HUMAN RIGHTS

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, delivered the following State of the Union 2012 speech during a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on September 12, 2012

Sept. 11 is not just a day that marks a national tragedy for the U.S., but also one for Chile that happened in 1973, when the U.S.-backed dictator Augusto Pinochet took power and ruled with an iron fist for over 15 years.

Saudi Arabia regularly executes convicted criminals by beheading. Its use of the death penalty has been criticized due to a lack of transparency and due process in its criminal justice system

Angelina Jolie visited a Syrian refugee camp on the Jordanian border on Tuesday, and listened to the stories of several of the newest arrivals. The UN said there are about 2,000 people crossing the border from Syria every day.

China has more Internet users than any other country in the world has inhabitants. Is that mass of people going to push for greater freedom? Not with government controls as stringent as they are now.

Nadarkhani, 32, had been imprisoned for three years and was awaiting execution, but the apostasy charge was downgraded to evangelizing to Muslims (an offense that carries a three-year term).

Forests are extremely important to Liberians, who rely upon vast wooded areas for everything from building supplies and medicine to water protection and game habitats. Recently, a government program turned over these critical regions to big logging firms in a misguided attempt to provide income and revenue for hard-hit communities. Can Ellen Sirleaf Johnson's administration curtail what it began?

Nigerian police are conducting 24-hour surveillance of all telecom installations after the terrorist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a recent spate of attacks on mobile phone towers in the north.

Canada has officially suspended all of its diplomatic relation with Iran, closing down its embassy in Iran and expelling all Iranian diplomats from Canada.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was "mistaken" in an interview aired Thursday.

Culture in America is dead, largely because the middle-class does not care about such things.

The UN passed a new set of international standards designed to protect the rights of domestic workers, who often suffer from abuse at the hands of their employers.

President Barack Obama made the case for change -- again -- after officially accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

Despite 15 years of being in China's care, many in Hong Kong still prefer to keep the mainland at arm's length, especially on issues of identity and education.

For the moment, let’s set aside the friction in U.S.-Israeli relations over Iran’s nuclear program, which serves neither Washington nor Jerusalem.

At least 320 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Pakistan thus far this year alone.

Fire mishaps in India's biggest fireworks manufacturing hub of Sivakasi have been too frequent that the callous government approach in enforcing safety standards seems more shocking than the accidents themselves.

The landmark hearing follows six years of legal battles and tribunals for the four plaintiffs, whose high-profile cases are seen as a polarizing dividing line between British Christians who want to express their faith in the workplace and employers who assert their right to impose dress codes and guidelines for workplace conduct.

Differences on a wide range of major international issues are revealing tensions between Beijing and Washington, as well as mutual concerns that the other is playing dirty.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Tuesday that they will be expanding their efforts in Syria with the help of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to help the hundreds of thousands of displaced refugees. Meanwhile, the US drags its heels and the UN's efforts have amounted to nothing to stem the violence.

Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (Mumbai: ONGC), India's largest state-controlled energy driller, could lose its bid for $5 billion in Canadian assets controlled by energy giant ConocoPhillips Co. (NYSE: COP), due to its investments in Iran, which is facing U.S. sanctions.