Avaaz have a petition to the South African authorities about the vicious practice of corrective rape, seeking to "cure" lesbian women. People are adding their names to the petition from around the world and you can see names and...

Was the shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, caused by inflammatory rightwing rhetoric? Or was it at least partly to blame? Ewan MacAskill in the Guardian writes about the fierce debate in the USA about these questions. I think that such...

The Vaccine Casebook was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 8 pm on Tuesday 4 January 2011. A team of Danish and African health specialists has been monitoring a population there and has come up with interesting findings that could influence...

The Stunning Controversy is a programme on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 5 January 2011 at 9 pm. It looks into the use of stun-guns or tasers in the USA and asks how safe these weapons are.

Mauritanian anti-slavery campaigner Biram Dah Abeid has been arrested . Human rights groups allege that he is being held on trumped-up charges. Guardian Weekly carries the article, first published in Le Monde.

Amnesty at 50 is being repeated at 5 pm on Sunday 2 January 2011 on BBC Radio 4. The programme is presented by John Tusa. He reflects on the history of the organisation that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 but also asks some...