One of the world’s most respected scientists is embroiled in an extraordinary row after claiming that black people are less intelligent than white people. James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has provoked outrage with his comments, made ahead of his arrival in Britain.

Applications are invited from nationals of non-OECD countries for a number of two-year fellowships to work on development and the role of developing countries in the world political economy. Up to six such fellowships will be awarded in each of the next five years, beginning in September 2008, for a year’s study at Oxford followed by a year at Princeton. Post-holders will be provided with appropriate stipends sufficient to cover full living costs. The programme intends to establish a network of leading scholar-practitioners in global governance.

Environmental groups in Gabon demanded on Thursday the government reveal the terms of a $3 billion iron ore mining deal with China, saying they feared the huge project could damage an area of virgin forest. The project, awarded to state-owned China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp., is for the construction of an big iron ore mine in the Belinga mountains of Gabon's remote northeast Ogooue-Ivindo province. The Chinese group expects to complete the mine in three years.

Doris Lessing, author of dozens of works from short stories to science fiction, including the classic ‘The Golden Notebook,’ won the Nobel Prize for literature on Thursday. She was praised by the judges for her “scepticism, fire and visionary power.” Because of her criticism of the South African regime, and its apartheid system, she was prohibited from entering the country between 1956 and 1995. Lessing, who was a member of the British Communist Party in the 1950s, had also campaigned against nuclear weapons.

The Center for Reproductive Rights along with partners filed the first human rights legal challenge to a faith-based sex-education program based in the U.S. The program, TeenSTAR, promotes abstinence, discourages the use of contraception, reinforces gender stereotypes, and fosters discrimination against the LGBT community. If the case is successful, it could lay the groundwork for more successful challenges against similar faith-based programs (including those funded by the U.S.-government) in other countries around the world.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's plan to create a regional lending bank will be beneficial for South America. The former World Bank economist said the Bank of the South, due to be founded in Caracas next month, is an important initiative aimed at helping boost Latin America's development.

The International Monetary Fund has warned Congo to beware of the macroeconomic effects of a planned $5 billion loan from China to modernise the vast African country's decrepit infrastructure and mining industry. President Joseph Kabila's government announced plans last month for the huge loan from China, which would be paid back partly in mining concessions and tolls from road and railways.

On October 10th, 2007, the World Day against the Death Penalty focuses on the proposed UN General Assembly resolution for a universal moratorium on executions. The proposal would save lives and give the population of retentionist states an opportunity to see for themselves that a pause in death sentences does not lead to higher crime rates.

Oxfam’s Country Programme Managers never cease to amaze. They make decisions that affect the lives of millions in whole countries and provide solutions that bring lasting changes to all sorts of communities the world over. Right now, we’re looking to build a pool of candidates from a wide range of backgrounds with humanitarian and relief experience to take on these roles So if you can bring direction to some of the world’s most challenging environments in humanitarian, development and advocacy work, read on.

The World Bank is preparing to launch its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) which aims to catalyse the market for carbon emissions credits from avoided deforestation, according to watchdog organization, The Bretton Woods Project. However many forestry experts are unconvinced, given the possibility that this framework will benefit industrial scale logging and in light of previous IFI-induced forestry disasters, for example in the DRC.

Over 20,000 girls under 15 at high risk of FGM in England and Wales A study published by FORWARD, the UK charity which leads the campaign to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM), reveals that over 20,000 girls under 15 could be at risk of FGM in the UK.

The Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) calls for scientific articles in all areas of education for the maiden edition of the Journal of Educational Research in Africa (JERA), a social science review. JERA, a long time objective of ERNWACA, will help promote quality research relevant to African contexts and should help teachers, educational administrators and policymakers gain analytical in-depth understanding of contemporary educational issues.

A burial ground for African slaves, which had been forgotten for almost two centuries, has been opened to the public in New York. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and poet Maya Angelou attended a dedication ceremony for a monument at the site. The late 17th Century burial site was gradually built over as New York expanded, but was rediscovered during an excavation in 1991.

Controversial both inside and outside the institution, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) strategy in low-income countries was debated at a recent panel that questioned whether or not the IMF should exit low-income countries. The role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in low-income countries (LICs) is a highly controversial issue both inside and outside the institution, as reported in the findings by the external committee on World Bank-IMF collaboration, known as the Malan Committee.

How do firms decide to provide HIV/AIDS prevention services? In this CGD Working Paper, Visiting Fellow Vijaya Ramachandran analyzes data from 860 firms and 4,955 workers in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. She finds that larger firms, and those with more highly skilled workers invest more in AIDS prevention. Firms in which more than 50 percent of workers are unionized are also more likely to do more prevention activity.

The executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is urging action as concerns the transmission of HIV to children through sexual abuse, incest and early teenage sex. Many outreach programmes target HIV-positive pregnant women and young children, and progress is being made in this arena, Peter Piot told IPS during a recent conference at Harvard Medical School in the eastern U.S. city of Boston.

Ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this November, Maja Daruwala says that African heads need to lead on issues of concern to the Continent and not leave it to others to finger point.

A high-level dialogue entitled Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus African countries will take place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the 1st and 2nd of October 2007. This event is organized by the African Development Bank, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in cooperation with the World Bank and hosted by the Government of Tanzania.

Commonwealth presidents and prime ministers, who meet every two years in a CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) almost always say something about human rights. But there are huge differences between comments which are banal, and commitments which lead to specific action by the Commonwealth Secretariat and member governments.

Growing evidence shows that getting and keeping young people in school, particularly girls, dramatically lowers their vulnerability to HIV. By itself, merely attending primary school makes young people significantly less likely to contract HIV. When young people stay in school through the secondary level, education’s protective effect against HIV is even more pronounced.