HUMAN RIGHTS

Children in Syria were tortured, executed and used as human shields by the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime during military raids against rebels, a U.N. report released Monday said.

The U.S. expressed fears Monday that the Syrian government may be organizing another massacre in the town of Haffa in coastal Latakia province, where UN military observers have been denied access.

The world's biggest Muslim country may be headed toward more radicalism and less moderation after banning the American singer for performing in bra and panties.

Pro-regime forces were held responsible once again for killing dozens of civilians, including women and children, across Syria in an attack Saturday, a human rights watchdog group reported.

Israel received about 4,600 asylum applications from Africans last year, according to the U.S. State Department. About 3,700 were rejected, while only one was approved. The others are pending.

A new documentary about Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has sparked controversy among Chileans who have haunting memories of the military regime years when many people, targeted as political dissidents, were imprisoned, tortured, executed or disappeared.

Russia and China remain opposed to any external intervention efforts int Syria by foreign countries, even as UN observers come under fire during their investigations of a civilian massacre.

Prime Minister David Cameron endorsed the law, calling forced marriage completely wrong and tantamount to ?slavery.?

Pillay says such measures raise serious legal issues.

A Wednesday report revealed that the conflict in the Ivory Coast involves mercenaries from neighboring Liberia. The militants have abducted children, murdered civilians and raided communities in Ivorian villages.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng's brother has said that local authorities destroyed evidence of abuse in his village, coinciding with reports that government surveillance, which turned the village into a prison to keep the activist under house arrest for two years, has ended.

U.S. military strategy of continued drone strikes to fight the insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan once again stood accused of violating international law, this time by the U.N.'s human rights chief, Navi Pillay, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Malawians have faced severe shortages and other economic problems since the IMF drastically reduced lending facilities last year.

Germany, Holland and Austria have also threatened a similar boycott.

The 43rd president is the only former commander-in-chief with an approval rating below 50 percent.

North Korea profiles its citizens based on their families' loyalty to the ruling Kim dynasty. Fealty to the ruling regime plays a crucial role in deciding citizens' education, job, healthcare, food security, and even a partner in marriage, says a study carried out by a US-based human rights group.

Syrian rebels Thursday accused troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of massacring dozens of people, including women and children, just a few hours before a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting was to evaluate the crisis in the country.

Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stood accused by opponents Thursday of a new massacre of scores of villagers, hours before the United Nations Security Council convenes again review the crisis.

The HRCP cited the widespread availability of weapons in the city.

This is not a threat, she told reporters in Lahore. This is a straightforward plan to kill me.

Ulpana is a tiny Israeli settler outpost in the West Bank that has been making headlines after the Israeli Supreme Court said it had to be demolished.