The German Catholic Church ruled Thursday that the use of the morning-after pill was acceptable in certain cases for rape victims.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier failed to appear in court on Thursday to hear whether he will face charges over human rights abuses.

Kenya's prime minister, a frontrunner in the March 4 presidential poll, accused Thursday the head of the civil service of attempting to manipulate the vote to his rivals' advantage.

Two years after his return to Haiti following 25 years in exile, ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier is due in court Thursday as a judge mulls whether he can be tried for crimes against humanity.

Japan vowed to continue its whale hunt in the Southern Ocean after clashes with the militant conservationist Sea Shepherd group, which claimed Tokyo had been forced to end the mission.

Bollywood star and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has called for "immediate" action to protect women in India following the fatal gang-rape of a student that horrified the country.

Thirteen-year-old Sanjay Chhetri has a recurring fear: that one day, the dark, dank mine where he works will cave in and bury him alive.

Two Tibetan teenagers died after they set fire to themselves in protest at Chinese rule, reports and Western rights groups said, in a rare instance of a double self-immolation in the restive region.

Japan has hanged a child killer and two other convicted murderers, its first executions since a conservative government swept to power in landslide elections in December.

Two Tibetan teenagers died after they set fire to themselves in protest at Chinese rule, reports and Western rights groups said, in a rare instance of a double self-immolation in the restive region.

In northern Mali, the country's army frequently turns to torture and murder against people suspected of backing armed Islamist groups, according to doctors, Malian and French troops and an AFP journalist.

Japan hanged three death-row inmates on Thursday, reports said, which, if confirmed, would be its first executions since a conservative government swept to power in landslide elections in December.

Former US congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, the son of the well-known civil rights leader, pleaded guilty to stealing $750,000 in campaign donations to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Laurent Gbagbo's lawyer hit out at a "political trial" at the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, where judges are to decide if the Ivorian ex-president should face charges of crimes against humanity.

A human rights watchdog in EU member Latvia on Wednesday alleged mental health patients in the ex-Soviet Baltic republic were routinely illegally and excessively drugged.

Myanmar's reformist government on Wednesday held peace talks with a federation of ethnic groups to try to resolve issues including the conflict in the northern state of Kachin.

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday extended a stay on the hanging of four death-row convicts by six months after rights groups voiced growing concern over recent executions in the country.

The Zambian government has seized control of a Chinese-owned coal company due to poor compliance with safety and environmental standards, the mines minister said Wednesday.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales on Wednesday slammed western fast food as "a threat to humanity" as he accused multinational firms of seeking to block the development of his country's staple food.

Russia expressed "serious worry" Wednesday over the fate of a Russian boy adopted by an American woman who did not reveal that she is a lesbian, Moscow's latest broadside in a growing war of words over adoption.