Although she is only 29 years old, the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won wide acclaim. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Booker.
Oil workers have shut down refineries in the south of Iraq as part of a rolling strike. Members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) launched their strike after the government reneged on a promise to release benefits payments.
A US warship fired missiles on a village in north east Somalia on Friday of last week – a bombardment that was almost completely ignored by the British media.
The US government faced further legal embarrassment on Monday of this week when a military judge threw out charges against two Guantanamo Bay detainees.
A national Stop the War demonstration will greet Gordon Brown in Manchester on 24 June as he is officially anointed as Tony Blair’s successor at the special Labour leadership conference.
Gordon Brown and the contenders for deputy leadership of the Labour Party might be making soothing noises about council housing – but the New Labour council in Tower Hamlets, east London, is determined to press ahead with privatisation.
Housing is the biggest headache affecting us all. Fewer and fewer people can afford to buy a home. Those who try find themselves deeper and deeper in debt.
The sacked women at Unique Care in Huddersfield received a timely boost last week. The independent inspection unit reported its findings into the company after an unannounced visit on 17 March.
