The World Economic Forum (WEF) was founded in 1971 by Swiss-based German entrepreneur and academic Dr. Klaus Schwab. Annual meetings are held which are attended by about 2000 of the world's most influential political leaders and chief executives of multinational corporations. This is when the leaders of these corporations have a great chance to discuss their interests dealing with globalisation of the economy with the government leaders who make the decisions on such policies.
Meetings are taking place January 25th to 30th, 2001 in Davos, Switzerland. Protests are underway by a number of groups opposed to neo-liberalism and economic globalisation, such as Friends of the Earth International. Swiss police are determined to not allow protestors to influence the course of the meetings. Protestors have been harassed and rejected at the border and banned from entering the country until the end of the month.
Details are at http://davos.indymedia.org.