The European Court of Human Rights says Russia acted illegally in allowing the Moscow city authorities to ban gay pride marches in the capital. It said the city had violated the right of assembly and discriminated against the organisers because of their sexuality. The gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev who'd brought the case said the ruling had important implications for other groups in Russia.

"Today, a really crushing defeat was dealt to the prohibitive policies of the Moscow authorities over the last five years. It's a total defeat, and now the new Moscow authorities should admit that something has to be changed in their attitude towards sexual minorities."

Health officials in Haiti say an outbreak of diarrhoea has killed about 50 people in the north of the country. Local hospitals have been overwhelmed by hundreds more suffering high fever, vomiting and acute diarrhoea. Doctors are testing people for cholera.

A prominent Cuban dissident given a human rights award by the European Parliament says the honour could make his campaign for greater political freedom more difficult. Guillermo Farinas told the BBC that the Cuban government usually increased attacks on dissidents as they'd become more well-known, but he dedicated his award to the struggle of the Cuban people.

"I accept this prize not for me but for the Cuban people, for the prisoners who are in jail, for the opposition in the streets, for the exiled who feel nostalgia for their homeland that they have had to leave. This prize is for all the democratic men and women all over the world who with their denunciations and solidarity have forced the Cuban government to ease off and take our brothers out of prisons."