WORLD BRIEFS

SYRIA: Rebels demand Hezbollah leave

The Syrian opposition called on Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters, as activists said regime troops supported by gunmen linked to the Lebanese Shia militant group battled rebels Sunday for control of villages near the Lebanon border. Activists said they had documented the names of 80 people killed in a government assault on the area in the past five days. The Syrian National Coalition, the Western-backed opposition group, warned that Hezbollah's role could lead to greater risks in the area.

CHINA: U.S. criticized on human rights

China slammed the human rights record of the United States in response to Washington's report on rights around the world, saying U.S. military operations have infringed on rights abroad and political donations at home have thwarted the country's democracy. The report, released Sunday in China, which defines human rights primarily in terms of improving living conditions for its 1.3 billion people, also cited gun violence, calling it a serious threat to the lives and safety of American citizens.

INDIA: Protests grow over attack on child

The condition of a 5-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped, raped and tortured and left alone in a locked room in New Delhi for two days has improved, a doctor said Sunday, as protests continued over authorities' handling of the case. The girl was transferred Thursday in critical condition to the largest government-run hospital in the country. Police say neighbors heard her crying in a room in the building where she lives with her family. She had apparently been left for dead following a brutal attack. A 24-year-old was arrested Saturday in the eastern state of Bihar and was being questioned in New Delhi.

NIGERIA: 185 killed, many of them civilians

Fighting with extremists killed 185 people in a fishing community in the far northeast, officials said Sunday, an attack that saw insurgents fire rocket-propelled grenades and soldiers spray machine-gun fire into civilian neighborhoods in one of the deadliest incidents to involve the Boko Haram extremists.