A CRITIC of American foreign policy is to deliver his latest lecture to a worldwide audience through video link - and a North-East university will be tuning in.

Professor Noam Chomsky's talk about the deteriorating situation in the Middle East will be delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, on Friday.

An audience at the University of Teesside will not only have the lecture relayed to them, but will also be given the opportunity to ask the political commentator questions.

The Middlesbrough campus will be joining the University of Edinburgh and the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands in debate on the situation in Israel and Palestine.

A former principal lecturer in politics at Teesside, Peter Smith, will chair the Middlesbrough section of the lecture.

As a spokesman for Teesside Against the War, he said: "This is truly an international lecture and an exciting educational and political opportunity.

"Professor Chomsky is a leading critic of American foreign policy, including the Vietnam War and Gulf War, and his book on the events of September 11, 2001, was a sell out.

"The timing of the lecture could not be more perfect. We hope the public will take this opportunity to come and see this legendary academic.''