Perth, Australia: Australian Premier Alan Carpenter seek tax breaks for emergency service volunteers. He said there was no doubt that the work of emergency service volunteers was highly regarded and admired by governments at all levels and the wider Australian community.  Read article

London, UK: The pressures of getting on the property ladder and holding on to a good job are preventing professionals in their 30s and 40s from taking time out to volunteer in developing countries.  Read article

Dublin, Ireland: Ireland today launched the Rapid Response Corps programme to fill gaps in emergency disaster relief and calls on highly skilled professionals to volunteer for humanitarian operations in "challenging" situations.   Read article

Udon Thani, Thailand: Watch out, the "Bird Flu Busters" are on their way.  These are children dressed as chickens marched through the streets of Thailand chanting slogans and waving banners bearing simple facts on how to prevent the spread of avian influenza.  Read article

Beijing, China: More than 320,000 people have volunteered to work at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The large number means many Olympic fans will be disappointed, since Beijing organizers will need only 70,000 volunteers for the Summer Games with 30,000 more for the Paralympics.  Read article

London, UK: Around 700 volunteer and community organizations will share a £23.9 million pot of government grants, Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis has announced. This will fund the Health Department's volunteer-related projects that support high quality health and social care in England.   Read article

Nairobi, Kenya: A 14km run through slums in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, marked the end of the World Social Forum (WSF) on Thursday, after five days of meetings and demonstrations attended by about 46,000 delegates from all over the world.  Read article

Kampala, Uganda: United Way, a non-governmental organisation based in the US has opened a charity branch in Uganda last Friday. United Way who focuses mainly on volunteering to help the unprivileged, has been in Uganda for the last two years but was yet to be formally launched.  Read article

Maputo, Mozambique: The Mozambican Red Cross will begin training hundreds of volunteer workers to manage antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people in their care living with HIV/AIDS.   Read article

Bonn, Germany: When German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul recently announced her plan for a new voluntary service abroad program, she said she was simply reacting to an unmet demand.  Read article