The Unite trade union has condemned the arrest of some 30 Thomas Cook workers peacefully protesting at the company's Grafton Street premises in Dublin, Ireland.

Some 200 people from an informal settlement in the Harare suburb of Gunhill in Zimbabwe face being forcibly evicted without being given adequate notice or any due process.

Thousands of activists worldwide will participate in a Global Day of Action on 25 July, to demonstrate international solidarity with those whose human rights are being abused in Iran.

Irish President Mary McAleese has signed into law the Defamation Act, which includes clauses that create the offence of "blasphemous libel". Civil rights campaigners are dismayed.

A Christian nurse in Scotland, Magdaline Makola, who spent ten days tied up and locked away the boot of a car seven months ago, says she has forgiven her assailant and prays for him regularly.

The Saudi authorities have launched a sustained assault on human rights under the façade of countering terrorism, Amnesty International said in a new report published yesterday.

Campaigners are today awaiting a High Court ruling on the use of control orders. The court will examine the cases of two individuals who are subject to the orders, key aspects of which were last month declared to be illegal by the law lords.

Israeli forces killed hundreds of unarmed Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of homes in Gaza in attacks which breached the laws of war, Amnesty International says in a new report.

According to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in evidence to parliament on the Equality Bill 2008-9 "unjust discrimination is fundamentally wrong," notes Simon Sarmiento. But what does the prcatice of the churches tell us about its rhetoric?

Seven men have been arrested over the alleged rape of 60 women or girls from Bolivia's Mennonite community. Up to 40,000 Mennonites live as farmers in Paraguay and Bolivia.

No other democratic nation today imprisons people on such a scale or for as long as the US, Martin E. Marty is reminded. Visiting prisoners is a central test of devotion to the Jesus of the gospels. We are also called to a vision of restoration and release.

Civil society and faith groups campaigning on HIV and AIDS have urged United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to step up efforts to combat discrimination and criminalisation that prevent access to infomation and services.