HUMAN RIGHTS

Once one of the most dangerous nations on earth, Jamaica has witnessed an astonishing decline in its murder rate, largely as a result of a police crackdown on gang activity.

The government of Bahrain’s increasingly brutal crackdown on protesters has even turned local hospitals into dangerous places, according to a new report from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

The rebel forces in Libya, whose vanguard has been blunted by fierce attacks by Gaddafi, have accused the NATO of failing to stop crucial supplies to the government forces.

In moves to appease the country’s conservatives, the Syrian government has dropped a rule that banned teachers from wearing a niqab (a veil that covers a woman’s face, except for her eyes) and closed the nation’s lone casino.

Libyan gunmen are reportedly shooting sub-Saharan refugees who seek to escape Libya by boat, according to a report in the UK newspaper The Independent.

While making his first official visit to Pakistan as Prime Minister, Britain’s leader David Cameron has made some comments about his country’s imperial past that has raised some hackles in London.

The wave of unrest and anti-government agitation in the Middle East may now have spread to the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Russia.

In an effort to appease protesters dissatisfied by his slow pace of reforms, the president of Syria Bashar al-Assad has appointed a new governor for the southern town of Deraa, the focal point of protests directed against the Baathist regime.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has awarded the Tor Project for championing Internet by protecting Anonymity in an era of social media revolutions in Middle East and the North African country Libya.

At least eight United Nations staff-members and four protesters have been killed during protests in Afghanistan related to a purported burning of a Holy Quran, according to Afghan officials.

Bahrain has stepped up its crackdown on anti-government protesters (almost all of whom are (Shia Muslims) by arresting at least 300 activists in one massive sweep, thereby sending untold others into hiding. Those detained included a prominent blogger, Mahmood al-Yousif.

Today’s much-anticipated speech from Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, failed to lift the country’s emergency laws (which have been in effect since 1963) nor did he offer any concrete political reforms or concessions.

Facebook has taken down a page created by Palestinian supporters which called for a new ‘intifada’ (uprising) against Israel, after Israel officials and U.S. Jewish groups complained.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed that all the illegal immigrants who have arrived on the island of Lampedusa from North Africa will soon be deported.

In his first public address to the Syrian nation since unrest broke out two weeks ago, President Bashar al-Assad blamed “conspirators” for the ongoing violence and vowed that he would defeat the “plot” against his country.

The following is a White House transcript of remarks by President Barack Obama to the nation on Libya from the National Defense University in Washington D.C. on March 28, 2011.

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Libyan rebels have formed a transitional government under the leadership of Mahmoud Jebril, and the new cabinet is slowly taking shape. The interim rebel government, which vies with the official regime for control of the country, has been boosted by the sovereign recognition by France and generous western support. Following is a glimpse into some of the major Libyan opposition outfits that have been fighting Gaddafi overtly or covertly in the last three decades:

In the face of an unprecedented wave of anti-government protests, Syria said it will consider a proposal to end emergency rule which has been in place for almost a half-century and also examine the possibility of allowing political parties, according to a presidential adviser.

Human rights activists in Syria said that at least six people have died after state security officers shot protesters outside of a mosque in the southern city of Deraa, the focal point of anti-government movement.

Egypt’s former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, has been charged by a court of contributing to the killing of protesters who demonstrated against the regime of the toppled President, Hosni Mubarak, state media MENA reported.