The Sri Lankan cabinet on Monday approved proposed constitutional reforms that would permit current President Mahinda Rajapaksa to seek an unlimited number of terms in office. The current number of terms for the executive, codified within Chapter VII of the Sri Lankan Constitution , is limited to two. The proposed amendment now moves to the [...]
Defense lawyers for Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba argued before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Monday that Bemba lacks the financial resources to ensure a fair trial over war crimes he allegedly committed in 2002 and 2003. Bemba’s lawyers claim that prosecutors have seized all of Bemba’s assets and that [...]
A forthcoming UN report claims that troops from Rwanda and allied rebels committed crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that could be classified as genocide if proven by the appropriate court, according to media reports. The draft report, first publicized by French newspaper Le Monde last week, documents the extreme violence in the [...]
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Friday called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove any mention of Arizona and its passage of SB 1070 from a human rights report issued by the State Department. The report, submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of a universal review, discussed the passage [...]
Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has been named by multiple Iranian news sources as one of three top judicial officials who were suspended in connection with the torture deaths of three detained protesters, multiple Iranian media outlets reported Monday. The suspensions were announced last week , but the names of the officials had been withheld. According [...]
Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan on Sunday urged Kenya to reaffirm its commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it welcomed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to a celebration for the country’s adoption of a new constitution last week. In his statement, Annan expressed his “surprise” at the presence of al-Bashir and called on Kenya [...]
Microsoft Corporation on Friday asked the US Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas finding that the company committed patent infringement and awarding Canadian-based software company i4i $290 million dollars in damages. i4i alleged that Microsoft willfully infringed on patents it held on XML technology [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a decision issued last year by the US Court of Federal Claims finding insufficient evidence to establish a link between childhood vaccines and autism in three test cases. The decision focused on the case of 15-year-old Michelle Cedillo, who received the MMR vaccine [...]
The Obama administration has halted plans to prosecute Guantanamo Bay detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri for his alleged involvement in the 2000 USS Cole attack , according to a Washington Post report Thursday. According to the report, the intention not to pursue charges was revealed in a motion filed with the US Court of Appeals for [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Friday denied a motion to dismiss a challenge to the constitutionality of a second execution attempt filed by death row inmate Romell Broom . The challenge was filed in September following a failed execution attempt, in which officials failed to find [...]
