HUMAN RIGHTS

Cuba has released two more political dissidents -- Hector Maseda and Angel Moya – from prison in a deal arranged by the Catholic Church.

Inspired by Egypt, at least 2,000 protesters broke the barriers set up around the May First Square in the capital city of Algiers on Saturday

The authorities in Algeria have shut down internet providers and Facebook accounts amidst mounting anti-government protests and civil unrest.

Zimbabwe is an important ally to China and Beijing will seek to further strengthen ties, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said of a country isolated by the West under President Robert Mugabe's rule.

On the last day of January, a crowd of 600 gathered in sub-zero temperatures on Moscow's Triumph Square and began to chant Freedom! Freedom! and call for the resignation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Wisconsin's new Republican governor on Friday proposed sharply curtailing the bargaining rights of public employee unions and other cost-saving measures to rein in the state's growing budget deficit.Governor Scott Walker said he will ask the Republican-controlled legislature to pass his budget repair bill next week. He said it was aimed at bringing stability to state finances and stave off employee layoffs this year.

Groupon decided to pull its series of Super Bowl ads which garnered much controversy.

President Barack Obama said late Thursday it was not yet clear how Egypt's government is moving to transfer authority, on the same day when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he would be handing some of his powers to his vice president but would remain in office until September's elections.

The European Union’s (EU) energy commissioner has said that the EU’s new partnerships with Central Asian nations do not pose a threat to Russia’s gas sales to Europe.

Sudanese security forces briefly held prominent opposition figure Mariam al-Mahdi and other women on Thursday, witnesses said, the latest detentions in a crackdown on anti-government protests.

Social networking site Facebook on Tuesday opened shop in Hong Kong to expand its presence in Asia notwithstanding its ban in mainland China.

A bill to extend the life of three provisions of the Patriot Act was defeated at the US House of Representatives on Tuesday. The bill was short of 284 votes to pass although it required only two-third majority.

Protests demanding an immediate end to Hosni Mubarak’s rule entered the 15th day on Tuesday with protesters pitching their tents in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square and refusing to leave until their demands are met.

Accused of some of the highly stigmatized felonies, will Assange or WikiLeaks still be considered for Nobel Prize? However, Al Gore, who won the 2007 Peace award, did have a similar sexual assualt taint.

Groupon defends the Tibet ad aired during Super Bowl asserting that it takes all social causes extremely seriously.

Even as results of a landmark vote show the people of Southern Sudan have decided to form a new nation and international leaders congratulate them, recent reported violent incidents in the North and South indicate that peace in the embattled nation is fragile.

George W. Bush, the former president of the U.S., cancelled a trip to Switzerland for next weekend due to potential protest demonstrations by human rights groups over the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay as well as the threat of his arrest

The reportedly video-recorded attacks and killings of 3 members of a Muslim sect in Indonesia on Sunday have prompted the nation's top human rights minister to urge police to take action to hold the attackers responsible.

Echoing recent comments by German leader Angela Merkel, the British Prime Minister David Cameron has blasted state multiculturalism in a speech held at a security conference in Munich.

China has offered Zimbabwe $3 billion for vast platinum reserves, a local private newspaper reported on Friday but said the deal was likely to be rejected by the government over its terms.

For Esther Moloto, the 32-year-old owner of a little house on top of the world's biggest platinum reserves, the sound of progress is falling plaster.