Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has fired Grozny's mayor, Movsar Temirbayev. Kadyrov named Muslim Khuchiyev, formerly the president's first deputy chief of staff, to replace Temirbayev.

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, released Tuesday, says some African countries are making progress, while others are regressing or lagging behind.

The U.S. State Department released today its "2006 Country Reports On Human Rights Practices." The reports review the status of internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights as set forth in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

European Union governments renewed sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year Monday, including a travel ban against President Robert Mugabe to protest the African nation's poor human rights record.