Garzon is a well-known crusading human rights judge who ordered the arrest of ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998.

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Prominence was given to an onslaught on Palin's environmental and animal rights record by veteran ex-film star Brigitte Bardot.

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Shares then rebounded after reports that America Movil had acquired broadcast rights in Latin America (ex-Brazil) for the 2016 Olympics.

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Those fighting to free Puracal include the director of the California Innocence Project, the human-rights attorney who helped win freedom for Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and an ex-FBI agent who was one of the early champions of Amanda Knox's innocence.

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Ex-Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller is leading a consortium bidding to buy the company that owns the rights to hit TV show American Idol.

BBC: Ex-Spice Girls boss eyes Idol bid

In an article for the Guardian last week, ex-commissioner Kay Hampton said Mr Phillips' leadership style was "better suited to a political party than a human rights organisation" and had "led to deep discontentment and dissatisfaction".

BBC: Deputy defends equalities chief