Latest failures

Government failure - Goverment Spending Failure

EU sent 50 MEPs to Congo for eight days at cost of £850,000

The European Parliament spent over £850,000 sending 50 MEPs for an eight-day trip to the Congo in 2010, according to a list of its most expensive foreign delegations.

In July, 13 of the ACP-EU MEPs travelled to the Seychelles for a five-day trip that cost the taxpayer an £4,374 per head in travel, hotel and 'logistics' bills Photo: ALAMY

By Bruno Waterfield
25 January 2012

MEPs were attending a meeting of the African-Caribbean Pacific and EU (ACP-EU) joint parliamentary assembly to discuss with MPs from the developing countries how to tackle poverty in the world's poorest regions.

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Government failure - Politics and politician failure

'Crony' of Mugabe to promote Thai national image
25 January 2012
By THANYARAT DOKSONE

Nalinee Taveesin

BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai Cabinet member under U.S. sanctions for alleged business deals with Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe is now in charge of promoting Thailand's national image.

Nalinee Taveesin, previously Thailand's trade representative, was named a Cabinet minister in the Prime Minister's Office during last week's reshuffle of Yingluck Shinawatra's government. The opposition has expressed dismay, questioning whether the appointment violates the Thai constitution's ethics code for lawmakers.

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The WikiLeaks story - The WikiLeaks story

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's TV show to be aired on Russian channel

State-run Russia Today buys rights to broadcast 10-part series of interviews with 'political players, thinkers and revolutionaries'

by Miriam Elder
Wednesday 25 January 2012

Julian Assange's television chat show is due to begin airing on Russia Today from March. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

It's the television channel that has given voice to a thousand anti-western conspiracy theories, while avoiding criticism of the hand that feeds it. Now state-run Russia Today, the Kremlin's English-language propaganda arm, has forged an unlikely partnership – with the self-proclaimed defender of truth and freedom Julian Assange.