Neil Durkin

So the Omagh bombing trial has collapsed and nearly a decade on theres still no justice for the 29 victims of the worst terrorist atrocity in Northern Ireland. Its a sad pattern across the world that far too few mass killers are ever...

This has been the year of remembering the end of the Atlantic slave trade and the Daily Mail has got a big feature on the history of slavery today. We've all become used to talking about the horror of slavery - I remember when Roots...

Guantánamo Bays back in the news, on a couple of fronts. First, we had The New York Times reporting yesterday that there had been another particularly horrible suicide attempt at the camp. The camp authorities say that a prisoner has...

Big news overnight on the notorious case of Yahoo and how it handed across information on Chinese activists who later got imprisoned. Yahoo has settled a lawsuit with the families of Wang Xiaoning, a pro-democracy blogger and Shi Tao...

As our clear winter skies were shrouded with thick plumes of black smoke rising from the warehouse fire in East London, today further reports of political turmoil emerged from Pakistan amid mounting international pressure on General...

After last weeks Saudi visit - and graphic evidence that neither the Queen or Parliament has yet chucked out the chintz - today weve got the Queens Speech . So, theres much media anticipation of the colourful ceremony, of men wearing...

You, like me, probably think Google Earth is pretty impressive. Along with Google Map (and quite a few other G products it has to be said!) I think the search tools are nothing short of amazing. (I especially like the hybrid map view...

Two legs bad, four legs good. Remember that? Anyway, two blogs for the price of one today. First a quickie from me, then over to our NYC blogger. Main news is the unbelievable bloodshed that greeted Benazir Bhutto , only hours after...

Its all Ming today and while we welcomed his comments a couple of months ago on human rights, China and the Olympics, we havent got a lot to say here in the office about his age and what happens next. Too old? Too well-dressed? Should...

More tragic news from Iraq, with reports saying that 15 women and children were killed yesterday in a US air strike in northern Iraq. The American military has apologised, while saying that the attacks were targeting senior al-Qaida...

Yes, a bonus blog today! Im just back from the big Burma demo in Trafalgar Square - a fantastic, moving event. The place was swathed in red: armbands, headbands, flags and plenty of Amnesty banners. Check my flickr pics here. There...

First do no harm. Thats the ethical code that doctors sign up to, so an execution chamber is a strange place to find them. As Amnesty shows in a new report out today , doctors, anaesthetists and other medical personnel have been using...

The brilliantly named Dr Brain is fronting a new drive from the police to crack down on sex traffickers - the criminals who literally buy and sell women and girls (occasionally men) into sexual slavery. Weve talked about this in...

Another striking striking front-page today: The callous hypocrisy of our asylum system. The paper contrasts last weeks warm words from Gordon Brown about how we need to support human rights in Burma, Darfur and Zimbabwe, with the fact...

As if Iraq and the region didnt have enough crippling problems, another one is the massive crisis around refugees . Two million people have fled the shocking violence in Iraq. Most have gone into Jordan and Syria and are scraping by as...

Though theyre called honour killings, theyre actually plain murders, and the latest high-profile example of one these ghoulish killings to preserve family honour or good name is the case of Surjit Athwal . She disappeared in 1998 after...

There's very lively comment around on the idea of a national DNA database for Britain . Its one of those divisive issues that, on closer inspection, is much less clear-cut than it looks. On the one side libertarians and civil liberties...

So - our daily slog-to the-office here at the London Amnesty HQ is getting back to normal after the Tube strikes been called off (though, hey, when is commuting in London ever normal?).But imagine your daily commute if the military in...

Years go by and you hardly hear anything about it - and then it starts getting in the news every day. Thats how it is with Burma right now. At the weekend we had President Bushs significant other - Laura Bush - saying that the United...

Its the nightmare that weve all imagined: youre accused of a crime that you didnt commit and no matter what you say youre found guilty by the authorities. Its the classic Kafka situation - Joseph K in The Trial hauled before the...