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…

Of all Britain's peoples, the English have traditionally been the centrepiece of 'British history'. Nonetheless, argues UCL historian Michael Collins, it is they who have the most to worry about when it comes to their sense of the past

In this interview for oDRussia, Prof.Alena Ledeneva talks to Oliver Carroll about the prospects for judicial reform in Russia. Medvedev’s efforts amount to far more than rhetoric, argues Ledeneva. Her ongoing research into the subject suggests that they strike at the heart of Russia’s informal system of government.

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 launch of a new book brings together the reasons to fear for the future of liberty in Britain

The doubters of global warming are emboldened by their new ability - as in the “climategate” affair - to put climate researchers on the defensive. But the experience of comparable assaults on the discipline of peace studies in the 1980s suggests that hostile scrutiny can have longer-term benefits for the target.

One of the really insistent questions raised throughout the Convention of Modern Liberty one year ago was the one Anthony Barnett signalled in his opening invitation to participate: " What is the problem to which the database state and the surveillance society is... the solution?"

Lyric Thompson, in her last report from New York, writes that as we close the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, there’s no mystery as to what it takes to close the tremendous gap between policy and practice: money. Best-laid plans are moot if not resourced. Invest in women. As the UN motto reminds us, it's our world.

If the actions recommended by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Equality, Development and Peace were honoured, Roberta Clarke argues that the Millennium Development Goals could be met.

How is it that the President of Britain's new Supreme Court has been quoting the Book of Deuteronomy in reaching an important judgement?

Olga Kudeshkina made headlines in 2004 as the first Russian judge to flag up political interference in the judicial system. Dismissed for her resistance, she took her case to the European Court of Human Rights and won. Kudeshkina outlines the continued political pressure felt by the judiciary and the barriers in the way of President Medvedev’s intentions to reform.

The Madrid train-bombings on 11 March 2004 provoked a dignified outpouring of collective grief. But the moment was soon reclaimed by Spain’s enduring political warfare over the national past, says Guy Hedgecoe.

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.

Although plagued by internal armed conflict, massive displacement, and human rights abuses, the situation in CAR seems almost forgotten by the international community. Anna Husarska argues that more attention to the area is crucial now as the region works toward restoring peace and security

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.