It is the biggest and most powerful drug company on the planet. Its famous blue diamond-shaped Viagra pills have made it a fortune beyond the dreams of small nation states and the butt of smutty jokes worldwide. But Pfizer's global reach has not turned the world's third largest business into a benevolent giant, according to its critics. Quite the contrary. The vast multinational stands accused of blocking reforms to global drug pricing that would help lift impoverished countries out of disease and spur their development.

Five senior Kenyan government officials appeared in court on Thursday to be charged with corruption for allegedly making fraudulent bank deposits resulting in the loss of more than $14-million of public funds. President Mwai Kibaki, whose opposition coalition swept to power in December after 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi, has vowed to wipe out the corruption blamed for a steep decline in one of Africa's most promising economies.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said in Maputo on Monday that the state needs the cooperation of the private sector for more schools and better quality education. Speaking during the inauguration of the new premises of one of the country's private universities, the Higher University and Polytechnic Institute (ISPU), Chissano stressed, however, that the state would not simply allow private schools to work as they saw fit.

As the economic burden of HIV/Aids increases in sub-Saharan Africa, allocation of the burden among levels and sectors of society is changing. The private sector has more scope to avoid the economic burden of Aids than governments, households, or nongovernmental organisations, and the burden is being systematically shifted away from the private sector.

Treatment success and case detection rates for tuberculosis (TB) have improved appreciably in Africa since 1993 when the disease was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO), but the current indicators in the region still fall short of global targets, a WHO official has said in Harare, Zimbabwe.

"The fight against AIDS will need more resources from the US, with faster delivery, than what the President is proposing," says Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "We will need fast action by Republican and Democratic leaders in the US Congress to deliver on an appropriate package for 2003 and 2004. It's very disappointing the President (George W. Bush) is not calling for a more rapid increase in new funding. Plus, it's troubling that the President gives such short shrift to the Global Fund, which is fast running out of resources."

This document reviews recent empirical evidence on the impact of financial globalisation for developing countries. The paper attempts to address three issues. Does financial globalisation promote economic growth in developing economies? What is its effect on macroeconomic volatility in these countries? What factors can help to harness the benefits of financial globalisation.

University of Chicago philosophy professor Iris Marion Young is in Johannesburg and has agreed to give an informal presentation to civil society activists and intellectuals interested in global justice. She will be sharing ideas with Jubilee South Africa and anyone else interested in the question of how we justify our demands for the global redistribution of wealth, and what modus operandi might help achieve our goals.

Tension is intensifying in the education sector in the context of on-going negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) aimed to achieve widespread trade liberalization, including trade in education services. These negotiations are progressing under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The November 2001 Doha Development Agenda was launched by WTO members to achieve, among other things, further liberalization. This includes the export education industry, with agreement slated to be reached by 2005. Pursuing free trade in the education sector requires dealing with education according to trade law principles. This conflicts with the protection of the right to education in international human rights law.

Foreign aid was harmful to Africa and non-governmental organisations were "professional beggars", the SA National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) conference was told on Tuesday. Professor Shadrack Ghutto of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand said the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) attached to foreign aid, and other forms of "conditional aid" to Africa had several harmful consequences. Trade and investment deals had been "secrets known only to leaders", and this culture of secrecy had widened the gap between governments and their peoples.

A new Global Witness report exposes the Liberian government’s violent destabilisation of West Africa, through its support of mercenaries in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone and through its regular import of weapons in violation of UN sanctions. The report, titled, ‘The Usual Suspects: Liberia’s Weapons and Mercenaries in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone’, outlines the threat posed by Liberia to international peace and security.

Launched in January 2003, the Global Accountability Report, 'Power without Accountability? is the first report to compare the accountability of inter-governmental organisations, transnational corporations and international non-governmental organisations. Eighteen of the world's most powerful organisations have been assessed and the report provides scores for their performance in two key aspects of accountability: member control of governance structures and degree of online access to information. The results show clear accountability failings across several sectors.

At least three quarters of the world's power must come from clean sources by the end of this century to sufficiently limit global warming, according to estimates released in this week's Science. The study shows that even the most conservative estimates of future warming point to a need for tremendous amounts of clean power development.

A new study from Canadian researchers examines the World Bank's influence in establishing mining codes in Southern countries. It finds that the Bank's assessment of what was needed to attract foreign investment did not consider broader development objectives.

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), in partnership with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF) is pleased to announce the 2003-4 program for research and training on Understanding Exclusion, Creating Value: African Youth in a Global Age. Funding for the program is provided by the Education for Democracy and Development Initiative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, CODESRIA, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), and the NRF.

The State Street Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Boston-based financial services company State Street Corporation, has announced 269 grants totaling more than $3.2 million through its Global Philanthropy Program during the fourth quarter of 2002. The grants bring the foundation's total giving in 2002 to $10.4 million.

The Department of Social Development and the Public Service Monitor (PSAM) have expressed delight over the arrest by the Joint Anti-Corruption Unit of 19 people in Umtata, East London and Port Elizabeth. The department this morning called for "stiff" sentences for officials or former officials convicted of fraud and corruption.

Human rights groups around the world now have access to a forum for the exchange of practical information in many languages to support their social justice work. The Digital Freedom Network, Forefront and the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University have partnered to coordinate Human Rights Connection (HRC) at http://www.hrconnection.org, a web-based community resource centre that provides human rights activists with a place to read and post "how to" information, articles and case studies on a wide range of issues, such as working with the media, planning an advocacy campaign, establishing an organisation, and using technology.

The Commission on Human Rights began on March 24 its annual discussion of racism and racial discrimination, hearing a number of requests from national delegations for more vigorous efforts to implement the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Durban World Conference against Racism and Racial Discrimination.

The Global Civil Society Portfolio of the Ford Foundation has set aside $US1 million to promote civic engagement in global governance and to encourage global civil society actors to address the democracy deficits apparent within global governance. With this call for proposals the Ford Foundation is seeking civil society organisations that have a strategic plan to strengthen or promote accountability mechanisms between global governors and global citizens.