HUMAN RIGHTS

Fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces erupted in an oil producing province in eastern Syria, residents and activists said on Sunday, the eve of a parliamentary election the authorities say shows reforms are under way.

Vice President Joe Biden offered a tacit endorsement of gay marriage on Meet the Press on Sunday, a series of remarks the White House and Obama campaign scrambled to walk back in a fit of apparent cognitive dissonance.

A US drone attack targeting a Taliban militant compound in Pakistan has killed nine people Saturday, Pakistani authorities have alleged.

At the end of the high-level strategic talks between the U.S. and China, both countries have vowed to improve relations and to prevent human rights from becoming a major diplomatic stumbling block.

A senior U.N. official expressed concern over the declining health of two Palestinian prisoners in Israel, who have been on a hunger strike for over two months and are in critical condition.

Mitt Romney assailed the Obama administration for its handling of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's attempted defection, building on his stance that Obama has not pressed China enough on human rights abuses.

Security forces and pro-regime gunmen were called in to break up anti-government demonstrations in the city's main university complex after approximately 1,500 students began protesting in the main campus late on Wednesday.

The security pact signed by US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which defines America's future role in Afghanistan, doesn't rule out the possibility of drone strikes against insurgent targets in Pakistan even after the withdrawal of US troops in 2014, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker has said.

In a Tuesday speech from Bagram Air Force base, a hub of American operations in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama heralded a turning point in a conflict that has spanned the more than a decade since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Aung San Suu Kyi, an important long-time pro-democracy leader in Myanmar, was sworn into parliament on Wednesday -- a historic development and positive sign for democracy in the military-led country.

Rebel forces reportedly killed 20 troops in a series of pre-dawn raids, including two colonels and 15 soldiers during an attack in the northern province of Aleppo.

Anonymous Hackers responded to the news that they might be the bad guys in the upcoming videogame Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 with a mix of anger, disbelief and amusement after an unidentified hacker wearing a Guy Fawkes mask was shown in the newly released trailer.

As the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue talks are set to begin, it looks as if one issue has already been taken off the list of disagreements looming over this year's discussions.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez departed for Cuba Monday, announcing that he would undergo further cancer treatment.

Charles Taylor's conviction at the Hague was important for Sierra Leone, but it represents only a single step in the country's long journey toward lasting peace.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous told reporters both sides were responsible for creating an atmosphere of appalling violence and that despite the bloodshed, the small UN presence was having a dampening effect.

During their historic first meeting, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon praised Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a real leader (who) demonstrates flexibility for the greater cause of the people of a country.

As the May 1 General Strike sweeps the world, drawing thousands of protesters out of the cubicle and into the street, they are marching in solidarity with the world's economically aggrieved. But many folks around the world are unable, or unwilling, to find common ground with the movement, and with Occupy Wall Street as a whole.

Mexico is close to ratifying a new law that will compensate the victims of organized crime, including the family members of kidnapped or missing persons.

Lebanese intelligence officers are questioning crew members of a ship that set sail from Libya and was found to be carrying a cache of weapons that supposedly were intended to supply opposition forces in Syria.

In a joint press conference with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan, President Obama called America's alliance with Japan a bulwark of regional stability and said China must couple economic growth with human rights reforms.