HUMAN RIGHTS

Up to 7,000 prisoners are held in dozens of makeshift detention centres in Libya more than two months after rebel forces toppled Muammar Gaddafi, amid serious allegations and some evidence of torture, the United Nations said on Friday.

Gunfights broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday between dozens of supporters of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi and forces of the new government.

Bashir has been welcomed in the Malawi capital of Lilongwe by government officials in order to attend a trade summit.

Libyan government forces brought more tanks into the city of Sirte Friday to try to break the last pocket of resistance by loyalists of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown.

George Soros says he isn't a financial backer of the Wall Street protests, despite speculation by critics including radio host Rush Limbaugh that the billionaire investor has helped fuel the anti-capitalist movement.

urma, which recently put in place a nominally civilian leadership, has been gradually making some political reforms.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of power and sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday, but her legal troubles are far from over, and the government has now accused her of embezzling $400 million.

Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank said on Thursday that she deeply regrets attending a birthday celebration last week in Chechnya for a leader accused of orchestrating torture and other human rights violations.

Fighters loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fought a last-ditch battle in an ever shrinking pocket of resistance in the ousted leader's hometown Sirte on Thursday.

Malawi will allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir into the country for a regional trade summit starting on Friday and has no plans to arrest him under an International Criminal Court warrant, a senior government official said on Thursday.

A profile of powerful Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas, who have made a name for themselves at home, in the United States and even in Iran.

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has alleged that a 12-year-old Christian girl was abducted and gang raped for 8 months in Pakistan, and was tortured until she consented to convert to Islam.

Matthew Shepard still remembered 13 years after his death.

Occupy Wall Street has much more in common with a growing European unrest in France and Spain than the Arab Spring and Tahrir Square

A British government minister sharply criticised Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday and said it would be premature for Commonwealth leaders to hold out an olive branch to Zimbabwe when they meet later this month.

Serbia was given European Union candidate status on Wednesday, which is the first step in becoming a member state of the international organization. But for ascension, the country must make amends with Kosovo.

Angelina Jolie is in Libya Wednesday, where she is meeting with refugees of the ongoing Libyan revolution, as well as the county's new, post-Moammar Gadhafi leadership.

Myanmar has begun releasing dozens of political prisoners as part of a wider amnesty. Around 70 political prisoners were reported to have been released by noon Wednesday.

An Iranian actress has been sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in jail for starring in an Australian movie with a shaved head -- and no head-covering.

Sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, Oct. 11 marks the 24th annual National Coming Out Day (NCOD) in celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride within the community.

In Egypt, Coptic Christians mourned the 25 people killed on Sunday when a protest in Cairo turned violent. Above the sadness, there is anger -- the intense frustration of being ignored and persecuted, of being blamed by the government for starting the violence that killed their own.