HUMAN RIGHTS

On the fifth day of protests and rioting, the United Nations has condemned the violence and the use of excessive force by security forces.

Pakistan appointed a former information minister and human rights campaigner as its ambassador to the U.S. States Wednesday, moving quickly to fill a post left vacant after tension between the civilian government and military.

However, the statement makes no mention of sanctions.

A U.S. official emphasized that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Korea will not resume until the Hermit Kingdom agrees to recommit to nuclear disarmament as specified by the 2005 Six-Party-Talks.

Despite mounting pressure from the U.S. and the European Union, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has insisted on keeping former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko imprisoned on a conviction of power abuse.

South Africa's parliament passed a bill on protecting state secrets on Tuesday despite criticism at home and abroad that it harks back to apartheid legislation and makes it easier for corrupt officials to conceal graft.

Egyptians frustrated by army rule battled police in Cairo streets again on Tuesday as the military struggled to cope with a challenge to its authority that has jolted plans for the country's first free election in decades.

Saif-al Islam Gadhafi, the son of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, can and will be tried for crimes against humanity in Libya, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo conceded on Tuesday.

After the war she received the prestigious Resistance Medal -- one of the youngest people in France to be so honored.

Egyptians frustrated with military rule battled police in the streets again on Tuesday as the generals scrambled to cope with the cabinet's proffered resignation after bloodshed that has jolted plans for Egypt's first free election in decades.

Egyptian activists called for a huge turnout in protests Tuesday to put an end to rule by the military which also saw its authority challenged by the resignation of the civilian Cabinet, casting uncertainty on elections due next week.

Ronan Farrow, the son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow who works as a State Department special adviser on global youth issues, has been named a Rhodes Scholar.

About three million people were murdered during the nine-month civil war and hundreds of thousands of women were raped.

According to Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich, child labor laws are the single biggest cause of income inequality in the U.S.

Al Weiwei, Chinese contemporary artist and leading political activist, has been facing new investigations for allegedly spreading online pictures of nudity.

At least two rocket-propelled grenades hit a ruling Baath Party building in Damascus on Sunday, residents said, in the first insurgent attack reported inside the Syrian capital since an eight-month uprising began against President Bashar al-Assad.

Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been captured in Libya's southern desert, scared and with only a handful of supporters, by fighters who vow to hold him in the mountain town of Zintan until there is a government to hand him over to.

The group is also urging that governments and courts treat drug addiction as a “medical” problem, instead of a criminal violation.

The son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is being held by Zintani rebels, authorities confirm, and will face trial for crimes against humanity. But will Saif al-Islam be tried in Libya, or by the International Criminal Court? And what role did al-Islam, once a Western-styled reformer, play in the brutal repression of the February uprisings?

In yet another sexist and repressive act, a conservative Islamic committee in Saudi Arabia has proposed a law to stop women from revealing their tempting eyes to the public.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he will send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Myanmar, a nation that was plagued by one of the longest running civil wars and a repressive military regime, until recently.