In one of the most extensive studies of counter-terrorism and human rights yet undertaken, an independent panel of eminent judges and lawyers today presents alarming findings about the impact of counter-terrorism policies worldwide and calls for remedial action. The Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, established by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), has based its report “Assessing Damage, Urging Action” on sixteen hearings covering more than forty countries in all regions of the world.

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom condemned the killings of journalists and a lawyer in Russia and Venezuela, underscoring that these murders are a contravention of human rights.

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

To help foreign reporters overcome the Chinese government’s media censorship and shed light on closely shielded rights violations, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) released today a detailed guide to detention facilities located within miles of Olympic venues and known for their severe abuse of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.

The 56th Bilderberg Meeting will be held in Chantilly, Virginia, USA 5 – 8 June 2008. The Conference will deal mainly with a nuclear free world, cyber terrorism, Africa, Russia, finance, protectionism, US-EU relations, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islam and Iran. Approximately 140 participants will attend, of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance …

This is an old but good piece of editing from (allegedly) Chris Morris, one of the foremost satirists around today. What is it? Well it’s been circulating on the internet for some time now and is a cut up of George W’s State of Union Address.

The very day Blair formally announced his intention to step down as leader of the Labour Party, an Old Bailey judge sentenced a whistleblower to six months’ imprisonment and issued a gagging order against the media, sending a clear signal
that government secrecy remains strong. Parallel efforts by the government to undermine the two-year old Freedom of Information Act reinforce that message.
“In the area of openness, Tony Blair’s project of modernising government has failed. The much heralded Freedom of Information Act is far less progressive than those of countries like Mexico, …

Trimdon Labour Club, Sedgefield
Monday 10 May 2007
It’s a great privilege to be here with you again today and to thank all of you too for such a wonderful and warm welcome.
I’d just like to say also if I might and just a special word of thanks to John Burton. John has been my agent here for many years now. He’s still the …

In 1958 I wrote the following:
‘There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.’
I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?
Truth …

WASHINGTON — The firebrand British member of Parliament who has been accused of accepting oil vouchers as part of the Oil-for-Food scandal told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday he did nothing wrong and accused the United States of diverting attention from their own crimes in Iraq by implicating him.
George Galloway said he met Saddam Hussein “as many times as [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and give him maps.
“I met [Saddam] to try and persuade him to allow U.N. …