The UK coalition government will review the country's Human Rights Act after two Pakistani terror suspects successfully avoided deportation by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission due to concerns for their safety. The commission identified both Abid Naseer and Ahmed Faraz Khan as terrorism suspects but concluded that it was not possible for them to be [...]
The International Crisis Group (ICG) on Monday accused Sri Lankan security forces of war crimes during the last months of the Sri Lankan civil war . The ICG claims that the violence of the 30-year civil war, which ended one year ago this month, escalated in January 2009 leaving thousands more dead than projected by [...]
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday pardoned Interior Minister Rehman Malik , convicted on corruption charges in 2004. Zardari issued the pardon after the Lahore High Court refused to throw out Malik's 2004 conviction. Malik was not present in Pakistan when he was convicted and sentenced to serve three years in prison. Last December, [...]
Yemen's Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday that a Yemeni court has sentenced six Somali pirates to death and six additional pirates to 10-year jail sentences for the hijacking of a Yemeni oil tanker in April 2009. The convicted pirates must collectively pay 2 million Yemen riyals in compensatory damages to the Aden Refinery , which [...]
A Chinese court on Tuesday convicted Huang Guangyu, formerly China's richest man , of illegal business dealings, insider trading, and corporate bribery. Huang was previously the chairman of Pengrun Investments and founder of subsidiary GOME Electrical Appliances , both publicly traded on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The court sentenced Huang to 14 [...]
Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa on Monday opened a UN conference on international crime prevention by warning of the inadequacies of the current international crime control system. Costa indicated that organized crime is gaining economic strength and that countries must find ways to disrupt the international [...]
DC-based consumer advocacy organization Food and Water Watch (FWW) filed suit in a US district court Monday against the US Department of Interior (DOI) and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for an injunction to halt drilling at the BP Atlantis Facility in the Gulf of Mexico. FWW joined suit with Kenneth Abbott, a former safety [...]
Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva on Monday signed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage but stops short of allowing same-sex couples to adopt. The bill was approved by the Portuguese Parliament in January and found to be constitutional by the Constitutional Court last month. Silva indicated he was unhappy with the manner in which the [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Monday urged both the Thai government and anti-government protesters to seek a peaceful resolution to the current conflict . Expressing deep concern at the escalating violence that has left dozens dead and many more injured, Pillay called on both sides to avoid further clashes and seek [...]
A Haitian court on Monday convicted US missionary Laura Silsby of attempting to illegally smuggle 33 Haitian children to the US through the Dominican Republic in the wake of the January 12 earthquake . Silsby was found guilty of irregular travel and sentenced to time served during judicial proceedings. At the opening of trial proceedings [...]
