It was meant to be a crowning moment in which Iran put its own Islamic stamp on the Arab Spring. More than a thousand young activists were flown here earlier this week (at government expense) for a conference on "the Islamic Awakening," Tehran's effort to rebrand the popular Arab uprisings of the past year. But there was a catch. No one was invited from Syria, whose autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, is a crucial Iranian ally.

Ammar Cheikh Oma, the son of Syrian parents who immigrated to Germany in the 1950s, is still trying to make sense of his unlikely transformation from a dutiful German student to a killer for the brutal Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and, ultimately, a defector. Human rights groups and Syrian activists said he was one of thousands of Syrians who had inadvertently found themselves deployed as foot soldiers for a government that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 5,000 people since the crackdown on demonstrators began in March.

Last week, the Ethiopian High Court delivered harsh sentences to five dissident journalists, including an exiled editor living in the United States, on vague charges of terrorism. Critics call the charges trumped up and accuse Ethiopia of using so-called anti-terrorism laws as a tool of oppression.

Formed days after Vladimir Putin's announcement in September that he intended to return to the presidency, the band has become the latest symbol of young Russian discontent. The mid-January performance on Red Square, brazen in its choice of location and lyrics, catapulted the all-female punk band into the pantheon of Russia's increasingly creative protest movement.

In a conservative Syrian town where women are discouraged from going out alone, young women are knocking on doors to recruit others to the resistance. They estimate a couple hundred women have joined a struggle that, nationwide, just claimed over 100 lives in 48 hours. Damascus may be less than five miles away, but for women here it's far from the relative autonomy of the capital city where women, with or without headscarves, freely move around. Here, by contrast, women risk harassment for going out alone or without a headscarf.

When my family were permitted to visit me in 1992, my husband brought me a copy of The Power of the Powerless. I have just flicked quickly through the pages of this now shabby, well-thumbed volume and reread some of the phrases I underlined in the book. "... an examination of the potential of the 'powerless' -- can only begin with an examination of the nature of power in the circumstances in which these powerless people operate ..." "... freedom is indivisible ..."

Liu Xiaobo, 56, is the first Chinese citizen living in China to win the Nobel Prize, and is a national embarrassment for the Chinese authorities, who view his peaceful campaign for democracy as dangerous criminal activity. 'No Enemies, No Hatred' comes as China steps up its repression of dissidents and activists across the country. China's approaching leadership transition, combined with the upcoming first anniversaries of the so-called Jasmine Revolution and Arab Spring, have led to severe crackdowns.

Despite the seemingly endless stream of news stories focusing on violence, crime and death that are splashed across the world's front pages, humans are now living in one of the most peaceful periods of our existence. That's according to a new book by Steven Pinker, a Harvard Psychology professor and one of the "World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals" according to Time magazine.

Many Egyptians watched a warning message in a YouTube video that began to circulate last year named "Message From Iranian Women to Tunisian and Egyptian Women." The video features pictures of the life of Iranian women before and after the Islamic revolution there in 1979. Depicting a reversal of women's rights with the implementation of Islamic rule after the revolution, the video warns women in Egypt and Tunisia to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to them.

At least 15 ethnic Tibetans - most of them current or former Buddhist clergy members - have set themselves on fire in the past year, including four this month, part of a wave of anti-government protests in Tibet and the western Chinese province of Sichuan. "The blame lies with the Chinese government and its very hardline, insensitive policies,'' said Lobsang Sangay, the Dalai Lama's political successor. "This vicious cycle of crackdowns and repressions by China seems likely to continue."