The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is launching a competition to support research on the changing balance between public and private sector funding of research, and its implications for developing country governments and research institutions. The competition is open to researchers throughout the developing world, and will award up to seven grants, with a maximum value of CA $80,000 each. Applications must be submitted by March 29, 2002, with final selection of grants to be completed by April 30, 2002.

English has always dominated the World Wide Web, but new studies show that language diversity is more and more of a trend online.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued its first call for funding proposals from countries hard hit by the epidemics. Members of the new Board of the Global Fund held their first meeting on Monday and finalised procedures for the disbursing of funds.

Pact’s Community REACH, in conjunction with US-AID, is calling for applications to facilitate the flow of funds to organisations involved in the fight against HIV/Aids.

Britain is concerned by the wanton destruction of forests worldwide. British High Commissioner to Kenya, Mr Edward Clay, said the consequences of the destruction was a "global issue". "We have an interest in the way other countries look at the environment. Its protection is very important," Mr Clay told Environment Minister Joseph Kamotho at Maji House, Nairobi.

The US have blocked an agreement to increase drastically development aid to poor countries struggling to meet the United Nations' target of halving world poverty by 2015, according to the Financial Times, London.

Three members of the Treatment Action Campaign, (TAC) have returned to South Africa from Brazil carrying generic drugs manufactured for use in an AIDS treatment program in Khayelitsha. At a press conference, TAC and MSF explained that the drugs carried from Brazil were the second shipment of Brazilian drugs and that as of today more than 50 people are already taking the Brazilian medicines in Khayelitsha.

The Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa (CAF) is looking to appoint a Co-ordinator for the Corporate Services Programme.

Aid agencies were poised to start substantial emergency supplies to the stricken Congolese town of Goma on Tuesday after a leading expert said Africa's deadliest volcanic eruption in 25 years appeared over.

Fresh concerns over the impact of coltan mining in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo were raised this week by a local pressure group following a marked decline in the livelihoods of communities close to the sites where the rare mineral is extracted.

After the international community overwhelmingly reaffirmed its commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR's Global Consultations process moves forward on an Agenda for Protection -- a series of activities which will serve as a guide to humanitarian organizations and governments in strengthening refugee protection.

Terence P. Stewart, Amy S. Dwyer
This unique handbook studies the important area of WTO trade remedy disputes. Since the WTO Agreement entered into force in 1995, over a third of all requests for consultations filed with the WTO have concerned a trade remedy dispute. The book summarizes over 40 decisions issued by WTO panels and the Appellate Body in trade remedy disputes during the first six years of the WTO Agreement. The issue—specific format of the book provides the legal researcher-whether practitioner, government official, or panelist—with a useful and concise guide to WTO precedent in trade remedy disputes. Transnational Publishers, 2001, 1-57105-195-3.

Gordon Brown's recent speeches on a "New Deal" for the global economy have been generally welcomed, especially for their suggestions that aid budgets should be increased. But some of his more detailed proposals on the World Bank and IMF are controversial.

Primary school children cannot form a political party, get elected to parliament and secure budgetary allocations for their education. The proportion of children in the northern part of the world is small and their parents can secure funding for education, combining their political voice with paying tax. In many developing countries, children constitute the majority of the population but obtain a vote only after becoming adults; hence they have to rely on their parents and their teachers. Few of their parents pay tax, many because they earn too little, and their vote seldom affects budgetary allocations because there often is simply too little to distribute. Their teachers habitually have to battle to get their rights recognized and their salaries paid so that they could teach. Children thus need to have their right to education fully recognized, and this right necessarily goes beyond national and regional borders.

More than 17 million people have received aid over the last five years, according to an Ethiopian government aid agency. The Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF) says it has set up over 3,000 projects countrywide.

The government's anti-corruption commission has filed charges against 54 current and former officials of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), as well as a number of businessmen, according to the private 'Reporter' newspaper.

The top United Nations environmental official is calling for a speedy ratification of the Kyoto climate protocol before September.

The move to liberalise African banking is gaining momentum. Do African banks have reasons to fear the consequences of liberalisation or does it give them opportunities to restructure and compete with international banks in African-wide or regional markets?

InterWorld Radio is a source of daily news bulletins and broadcast quality features for radio stations and online listeners. We commission local journalists all over the world to file reports on the critical global issues of our time - economics, human rights, environment, international trade, science and technology.