Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "Human rights are universal and apply equally to all people everywhere. The Government is proud to stand up for the rights of LGBT people. We will continue to do so across the world over the coming year, raising LGBT rights in international meetings and through our diplomatic missions around the globe, and maintaining our strong support for the UN’s Free and Equal Campaign."

In a creative approach to upgrade advocacy efforts by civil stakeholders against violence in Lebanon – particularly domestic and gender based violence (GBV) – ABAAD called on Syrian refugee girls to reproduce on dummies their personal stories of violence and discrimination. A public exhibition displaying the puppets is organised today in Taanayel in Lebanon’s Bekaa region.

Hours after a Sudanese court sentenced his pregnant wife to death when she refused to recant her Christian faith, her husband told CNN he feels helpless.  "The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion, is abhorrent and should never be even considered," Manar Idriss, Amnesty International's Sudan researcher, said in a statement.

The Qatari government has announced several changes to its controversial labour system amid international criticism of its treatment of foreign workers.  At a joint press conference in Doha on Wednesday, Qatar's Ministries of Interior and Labour released plans to ease restrictions on foreign workers' terms of employment.

An upcoming game for Nintendo's handheld devices will let players enter a virtual world in which they make friends, flirt and can even get married and have kids.  But those romantic relationships can't be with characters of the same gender -- a fact a growing online movement hopes to change.

Beverly Hills city council has condemned the government of Brunei for introducing new laws that impose harsh penalties, including death by stoning for homosexuality and adultery, and called on it to either change its laws or sell two of its most famous hotels. The council unanimously passed on Tuesday a resolution criticising Brunei, which has drawn fire for a controversial penal code announced last month. Brunei owns the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air, two properties in its Dorchester Collection.

Last Saturday, May 3, was annual World Press Freedom Day. This year, the state of press freedom is especially grim; journalists face imprisonment, kidnapping, and death for doing their jobs. “Unfortunately, we really don’t have a lot to celebrate,” said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres and others are backing boycotts of the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air because of new laws targeting gays and women in the Southeast Asian sultanate of Brunei.