The George Bush presidency has been rich pickings for those in one line of work - comedy. But with Barack Obama's election win steeped in historical significance, America's new leader seems, for the moment, to be beyond comic reproach, says John O'Farrell.

Zambia's Supreme Court rejects a government attempt to deport a British writer for allegedly insulting the president.

For 10 years, Tony Blair has endured the slings and arrows of outrageous barbs from comedians, impressionists and sketch-writers. But who's had the last laugh - the prime minister or the satirists?

From 18th Century London squalor to primetime television 250 years later, satire has a long and dishonourable British tradition. You might know your Hislops from your Bremners, but the daddy of them all was William Hogarth.

Pulitzer Prize-winning satirist Art Buchwald who has died at the age of 81, was one of the most read columnists of his age.

Pulitzer Prize-winning satirist Art Buchwald dies at the age of 81, his son announces.

Italian blogger Beppe Grillo, a comedian turned campaigner, is riding the wave of the information revolution, says the BBC's Stephanie Holmes.

Alexander Zinovyev, the Soviet dissident and satirist who wrote Homo Soveticus, dies of cancer, aged 83.

Italian Nobel-winning satirist Dario Fo is hoping to become the left's candidate for Milan's mayoral poll.

French political satirists are forced to avoid the subject of the referendum on the EU constitution, reports the BBC's Tamsin Smith.

A company that makes T-shirts in South Africa wins a court battle against a brewing firm over a spoof trademark.

Irish comic and satirist Dave Allen, famed for his TV shows, dies in his sleep at his London home aged 68.

One of Israel's best-known authors and satirists, Ephraim Kishon, dies of a suspected heart attack aged 80.

A Polish court fines newspaper editor and ex-communist Jerzy Urban for poking fun at Pope John Paul II.

Satirist Peter Cook beats John Cleese and Woody Allen to be voted the greatest comedian of all time by fellow comics.

Bristol University awards honorary degrees to Alastair Hignell and John Fortune

An Iraqi newspaper takes a satirical view of abuses against prisoners held in Abu Ghraib prison.

A British writer wins a legal challenge to his deportation from Zambia for allegedly insulting the president.

Cartoons by the Shrewsbury satirist, Willie Rushton, will go on display at the first-ever cartoon festival at Shrewsbury's Museum and Art Gallery.

Chris Morris, creator of the controversial Brass Eye programmes, writes a new series for Channel 4.