Chilcot Inquiry will not publish Blair notes to Bush

January 19th, 2011

Britain’s top civil servant, Sir Gus O’Donnell, has refused permission for notes between former prime minister Tony Blair and former US president George Bush to be published by the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war. Head of the Inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, has said the notes — which he has seen — are “central to his work”. But civil servants say their publication could harm Britain’s relations with the US. Read more here

‘Shoe thrower’ sentence reduced

April 9th, 2009

Muntadar al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist convicted after he threw a shoe at President George Bush, has had his jail sentence reduced from three years to one year. Read more here

Obama: a fresh start

January 20th, 2009

Barack Obama has promised to run the most transparent administration in history. He could make a good start by opening the government’s files on torture, says Jameel Jaffer
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