The impact of unfavourable weather on crops in recent weeks has led the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to cut its global wheat production forecast for 2010 to 651 million tonnes, from 676 million tonnes reported in June. However, despite production problems in some leading exporting countries, the world wheat market remains far more balanced than at the time of the world food crisis in 2007/08 and fears of a new global food crisis are not justified at this point, FAO said.

Some inmates at Campsfield House immigration removal centre in Oxfordshire are continuing to refuse meals. Detainees said the demonstration, which began on Monday, was due to people being detained for long periods. About 80 detainees decided not to take food on Tuesday evening, the UK Border Agency said.

In this week's roundup of merging powers news, the new Silk Road built by China connects Asia to Latin America, more SA businesses want a piece of BRIC, Ecobank Ghana signs pact with Bank Of China, and Durban to host Africa diaspora conference.

Of the 1,200 children of migrant workers slated for deportation in 2009, the Israeli Cabinet on 1 August granted legal status to 800 and said 400 would be deported with their families to their parents’ country of origin within 21 days. To win legal status, the children had to have enrolled in the Israeli school system, resided in Israel at least five years, entered Israel before the age of 13 or be born there, and speak fluent Hebrew.

For two hours Osman Rasul perched on railings surrounding the seventh floor balcony of a Nottingham tower block. He blanked out police officers attempting to talk him down and at 7pm last Sunday, placing his hand on his heart, he looked up to the sky and leapt. The 27-year-old Iraqi Kurd, classified by the local refugee centre as a "destitute asylum-seeker" and in a fraying relationship with the mother of his two children, had lost the legal aid he needed to pursue his application to remain in the UK. A trip south to confront Home Office immigration officers in Croydon saw him being turned away and told to find a solicitor.

The August issue of IDRC's Lasting Impacts is entitled "Appropriate Technology". One of the topics discussed in this issue is the development of simple “mini” dehulling machines for use by small local enterprises. The technology was designed in the 1970s by the Prairie Research Laboratory of Canada’s National Research Council, and since modified and adapted by researchers in several African countries.

The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including many unaccompanied children , Amnesty International has said in a new report. Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions, documents their treatment, many of whom are held in poor conditions in borderguard stations and immigration detention centres with no or limited access to legal, social and medical aid.

Four years after the moratorium on Terminator technology was reaffirmed by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), proposals to develop and commercialize ‘genetic-use restriction technologies’ (GURTs) are back on the agenda for policymakers and the biotechnology industry. Terminator is a threat to food sovereignty and agrobiodiversity: ending the moratorium on Terminator will increase control of seed by transnational corporations (TNCs) and restrictions on farmers’ rights to save and plant harvested seed. Additionally, pollen from genetically-modified (GM) crops with Terminator will contaminate non-GM and organic crops, and native plant species.

African leaders kicked off debate on role of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in ensuring the economic success of the continent. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the NEPAD must begin to play the role of an African watchdog, with a responsibility of monitoring the release of billions of dollars pledged for the continent's economic, social and environmental de v elopment over the years.

In this week's roundup of emerging powers news, the World Bank says foreign investors are crowding out African producers, Singapore leads ASEAN investment into Africa, AU wants to replace Western partners with China, China and Rio Tinto complete Guinea mining deal, and China invests heavily in Brazil, elsewhere in pursuit of political heft.

MS Action Aid Denmark
Volunteer opportunity
Application deadline: August 30 2010

In this week's emerging powers in Africa round-up, a big shift in trade relations is taking shape across Africa, China's Liu Zhenmin meets AU Chairman Ping, India targets more links in Africa’s food supply chain, World Cup lends South Africa confidence to unite continent, and NGOs slam EU-Brazil plans to develop biofuels in Africa.

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has been in Kinshasa as part of a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo to draw attention to the plight of Congo's displaced people and the need to ensure humanitarian access to them. Guterres who travelled to Equateur province in western DRC, said that his agency was getting ready to re-establish a presence in the region to help the internally displaced as well as prepare for the return of refugees.

A New England Journal of Medicine study has revealed that early initiation of antiretroviral treatment could reduce death rates and the Tuberculosis incidence.

Amnesty International is calling on the Gambian government to end its widespread use of arbitrary detentions and torture as activists worldwide stage protests against the authorities' appalling human rights record on 22 July, the country's national holiday known as "Freedom Day".

When Omar, an 18 year-old Moroccan college student, fell in love with his classmate Salma, he felt nervous about broaching the use of condoms with her. It was his first time having sexual relations and he feared that she might question his fidelity. “I was afraid she would be angry if I suggested we use a condom,” he said. “I was afraid of losing her – so afraid that I thought of giving up the whole idea of using a condom.”

The Dutch government should immediately halt all plans to return Somalis to war-torn Somalia, Human Rights Watch has said. The Dutch authorities have announced their intention to deport, between now and October 2010, at least eight Somalis whose claims for asylum have been rejected. The first deportation could take place as early as July 24. The plan is contrary to UN refugee guidelines, which advise against all deportations to south-central Somalia.

On Monday, August 30th, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University will welcome as the 22nd cohort of the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP). The intensive HRAP curriculum is defined by academic coursework, skills-building workshops and networking opportunities with the human rights communities in New York and Washington, DC. By the time the advocates complete the program in mid-December, they will have acquired the knowledge, skills and connections necessary to further develop themselves as human rights professionals and their organizations back home.

Across the world, but especially in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, young people are taking action to protect themselves from HIV, says a new study by UNAIDS. "Young people have shown that they can be change agents in the prevention revolution," the agency said in a supplement to the OUTLOOK Report 2010, released ahead of the International AIDS Conference starting in Vienna, Austria, on 18 July.

It does not rain, but it pours for the GALZ duo, who are facing charges of allegedly possessing pornographic material as they are likely to stand trial on a second charge of undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe. In a letter given to representing lawyers by state prosecutor Memory Mukapa the two Ellen Chademana and Ignatious Muhambi are being accused of contravening Section 33(2) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23(undermining authority of or insulting President) ARW Section 277(4) &(5) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.