The International Crisis Group has announced the launch of a new Text Only version of their website. Crisis Group has developed the Text Only version to allow users with slow internet connections easier access to reports and resources available on the Crisis Group website.

The Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council has changed its name to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The name change is accompanied by a relaunch of the IDMC's website and its online IDP database. Visit the website to register for email alerts.

The World Renewable Energy Assembly (WREA) 2005 in Bonn/Germany has ended with the adoption of the final communiqué entitled "The Human Right to Renewable Energy". More than 450 representatives from politics and parliaments, from science and industry as well as NGOs and social movements met in Bonn from November 26th to 30th, 2005, following an invitation of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE). For the full communique, please follow the link.

On December 10th, White Band Day 3, millions of people will unite in solidarity against trade injustice. Join the largest anti-poverty campaign in history and help us put the Spotlight on Trade Injustice. We need the World Trade Organization to deliver a fair deal on trade and agriculture. For events being held in Africa, please follow the link.

Campaigners from Southern Africa are bracing for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to be held in Hong Kong later this month. Some plan to send representatives to the meeting, to protest against unfair trade legislation - particularly as this relates to agriculture. These representatives will include two cotton farmers from Zimbabwe, says Ntando Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the capital, Harare. "The two farmers will be in Hong Kong and make noise using anything, including the beating of drums," she told a gathering of Southern African activists at a conference held in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg. Ndlovu also urged Mozambique and South Africa to send cotton farmers in support of their Zimbabwean counterparts.

African elephants are facing a renewed threat from poachers who are after the tusks in order to sell the ivory to China's emerging and luxury-hungry middle class, conservationists warn. Although the global ivory trade was banned in 1990, it has persisted in places like Sudan's capital Khartoum and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a lot of ivory is reportedly transferred to shops in China.

In January 2005 at the World Social Forum a Global Call to Action against Poverty was launched to encourage campaigners to mobilize at key moments of 2005. Many active campaigners of GCAP have decided to continue to unite in solidarity beyond 2005. Some initial discussions of the International Facilitation Group have produced some broad ideas on how this could be done. Before these are discussed at the next IFG meeting in Beirut in early March 2006, it was unanimously agreed to gather as many reactions and alternative ideas as possible.

AIDS activists around the world face frequent government repression and abuse and need substantially increased support and protections, said Human Rights Watch on World AIDS Day. "The few success stories we have in the global fight against AIDS are the result of the heroic efforts of courageous individuals mobilizing impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized populations to action," said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human Rights Watch. "But AIDS activists and outreach workers are often harassed or even jailed by their governments for simply standing up and speaking out about AIDS, and the international donor community is doing too little to protect them."

Organised by the Global Movement for Children and supported by the World AIDS Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty, Lesson for Life, is a 'lesson' on HIV, AIDS and the effect of the crisis on chidren. In 2004, 67 countries from all around the world, working in coalitions of organisations ranging from National AIDS Trusts to international and local NGOs ran the Lesson for Life. 4.3 million people took part. From schools to youth centres, sports clubs to village squares, the Lesson for Life involved everyone, everywhere. For a listing of global events, follow the link.

The draft ministerial text for the upcoming WTO heads of state meeting in Hong Kong put forward on 26 November by the WTO Director-General and the General Council chair received, at the informal heads of delegation meeting on Monday, some pleasantries over the so-called 'bottom up' approach on how the text was put together, with several developing countries however highlighting the fact that many parts of the current draft did not enjoy the agreement of all members.

This new UNESCO publication argues that language, specifically the language used in schools, is one of the principal mechanisms through which inequality in education is reproduced. It shows how the learner’s mother tongue holds the key to making schooling more inclusive for all disadvantaged groups, especially for girls and women.

An estimated three million girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East undergo genital mutilation every year, but the practice could be eliminated within a generation, says the UN Children's Fund.

Follow the link for: Razor's Edge - The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation, OneWorld TV

The International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to raise its profile in the countries where it is conducting investigations, Human Rights Watch has declared. With the annual Assembly of States Parties (ASP) meeting scheduled to start on November 28, Human Rights Watch issued a paper outlining recommendations for enhancing operations.

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Reporters Without Borders has protested to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni after the country's privately-owned radio stations were threatened with closure if they broadcast debates or talk-shows about the trial of opposition leader Kizza Besigye, which has just begun. Expressing its full support for the radio stations, the press freedom organisation said they could not ignore a major national event, no matter how embarrassing it was for the government.

Through this online event, thousands of people around the world will be connected in real time over the Internet to discuss and develop solutions to key urban issues. Attempting a new form of global problem-solving that promises to empower people to take charge of decisions that affect their lives, Habitat Jam will try to achieve unprecedented global conversation and collaboration.

One of this year’s recipients of Solidar’s Silver Rose Award, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations active in the fight for social justice, was the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) campaign. Co-chair of the GCAP International Facilitation Group, Kumi Naidoo, received the Award on 8 November on behalf of the global alliance that has worked tirelessly in 2005 in fighting towards poverty reduction. Every year, Solidar receives nominations from around the world from people or organisations working in civil society who dedicate their work to bringing about a fairer and more just society.

This toolkit is structured as a website providing a wide range of educational materials and other resources designed for use by "rural teachers, instructors, trainers, parents, researchers, extensionists and others involved in formal and non formal education for rural people". Most of these resources are available online and are produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Agreement between European farm ministers on a new EU sugar regime will throw many people in developing countries into poverty, the international development agency ActionAid warned. The 36 per cent price reduction in EU sugar agreed as part of the deal, phased in over four years from 2006, is almost double the cut the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of sugar-producing countries were prepared to accept - they had requested a 19 per cent cut over eight years. At the same time, the EC is limiting the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) access to EU markets for sugar under the Everything But Arms (EBA) proposal.

Five months ago, Jonathan Ross was the media anchorman for the Live8 Concert in Hyde Park where a line-up of famous artists performed to raise awareness of Third World debt. But this weekend, the television presenter was sounding a rather different note. Speaking to the singer, Damon Albarn, on his chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, he admitted he was filled with "regret" at not having spoken out against the lack of African performers at the event on 6 July and singling out bands such as Velvet Revolver and Pink Floyd's reunion as part of his criticism.