The Swedish flat-pack giant Ikea is today reeling from potentially scandalous allegations that it used scores of political prisoners in former communist East Germany to manufacture its affordable furniture products in the years leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Activists warn ruling for 21 jailed dissidents may be attempt to deflect international criticism

Foreign Secretary William Hague warned today against moving too fast to lift sanctions against Burma despite a “very important process of change” in the country.

A police officer is facing disciplinary action for leaving a gun behind after a house search.

After more than a year in jail, opposition politician Andrei Sannikov was freed over the weekend, after he was granted a pardon by Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus.

They say they are the forgotten people, that while the world has moved on, beguiled by Burma's flurry of reforms and its by-elections, their own pain endures, unnoticed.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party claimed today she has won a seat in Burma's parliament after a landmark election, setting the stage for the pro-democracy leader to hold public office for the first time.

A documentary study in integrity and its dangers.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor, gently pressing the island's long-time communist leaders to push through "legitimate" reforms their people desire.

The Czech government agreed today to rename the country's main airport in Prague to honour deceased former President Vaclav Havel, Czech media reported.

It's a sight few thought they would ever see: Burma's democracy leader fighting an election. Brian Rex visits the village where her future will be decided

Cuban authorities detained a prominent dissident and dozens of her colleagues, then rounded up more activists while they staged a weekly protest march through Havana just days before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.

The two men came from behind as Worachet Pakeerut was parking his car. One of them punched him in the face and the pair sped off on a motorbike.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has announced details of a new museum to honour the 323 Argentinian marines who died when the cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by a British nuclear submarine during the Falklands War 30 years ago.