Dr Darsi Ferrer is one of the most important civil rights leaders in Cuba today, and a tireless, courageous fighter against social exclusion. Dr Ferrer was arrested more than three months ago, and jailed on absurd, untrue charges of having 'stolen materials' from the state.

Well known gay rights activist, Zanele Muholi, has been awarded a Fanny Ann Eddy accolade, by the International Resource Network in Africa (IRN-Africa), for her outstanding contributions in the study of sexuality in Africa, at the recent Genders & Sexualities in Africa Conference held in Syracuse, New York.

Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation fighting corruption worldwide, will release its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on 17 November 2009. The index ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. Released annually since 1995, the CPI helps to highlight the propensity of domestic corruption and its damaging influence.

The human rights record of the Zambian military is being tested in court by two former air force officers who allege they were fired for being HIV positive. Stanley Kingaipe and Charles Chookole claim they were tested and treated for HIV without their knowledge, and then discharged for being medically unfit a year later.

In this week’s [mp3] The Kennedy Thirteen, members of the embattled shackdwellers’ movememt Abahlali baseMjondolo are arraigned in court, miners stage a sit-in at a Mpumalanga mine, and Tanzanian workers push for salary review implementation. This bulletin is part of a partnership between Worker’s World Media Productions and Pambazuka News that seeks to highlight labour issues affecting Africa’s workers.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum unreservedly condemns the arrest and detention of NANGO Board Chairperson Dadirai Chikwengo and Chief Executive Officer Cephas Zinhumwe on Sunday, 25 October 2009. The conduct of the police in Victoria Falls is reminiscent of the repression and clamp down on Civil Society and political opposition forces that was taking place before the inception of the Inclusive Government.

Burkina NTIC has launched a social network platform to prepare West Africa’s first regional forum on marketing agricultural products through ICT. The event will take place 23-25 November in Ouagadougou, and the platform will help deepen the discussions and share the outcomes with a wider international audience. Burkina NTIC is the national ICT for development network.

Immigration officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008.

Private radio stations have cancelled political programmes in Guinea as journalists continue to be harassed by opposition supporters and the military after last month's massacre at an opposition rally, says the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).

Amadou Diouf et Ambroise Gomis

Samir Amin

Renaud Vivien, Damien Millet, Eric Toussaint

In Kenya two international cables – Seacom and TEAMS – have arrived but a fierce row has broken out over pricing. On the Government-backed TEAMS cable, Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo has said loudly and publicly that rates should come down to nearer US$200 per mbps. The cable’s owners say they have to recoup their money and that there will plenty of time later for prices to come down.

Key players in the global trade arena have not shown the kind of flexibility to indicate that a Doha deal could be reached in the next year or so, International Trade and Economic Development Deputy Director General Xavier Carim has said.

Less than 100 kilometres from the second-largest dam in Africa, women walk with their babies strapped on their back, water pails balanced on their heads. They walk slowly, their bodies tired. And as night falls, and darkness hits the red sand of the dirt road, they disappear into the dark.

Video footage collected from YouTube leaves little doubt that the riots in Kampala last month were met with excessive use of force by the Ugandan police and military forces. An unestablished number of demonstrators and ordinary civilians, most likely in excess of 20, were killed, and many more injured by stray bullets and through heavy baton beatings.

A recent UN report documents the humanitarian impact of the blockade imposed by Israel since June 2007 on the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip. It focuses on the effects of the import and export restrictions and the travel ban to and from Gaza on livelihoods, food security, education, health, shelter, energy and water and sanitation

The economic crisis is a fresh reason to meet Millennium Development Goal targets, not an excuse to miss them, said European Commission president Jose-Manuel Barroso, opening the dialogue at the fourth edition of the European Development Days (EDD).

Leaders of the Southern African Development Community have urged Member States to implement the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security to boost production and improve access to food in the region. SADC Heads of State and Government noted at their annual Summit that the region is lagging behind in implementing the plan.

In an Italian city a room full of people rose to their feet and applauded for five long minutes. No, it wasn’t the opening of the “La Scala” operatic season. It was the closing session of the heretofore unremarkable Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)

Eleven years ago, Raloke Odetoyinbo had been married for two years and a month when she found out she was HIV positive. In that moment she thought she had lost her chance of ever having children because, she said, she believed that her child would be born HIV positive.

Algeria is acting to reduce the high unemployment rate that afflicts young people, with steps that include new social benefits and government funding for public sector job creation. One key step involves a monthly government payment of 6,000 dinars to unemployed people, especially youth, as part of wider efforts to tackle an unemployment rate officially estimated at 11%.