This is an American non-profit, non-governmental organization that gives developing-world journalists the opportunity to work as reporters at American newspapers. The program, which runs from March to September, is offered annually to approximately 10 professional print journalists between the ages of 25 and 35. The Friendly Fellows are given an in-depth, practical introduction to the professional and ethical standards of the U.S. print media. Unique among the many training programs available to journalists, AFPF is the only one to offer a non-academic, long-term, hands-on experience in a single newsroom.
* Applications for the 2006 fellowship year will be available online after May 1, 2005.
Please visit www.pressfellowships.org for detailed program information.

A fire that swept through a cheap hotel just behind the Paris Opéra last week, claiming 24 lives and leaving dozens of people injured has illuminated a corner of Europe's broader illegal immigration debate - what to do with the Continent's swelling tide of undocumented aliens, known in France as "sans papiers," or "without papers." The hotel was part of a circuit of low-end city lodgings contracted by government-funded agencies to house asylum seekers or undocumented aliens whose requests for residency in France have been denied.

Although more of the world’s children are going to school than ever before, and the gender gap is shrinking globally - according to a UN report launched on Monday - little of this progress is visible in south Sudan, relief workers told IRIN. Ben Parker, communication officer for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, said: "I guess we are probably at the bottom. If southern Sudan were a country it would be one of the worst in the world in terms of primary school enrolment, and it would have one of the worst gender gaps."