If the plight of the Kosovar refugees has led you to consider making a donation then a new law is on your side

THOUSANDS OF callers jammed telephone donation hotlines within an hour of the televised launch yesterday of the official charity appeal for Kosovar refugees.

BRITISH CHARITIES, co- ordinated by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) will step up efforts today to increase aid to refugees fleeing the horrors of Serb attacks in Kosovo by beginning a joint television appeal for urgent donations.

THE SIGHT of African schoolchildren gathered enthusiastically for class in the shade of a tree is becoming rarer, and poverty is increasing as a consequence, Oxfam will warn today.

Sir: I was overjoyed to read Natasha Walter's column (15 March). A successful feminist, she has the imagination and empathy to understand that not all mothers wish to work outside the home while their children are small.

Knowing where - and how - to shop is the key to stylish dressing. And we're not talking Bond Street, says Melanie Rickey

The press roasted Helen Mirren for her recent performance in `Anthony and Cleopatra', but the tables are turned when she takes to the road for Oxfam in South Africa. Marina Cantacuzino joined her. Photographs by Brian Moody

MILITARY EQUIPMENT refused an export licence by the Belgian government may have been flown out of Britain instead, a report out today suggests. The goods disappeared, probably somewhere in Africa, before they reached their stated destination.

Hannah Hunter meets the post-punk punters at an exhibition of vintage Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren clothes

The arms code might not stop one shipment. But the Foreign Secretary deserves credit for any code at all

AID organisations are having to find extra cash to compensate field workers whose salaries are no longer tax-free.

JARVIS Cocker does it. So do Paul McCartney and Brian May. According to a new survey, Britain spends pounds 5bn a year at charity shops, second-hand shops and car-boot sales.

POST offices and small shops in threatened country villages could become charities under radical proposals being considered by the Charity Commission.

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