The Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure has again expressed, on Sunday, his resentment against international mining companies exploiting gold in his country, implying that to ensure bliss to Kayes (600Km west Bamako) residents, he relies “more on roads than the glittering metal”. “We made a mistake by thinking that Kayes' happiness will come from gold not roads,” Amadou Toumani Toure noted, on Sunday, while inaugurating a 98km asphalted road linking Kayes to the Senegalese town of Kidira.

Roving judges in the Maldives and a community justice system in post-genocide Rwanda are just two of the pioneering democratic governance initiatives captured in the first UN report on governance in the fifty most vulnerable countries in the world, launched in New York.

The African week started Monday in Paris with the varnishing of the art and handicraft exhibition chaired by Deputy-Director General of Unesco Africa Department, Noureini Tidjani-Serpos, in the presence of leading ambassadors members of the Unesco Africa Group. Many exhibitors from different regions of the continent are taking part in this cultural event held at the Unesco headquarters in Paris, the French capital city.

This guide is not intended to provide a comprehensive discussion of return in all its facets. Rather, it aims to set out some of the core principles and issues surrounding the return of refugees and IDPs, and highlight the challenges associated with making return a safe, dignified and sustainable process. It also addresses some of the issues raised by the return of failed asylum seekers. The guide seeks to help the reader navigate the extensive literature on return, and identify areas where additional research is required.

The UK government has been accused of draconian treatment of asylum seekers, using "destitution as a tool of coercion", in a bleak report from the Church of England on a Britain where an economic boom has left the gulf between the very poor and the super-rich wider than ever.

According to this analysis by the Bretton Woods project, the imminent departure of Anne Krueger from the post of first deputy managing director of the IMF, gave Rodrigo de Rato the unique chance to move the Fund in a different direction as it looks to implement its medium-term strategic review. Instead, the managing director nominated US banker John Lipsky, maintaining the convention of keeping the top two posts at the Fund split between the transatlantic power centres.

Scientific papers published in online journals that are open-access have a bigger impact and are cited more frequently than papers readers must pay for, according to a new study. The findings will strengthen calls for more online scientific journals to switch to the open-access model and make research freely available.

Science communicators should encourage public debates about science and technology, rather than simply tell people about the subject, a conference has heard. The call was made yesterday (17 May) at the ninth conference of the International Network on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) in Seoul, South Korea.

This prize, worth CHF 5,000 (US$3,900), recognises individuals and organisations who have made a notable contribution to the defense and promotion of the freedom to publish anywhere in the world. The prize will be presented at the 2006 Göteborg Book Fair in September 2006 in Göteborg, Sweden. The main theme of the book fair will be freedom of expression.

This publication analyses available statistics on female genital mutilation or cutting, with the aim of improving understanding of related issues in the wider context of gender equality and social change. The study centres on women aged 15-49 and their daughters, presenting estimates and examining differentials in prevalence, and highlighting patterns within the data that can strategically inform programmatic efforts.

Though most poor countries are not bound by the Kyoto Treaty to curb their greenhouse gas emissions, some are pushing rich countries to provide aid, technology and other incentives to help them reduce harmful emissions blamed for climate change.

An electronic publication on arts, culture, social change and development that covers social, economic and human development issues; explores ways artists tackle them; and highlights artistic methods that are being used by development agencies/advocates.

The Bush administration is paltering to the American public with exaggerated misconceptions of worldwide terrorism to frighten us into supporting a global police state. With seven hundred military bases and a budget bigger than the rest of the world combined, the US military has become the new supreme-power force repressing "terrorism" everywhere, reports Global Research.

The new edition of IWGIA's Yearbook The Indigenous World has now been published in English and Spanish featuring country reports and a section on international processes relating to indigenous peoples.

A study by the Simon Wiesenthal Center entitled "Digital Terrorism & Hate 2005" reported a 25% annual increase in websites promoting racial hatred and violence, which indicates that the problem of racism and xenophobia is growing over the Internet. These disturbing developments have naturally informed the global fight against racism. A significant number of international instruments acknowledge and attempt to address the problem without limiting freedom of expression.

As work on economic, social and cultural rights (ESC) grows by leaps and bounds around the world, a large number of organizations and individuals have expressed interest in learning more about how budget analysis can contribute to their work. The guide "Dignity Counts" aims to provide guidance to civil society organizations on how to use budget analysis as a tool to help assess a government's compliance with its ESC rights obligations.

China has pledged to give a Sh3.1 billion cash boost to Kenya to fund rural electrification. Sh1.4 billion will facilitate the construction of two pilot power transmission lines in Western Kenya. Another Sh1.7 billion will be spent by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) to precure electricity equipment. This is the first local electricity project to be financed by the Chinese government.

Paul Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defence secretary and main architect of the Iraq war, has run the World Bank for a year. His regime is highly secretive, but insiders have talked exclusively to Robert Calderisi, who files this report available from the New Statesman website.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was set up in January 2002 as a financial instrument, complementary to existing programs addressing these three diseases. The purpose of the Global Fund is to raise and invest large amounts of additional finance to support the rapid scale up of measures to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Transparency International (TI) has opened the call for nominations for its annual Integrity Awards. The deadline for nominations is 2 June 2006. "This is the most prestigious global anti-corruption prize," said Sion Assidon, the Chair of the TI Integrity Awards Committee, a member of the TI Board of Directors and a founder of TI-Morocco. He added, "Each year we honour organisations and individuals who have demonstrated exceptional courage, and have shown outstanding leadership."