HUMAN RIGHTS

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday rejected views that American power is waning and said Washington would never default, wrapping up a China visit that has played down tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

Antonio Diaz Chacon revealed his immigration status.

The ongoing famine in Somalia is being called the worst humanitarian crisis.

The Obama administration has announced that it will review the cases of more than 300,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation to determine if they can remain in the United States.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Friday said China had nothing to worry about concerning the safety of its vast holdings of Treasury debt, while China's Premier Wen Jiabao gave a ringing endorsement of the resilience of the debt-ridden U.S. economy.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Friday China had nothing to worry about concerning the safety of its vast holdings of Treasury debt, while China's Premier Wen Jiabao gave a ringing endorsement of the resilience of the debt-ridden U.S. economy.

The United States and European Union called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down Thursday, and U.S. President Barack Obama accused him of torturing and slaughtering his own people in what U.N. officials said could be crimes against humanity.

The United States and European Union called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down on Thursday and President Barack Obama accused him of torturing and slaughtering his own people in what U.N. officials said could be crimes against humanity.

The United States for the first time Thursday explicitly called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and imposed new economic sanctions likely to be followed up by the European Union.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that attacks on pro-democracy protesters have stopped, but activists reported more bloodshed overnight.

Global economic health rests on the United States and China finding common ground, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told China's leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, in talks aimed at shoring up faith in the dollar.

Global economic stability rests on the United States and China working together, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told top Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing Thursday.

Syrian troops raided houses in a Sunni district of the besieged port of Latakia on Wednesday, residents said, arresting hundreds of people and taking them to a stadium after a four-day tank assault to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

The United Nations is demanding an immediate inquiry into the June violence in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan. The U.N. is responding to "serious" allegations of war crimes in the Sudanese state.

Some leading Malawi rights groups said on Tuesday they could pull out of mass demonstrations scheduled for this week against President Bingu wa Mutharika as they await a court decision on whether the rallies would be legal.

The following are excerpts of eyewitness accounts to the suffering in Somalia, as recorded by HRW researchers:

Beset by famine, civil war and terrorist militant groups, Somalia is enduring the worst crisis in Africa in at least 20 years.

Berlin's mayor said on Saturday he was appalled that some Germans were nostalgic for the Berlin Wall and supported a newly fashionable leftist view that there were legitimate reasons for building it in 1961.

Syrian tanks and armored vehicles swept into the coastal city of Latakia on Saturday and gunfire was heard in a district where thousands had protested against President Bashar al-Assad, an activist group said.

About 20 members of the Roma ethnic group were evicted from their Belgrade home Thursday.

The ruling African National Congress estimated that the initial costs to establish the health care program at 128 billion rand ($18 billion).