Radio Dialogue Giving you a voice

BBC-The Vatican is studying calls from cardinals to hold a papal conclave earlier than planned, after Pope Benedict XVI steps down on 28 February. Under current rules, the election can be held on 15 March at the earliest, to allow cardinals enough time to travel ... Read More »

The Guardian-Xi Jinping took the reins of both the Communist party and the military in China on Thursday morning, before introducing the broadly conservative team who will lead the country with him. The presentation of the seven men in dark suits, at a ceremony at the ... Read More »

BBC-Chinese President Hu Jintao has opened a Communist Party congress that begins a once-in-a-decade power transfer with a stark warning on corruption. Addressing more than 2,000 delegates, Mr Hu said that a failure to tackle the issue “could prove fatal to the party”. China faced ... Read More »

AFP-Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe on Wednesday accused the UN Security Council of wielding an “insatiable appetite for war” as he condemned NATO’s campaign that helped topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. The 88-year-old firebrand critic of the West told the UN General Assembly that NATO’s “military hegemony” ... Read More »

Al Jazeera-US weapons sales more than tripled in 2011, reaching a record high, according to a new congressional report. The country sold $66bn worth of arms last year, up from $21.4bn in 2010. The previous record had been $31bn in 2009; global arms sales declined ... Read More »

BBC-Western powers have said the defection of Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab is a sign that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is crumbling. The White House said the momentum was now with the opposition, while France said the Assad government was “doomed”. Mr Hijab, ... Read More »