Slowly, much too slowly, it seems to be dawning on the Burmese junta that they must accept outside help to mount an effective relief effort and to save the lives of many thousands of people. We are not going to see an international...

Probably a good idea to be unavailable for comment. This one could take some explaining. The Moroccan navy is accused of killing at least 29 people including four children, by puncturing their boat. They were attempting to reach Spain...

Burma is not so much in the news but we should not think that the abuses of human rights have ceased. See the Burma Campaign UK . Take an e-mail action from their website in support of an activist in prison who is being denied medical...

The ship carrying arms from China and intended for Zimbabwe may not be able to unload its cargo in Africa. Dockers in South Africa refused to unload the ship and it then sailed north to try to find a port in Mozambique or Angola. There...

"We drive, they starve" say the opening words of this Telegraph article about the impact of using more bio-fuels . In various countries the poor are finding it more difficult to afford their staple foods and there have been protests...

China needs to take drastic steps to improve its image in the eyes of the world. That does not mean improving its public relations, it means sorting out the root of the problems. It would be disastrous if athletes in the Olympics could...

Kevin Rudd has not been the Prime Minister of Australia for long and may not be familiar yet in Britain. You may have seen pictures of him conventionally suited, a strange contrast with the aborigines in body paint. At long last an...

A BBC World Service programme describes the research of Dr Anne-Marie Brady of Canterbury University in New Zealand who has been studying the propaganda methods used by the Chinese authorities. The recent international travels of the...

A Judicial Review is to be completed soon of the government's decision to stop the Serious Fraud Office investigating the Al Yamamah arms deal. The announcement of the decision is expected on Thursday 10 April 2008. The Campaign...

Ilkhom Theatre (In Uzbek the word Ilkhom means inspiration) is unlike the repressive state beyond its doors. The Swiss ambassador in Tashkent says that the theatre is the only place in Uzbekistan where thinking takes place. Mark Weil...

The Independent Asylum Commission has published an interim report on whether the UK's policy on asylum is "Fit for Purpose Yet". Asylum seekers expelled from the UK to Iraq say that they were beaten on arrival.

I have written before about George Orwell and some of his books on this blog. He aimed to write in a clear and powerful way and he had political ideas that he wanted to communicate in books such as 1984 . That book was published in...

Channel 4 News this evening had a report from Congo about a war that the world has forgotten. It is killing about 45 000 people a month.

Undercover in Tibet is a Channel 4 Dispatches programme shown at 8 pm on Monday 31 March 2008. A couple of brief clips from it can be seen on the internet. I watched the programme "Undercover in Tibet" earlier this evening. Tash Despa...

Bhutan has had its first ever election . The royal family in the small Himalayan kingdom decided that it was time for the people to vote in a general election. Moving from an absolute monarchy to a democracy could take some time but...

Anniversaries are a time for taking stock. Five years into the Iraq War there has been a great deal of comment. Seamas Milne in the Guardian wrote: "Most Iraqis believe the presence of foreign troops is the main cause of violence and...

The Tiananmen Papers is a book that claims to reveal some of the policy debates in the leadership of China at the time of the protests by students leading up to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Its authenticity has been questioned. If it...

If you think of protest songs then you may think back to the 1960s. Here is a link to a Wikipedia entry on Tom Lehrer . He had retired from touring by the early 60s and was then songwriter for the American version of "That was the Week...

The Olympic torch has been lit in Olympia in Greece and the flame will be carried through many countries on five continents before the Olympics begin in Beijing in August. Protesters were there as they will be along many parts of the...

I was listening to BBC World Service during the night when I could not sleep – one of headlines was about violent protest in Tibet with at least ten people killed. Ten was the number according to the Chinese government news agency but...