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The struggling US automobile industry may do well to take some lessons from its non-motorized brethren because bicycles are selling like hotcakes.

Americans purchased more bicycles than new cars and trucks combined in the past year -- and all without employee discounts or zero-percent financing.

"Our sales have almost tripled in the last couple of years," said Bob Ippolito, executive vice president at Pacific Bicycle, the largest bicycle distributor in the United States.

The United Kingdom announced on 3 August 2005 that it is doubling, from 51 million pounds to 100 million pounds, its yearly support in 2006 and 2007 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund is a public-private partnership created three years ago on the initiative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.     

Poor farmers have little chance of getting a fair price for their produce if they don’t know how much markets beyond their villages are willing to pay. The internet is leveling their playing field through schemes such as INFOSHARE, which is giving access to the latest market news to thousands of remote cocoa and coffee farmers in Cameroon.

The G-8 Summit held in Gleneagles, Scotland, earlier this month came out with a pledge to increase aid to Africa. Japan declared it would double its aid to Africa in the next three years as well as increase the volume of its official development assistance (ODA) by US$ 10 billion in aggregate over the next five years. The aid package announced today is a concrete measure towards achieving this, as well as the Millennium Development Goals. It also contributes to achieving “human security” and “peace building”, the basic policy principles of Japanese overseas development assistance.

Rio de Janeiro/Geneva, 27 July 2005 – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is successfully treating an increasing number of children living with HIV/AIDS, according to data from MSF treatment programs presented at a "late breaker" session at the 3rd International AIDS Society Conference in Rio de Janeiro. MSF's clinical outcomes are good despite the fact that currently available diagnostic tests and medicines are poorly adapted for children.

Rome, Italy, July 21, 2005 –The World Food Programme announced that in response to repeated appeals to the international community to help stave off the deepening hunger crisis in Niger a much-needed airlift of food commodities from Réunir, a French aid agency, arrived on July 21st  Maradi, one of the hardest hit areas of the country.

An estimated 3.6 million people are highly vulnerable and 2.5 million are in need of food aid.

20 July 2005, Rome - The rainy season has just begun in North Darfur, and around 70 000 vulnerable rural families will be able to plant with seeds and agricultural tools provided by FAO, the UN agency said today.

UNICEF provided a platform so children can express their views on the issues being debated and decisions made at the G8. In order for the forum to represent a genuine expression of the children's views and experiences, UNICEF has not sought to influence their debate so the views expressed in the following text are those of the C8 participants and do not necessarily represent those of the organisers.

CHILDREN FOR CHANGE

June 1, 2005 (Washington, DC) – Over the past few months, numerous high-profile news organizations have featured stories about the plight of indigenous groups. The reports tend to focus on the removal of indigenous groups from their own traditional lands and the destruction of the natural resources they depend upon for their livelihoods and cultural survival.