The government is ditching a compromise arrangement on the controversial DNA database in order to make it one of their "dividing lines" with the Tories at the election.

Arthur Koestler, whose turbulent life charts the intellectual history of the 20thc in the West, has finally found a worthy biographer in Michael Scammell. A youthful communist and survivor of Franco’s prisons, Koestler developed into one of the West’s most persuasive crusaders against communism.

The Lib Dem leaders are starting to make sense in the face of the coming UK election

Chinese J-8 attack jets delivered in Venezuela. Sri Lankan general goes on military trial while supporters protest. Nigerian militants attack city with car bombs. South African youth leader found guilty of hate speech. All this and much more, in today’s security briefing.

Rejected by the rest of the Tamil population and ignored by the Sinhalese authorities, tea workers who migrated from Tamil Nadu centuries ago are exploited in the plantations of the Sri Lankan highlands

Turkey's foreign policy realignment is nowhere more pronounced than in the middle east. Previously absent, Turkey is now taking a leading role as a mediator and diplomatic force in the region.

On previous occasions of decline, social democracy has bounced back in Europe, but this time the record includes ideological and cultural meltdown. What would it take to survive the current crisis?

In the audience of a London School of Economics panel chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi to discuss the findings of the Goldstone Report and peace in the Middle East, a Palestinian student ponders the contribution of Admiral Ami Ayalon

In this excerpt from Ruchir Joshi's 'Moving Parts' series, Ruchir visits the silica quartz processing-plant in Godhra where many local workers claim that hazardous working conditions are resulting in serious health problems

Israeli settlement announcement creates further tension. Thai protests as PM refuses ultimatum. Public frustration in Iraq as al-Maliki pulls ahead. Growing arms trade could spark global arms race. Top Hamas leader arrest in West Bank. All this and more, in today’s openSecurity update.

In the second 'Making Good Society' article, Tony Kendle argues that we have to relearn community action and how a society works together if we are to protect vulnerable people, not just from climate change but also from the solutions that society arrives at

Nina Simone must have been spinning in her grave. Her magnificent, impassioned voice is now but a soundtrack to David Cameron jogging...

As governments everywhere struggle with cutting deficits without hammering the recovery from the financial crisis, a new book argues that Keynes has had the solution for a long time.

The time has run out for traditional military answers. Ours is a culture of war, but cultures can change. We need education in peace and in international understanding, as so much more

Laudable yet formalistic plans, committees and laws have been put in place to address violence against women, yet impunity remains rampant. Should the measure of progress be more mechanisms or less violence ?

Can Scotland chart a path apart from neo-liberal Britain? And are parts of the left still stuck in their comfort zones? Gerry Hassan’s observations from a Glasgow book festival panel on the future of the left

The Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society launches its report calling for a radical devolution of power and active voice from parliament to the family. In the first of a series of Inquiry articles, Geoff Mulgan claims that three crises have launched a major civil society challenge

The UEA emails affair, together with the religiosity of some people’s approach on either side of the argument, has quite a lot to tell us about the way forward

An inspiring candidate has become a failing president. But a comparison with Lyndon B Johnson shows that the reasons for this outcome are more than personal. Change had come to America before Barack Obama got to the White House, says Godfrey Hodgson.

The IDF locks down parts of the occupied West Bank as uncertainty looms over talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Thailand increases security measures ahead of protests planned for Sunday. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma calls for a commission to investigate possible crimes against humanity committed by the junta. An opposition leader in the Gambia has said that individuals recently detained by the government do not know why they are being held. All this and more, in today’s security update.