Early Saturday morning, five New York police officers fired 50 shots at a car carrying Sean Bell, who had just left his bachelors party on the eve of his wedding with two friends. On Monday Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the shooting of the unarmed men was "unacceptable" and "inexplicable."

A clampdown on lone children who come to Britain seeking asylum is being drawn up by the Home Office, which will argue that a large proportion are economic migrants seeking a better life. The move has alarmed refugee groups, who say the thousands of unaccompanied teenagers arriving in the UK every year should be treated as children first and suspects second.

Universities in five African countries are set to gain from a new computer grid. African scientists will be able to connect up with fellow researchers who have moved overseas through a 'grid computing' project. Launched by UNESCO this week (20 November) and co-sponsored by the information technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP), the initiative aims to tackle the brain drain that plagues Africa's scientific sector.

The WSF 2007 Secretariat proudly presents the second edition of the WSF 2007 Newsletter - now ready for download. The Secretariat of the Organising Committee of the World Social Forum 2007 is very happy to share with you the second edition of our Newsletter from Nairobi.

How many hours a day do you spend using some kind of ICT tool? Have you ever wondered how it connects with violence against women? Can things like mobile phones, webcams, blogs and videogames transform power relations between women and men?

The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else.’ (Keynes) As the famous quote by Keynes reflects, breakthrough ideas in economics and political philosophy can change history, but what are the processes that shape their spread?

The African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, is offering an Oxford Nigeria Scholarship in African Studies for the academic year 2006-7. This scholarship is sponsored by Oxford and Cambridge society of Nigeria. The award is available only for study on the MSc in African Studies, and is open to citizens of Nigeria.

On the annual Thanksgiving holiday, commemorated this Thursday (23 November 2006), millions of U.S. families gather to eat turkey and sweet potatoes. Another crowd, distinctly less festive, assembles in the state of Massachusetts to mourn. This gathering overlooks Plymouth Rock, where European settlers landed in 1620, and is called yearly to condemn continuing violence and discrimination against Native American people.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational program of the Open Society Institute (OSI), joins with Central European University (CEU) to announce the Justice Initiative Fellows Program for 2007-2009. The aim of the program is to support and further develop a network of lawyers and activists working on human rights related issues internationally.

The ultimate challenge and objective of this conference is to encourage Africanists across the disciplines to think about rights in ways more consonant with local struggles over power and its meaning, and to consider how they might establish more meaningful conversations among the academic world, the world of international and non-governmental agencies, and the worlds in which people strive to imagine, define, create, and defend their rights in Africa and its diasporas.

Many rejected asylum seekers are living from hand to mouth with all avenues to a normal life blocked. Most live in abject poverty, stripped of their dignity, relying on others to subsist, sometimes going hungry and sleeping in the streets. Many appear to have given up hope of ever being able to live a normal life and some have lost the will to live.

Having destroyed large part of its human and natural resources during the country's fifty years of wars is it possible for Angola to become the China of the African continent. Well, that is the assumption of Credit Guarantee, South Africa's largest insurer of company debtors.

Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced tens of thousands around the world. Over the past few years, the international community's response to these catastrophes has become even swifter and more sophisticated. Until very recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid to these people, little attention was paid to the rights of these displaced people.

International human rights law complements international refugee law. Refugee law does not supercede human rights law as lex specialis if the human rights norm offers more protection. Hence the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees are the primary instruments for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, but international human rights law and the treaty bodies established under these treaties can offer additional protection in different situations.

As the Sudanese government escalates attacks against civilians in Darfur, and as it reportedly reneges on a new compromise agreement for a hybrid peacekeeping force, Africa Action urges the U.S. and other members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to stop making concessions to Khartoum and to stand firm in the pursuit of an international peacekeeping force that can provide protection for the people of Darfur.

In this issue, we turn our attention to Ethiopia's development in the 20th and 21st Century. Lily Yokye's profile of Addis Alemayehu details the life of a young Ethiopian from the Diaspora who is assisting Ethiopia's private sector to expand their export to the developed world. Addis urges Ethiopians in the Diaspora to do their bit by investing their money and know how in the development of our beloved country.

Fair trade business is booming across the Western world, which can only be good news for the millions of poor farmers struggling to survive in the face of collapsing commodity prices and ruthless multinationals, right? Maybe, but as fair trade goes mainstream, formerly-clear distinctions about who really benefits are getting blurry.

The new African-Chinese economic and diplomatic partnership, manifested in the pact signed by China and 48 African countries in Beijing this month, is unsettling European leaders and analysts, who continue to see Africa as Europe's backyard. French analysts and politicians have been calling attention to China's growing presence in Africa for many months.

Isn't it expensive to be a Knight Fellow in Palo Alto? Yes, and for that reason, in addition to a $55,000 stipend (paid in10 monthly installments, September through June), we provide supplements for housing, childcare and health insurance. The housing supplements are $2,500 annually for single Fellows, married Fellows and those with domestic partners; $8,500 annually for Fellows with one child and $11,500 annually for Fellows with two or more children.

The aim of the course is to provide information on the United Nations (UN) human rights system by looking at the work and outcome of the Human Rights Council. The course is scheduled parallel to the fourth session of the Human Rights Council (12 March-6 April 2007).