The Kalashnikov assault rifle will remain the most widely-used weapon in conflict zones for at least the next 20 years because it is so poorly regulated, according to a new report by the Control Arms campaign released at the start of the UN world conference on small arms and light weapons in New York today (26 June).

Poor developing nations are to feed the voracious appetites of rich countries for biofuels instead of their own hungry masses, and suffer the devastation of their natural forests and biodiversity.

Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof and Nigeria's President Obasanjo are to sit on a panel set up to track aid promises made to Africa, Tony Blair is to announce. The UN secretary general will chair the panel, being set up a year after G8 pledges and a popular campaign pushed Africa up the international agenda. Backed by Bill Gates, the body will monitor issues such as debt and trade. Mr Blair will also warn against Africa slipping down the global priority list.

Telkom's current tariffs will be adjusted, resulting in an overall decrease of 2,5% in the price of its basket of products, the company has announced. There are cuts in long-distance (more than 50km) and international-call charges. The price for long-distance calls has been reduced by 10%, reports the Mail and Gaurdian.

reports that bridging the digital divide has long been at the top of every socio-economic development agenda, and more and more studies and reports are confirming that universal access to mobile communications is the most effective way to achieve it. “Making it happen in practice depends on facing the affordability challenge in its three dimensions: total cost of ownership of mobile communications, the cash barrier faced by users to get and stay connected, and the regulatory environment.”

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao denied his country was seeking to become a counterbalance to the United States by boosting ties with Africa as he kicked off a tour of the continent, reports AFP. He said his booming economy was in need of Africa's natural resources but hit back at accusations that Beijing was conducting a policy of aggressive economic neo-colonialism at the expense of human rights considerations.

The International Conference on the Cancellation of Illegitimate Debts was attended by 150 representatives from Southern and Northern social movements and civil society organizations from 15 countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The conference participants aimed to deepen their understanding of the extent and impact of illegitimate, odious and dictator debts on the poor peoples of Southern countries.

A sound and consultative leader is sought to work with the Chair and Trustees in implementing the agreed strategic framework. You will need to be a strategic and analytical thinker, an excellent communicator able to represent WOMANKIND at all levels, and an effective operational manager.

You are invited to participate in a study that explores how relief and development actors perceive threats to their physical safety and security, and what measures they perceive to be effective in mitigating these threats. The results from this study will be used to better understand threat perception and to assess the effectiveness of various security measures in addressing these threats.

An evaluation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative by the Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) released in April begs the question: What next for debt relief efforts? The evaluation builds on a 2003 evaluation of HIPC, but stops short of assessing the meaning of the new Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. The evaluation fails to offer any advice on how to speed up or broaden HIPC coverage.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has opposed the deployment of international troops in his country, saying Sudan would not be "re-colonised". The UN is considering sending peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region to supplement African Union troops. Conflict in Darfur between rebels and pro-government forces has killed about 300,000 people in three years.

"Don’t care where you come from, As long as you’re a black man, you’re an African. Don’t mind your nationality, you have got the identity, of an African," - Peter Tosh. According to Jarka Halkova "before 1945 most Czechoslovak citizens had never even met a black person. But ever since the first black soldier entered the country with General Patton's Third Army in April 1945, people have gradually got used to Africans and Afro-Americans."

For phone manufacturers and service providers, some of the globe's poorest people have turned out to be one of their most profitable demographic groups, while for international development agencies, the proliferation of mobile handsets is one key means to bridge the ever-increasing technological divide between rich and poor.

Millions of poor urban people in Africa face a growing crisis over their living conditions unless rich and developing nations take urgent steps to tackle the problem, the charity ActionAid has warned. Over the last 50 years the global population living in slums has risen from 35 milliion to over 900 million. Nearly two in three urban people in developing countries lack access to a sanitary latrine. And, as illegal or unrecognised residents, they have no property rights to the land where they live.

Keeping a promise made at the United Nations six years ago to dramatically improve the lives of at least 100 million poor city dwellers by the year 2020 will be a major focus of the World Urban Forum from June 19 to 23. A large number of people, particularly in Africa, still live in informal settlements and slums because municipal governments fail to provide adequate housing and basic services.

Finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations on Saturday warned fast-growing economies against tempting poor countries into new debt traps and told them to coordinate with other lenders. China and Brazil have been singled out in the past as prime examples of countries that are handing out loans to some of the world's poorest countries, even as rich countries are cancelling debt they were owed.

"There is a tendency by those who write books and essays for leading journals to downplay the seriousness of today's racial oppression in South Africa," writes Mandisa Majuva in an article posted on "This is achieved through silence around issues of race (or by portraying whites as being the new victims of racism meted out by blacks in the new South Africa) or by choosing to explain reality in terms of economics only."

Almost 30 years have passed since the Soweto uprising on 16 June 1976, that defining day in South Africa's history when thousands of black students rebelled against apartheid. To commemorate the anniversary, pupils at Phefeni Secondary School in Soweto, South Africa and Hesketh Fletcher CofE High School in Wigan, UK shared the school day via a LIVE laptop link-up.

The mission of the Funders Network on Trade and Globalization is to support foundations and other members of the funding community in their efforts to promote global relations, policies and institutions that foster environmentally sustainable, human-centered and just economic development in the US and around the world.

"For more than sixty years, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank together with their partner regional development banks and export credit agencies, have used international finance capital to exercise control and restructure the societies of the South to serve the interests of global private corporations and the economic and geo-political agenda of the few powerful nations that control these institutions."