A leading rights group Saturday called on the Thai government to allow 158 Lao Hmong refugees, who have been detained for three years pending deportation, to be resettled in four western countries.

AP IMPACT: Thousands in Kenya allegedly recruited to fight for Somali government. The recruits assembled by moonlight at a watering hole. Hundreds of boys and young Kenyan men were herded onto trucks, which were covered with heavy canvas, and driven through the night.

Chinese Internet users have hailed the webcast town hall meeting held by Barack Obama, expressing hopes the US president can help them convince authorities to tear down the "Great Firewall of China."

A West African regional court on Tuesday rejected attempts by victims of Chad's former president Hissene Habre to take part in the rights violation suit the ex-dictator filed against Senegal.

German police arrested two top Rwandan militia leaders Tuesday suspected of atrocities committed in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, prosecutors said.

German police arrested two top Rwandan militia leaders Tuesday suspected of atrocities committed in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, prosecutors said.

Poverty and corruption are driving the war in Afghanistan, says a survey released Wednesday by British charity Oxfam and local organisations on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration.

Poverty and corruption are driving the war in Afghanistan, says a survey released Wednesday by British charity Oxfam and local organisations on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration.

US rights group says Cubans' lives unimproved under 2nd Castro and worse in some ways. Human Rights Watch says conditions in Cuba have not improved under Raul Castro and in some ways are worse than they had been when his brother Fidel was president.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuba's Raul Castro has kept the system his brother Fidel used to repress critics, refusing to free scores of people imprisoned years ago and jailing others for "dangerousness," Human Rights Watch said in a report issued on Wednesday.

EU criticism of Russia's human rights record and fears Moscow will delay its WTO entry clouded EU-Russia talks Wednesday, but the two sides aligned on the climate ahead of the Copenhagen conference in December.

EU and Russian leaders held a summit on Wednesday dominated by efforts to avoid a new natural gas blocade this winter.

EU criticism of Russia's human rights record and fears Moscow will delay its WTO entry clouded EU-Russia talks Wednesday, but the two sides aligned on the climate ahead of the Copenhagen conference in December.

Communist Cuba's shift from Fidel Castro's leadership to President Raul Castro's has brought continued serious human rights violations including persistent aggression against dissidents.

EU criticism of Russia's rights record and fears Moscow will delay its WTO entry clouded EU-Russia talks Wednesday, but the two sides aligned on climate issues ahead of a key summit in December.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be sworn in for a second term on Thursday, straining under Western pressure to eradicate corruption and restore legitimacy as a US-led war stretches into a ninth year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term on Thursday, straining under Western pressure to eradicate corruption and restore legitimacy as a US-led war stretches into a ninth year.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should intervene to free three Papuan protesters sentenced to years in prison for raising a separatist flag, a rights group said Thursday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed to combat corruption and invited his chief rival to join the government after he was sworn in for a second term on Thursday, facing Western pressure to restore legitimacy as a US-led war stretches into a ninth year.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed to combat corruption and invited his chief rival to join the government after he was sworn in for a second term on Thursday, facing Western pressure to restore legitimacy as a US-led war stretches into a ninth year.