(Picture from Out Beyond Ideas)

Kind of busy here today, but I thought I'd troll through some of my recommended links for stories, as well as clean out some of my backlog of stories and links from my e-mail. So here's the news of the day:

*Over at the Acumen Fund Blog, Jacqueline Novogratz writes about visiting technology entrepreneurs in rural India.

*The AIDS Matters blog notifies us that Ashoka is giving out grants of $5,000 to individuals or organizations "with good ideas for 'how to improve health for all'." Deadline is May 24th.

*Muhammad Yunus: Microcredit Missionary, at Business Week.

*Professor J. Gregory Dees, Faculty Director, of Duke's Fuqua School of Business Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), examines entrepreneurship in philanthropy.

*The latest Journal of Business Ethics is out. Via CSR News.

*Development Researcher asks 'Does good governance contribute to pro-poor growth?'

*In Haiti, Digicel is giving away free phones and activation to anyone who trades in a cell phone they currently have with Comcel, currently the country's largest provider. From Development Seed.

*Blogging the Sustainable Energy Forum over at Ecological Economics.

*Facing North and South checks out the recent report from Global Witness on natural resources in Central Asia.

*High rates of farmer sucides in rural India? I'd heard the same thing about Sri Lanka when I was there. More at Fractured Earth.

*May 13 is World Fair Trade Day. More at Global Exchange.

*Mother's Day is around the corner, and Global Giving tells how you can help other mothers around the world.

*The Globalization Institute has a debate on free trade vs targeted protection.

*Kenya farmers establishing carbon trade niche, from Innovations in Emerging Markets.

*Actor Matt Damon visits UN anti-poverty projects on advocacy tour in Zambia, from the Poverty News Blog.

*The SEEP Network is inviting Expressions of Interest from qualified MFIs to participate in action research on using consumer lending and microfinance to expand access to energy services.

*Social Enterprise Reporter with an article on Measuring Social Impact.

*UN says the need is ripe to address the 2.4 billion people who lack modern energy services. EU sends Dimas to discuss. UN releases report on Trends in Sustainable Development.

*Ricoh sponsors sustainable development award at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2006.

*And finally, from really out there, some right-wing nutcrackers see 'sustainable development' as a Marxist plot.