This report from the Panos Institute looks at the threats that face mountain environments and the people that live in them. It describes a 'vertical gradient of poverty' whereby 80 per cent of mountain inhabitants live below the poverty line. The authors describe the political, cultural and social marginalisation of many mountain communities. The report describes the environmental importance of mountain ecosystems to the rest of the world and ways in which mountain communities can become more involved in decision making, conservation of natural resources and poverty reduction.

Every day around the world over 1300 men, women and children lose their lives in conflict, adding up to an annual total of half a million deaths, the majority of these in the poorest countries. Countless more livelihoods are ruined as a result of armed conflict through disability, displacement or lack of access to markets and health and education facilities. Yet although the European Union regulates everything from beaches to bananas, it does not regulate arms brokers, says this briefing paper from Oxfam. The lack of regulation is despite the fact that Europe is home to many of the world’s arms brokers responsible for arranging deliveries of weapons into countries in conflict and or into the hands of those who commit grave human rights abuses.

Members of the Global Unions group have accused the government planners of the Second Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) of "stifling voices of dissent" after having excluded civil society from the debate over the draft conclusions.

The German government will, through its technical and financial cooperation bodies, provide Tanzania with US $86.12 million worth of aid over the next three years. At least half the money would be spent on water and sanitation projects, but there would also be significant contributions towards health projects and budgetary support, Detles Mey, the Tanzania country director of the German government's aid agency, the Gersellschaft fuer Technische Zumsammenarbeit (GTZ), told IRIN.

"I invite you to join me in looking through the eyes of women who want a world where all life is valued - every single life - regardless of gender, race, class, caste, age, religion and all the other divides that establish patriarch’s hierarchy. A world in which the Earth’s resources - material and human - are equitably, respectfully and justly shared and appreciated. Where basic needs - of food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education - are met," writes feminist activist Pregs Govender.

Ask a fish what water is and you'll get no answer. Even if fish were capable of speech, they would likely have no explanation for the element they swim in every minute of every day of their lives. Water simply is. Fish take it for granted. So too with this thing we hear so much about, "racial preference." While many whites seem to think the notion originated with affirmative action programs, intended to expand opportunities for historically marginalized people of colour, racial preference has actually had a long and very white history.

Women's rights advocates are condemning President George W. Bush for using his promised AIDS relief package to expand the so-called global gag rule. Calling the move the latest battle in the administration's war against women, many groups are mounting a campaign to draw attention to what they say are the Bush administration's plans to further restrict abortion rights.

While societies enter into the information and knowledge society, and modern technologies develop and spread at rapid speed, 860 million adults are illiterate, over 100 million children have no access to school, and countless children, youth and adults who attend school or other education programmes fall short of the required level to be considered literate in today’s complex world. This is the reason why the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the United Nations Literacy Decade for the period 2003-2012, launched this month.

Developments over the last two months, including ceasefire agreements that have brought all but one rebel group into political negotiations and the anticipated deployment within weeks of an African Union military observer mission, have created more momentum for peace in Burundi than at any time since the civil war began ten years ago. But donor reluctance to resume major aid has become counter-productive and peace dividends are needed to give rebels an incentive to accept disarmament and reintegration into society and to provide the international community leverage with which to press the transitional government to carry out its commitments under the Arusha peace accord, says the International Crisis Group.

Race, after all, has always been a “political” issue - not only in South Africa. The political, economic and cultural effects of race as a classification, and their meaning in social practice, are bound to both history and location. In other words, the challenge might be to understand the particular ways in which race, both as a concept and as an experience, changes historically across time and space.

Even the New York Times was forced to admit it, after the mammoth Feb. 15-16 anti-war demonstrations: "There may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion." But the next round of the struggle must begin, says this www.zmag.org article. It concludes: "If movements for social change unswervingly seek diversity, solidarity, equity, and self-management – peace and justice – and if they do it in a manner and with a tone and with tactics all of which seek to empower the weak and to meet the needs of the poor, they/we can win this struggle – and the struggle I have in mind to win, the one I think we are all in, is not just over a reform here or there – and it is not just over peace now and then - it is a struggle over who will decide the future and who the future will serve. Showdown indeed." Visit www.unitedforpeace.org/ for additional news about the campaign against war on Iraq.

Humanitarian operations in Angola are to receive a Euro 8 million (about 8.5 U S million dollars) boost from the European Commission. The EC Humanitarian Aid Office would channel the aid package through partner organisations and international agencies operating in the country, the European Commission said in a statement.

Soweto pupils were further empowered on Saturday when a leading bank donated 52 mobile libraries to 26 schools in the area. The libraries, complete with the first 100 books selected in conjunction with the Gauteng Department of Education, came at a cost of R466 000 and were donated by Standard Bank.

Humanitarian operations in Angola are to receive a Euro 8 million (about US 8.5 million dollars) boost from the European Commission. The EC Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) would channel the aid package though partner organisations and international agencies operating in the country, the EC said in a statement.

"What do you want?" is a constant query put to economic and globalization activists decrying current poverty, alienation, and degradation. In this highly praised new work, destined to attract worldwide attention and support, Michael Albert provides an answer: "Participatory Economics" - "Parecon" for short - a new economy, an alternative to capitalism, built on familiar values including solidarity, equity, diversity, and people democratically controlling their own lives.

Scientists have criticised a study published last year which suggested that earlier estimates of worldwide tropical deforestation and atmospheric carbon emissions were too high. The original study calculated that deforestation rates were 23 per cent lower than current UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates.

Recent gains made in making HIV/AIDS treatment accessible and affordable to Kenyans are being threatened by a deal currently under discussion at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which would severely restrict access to such drugs, a group of local NGOs has warned. ActionAid Kenya, EcoNews and Medecins Sans Frontieres on 14 February said the WTO meeting, convened in Tokyo, Japan, was negotiating a proposal to restrict use of compulsory licensing for many developing countries only to extreme national emergencies.

The World Bank and IMF have been condemned by civil society groups for many years for their inequitable governance arrangements. Recently officials have also complained, and the Monterrey Financing for Development conference last year came up with language urging the Bank and Fund to reform in this area. Visit http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/topic/reform/r3201ifigov.html for more information and read a Draft Civil Society Statement on the issue at the link below.

So how did things go in the third round of the title fight to save the world? SustainAbility--a London-based strategic management consultancy and think-tank dedicated to promoting sustainable development--sent representatives to both the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland and the World Social Forum (WSF) in Brazil.

Imagine being torn from your family and your home by a foreign invasion. Imagine living in a refugee camp in one of the harshest desert environments on earth. Imagine having your time in exile extended to an entire generation due to political manipulation by the invader and the ineffectiveness of the political and peacekeeping arms of the United Nations. Imagine, finally, enduring this situation with precious little solidarity and attention from the wider world. This, in summary, is the plight of the Saharawis of Western Sahara, one of the world’s forgotten people, begins a report from Refugees International.