Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007) is very impressive indeed. This is, however, not immediately evident; a sense that is confirmed by Joseph Stiglitz' review of the book. Even before I read it, I was certain that the Nobel laureate would highlight Klein's attempt to make a connection between the electric shock experiments performed by the notorious McGill University psychologist Ewen Cameron who was on contract with the CIA and the economic shock approach developed by Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago.

The £100 million over five years was announced by Douglas Alexander, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development, who called on leaders of the world's poorest countries, especially in Africa, to make women's health a priority on the opening day of Women Deliver, a three-day global conference aimed to reduce maternal deaths. Maternal deaths remain high, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. A woman in Africa faces a 1 in 26 lifetime risk of maternal death compared to 1 in 8,200 in the United Kingdom.

Zimbabwe and China have relations dating back to the southern African country’s 1970s liberation struggle when Beijing provided arms and training to the black nationalist movement fighting the white minority government of Ian Smith. The friendship was rekindled when President Robert Mugabe, shunned by former friends in the West over the political crisis in his country, adopted a "Look East" policy forging stronger ties with countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) will organize a consultative conference for civil society stakeholders on the setting up of the Fundamental Rights Platform on 10 – 11 December in Brussels. This conference will end FRA’s consultations on the subject that started shortly after the launch of the Agency in April by an open website consultation. FRA will be able to cover the costs of participation of some of the participating organizations.

The European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and the Venice International University (VIU) are pleased to announce their annual European Summer School in Resource and Environmental Economics for postgraduate students. The 2008 Summer School will take place from the 6th to the 12th of July, at the VIU campus on the Island of San Servolo, in Venice, located just in front of St. Mark’s Square. The theme of this Summer School is Space in Unified Models of Economy and Ecology. Deadline for application: February 1st, 2008.

Google and the Open Handset Alliance's open platform has released its software developer kit (SDK) and issues a mobile application challenge that includes a call for applications for humanitarian benefit and economic development. The challenge will issue a total of $10 million USD, initially in a first phase that will award $25,000 each to 50 applications received by March 3rd, 2008.

France's tighter immigration policies are making it even harder for HIV-positive undocumented migrants to survive, despite laws allowing foreigners who are ill the right to stay in the country to seek treatment. In theory, France treats its HIV-positive immigrants well - they are entitled to free healthcare, and even those whose residence status is still being determined get free treatment after three months if they cannot afford to pay.

Zimbabwean Lazarus Moyo is a 'failed' asylum seeker to the UK who got lucky. Diagnosed HIV positive a few years ago, he has been receiving free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment at a London clinic thanks to his involvement in a drug study programme. But his luck could be about to turn: the two-year study has come to an end, and with it the money from the pharmaceutical firm that had been funding his treatment.

The government of Niger has launched a probe into the extent of slavery in the impoverished West African country, an official said on Friday. Unofficial estimates put the number of slaves at about 800 000. "The government wants to really know if there are people living in these conditions [of slavery] or whether these are just baseless allegations," said Garba Lompo, head of the National Commission of Basic Rights.

The Netherlands has told its ambassadors in countries receiving foreign aid they must lobby those nations to decriminalize homosexuality and provide LGBT civil rights. The announcement was made in the Netherlands' Parliament by Development Minister Bert Koenders. The Netherlands is a major donor to developing nations giving almost $6-billion annually - mostly in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Some viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccine may damage the immune system by exhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines. They said vaccines using the viruses should not be tested on people until more studies are done. But other vaccine experts said the findings, while scientifically interesting, were not a cause for immediate alarm.

South Africa's agriculture and land affairs minister, Lulu Xingwana on Thursday fired five of the embattled Land Bank's senior board members. The five including board chairperson Lungile Mazwai, and Directors Litha Nyhonyha, Charles Davies, Raisibe Morathi and Moira Tlhagale were fired amid claims that they mismanaged over R1 billion of bank fund.

The biofuels bonanza will crash unless producers can guarantee their crops have been produced responsibly, the UN's environment agency chief has said. Achim Steiner of the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said there was an urgent need for standards to make sure rainforests weren't being destroyed.

Eight (8) Yvonne Hibbard scholarships will be awarded by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) to attend the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2008 - CSW 52. Deadline for submission is 19 November. Contact: [email][email protected]

LOVA invites social science scholars to participate in this international conference by presenting their research in an individual paper or panel. We particularly encourage participants to submit audio-visuals and other alternative ways of presenting their research. Participants may register through sending individual paper or panel proposals to [email][email protected] before February 1, 2008.

Applications are invited for participation in the Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning to be held 13-17 July 2008 at the University of London. This forum has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on learning and global development. PCF5 in London will explore how open and distance learning can help achieve international development goals and education for all. The conference theme is "Access to Learning for Development" with a focus on children and young people, health, livelihoods, social justice, conflict and governance. The deadline for applications is 30 November 2007.

The MDG Dashboard presents the Millennium Development Goals indicators in a highly communicative format aimed at decision-makers and citizens interested in the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development. This free database provides 60 MDG indicators for about 200 countries and 15 years (1990-2005) based on original United Nations statistics (updated in July 2007). The developers of this tool, IISD and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, JRC, hope that these indicators will contribute to an informed debate following the MDG+5 High Level Event, the so-called Millennium Review Summit.

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, together with the ILO and the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Communities/Populations in Africa, are carrying out a research project on the promotion of indigenous peoples’ rights through the implementation of ILO Convention No. 169 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. We are seeking persons with good research and writing skills and extensive experience in the rights of indigenous communities within particular African countries, to undertake desk top reviews of a number of countries in Africa. Deadine: 19 November 2007

The expulsion of the top U.N. humanitarian official from South Darfur will hinder efforts to provide aid to some 1 million aid-dependent Darfuris by removing a key member of the aid team, officials said on Thursday. Wael al-Haj Ibrahim was the 11th aid worker expelled from Sudan this year and the second Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) staff member expelled from South Darfur state in six months.

A coalition of non-governmental organisations from Europe, North America, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has launched an international appeal demanding the publication of the final report of the ministerial commission on the review of mining contracts without delay.