THE country faces a deficit of about three million bags of maize.

On Wednesday, the European Union gave Tanzania some 555 million euros (Sh950 billion) in budget support.

Rather than "graduating" from the much-criticized economic reform programmes promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a number of African countries are opting to sign on to an extended version.

The Indian High Commissioner to Namibia Tsewanga Topden yesterday on behalf of his government contributed to easing the plight and wellbeing of the people in flood-stricken areas by donating close to N$2 million in cash.

President Umaru Yar'Adua yesterday called on Nigerians to partner with the Red Cross in addressing the humanitarian needs of society.

KOBIL has offered sh11.8m to Mother Support Initiate, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Donors should empower Africa in food production instead of focusing on food relief, a UN official has said.

An American businessman is enlisting support from President Ernest Bai Koroma to build a power plant and new schools in Sierra Leone.

Finance and Economic Affairs minister Mustafa Mkulo chats with the Head of the European Commission Delegation in Tanzania,Ambassador Tim Clarke,at the launch of the National Strategic Paper and Country Indicative Programme in Dar es salaam yesterday

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector funding wing of the World Bank, announced on Tuesday that it has signed with the Mozambican government an investment programme to develop the tourism sector in the country.

Angola Savings and Credit Bank (BPC) on Wednesday in Ondjiva, southern Cunene Province, donated various goods to assist the victims of the heavy rains that fell in the city from February to April this year, in this region.

The Lazarus Shinyemba Ipangwelwa (LSI Foundation) made a milestone contribution when it funded a Grade 12 revision workshop aimed at improving learners' results, on Friday at Ruacana Vocational Secondary School.

The Kamuli district local government has given 1,400 iron sheets to over 20 primary schools for roofing buildings damaged by storms in the past two years, reports Doreen Musingo.

Five-month-old Esther Amutusiimire needs $14,900 (about sh25m) for open heart surgery in India, writes Chris Kiwawulo. Amutusiimire has a congenital heart disease (Truncus Arteriosus type II), said the Uganda Heart Institute, Mulago.

The increasing number of accidents has led to the high demand for blood, a health official has said. Ambrose Magombe, a laboratory assistant with the Nakasero Blood Bank, said about 138,000 units of blood were consumed annually.

The "Pooled Fund" which was established by the international community in 2006 and is coordinated by the United Nations has allocated $60 million to 163 humanitarian projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The Principal Counselor, Harvestfield Educational Services, Mrs. Elsie Otegbade, has called on governments at all levels, as well as corporate organisations and other stakeholders, to increase educational support for youths in the form of grants and scholarships.

African development experts have expressed disappointment over conditions set by donor countries before getting aid.

Worldwide, too many people still go hungry. More than half a million women die, needlessly, in childbirth each year. Some 10 million children die every year from preventable diseases, half of them in Africa. This is deplorable and unacceptable.

An international conference that brings together representatives of the global lighting industry opened yesterday in Accra, Ghana. It could not have come at a critical time.

Small farmers and agricultural enterprises are the main beneficiaries of a financing partnership launched on 6 May to help them break out of poverty and commercialise farming.

One of America's noticeable NGOs, Mercy Corps, is making a case for funding to intervene in the agriculture sector, preferably the production of cash crops such as cocoa.

Following a week-long visit to Liberia by a team of International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts, Fund Mission Chief, Robert Powell, has argued that to help reach the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) goals, the authorities involved should refine the costing of PRS measures.

WORLD Bank President Robert Zoellick says due to the sharp increase of global food prices the bank would help countries in sub-Saharan Africa with more loans for agriculture.

THE American government will support displaced people who voluntarily return to their homes.