I'm back from a longish hiatus in which I, horribly, quadrupled my carbon footprint while attending a conference or two. To make up for it, let's hope these synopses of democracy-related news usher in a new era of enlightenment and progress. Then I'm off the hook.

Europe: The story told in the Danish Why Democracy film Bloody Cartoons has an epilogue, if not a new chapter altogether, with the arrival of a new short film critical of Islam and the Koran. A right-wing Danish MP has now posted the film to his website. Stay tuned for outrage and further debate about freedom of expression.

Africa: Robert Mugabe warns opposition supporters and members not to protest if they do not win this weekend's election, a likely outcome given that the vote will almost surely be rigged. The opposition has warned of "Kenya-style" demonstrations, a kind of weird way of putting it, really. Speaking of which, Kofi Annan put in calls to Kenya's power-sharing, but bickering, leaders in an attempt to maintain that country's fragile peace. Also, check out Sokwanele's use of Google Maps (see inset picture) to log election breaches.

Asia: As monks continue to protest in Lhasa and beyond, here's a good Foreign Policy q&a on Tibet, which makes the distinction between internal and exile politics.