Worldwide freedom index slides for 17th consecutive year

Peru and Burkina Faso led a general global deterioration in freedom last year, but a number of other nations showed improvements, giving hope in the fight against authoritarianism, according to the US research group Freedom House.

In its 50th annual report on global freedom, the US democracy research group downgraded both Peru and Burkina Faso, and also noted declines in Russia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Hungary