Same-sex couples wed in N.Z. first

Aug 19, 2013

Same-sex couples wed in N.Z. first

Dozens of same-sex couples said “I do” Monday as New Zealand became the first Asia-Pacific country, and only the 14th in the world, to legalize gay marriage. Vows were exchanged in venues ranging from an airliner cruising at 30,000 feet (9,150 meters) to a ...

| Aug 14, 2013

Aging Chinese apologize for past wrongs

As a teenager radicalized by China’s Cultural Revolution, Zhang Hongbing denounced his mother to the authorities. Two months later a firing squad shot her dead. Now, after more than 40 years of mounting guilt, Zhang has ruffled the silence that cloaks China’s decade of ...

Tunisians fill streets amid stalemate

Aug 7, 2013

Tunisians fill streets amid stalemate

Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of the Tunisian capital to demand the resignation of the government as the political crisis in the North African nation deepened. The country has been racked by political unrest since the July 25 murder of ...

Femen activists thrown into prison

Jul 29, 2013

Femen activists thrown into prison

A photographer and three members of the feminist movement Femen, known for their bare-breasted protests, were illegally held in police custody overnight Saturday after being abducted by unknown assailants during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Ukraine, the group said Sunday. Police denied the ...

Jul 20, 2013

Panama releases ex-CIA operative

A former CIA operative detained in Panama last week at the request of Italian authorities over his conviction in the 2003 kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan was released Friday and boarded a flight to the United States, U.S. officials said. Robert Seldon ...

Jul 15, 2013

Mom of China sex slave wins prison redress

A Chinese court awarded damages to the mother of a rape victim after she was sent to a labor camp for demanding her daughter’s attackers be punished, a spokesman said Monday. Tang Hui, who became a figurehead for critics of the “re-education through labor” ...

Repression surges in Putin's Russia

Jul 8, 2013

Repression surges in Putin's Russia

Last week was a busy one for Russian authorities, who arrested the only nationally known opposition mayor for bribery, sought six years in prison for crusading blogger Alexei Navalny and asked a court to find a long-dead attorney guilty of tax evasion. The trial ...

Chen says China pressured NYU to ditch him

Jun 18, 2013

Chen says China pressured NYU to ditch him

Activist Chen Guangcheng charged that China waged an “unrelenting” pressure campaign that led New York University to end his studies as he voiced fear for academic freedom in the United States. The blind self-taught lawyer, one of the most emblematic Chinese human rights campaigners, ...