Press release me, let me go

We released the second of our viral animations on the China Olympics today, highlighting the repression of peaceful protesters (using the medium of cute animated animals). You can see and download the films, and get the code to embed...

Just bought a car recently. (I’ve already mentioned my car in an earlier post – apologies bike-lovers!). Anyway, we’re getting rid of the clapped out left-hand drive Italian one (pictured) that we’ve been knocking about in for the last...

The Maori people have had a bit of good news recently as the New Zealand government agreed to an historic land deal that would give the Maoris almost £161 million in forestry assets. This deal comes after a long-running history of...

So what exactly does Heinz meanz these days? Gone it appears are the halcyon days of simple messages about warming cups of soup and the beauty of Tomato Ketchup. Instead the global brand has gone and got itself embroiled in a saucy row...

You wait ages for one … and then two come together. There’s overnight news that a US appeals court has ruled that an “enemy combatant” at Guantánamo is wrongly held and should be either freed, transferred or brought before a court to...

Once again the turbulence in Zimbabwe is making agenda-topping news. What a weekend it’s been. The violence that broke out between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters at yesterday’s rally was enough for Morgan Tsvangirai to declare that he...

For weeks now Amnesty has been saying that the state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe is reaching crisis point. Last night’s news that 12 people had been found tortured to death has taken this situation to a whole new level. As we’ve...

I saw a fantastic play last night at the Young Vic, 'The Good Soul of Sichuan’ by Bertold Brecht, starring Jane Horrocks (she of Little Voice and Ab Fab fame). Go and see it if you can. It’s set in Sichuan (of earthquake fame, entirely...

It’s early afternoon and I’m still suffering from the “I’m really sleepy after going out on a school night” effect. Thankfully, I’m not the only one in the office feeling that way as we were all at Amnesty’s Annual Media Awards...

Last night the BBC lit up the central London sky with a tower of light as a tribute to journalists killed doing their job. Your trusty blog correspondent was in the area (Portland Place) armed with his projector pencil and canny Canon...

Following some great coverage of our report yesterday on the situation for Iraqi refugees – most of whom are in Syria and Jordan, forced into increasingly-desperate measures from poverty – it’s good to see that the Times is carrying a...

Blimey! Yesterday’s high political drama has left me shakin all over. The David Davis bombshell! The Guantánamo court ruling shocker! Well, while the Davis resignation is obviously the really BIG news on the UK media scene, the US...

Today the BBC has reported the unearthing of documents which detail the involvement of Zimbabwe’s military in the running of Mugabe’s re-election campaign as he fights to retain a stranglehold on the leadership. Then there’s the arrest...

Bit of breaking (bad) news – the government's proposal to increase the pre-charge detention limit to 42 days – six weeks – has scraped through parliament by a majority of nine. Not that the politics is important to Amnesty, but it...

The news headlines seem pretty gloomy at the moment: cost of food is on the increase, the price of petrol set to double, more and more homeowners likely to go into negative equity, and the vote for 42-day detention without charge is...

MPs will make a crucial decision tomorrow that could undermine the basic human rights of everyone in the UK. The debate on the Counter-Terrorism Bill starts in parliament today, but as far as the media’s concerned it’s all about...

Total British military deaths reaching 100 since 2001 is dominating the news today – one of those sad milestones that pretty much speak for themselves. In the office we also noticed that an Afghan journalist working for the BBC was...

Pressure is definitely mounting within Zimbabwe as the countdown begins towards the second round of elections scheduled for 27 June. Sadly this pressure is manifesting itself in a terrible catalogue of human rights abuses: intimidation...

It’s been all go in the press office these last few days. Last night saw a fantastic gathering of hundreds of Amnesty supporters outside the Chinese embassy to mark the 19th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in...

I found myself stood in front of a twelve-ton tank yesterday, with the barrel pointing squarely in my face. And yet my only fear was about the people shooting me from behind. Worry not, the armed wing of Amnesty has not yet become...