The European Union announced yesterday that it will contribute 120 million euros (about $103.5 million) to the Global AIDS and Health Fund, Reuters reports. The contribution will be officially announced by European Commission President Romano Prodi at the G8 summit that begins tomorrow in Genoa, Italy.

All over the world, in groundbreaking ways and often at great personal risk, grassroots activists with passion, commitment, creativity and leadership are taking a stand for human rights and fighting for social justice in their communities. Forefront is an international network of human rights activists from 30 different countries who have been recognized by the Reebok Human Rights Award. Forefront seeks a Program Associate to join a small team and contribute to all aspects of the organization's development. The position is comprised of 30% of coordinating the organization's administrative tasks and 50% organizing a new initiative, the Human Rights Web Resource Center, and 20% assisting with other program work as necessary.

In a court ruling on Wednesday last week, which has gone largely unnoticed, the status of Zimbabwe’s land grabs was finally made clear – they are illegal and cannot proceed legally until the rule of law is re-established.

Let me begin my presentation with a very provocative quote from an Ugandan political economist: "Anybody with any degree of intellectual integrity would see that globalisation of Africa --- or the integration of Africa into the global economy from the days of slavery to the contemporary period of capital-led integration – has on balance of costs and benefits been a disaster for Africa, both in human terms and in terms of the damage to Afirca’s natural environment. There is scarcely anybody in Africa who would talk of the last 300 years, including the last 40 years since the first African country gained independence, in language flattering either to colonialism or to governments that have taken over power since political independence."

A South African land protest which raised fears of Zimbabwe-style chaos has been halted peacefully by bailiffs who tore down newly built shacks with crowbars. But with hundreds of families claiming to have been homeless in sub-zero temperatures, the African National Congress government faced new accusations that it was neglecting the poor.

Global economic arrangements enable a wealthy white minority to rule a world that's largely populated by people of color, says Africa Action executive director Salih Booker. In the first of what will be a continuing series of occasional interviews with Africa advocacy groups and NGOs in the United States, allAfrica's Charles Cobb Jr. spoke with Booker about a new organization - Africa Action - formed through the merger of three of the oldest Africa advocacy groups in the United States.

President Bush's newly reinstated "global gag rule" exports a U.S. position on other countries' practice of abortion that reflects neither U.S. law nor U.S. public opinion. In doing so, the policy places women in need of family planning services at risk, according to "Global Gag Rule: Exporting Antiabortion Ideology at the Expense of American Values" by Susan Cohen.

Veterans of the African National Congress' (ANC) former military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), intend reactivating dormant gold and coal mines in Mpumalanga province to create jobs and wealth for unemployed liberation struggle soldiers, African Eye News Service reported on Wednesday.

A new report by an international panel of finance experts argues that further debt relief must be given to bring debt to sustainable levels, but emphasises importance of maintaining and increasing aid levels.

In mid-April, worldwide protests forced an international cartel of pharmaceutical giants to withdraw a lawsuit against the South African government. Like the proponents of apartheid before them, these companies acted to maintain the rules of a system that denies the value of black lives in favor of minority privilege. The result in Africa has been murder by patent.

Multinational companies are about to go on trial in Lesotho, accused of paying huge bribes to a local official, a case virtually unprecedented in Africa. European and Canadian engineering companies, four of them British, are alleged to have paid an official about oe3m for contracts for one of the continent's biggest engineering projects, the oe1bn construction of huge dams to supply water and electricity to South Africa, which entirely surrounds the mountainous kingdom.

The UN General Assembly's historic Special
Session on HIV/AIDS ended on Wednesday with what Secretary-General Kofi Annan described as a "clear strategy" for tackling the epidemic.

In a letter to Minister of Justice Siene Oulai, RSF expressed its concern following the deadly attack that took place at the home of Laurent Tape Koulou, publication director of the private daily "Le National". RSF asked the minister to do everything possible so that those responsible for the attack are identified and punished.

In a landmark judgement for the online age, the highest court in America has ruled 7-2 that freelance writers did not give consent for media companies to publish their work on Web sites when they signed contracts for print publication.

As Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade prepares to meet with President Bush Thursday, Human Rights Watch urged him to comply with a United Nations request to hold the exiled Chadian dictator Hissène Habré so that Habré could be extradited to face torture charges.

NIGERIA on Monday became the first developing country to contribute to a new global fund to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. At a press conference here on the first day of a three-day special session convened by the United Nations General Assembly to discuss ways of tackling the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, President Olusegun Obasanjo announced a US$10 million donation to the fund on behalf of the Nigerian people and government.

Chad will receive a US $7.3-million loan from the Islamic Development Bank to support educational projects, AFP reported, citing a statement from the Jeddah-based institution.

On the eve of an important WTO meeting to address intellectual property and access to medicines, the European Commission has tabled concrete proposals designed to clarify existing rules in order to facilitate access to life-saving drugs by needy countries. These plans will be presented to fellow WTO members at the Council on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) on 20 June.

This web site concentrates on internally displaced persons. The Global IDP training project is an initiative of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Undertaken in association with the Office of the UNHCR and the Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons the program is a series of "protection workshops" for humanitarian workers, policy makers and others who are confronted with the consequences of international displacement.

The International Finance Corporation - an arm of the Bank Group which supports private investment - has released a new strategy. It reveals a number of significant changes in emphasis, notably an increased focus on social and environmental issues. It admits that its attention to such matters is partly the result of "pressure from NGOs, shareholders, and civil society and local communities which have begun to insist that their concerns be respected."