Human Rights Watch

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's agreement to probe war crimes allegations related to its defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels is a smokescreen to avoid an international inquiry, a human rights group said Wednesday.

The firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip amounts to a war crime, a prominent human rights group has said. Human Right Watch (HRW) said Hamas should "publicly renounce" the attacks and hold those responsible to account.

It's a community of crude green metal sheds, baking hot during the day and lacking clean running water. Residents say thieves can slice through the thin walls with their knives. Locals call it "the AIDS colony."

Human Rights Watch accused Zimbabwe's armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF, of torture and forced labour in the eastern Marange diamond fields.