The University and College Union (UCU) has said a national bursary scheme is required to ensure that all students can access funds to which they are entitled. They described the current system of bursaries as “ludicrous” and suggested it was failing in the aim of encouraging significant numbers of students from lower-income backgrounds.

Their comments follow a report from the university access watchdog, OFFA, which suggests that the amount of financial aid which students currently receive is random.

The report also found that universities with a poor track record of widening participation could spend less on student support rather than more.

A university that has a lot of students from low-income backgrounds is likely to be able to give those students only small bursaries because of the pressure on its total pot of money. However, a university with few students from low-income backgrounds will be able to offer larger bursaries to those students and to support students from wealthier backgrounds.

The money available in bursaries to individual students at any institution can vary year-on-year depending on the number of students from different social backgrounds.

UCU, which represents academic and teaching staff, said its case was strengthened by OFFA’s own research which shows that only two-fifths of students looked for information on bursaries before applying to university. The watchdog’s findings also revealed that one in ten higher education advisors was not aware of bursaries and many of those who had heard of them had “significant gaps in their knowledge”.

“How much financial support universities offer students is a complete lottery,” said the UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, “It is ludicrous that students’ financial aid is decided in such a random and unfair way”.

She added, “Universities doing the most to attract students from the poorest backgrounds are unable to offer those students the vital funds they need to survive at university. A national scheme would be much easier to navigate and would ensure that those tasked with offering advice to students can point them towards much-needed funds.”

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The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged governments and people around the world to “choose life” as they mark the 65th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Japan.

Hiroshima was bombed 65 years ago today (6 August), followed by Nagasaki three days later. Hundreds of thousands of people died in each city as a direct or indirect result of the bombs, dropped by US forces with the backing of the UK.

The Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said that society must find “new resolve to protect the sanctity of life”.

“The Bible urges us to ‘choose life’ so that all may live,” he added.

He said that, sixty-five years after the first nuclear weapons were used, “nuclear bombs still threaten humanity and deny a lasting peace”.

Addressing current controversies over nuclear proliferation, he added, “There is also a legacy that since 1945 the world is divided into two camps, a handful of states that assert the right to have weapons of mass annihilation and the majority of states that do not”.

His words are likely to be taken as criticism of those governments that maintain nuclear weapons – the USA, Russia, China, France, the UK, Israel, India, Pakistan and possibly North Korea.

Tveit recognized that strides have been made to eliminate nuclear weapons. “People of faith are standing together for a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.

The WCC and its member churches are promoting the ratification of a new arms control agreement between the United States and Russia and reform of NATO’s nuclear policy.

“The atomic bomb survivors of 1945 continue to live lives of courage and endurance, witnessing to the hope that no one will ever again suffer as they have suffered,” said Tveit.

Also on EkklesiaHiroshima and Nagasaki: active remembrance, by Olav Fykse Tveit -http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12804

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The Green Party are hoping to win the majority of seats on a city council for the first time as they gear up for local elections in Norwich. The Greens are already the second biggest party on Norwich City Council, which will hold elections on 9 September.

The Green Party gained their first Member of Parliament in this year's general election, when their leader Caroline Lucas was elected in Brighton Pavilion. The Party's second best showing was in Norwich South.

Although local elections are generally held in May, both Norwich and Exeter will go to the polls in September after a legal battle over council status.

A number of councillors were allowed to stay in office without facing elections this May, as the councils prepared to become unitary authorities that would take over certain county council services. But the decision on unitary status has now been reversed, leading the High Court to rule that sitting councillors must face by-elections.

The unusually timed election is an opportunity for the Green Party, as Norwich is high on the list of cities with strong Green support. Their Deputy Leader, Adrian Ramsay, is a councillor there.

Norwich Green Party candidates and councillors will take to the streets on Monday (9 August), a month before the city goes to the polls, to find out from local people how Norwich City Council could be more open and responsive. They say that they will put themselves “at the frontline of public opinion” by setting up an interview point in the city centre.

At a time when the Council faces difficult decisions, because of budget cuts imposed by the new coalition government, the Greens argue that maximum transparency is essential in everything the Council does. They say that councillors need to listen more closely than ever before to what local people say about how the money should be spent.

The Norwich Green Party is pledging to “do all they can to protect front-line services”. They accused the government of a “blunderbuss approach to public spending cuts”.

They will sound out local people on ideas for more openness. Suggestions include taking out Council meetings to local communities, asking for examples of Council wastefulness and allowing the public to choose priorities for spending cuts.

The Greens are keen to discuss participatory budgeting, a system which allows citizens to have a direct say in the allocation of part of the Council’s financial resources.

For those who may not have time to stop and talk in the street on Monday, there will also be a suggestion box for written ideas which people would like the Greens to consider.

“A few weeks ago I persuaded the Council to make the first move towards more openness,” said Claire Stephenson, seeking re-election as a Green councillor, “Councillors from all parties agreed to improve the system for scrutinising decisions that the ruling Executive councillors take”.

She added, “Now, with the election coming, we want to show we’re serious about moving further towards the Green vision of a City Council fully open to community participation. Part of that is to find out exactly how the people of Norwich want us to handle the difficult choices ahead, so we’re going out to ask them.”

The"Open Council"initiative is one of three main themes of the Green Party local election manifesto to be launched on Monday.

The Greens also want to take advantage of new arrangements which make it affordable for more households to opt for renewable energy and high-grade insulation to save money on their fuel bills, which can be done either by investing in partnership with energy companies, or by setting up their own Energy Services Company (or"ESCO").

The third strand of the Green manifesto will be a call to support the local economy partly through the"Buy Local"network. They say that this would not only encourage Norwich people to seek out locally produced goods and services but would also encourage local businesses to sign up others as suppliers.

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The relief and development agency Christian Aid is channelling money through its international network to provide food, shelter and medical assistance to some 50,000 people affected by floods that have killed at least 1,400 people in Pakistan.

"Pakistan is facing a humanitarian crisis,"commented Robin Greenwood, head of the NGO's Asia and Middle East division.

He continued:"Thousands of people are still waiting to receive assistance. It is crucial to get humanitarian aid to the people and the places that need it most."

Heavy monsoon rains which caused the worst floods on record have destroyed communities across five provinces of the country, demolishing entire villages, roads and bridges, and ruining fields and crops.

More than two million people are affected and many have no way of getting food. As waters subside there are now fears of water borne disease outbreaks and the spread of diarrhoea.

Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of 100 churches and church-related organisations that work together in humanitarian assistance and development, through which it is dispersing funds.

The Alliance's Pakistan Forum, comprising Church World Service - Pakistan/Afghanistan, Norwegian Church Aid and the German agency Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe are assisting in areas identified with the most urgent needs.

Government departments and many humanitarian agencies are focusing their efforts on the Northern provinces but there is also a desperate need for aid in the south west province of Balochistan.

Church World Service has already distributed food and temporary shelter there, and in other affected provinces.

A mobile health unit in Mansehra in the north is providing emergency health assistance to hundreds of patients, as well as providing free medicine and health education on water bourne disease.

Elsewhere, mobile health units will cover areas such as Kohistan, Swat and Balakot, a town which was destroyed in the 2005 earthquake.

At present, the rains have abated, but further deluges are expected over the coming days.

Christian Aid has also launched an emergency appeal in the UK in response to the devastating floods in Pakistan. Donations can be made to Christian Aid's Emergencies fund online or by calling 08080 004 004 (quote A010682 when making your donation).

Christian Aid is also part of the Disaster Emergency Committee, DEC, which launched the'DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal'yesterday, in a series of widely broadcast television and radio adverts.

The money raised will help fund the efforts in Pakistan of the DEC's Members - the leading UK aid agencies. They are: ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, CARE International UK, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Concern, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.

Members of the public can support the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal by calling 0370 60 60 900 or going towww.dec.org.uk

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Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman in Iran condemned to death for adultery, is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz prison, say campaigners as they step up pressure on the government.

Ashtiani’s human rights lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, is now in prison in Turkey having fled the country and claimed asylum to evade arrest for his advocacy work. The International Committee Against Stoning reports that his wife remains in prison in Iran - held hostage - until he is remanded into the regime’s custody.

Given Turkey’s close relations with Iran, Mostafaei may face deportation, even though he has applied for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees there.

Campaigners are concerned about the safety of Mostafaei and his wife. They are also extremely concerned for Ashtiani’s life. It is believed that the Iranian government may be preparing to execute her within the next few days, particularly given that the Tabriz prosecutor has demanded her execution and is now awaiting the Tehran high court’s confirmation.

In her heart-rending recent message, Ashtiani said: “I am now quiet and sad because a part of my heart is frozen. The day I was flogged in front of [my son] Sajjad, I was crushed and my dignity and heart were broken. The day I was given the stoning sentence, it was as if I fell into a deep hole and I lost consciousness.”

She continued: “Many nights, before sleeping, I think to myself how can anybody be prepared to throw stones at me; to aim at my face and hands? Why? I thank all of you from Tabriz Prison. Mrs [Mina] Ahadi, tell everyone that I’m afraid of dying. Help me stay alive and hug my children.”

As a result the public outcry, Brazilian president Lula da Silva offered Ashtiani asylum there. The offer was accepted but the Iranian government has rejected it and continues to push for her execution and to disseminate what her supporters says is misinformation about her case.

The authorities say they intend not to stone her but to execute her for murdering her husband. However, at the 30 July press conference in London, Mina Ahadi revealed court documents showing Ashtiani’s sentence of death by stoning for adultery.

Indeed, she was acquitted of any murder charges, and those found guilty of murdering her husband have not been executed at the request of the victim’s family.

At the conference, Maryam Namazie of Iran Solidarity refuted claims made by the Iranian embassy in London and the former French ambassador to Iran, that stonings in the country were rare. She cited a new report published by the International Committee against Executions which has found that over 100 people have been stoned with 25 known cases currently awaiting death by stoning in Iran.

More:http://stopstonningnow.com/

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