The Private Military & Security Companies (PMSC) newsletter published by contains updates on the impact of these companies on human rights from around the world.

Two of the world's biggest mining companies endured a barrage of protests as a broad coalition of unions, individuals, social and environmental groups from as far afield as South Africa and Mongolia travelled to London for Rio Tinto and Anglo American's annual meetings. At Anglo American's AGM, the miner came under fire amid allegations its South African subsidiary is responsible for cases of silicosis and tuberculosis in the country contracted between the 1960s and 1990s. About 1,200 former gold miners suffering the lung diseases are bringing a case against it in the High Court in London next month.

An analysis of the continuing financial enslavement of West African nations to the French government.

Growing solidarity and resistance by Latin American nations to the continuing hyper-hostility of the US towards Cuba demonstrates a new assertiveness in relationships and a shift in political power.

The World Bank and European Commission officials have accused Nevsun, the Canadian mining company operating in Eritrea, of misleading its investors. A Wikileaks cable, dated 15th June 2006, describes a visit organised by Nevsun and the Government of Eritrea for export credit agencies from Canada and South Africa, as well as Proparco, Standard Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

This issue brief from the International Peace Institute provides a brief overview of the legal, political, and operational frameworks protecting children from the effects of armed conflict, notably from violations by nonstate armed groups. It explores some of the limitations of these frameworks and their mechanisms, and then discusses ways to maximize the comparative advantages of different actors when engaging nonstate armed groups to improve the protection of children’s rights.

The partners leading the efforts to control measles have announced a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero. According to a joint statement made available to PANA, the announcement comes with the publication of new data using a state-of-the-art methodology showing that accelerated efforts to reduce measles deaths have resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535,300 deaths in 2000 to 139,300 in 2010.

Community distressed after four of their leaders, including the village chief, are arrested.

One of the world's largest funders of science is to throw its weight behind a growing campaign to break the stranglehold of academic journals and allow all research papers to be shared online. Nearly 9,000 researchers have already signed up to a boycott of journals that restrict free sharing as part of a campaign dubbed the 'academic spring' by supporters due to its potential for revolutionising the spread of knowledge.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

A quiet walk through nature offers moments of beauty and serenity that often go unnoticed. In celebration of Earth Day 2012, we invite you to take a few minutes to enjoy this journey through cycles of light, water, wind and earth.

To celebrate the fact that the late Manning Marable has been awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for history for his ground-breaking book, Malcolm X – a life of reinvention, Race & Class has made available for free the seminal articles that Professor Marable wrote on the politics of the black working class in the US. The free downloads are:
- ‘Rethinking black liberation: towards a new protest paradigm’ (Race & Class Vol. 38 no. 4, 1997)
- ‘The divided mind of Black America: race, ideology and politics in the post-Civil Rights era’, with Leith Mullings, (Race & Class Vol. 36 no. 1, 1994)
- ‘Memory and militancy in transition: the 1993 march on Washington’ (Race & Class Vol. 35 no. 3, 1994).

The talk will provide an overview of the reality of land grabs in Africa, based on extensive research and advocacy conducted by the Oakland Institute. Learn about resistance from impacted communities, grassroots and national organizations in Africa, and solidarity networks.

While the IMF’s strategic plan for boosting its financial sector surveillance has not been published, the Fund continues to argue that developing countries need more liberal financial systems. Since the financial crisis, the IMF has been trying to boost its work on overseeing risks from the world’s financial system. The IMF’s strategic plan for financial sector surveillance was due to be discussed at the executive board in February, but neither a date for the actual discussion nor any policy papers were released publicly.

In 2010 alone, global military spending rose to an all-time high amount of $1.63 trillion. The second annual Global Day of Action on Military Spending took place on 17 April 2012 to coincide with the release of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) new annual figures on world military expenditures.

While the Occupy Movement has taken the world by storm, a long history of different types of social movement occupations have marked Latin America for decades. The website has an audio recording of a Left Forum panel dealing with this topic.

A colonial mindset still pervades some intellectual critiques of social movements in post-apartheid South Africa.

The draft agenda for the upcoming G20 trade ministers meeting that is being circulated internally among members is too focused on the interests of big industrialized countries and not enough on what developing countries need, says Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan. Gita said that under the current draft, the meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, later this week, would not spare time to discuss the much anticipated liberalization of the agriculture sector, which had been at the heart of the process to create a multilateral trade deal under the Doha Development Agenda. 'I have spoken with Brazil and South Africa, basically we voiced the same concerns. There has to be an initiative to place the issue of trade liberalization of the agriculture sector on the table. We need to take a stance,' Gita said.

Whether on billboards along the roads or embroidered on shirt collars, mining companies are ubiquitous in this jungle hub of Ghana's Western Region. 'They take the gold and leave these kinds of things,' says Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, executive director and co-founder of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM).

'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives' is a series featuring 12 alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. In the third narrative, Deborah James, a leader in the global movement for economic justice, speaks about how international financial institutions hinder countries’ efforts at poverty alleviation, instead prioritizing corporate interests. She also describes citizens’ efforts to oppose the power of these institutions, and tells of the countries that have made strides toward freeing themselves from the economic chains, providing inspiration to us all.