Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, top, and Maria Alyokhina, right, members of female punk band "Pussy Riot", look out from the defendent's cell in a courtroom in Moscow on July 30, 2012. Three young women who staged an irreverent punk-rock protest against Vladimir Putin on the altar of Russia's main cathedral go on trial on Monday in a case seen as a test of the president's tolerance of dissent.

NBC News wire services report from Moscow — Three young women who staged an irreverent punk-rock protest against Vladimir Putin on the altar of Russia's main cathedral were due to go on trial Monday in a case seen as a test of the president's tolerance of dissent.

The trial of the activists - from the band Pussy Riot - should show how much power the resurgent Russian Orthodox Church and its head, Patriarch Kirill, wields. He has called the "punk prayer" blasphemy, casting it as part of a sinister anti-clerical campaign. Read the full story.

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

A supporter of "Pussy Riot" waits outside the court where three members of the band are on trial, in Moscow on July 30, 2012.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Topless feminist confronts Russian church patriarch

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Juan Mabromata / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the public and human rights organizations watch on a giant screen outside court as sentences are handed down to two former Argentine dictators for their involvement in the kidnapping of babies from leftist activists killed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, in Buenos Aires on July 5, 2012.

Natacha Pisarenko / AP

A woman holds a sign outside court. It reads in Spanish "Give the children back".

Natacha Pisarenko / AP

A woman waits for the verdict.

Enrique Marcarian / Reuters

People react after hearing the verdict.

Msnbc.com news services report from Buenos Aires, Argentina — Three key figures from Argentina's "Dirty War" got hefty jail terms for the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, an Argentine court ruled on Thursday.

The trial featured gut-wrenching testimony from grandmothers and other relatives who searched inconsolably for their missing relatives, and from people who learned as young adults that they were raised by the very people involved in the disappearance of their birth parents. Read the full story.

Podcast: The New Yorker's Francisco Goldman talks about the children of the disappeared

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Photos by Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

A demonstrator carries a portrait of Egyptian Khaled Said on the second anniversary of Said's death in Cairo on June 6, 2012. Said, 28, was beaten to death by police in Alexandria in June 2010 after he posted a video showing police officers sharing the spoils of a drugs bust, according to his family. The act of brutality galvanized further protests, in particular, the anti-torture Facebook page

A demonstrator stands in silence over Qasr El Nile bridge on the second anniversary of Khaled Said's death in Cairo. The words read "Khaled is not happy, down with military rule."

The Associated Press reports:

Tens of thousands of political prisoners suffered torture under Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule. Virtually all the abuses perpetrated under Mubarak's regime have gone unpunished.

One of the extreme cases of brutality ended in the death of 28-year-old Khaled Said, in Alexandria. Beaten to death by two police officers in June 2010, his name became a rallying call of the uprising. "We are all Khalid Said," was the name of the Facebook group that helped organize the early protests.

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Rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in twin attacks in Norway last year, makes a salute as he enters an Oslo court on April 16, 2012.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Anders Behring Breivik has his handcuffs removed as he arrives for the first day of his trial.

Heiko Junge / AFP - Getty Images

Anders Behring Breivik sheds a tear as the court views a propaganda film he made before he carried out the deadliest attacks in post-war Norwegian history.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Members of the judiciary are pictured in the courtroom during the first day of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik.

Ian Johnston, msnbc.com reports — Anti-Islam militant Anders Behring Breivik admitted he had killed 77 people in a massacre last July, but said he was pleading not guilty to the criminal charges against him on the first day of his trial in Norway Monday, The Associated Press reported.

As he arrived in court - the early part of the session was broadcast on television - Breivik gave a salute, raising his arm with his first clenched.

He said that he did not "acknowledge the authority of the court." Read more.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Photo of Anders Behring Breivik minutes after arrest
• Portraits put a face on Norway massacre
• Security cameras captured images of Norway killer
• Norway killer reconstructs Utoya shooting spree for police

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Eskil Pedersen, second left, leader of the Labour party youth wing and Utoya survivor, is seated next to lawyer John Christian Elden, left, as they wait for the start of the trial.

Stoyan Nenov / Reuters

People look from inside a tram as they pass by the court in Oslo where the trial of Anders Behring Breivik is being held.

Slideshow: Norway mourns after massacre

The nation looks to rally after a bombing and shooting spree leaves 77 people dead.

Launch slideshow

Hrvoje Polan / AFP - Getty Images

A crowd holds a statue of Fikret Abdic during his welcome ceremony in front of the prison in Pula, Croatia on March 9, 2012. Abdic, a former Bosnian warlord who fought fellow Muslims during his country's 1992-95 war, was released from prison on Friday after serving two-thirds of his war crimes sentence.

A former Bosnian warlord who fought fellow Muslims during his country's 1992-95 war was released from prison on Friday after serving two-thirds of his war crimes sentence, The Associated Press reports.

Fikret Abdic, once one of the richest men in Bosnia and a popular politician, was convicted in 2003 for participating in the detention and killing of fellow Muslims during the war. About 3,000 cheering followers gathered to welcome his release. Read the full story.

Nikola Solic / AP

Fikret Abdic, center, greets his family members upon his release from prison on March 9, 2012.

Jason Lee / Reuters

Delegates of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) yawn and sleep in the gallery during explanations of the draft amendment to the Criminal Procedural Law at the second plenary meeting of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 8, 2012.

Reuters reports from Beijing — China's parliament unveiled legislation on Thursday solidifying police powers to hold dissidents in secret criminal detention, prompting an outcry from artist Ai Weiwei and rights advocates caught in a surge of clandestine detentions last year.

"Detainees' families should be notified within 24 hours, except when impossible, or when they are involved in crimes concerning state security or terrorism, and notification could obstruct investigations," the government said in a provision on detention in legal amendments issued to delegates and reporters.

The secret detention powers drew criticism of the Communist Party's sweeping controls to stifle dissent. The party-controlled parliament more or less automatically approves legislation proposed by the government. Read the full story.

Ng Han Guan / AP

Traffic police officers with neck support pillows given to them as a reward from their commander during the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 8, 2012.

Arturo Rodriguez / AP

An unidentified woman embraces judge Baltasar Garzon as he arrives at the Supreme Court in Madrid on Jan. 31, 2012. Garzon is sitting in the dock as a criminal defendant for allegedly overstepping his jurisdiction with a probe of right wing atrocities during and after the Spanish civil war.

The Associated Press reports from MADRID: 

The Spanish judge known for pioneering cross-border justice in cases of alleged crimes against humanity sat in the dock Tuesday as a criminal defendant and defiantly rejected charges he overstepped his jurisdiction by probing right wing atrocities during and after the Spanish civil war. 

Baltasar Garzon declined to take questions from his accusers, which are two right wing groups. Prosecutors say he committed no crime. This is a quirk of Spanish law: private citizens can seek to bring criminal charges against someone even if prosecutors disagree.

Garzon is perhaps best-known for indicting the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, having him arrested while Pinochet visited London in an ultimately failed bid to bring him to Madrid for trial. Read the full story.

Supporters of Garzon gathered outside the court, some holding photographs of people who were killed or disappeared during the rule of Gen. Francisco Franco.

Susana Vera / Reuters

A supporter of Baltasar Garzon holds a banner that reads "More judges like Garzon" during a protest outside Madrid's Supreme Court on Jan. 31, 2012.

Susana Vera / Reuters

A supporter of Baltasar Garzon takes photos next to pictures of alleged victims of Francoism during a protest outside Madrid's Supreme Court on Jan. 31, 2012.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Guatemala's former strongman Efrain Rios Montt, who faces genocide charges, stands amid policemen during a break at a courtroom in Guatemala City on Jan. 26, 2012.

Reuters reports from GUATEMALA CITY: 

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt will face trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity as the Central American nation seeks to close files on a brutal 36-year civil war.

A judge found sufficient evidence that linked Rios Montt, who ruled during a particularly bloody period in 1982 and 1983, to the killing of more than 1,700 indigenous people in one counterinsurgency effort. Read the full story.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Relatives of genocide victims watch Efrain Rios Montt in the courtroom during a hearing related to the accusations of genocide.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

A banner with portraits of people who disappeared during Montt's reign.