London, UK: Immigrants should do community work to help them settle before being granted UK citizenship, Chancellor Gordon Brown has said.  Read article

Foster parents in New Zealand may soon be paid a fee for their services - changing a long tradition of volunteering.  Read article

Kampala, Uganda: When many people think of aid to Africa, they imagine sacks of grain for the starving or blankets for the homeless. But in Uganda, one volunteer-involving charity is offering something different: swimming lessons.  Read article

In Swaziland in southern Africa one in 10 households is run by a child. Society has been hollowed out by HIV and Aids. Orphans are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Some men infected by HIV believe they can be cured by having sex with a child. But now Unicef has set up a unique scheme to protect them.   Read article

London, UK: Volunteering is increasingly centred on the volunteers' benefits according to an online survey released by Volunteering England (VE), the national development agency for volunteering in the UK.  Read article

Toronto, Canada: A coalition of international service organizations in Canada is calling on returned overseas volunteers to join a new movement called Global Citizens for Change and fight poverty at home.  Read article

Nassau, Bahamas: A foreigner doing volunteer work was allegedly arrested by Bahamas Immigration because she did not have a permit to do that type of service in The Bahamas.   Read article

More than 61 million Americans donated their time to charity last year, the lowest number of volunteers in four years, according to new data from the US federal government.  Read article

Singapore City, Singapore: The Singapore Commissioner of Charities (CoC) has said tightened charity registration will not discourage the spirit of volunteerism. Nine in 10 Singaporeans support stricter charity and volunteering rules.   Read article

Hawaii, USA: The American Red Cross Hawaii state has mandated background checks for volunteers nationwide, including board members, after accusations of impropriety among volunteers surfaced in the aftermath of Katrina. The new rule is unprecedented for one of the nation's most well-known charities, and officials of the Hawaii chapter are concerned that the organization will lose some of its 2,000 local volunteers over the issue.  Read article