King Hamad welcomes progress on implementing reforms, but opposition demands more to end 13-month uprising in kingdom. from (author unknown) via http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/201232095338604841.html

An annual U.S. government report is adding U.S. ally Turkey as well as Tajikistan to a list of the worst violators of religious rights. from (author unknown) via http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_turkey_religious_rights/24521456.html

An annual U.S. government report is adding U.S. ally Turkey as well as Tajikistan to a list of the worst violators of religious rights. from (author unknown) via http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_turkey_religious_rights/24521456.html

• Human Rights Watch reports kidnap, torture and executions• Russia backs Red Cross calls for daily ceasefire• Funeral of Coptic Pope Shenouda III in Cairo 9.05am: Much of the evidence compiled by Human Rights Watch of serious human rights abuses by Syrian rebels is based on video footage, as well…

As French police launch a massive manhunt for the person who shot down a rabbi, his two children, and another child outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, the modus operandi of the killer raises a chilling prospect. There had been similar shootings of French soldiers in the area, but the…

More than 30 people have been killed and upward of 160 others injured in a series of bombings across Iraq. from (author unknown) via http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq_blasts/24521385.html

The hottest year on record is 2010, not 1998, according to new calculations of the major British climate study unit. The findings have just been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, which means that they have been subjected to searching scrutiny by other climate specialists. The UK Meteorological Office’s…

Car and roadside bombs explode in cities and towns across country, killing at least 39 people Car and roadside bombs have exploded in cities and towns across Iraq, killing dozens of people, extending a spate of violence ahead of next week’s Arab League summit in Baghdad. The meeting is seen…

Court to sentence six convicted of “conspiring to commit public violence” for watching videos of uprising at meeting. from (author unknown) via http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/03/201232071413691947.html

* Baghdad to host Arab League summit next week * Iraqi govt keen to show it can reinforce security (Adds eyewitness, details, backg… Read more: Kirkuk, Iraq Violence, Latifiya, Samarra, Arab League, Hilla, Iraq Bombings, Dhuluiya, Baiji, Reuters, Tuz Khurmato, Baghdad, Iraq, Kerbala, Daquq, World News from The Huffington Post…