A vast labyrinth of 250,000 books, entitled aMAZEme, has been installed on The Clore Ballroom in the Royal Festival Hall, London between 31 July - 25 August, as part of Southbank Centre's Festival of the World with Mastercard. The project has been created by Brazilian artists Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo, in collaboration with production company HungryMan. Inspired by the writer and educator JL Borges, the maze forms...

Lack of Political Courage by Major Players Blamed for Delay in Negotiations     New York  : The fight to end the illegal and irresponsible arms trade goes on after delegates at the United Nations failed to reach consensus and agree an Arms Trade Treaty, say campaigners. The Control Arms coalition says the lack of agreement on a final text was disappointing but not the end of the story.  They say,...

Muslim families can make a huge difference to impoverished communities in the occupied Palestinian territory this Ramadan by buying Fair Trade dates grown by Palestinian farmers. Oxfam, MADE in Europe and Palestinian date and olive oil suppliers, Zaytoun have come together to ask Muslims to buy ethically-sourced dates when they shop for their iftar ingredients.   With the challenges facing the Palestinian rural economy, due to Israeli...

Tens of thousands of people will be left without aid in Yemen's hunger crisis unless more money is urgently given to the aid effort, Oxfam and Islamic Relief warned today.  Nearly a quarter of the population are in need of emergency aid to survive because they do not have enough food to eat.   The aid agencies said they needed an additional $38 million to carry out their work and have been forced to delay aid programmes...

Oxfam is delighted to announce Livia Firth as its newest Global Ambassador, joining among others Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Scarlett Johansson, and Coldplay's Chris Martin to partner the charity in its campaigning and fundraising work.   Livia has supported Oxfam for many years and has visited its programs in Bangladesh and Zambia. She has helped Oxfam to raise funds in the UK, America and in her native Italy, and she and...

One year after the declaration of famine in Somalia, a quarter of the country’s population is still surviving on humanitarian aid and more than a million people could fall back into food crisis in the next two months, international agency Oxfam warned today. The agency is calling on the international community to increase investment in both emergency aid and long-term development so Somalis can sustain themselves through drought...

In response to the failure of Mark Hendrick's Private Members Bill, the International Development (Assistance  Target) Bill, to gain a Second Reading, Kathleen Spencer Chapman, Oxfam's Head of Government Relations, said: "It is very unfortunate that one MP has decided to stand against the wishes of the vast majority of the House of Commons and block efforts to give legal force to Britain's promises to the world's...

Tens of thousands of lives at risk with money for vital services set to run out in two to three months One year since images of Somalis fleeing famine and conflict and pouring into Dadaab captured the world's attention, the largest refugee camp in the world is facing a critical funding shortage which will affect at least 200,000 people if $25m isn't raised, a group of seven aid agencies said today. The agencies called on the international...

Commenting on the Prime Minister's speech at today's DFID/Gates Family Planning Summit Kathleen Spencer Chapman, Oxfam senior policy adviser, said: "Using British aid to give women in poor countries greater choice over whether to become pregnant will save lives and is something of which we can be proud. We are delighted that the Prime Minister continues to make the case for aid to the UK public. "To realise...