Bloggers on the case in Surinam, Zimbabwe's 1000-percent school fee hike, Matt Damon joins AIDS activists...
Any Matt Damon fans out there? The star of Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr Ripley, and Catch Me If You Can gets another approving nod for joining the ranks of AIDS activists. He's just sent out a letter on behalf of
the ONE campaign, a U.S.-based organisation launched by Irish rock star Bono to raise public awareness and influence U.S. policies on international poverty and HIV/AIDS in developing countries. After a week-long trip meeting orphans and widows in South Africa and Zambia, Damon pleads for U.S. voters to tell senators not to cut international aid.
On Tuesday, a House of Representatives committee, intent on adding money to domestic social programmes during an election year, cut back President George W. Bush's spending requests for foreign aid and defence.
Although the spending caps would cut $2.4 billion from foreign aid, foreign aid will still get more funding next year than it has in 2006, and Congress might pass emergency spending bills that could boost spending.
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Inflation in Zimbabwe is 913 percent. In a country where no school is free, it's making it hard for parents to afford spiralling fees.
More than 100 women and children held for demonstrating against the rising fees were released this week, IRIN reported.
No wonder they're angry -- government-schools are charging between $18 and $89 a term, when they used to charge $4.
Missionary schools have gone up to $564 from $221. And private school fees have risen to $1,000 this term, compared to $440 they charged last term.
Most families have an income of less than $100 a month, IRIN reports. The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says an average family really needs at least $350 a month to cover basic food and living costs.
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Surinam, tucked in between Brazil and Guyana on South America's Caribbean coast, has declared an emergency in flooded areas of its southwestern and central interior.
About 25,000 people have been affected, according to a report from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies on Reliefweb, which says at least three people have died because of the torrential rains since the start of the month. The military is moving people to higher ground, and aid agencies like Adventist Development & Relief Agency are on the ground.
Bloggers are on the case, and are posting their observations on World Wide Help, a website to point aid to places in need.
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More rain is on the way in China this year.
The National Climate Centre is telling local governments to start getting ready, saying about 30 tropical storms or typhoons will form in the northwest Pacific Ocean or South China Sea this year, according to the official China Daily.
And there's a tropical storm heading for the Philippines. Chanchu is forecast to hit tomorrow.
It might be raining in some parts of Asia, but India and Pakistan are in the grip of a heat wave. That's why there's a picture of a boy jumping into a canal at the top of the page. Temperatures in India are reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and at least 27 people have died, mostly in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and Orissa in the east.
Ruth Gidley
AlertNet journalist
