An effective government needs accurate information. But what if its own policy of media censorship makes that impossible? Li Datong explores a paradox of China's governance.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration's warnings about prewar Iraq, from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's "mushroom cloud" to Vice President Dick Cheney's statements on weapons of mass destruction, were released on Wednesday in a searchable online database.

Tibetan nomads (right, in a tourist's photo) may seem to exist outside of politics and time, but more than 1,000 battled Chinese authorities last month over the detention of three monks. Several more nomads were given 10-year jail sentences for demanding the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.

The arrest of a doctor who works with poor communities in central India, on trumped-up charges of associating with ‘terrorist’ Naxalites, has sparked worldwide protest. Mari Marcel Thekaekara appeals for support.