Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said they considered the privatization of the Egyptian state-owned banks not important as the country's banking system depends largely on these banks' power and competition, on the contrary the privatization may yield adverse outcomes if the government gives up these significant tool in controlling the monetary policy.

When prices for a farmer's harvest fall, as they have in recent years, despair haunts rural families and communities. Farmers invest less in their own land and children leave home, searching for a better life in cities. But farmers, especially those in the poorest nations, are not just battling a global oversupply of grain. In a distressing number of cases, they are fighting against the financial power of the world's richest governments.

The Group of 77, a coalition of 133 developing nations, is reiterating its demand for a new investigation into charges of racial discrimination in the recruitment and promotion of staffers in the 13,000-strong UN Secretariat.

Tobacco-related deaths in the developing world will outstrip the toll due to HIV and become the single largest preventable cause of death by 2020, according to new research.

Sends books and periodicals from UK to partner distributors in developing countries.

Amnesty International today condemned the kidnapping of several humanitarian aid workers in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, and expressed concern for the safety of those still held by a local militia.

Marking the International Day for the elimination of Racial Discrimination, Human Rights Watch called for an end to Caste-based discrimination around the world.

DATE: 17-18 MAY 2001
LOCATION: ACCRA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE
FEE: $399 per delegate. The fifth delegate attends free when five delegates from your organisation register for the conference at the same time.

At the beginning of the 21st century relations between business and non governmental organisations (NGOs) range from the strongly antagonistic to the surprisingly collaborative. But how and why are some companies collaborating with NGOs to promote sustainable development?

The World Trade Organisation wants to press Asian governments to commit to a new trade talks at the WTO ministerial meeting in Qatar in November. But most developing countries are opposed to a new trade round. They have not yet absorbed the demands on them made at the Uruguay Round.

Two years after Macpherson reported into the handling of the Stephen Lawrence case, the Institute of Race Relations reports that racial violence is becoming more serious and prevalent. Nineteen people have lost their lives in the UK in racially motivated attacks since February 1999. Increasingly, serious racial violence is being perpetrated against members of newly-arrived and asylum- seeker communities. Despite the fact that half of Macpherson's recommendations were about racial violence, especially how the police and Crown Prosecution Service should act over such cases, families of victims remain dissatisfied with the lack of will to take such racism seriously. Commissioned for London Boroughs Grants - a funder for London's voluntary sector - this report, Counting the cost, suggests that, although most voluntary groups are beginning to tackle the ways their personnel and structures contribute to an inadvertent racism, in line with Macpherson's definition of 'institutional racism', they have yet to meet the challenge of racial violence. Advocacy and support from community groups, concludes the report can, "transform a case into an issue. And the issue, in turn, can influence the policy agenda."

The WHO has recently published the Global TB Control Report 2001, showing that only 23% of the world's TB cases are treated in DOTS programmes. The report can be downloaded from our website and is also available in hard copy.

Egypt has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Speaking at the UN, an Egyptian representative stated that the treaty "did not take into consideration the legitimate right of States for self-defense, including the use of landmines in certain conditions."