn about alternatives to corporal punishment in schools.

Swaziland's decade-long economic malaise took a sharp downward turn with the central bank's disclosure this week that growth had slowed to its lowest level in 40 years. The Central Bank of Swaziland's governor, Martin Dlamini, said in a candid admission, "This year's unimpressive economic growth implies a deterioration of the standard of living as measured by per capita income," in the bank's annual report to the government, covering the period March 2005 to February 2006.

In a poor section of Bamako, Melé (Aïssa Maïga), a beautiful bar singer, and her husband Chaka (Tiécoura Traoré), who is out of work, are having marriage difficulties. In the courtyard of the house they share with a number of families (in reality, the director's late father's house), a court has been set up. On trial are the international financial institutions, the World Bank and the IMF, who are facing proceedings brought against them by African civil society for their disastrous policies on Africa, which have brought most African countries into extreme financial and economic penury. African countries spend almost £10 billion annually on debt service, at the expense of public social services such as health and education.

Madonna said Tuesday (17 October) she had acted according to the law in taking custody of a 1-year-old Malawian boy, responding for the first time to the fierce debate about the legality and morality of the planned adoption. The pop star's statement came after she was united with David Banda at her London mansion.

The 6th edition of the World Social Forum will bring together activists, social movements, networks, coalitions and other progressive forces from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and all corners of the African continent. They will converge in Nairobi, Kenya, for five days of cultural resistance and celebration; panels, workshops, symposia, processions, film nights and much, much more; beginning on the 20th of January and wrapping up on the 25th of January 2007.

The World Social Forum organizing depends on the goodwill of activists and individuals committed to bringing into existence, the other world that we aspire to build. We therefore call upon all individuals wishing to offer their skills and competencies in support of the WSF2007 to fill in the questionnaire on our website and await our feedback. For instance, you could volunteer in various capacities (translation, technical, electrical, architecture, mobilization, hospitality, medical, ushering, construction etc), whether on-site (in Nairobi) or remotely. Specific areas of need are very varied:- during, before, and even after Nairobi event.

"Nine months ago, I became Africa’s first elected woman president. That moment was seen, around the world, as one of hope and possibility for Liberia. Our people, in a free and fair election, gave my government the greatest opportunity that can come to any leader: the chance to rebuild a nation on the ruins of war."

Cellular providers stand to make a better profit margin from community service telephones (CSTs) than they do from other service offerings, says Nashua Mobile MD Mark Taylor. The reason CSTs offer larger profit margins per minute is because of the disparate interconnect regime between the cellular operations and Telkom, he said. Unlike the individually-held SIM card where the user may make one or two calls per day, CSTs are used by a number of people each day, he notes.

In his first press conference as Secretary-General-designate of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon pledged his commitment to deal with the “daunting challenges” facing the world, from the recent nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region. Shortly after the 192 members of the General Assembly appointed Mr. Ban to succeed Kofi Annan when he steps down on 31 December, he also outlined to reporters “three main areas” that he will focus on as the eighth Secretary-General of the UN, adding his hopes for a “constructive dialogue” with the media in the years ahead. “There are daunting challenges to peace, development and human rights,” he said.

Highlighting the important role of cartoons in forming public opinion, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on cartoonists to help society “promote peace and understanding,” while warning that their work can also encourage intolerance as shown by the deadly furore earlier this year over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

New research by the Control Arms Campaign: Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) has found that Bullets manufactured in Greece, China, Russia and the USA have been found in the hands of rebel groups in the Ituri District of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is under a UN arms embargo.

In this second podcast in our series on trade justice, Pambazuka News spoke to environmental activist Marcelo Calazans in Brazil on the day a Quilombola community reclaimed land from a destructive monoculture eucalyptus plantation. The Quilombolas are the descendants of slaves brought by the Portuguese from Angola and Congo. For more information on monoculture eucalyptus and Quilombolas check the Alert Against the Green Desert Movement website

As the November 2006 Congressional elections approach, observers predict that the balance of power between the political parties may hinge on foreign policy issues, such as the war in Iraq. However, while African issues have not yet figured prominently in campaign debates, the continent’s challenges highlight global concerns, which the U.S. cannot afford to ignore.

The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Africa/Asia/Latin America scholarly collaborative initiative encompassing joint research, training, publishing and dissemination activities by researchers drawn from across the global South, and to call for applications for participation in the South-South comparative research seminars they are organising within the framework of the initiative.