The global economy and the way of life it has created are based on the exploitation of fossil fuels – coal, oil and, more recently, natural gas – and fossil fuels will be the engine of the collapse of that economy. Without fundamental change, it has no future.

Perfect for courses on social movements since the sixties, on DIY culture, queer theory, or on anti-globalization, ‘From ACT UP to the WTO’ is a unique collection of essays from activists in a wide range of organizations that charts the profound influence of ACT UP on the style and substance of activism in the eighties and nineties and beyond. It places such events as ‘the battle for Seattle’ in important historical context – it didn’t start there! – and reveals numerous and creative forms of resistance forging ahead in many communities despite the backlash following September 11.

Relative calm has returned to western Liberia and some people who had crossed over to neighbouring Sierra Leone are gradually returning to their villages, humanitarian sources in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, said last Friday.

The economic value of wild ecosystems far outweighs the value of converting these areas to cropland, housing or other human uses. A study in the latest issue of the journal "Science" says habitat destruction costs the world the equivalent of about $250 billion each year.

Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala Msimang sent a letter this week to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria requesting that its R720-million grant to KwaZulu-Natal be channelled through the SA National AIDS Council to be disbursed throughout the country.

The national health department says South Africans must be proud and celebrate that the country will be getting money from the Global Fund to fight AIDS. Health department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said out of more than 100 countries that had applied for grants, South Africa was among the 31 countries that were in discussion with the Fund to work out details of allocation, disbursement and accountability.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has listed its efforts to reach women in poor, hard-to-reach communities with vaccine against maternal and neo-natal tetanus, saying such steps would save the lives of thousands of women and their new-born babies.

Mining company Anglo American has announced that it will provide antiretroviral therapy to its HIV-positive employees in Southern Africa who do not already qualify for treatment under medical aid schemes.

Sustaining a vibrant civic movement in neo-liberal post election Zimbabwe is a nightmare. What’s more the people of Zimbabwe may have to inhabit this nightmare for the few more years that the current regime may still retain power, writes Hopewell Gumbo.

Although it has approved $1.6 billion in grants for programs in more than 40 countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has not yet distributed any money, largely because of "demands led by the Bush administration" that the fund create an aid-delivery mechanism "from scratch," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Malawi, battling to cope with food shortages, has been asked to return at least US $8 million in development aid because it allegedly mismanaged the money.

Ireland has pledged Euros 250,000 to tackle drought in eastern Ethiopia, the Irish embassy in Addis Ababa said. The money will be used to help Kereyou pastoralists whose livelihoods are in danger from the lack of rain. The funding is part of Ireland's Euros 3.69 million Africa-wide programme to tackle emergencies across the continent.

A new book, Earthsummit.biz by Kenny Bruno and Joshua Karliner, describes the growing role of corporations in global decision making in the ten years between the Rio Earth Summit and the upcoming Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The World Bank has released its long awaited draft policy on forests. The proposed policy threatens most of the world's remaining forests with environmentally damaging industrial forest management financed by taxpayers through the World Bank. It is inappropriate for the World Bank to subsidize rainforest destruction. Please tell them so by registering your concern.

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday criticized officials in charge of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for approving a $60 million grant to KwaZulu-Natal province that had not received clearance from the central government, as stipulated in the fund's rules.

Aid started streaming in for the snow-hit Eastern Cape areas of Elliot and Cala on Monday. Queenstown's Woolworth’s contributed R110 000 in blankets and food on Monday. Weirs Cash & Carry donated maize meal, bread flour, cooking oil, sugar, tea, coffee, samp, soup, tinned meats and fish and baby food, valued at R100 000, and blankets, valued at R10 000, were delivered free of charge to the Queenstown commando.

Norway is mobilising one of its biggest aid efforts yet to rush food to 13-million people in danger of famine in southern Africa. The Norwegian military has donated more than 200 surplus all-terrain trucks, while the government granted $2,58-million (R25 8000). The Norwegian shipping concern Leif Hoegh & Co ASA is donating space aboard its automobile transport ship Haul Europe to bring about 230 trucks to Durban.

The World Bank President has asked his staff to prepare a human rights strategy. The Bank has previously avoided talking directly about a role for itself in supporting human rights, despite pressure to do so emanating from the United Nations bodies and NGOs. But concerns have already been raised about the extent to which the Bank will be ready to be held accountable for its performance against the full set of relevant rights.

Is the world "on the right track" in terms of poverty reduction? The World Bank seems to believe so. However Sanjay Reddy and Thomas Pogge of Columbia University, in a paper entitled "How not to count the poor" give a scathing account of the problems with the World Bank's poverty numbers.

The Human Development Report, an annual measurement of global poverty issued by the United Nations Development Programme, once again provides an indicator of Africa's economic woes. A total of 27 African countries are included on the list of the world's 173 least developed nations, and 52 of the countries at the bottom are African. Sierra Leone, which has been racked by war for the past decade, ranks as the worst place to live.