...not on many people's minds any more

Georgia and South Ossetia have slipped right off the news agenda – clearly not enough wealthy bankers there – but that doesn't mean everything’s hunky-dory.

EU monitors started their mission there today, and already they’re having trouble gaining access to some areas. An Amnesty research mission there in August had the same problem. But the situation is far more dire for thousands of people – on both sides of the conflict – who fled the area and now can’t return safely because their houses are destroyed, there’s no security or because of unexploded munitions. You can read more here.

Closer to home, the latest in a long line of critics of the UK government’s plans to extend pre-charge detention limits to 42 days has emerged – this time it’s the Council of Europe, who have published a new report. In just 24 hours over 1200 people have signed a new Amnesty petition against 42 days at http://www.protectthehuman.com/42days – hope you can join them.

Finally, an admission: this blog carried an error earlier this week. The Burmese activist who had been re-arrested upon his release was actually U Win Htein, and not U Win Tin. More details here.