An epic military, political, and security scandal continues to absorb Turkey. The affair's latest bizarre sub-plots make the tensions between the country's “deep state” and its constitutional order even more acute, says Bill Park.

Tomas Mowlam reports on a six-year court battle surrounding Britain's flawed stop and search legislation

Remember Second Life? There was a time when everyone was moving in. But where did those worlds go? Social games – indeed, much of the social web that is not a "game", like Facebook itself – have taken on core characteristics of Virtual Worlds without needing some of their more head-turning characteristics. Raph Koster, a designer of virtual worlds, explains that Virtual Worlds only appear to have disappeared because they are now everywhere.

Efforts to revive middle east peace talks overshadowed by Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem. Tibet marks anniversary of 1959 uprising. Ahmadinejad in Afghanistan for talks. Governor of Plateau State blames Nigerian army for killings. Aung San Suu Kyi barred from polls. Aid workers killed in Pakistan. All this and more in today’s security briefing.

Labour's disgraceful new attack on the Conservatives' opposition to their DNA database

Downtown Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, is ablaze with lights and full of chic shops now. But the paralysing fear remains. Human Rights Watch’s Tanya Lokshina and her Memorial colleagues tell a rare visitor from the West about the kidnappings, about the relatives too fearful to complain...

Power2010's campaign to bring change to UK politics is stepping up a gear.

Apologies to those of you who have commented in the last twenty four hours and have seen your comments disappear

A video of Jonathan Zittrain's lecture at Duke on who owns the archive and the politics of making sure that the Web's memory will persist, with an extended comment by Tony Curzon Price

Burmese military junta unveil laws for elections later this year. French navy captures 35 Somali pirate suspects. Bali bombing mastermind thought dead after shoot-out with Indonesian police. Iran calls for China to withstand sanctions pressure. All this and much more, in today's security briefing.

In the second review of the book on the rule of law by Lord Bingham, the former lord chief justice, Keith Ewing argues that far from being crusaders for the rule of law, our judges regularly fail to protect human rights

openDemocracy author Heather McRobie speaks with Ollie Brock about her upcoming novel where she looks at both Radovan Karadzic – who is standing trial for war crimes during the Serbian genocide of 1994 – and 19th-century philologist Vuk Karadzic

A shifting balance of calculation in the middle east makes Lebanon’s Hizbollah movement more confident in its strategy of “deterrence-by-terror” vis-à-vis Israel, says Robert G Rabil

China has liberalised significantly since the Incident of 1989, but America and Europe are coming to the realisation that ultimately China holds different values

While bullying (see our Soldier’s Tales) is common to all armies, the aberration that is dedovshchina in Russia’s army has a specific history and causes, argues Rodric Braithwaite. Military reform is needed to root it out.

In his final letter home from the army our conscript Tolya “finds” a mobile phone, is pursued by a mad officer and wonders what kind of man the army’s made of him

On Women’s Day in Russia you really get to see what your price tag is

Attacks on election day kill 38 in Iraq. Renewed peace effort for Israel and Palestine. US-South Korean military drills spark North Korean anger. Reprisal attacks leave at least 100 dead in Nigeria. Explosion in Lahore kills 11. All this as more, in today’s update.

Parvin Ardalan spoke to Jane Gabriel at the UN CSW about the link between a conversation with her father and her work fighting for the rights and freedom of both men and women in Iran, and why it's time the international community changed the question: how can we help?