The UN Security Council on Wednesday made their first official statement implicating climate change as a serious threat to world peace and security. At the urging of Germany, which released a Concept Note to lead the discussion, the Security Council debated global warming for the first time since 2007. Although Germany pushed for plans of [...]
Somali children continue to be victims of war crimes , Amnesty International (AI) said Thursday. In a report entitled “In the Line of Fire: Somalia’s Children Under Attack,” AI provides evidence indicating that armed conflict in areas of Somalia has led to deteriorating human rights conditions, particularly for children. Armed military and civilian forces, like [...]
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara signed a decree Wednesday establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate crimes and human rights violations that took place during post-election violence between pro-Ouattara forces and forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo . The commission will investigate the abuses and provide recommendations for implementing measures to prevent similar incidents. [...]
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa won a criminal libel claim on Thursday against the owners and a columnist of newspaper El Universo , resulting in fines of USD $40 million and a three-year sentence for the offending journalist and editors. Emilio Palacio , Nicholas Perez, Cesar Perez and Carlos Perez, the owners of El Universo, were [...]
The Australian government announced Thursday that it will sue former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks for royalties from his memoir. Hicks spent more than five years without trial in US custody after being captured in Afghanistan following the terror attacks of 9/11 . He wrote an autobiography last year entitled “Guantanamo: My Journey,” describing his [...]
Guinea authorities have arrested between 70 and 80 suspects accused of plotting an attack on President Alpha Conde Wednesday. Assailants launched rocket-propelled grenades at Condes’ home, and three people were killed, including one of his bodyguards. The suspects include former army leader General Nouhou Thiam and a past member of Conde’s presidential guard. Conde delivered [...]
A judge in the Court of Metropolitan Sessions, a criminal court in Bangladesh, on Wednesday indicted 430 people for their roles in a February 2009 mutiny . Bangladesh has conducted a series of military and civil trials for the thousands of citizens and soldiers involved in the mutiny, which left 74 dead. All of the [...]
Ohio Governor John Kasich on Wednesday signed into law a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks. The legislation requires doctors to determine the viability of the fetus and seek a second opinion as to whether the child is capable of surviving outside of the womb. In the event that the fetus is viable, an abortion [...]
Former hedge fund trader Danielle Chiesi was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to three criminal counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Chiesi was accused of communicating non-public information about IBM Corporation, Advanced Microdevices (AMD) and Sun Microsystems [...]
Council of Europe (COE) Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg on Wednesday condemned the flurry of burqa and niqab bans that have been implemented recently around the world. Hammarberg said the bans may not conform to European human rights standards such as the right to respect for personal life and personal identity. He noted that there [...]
