The constitutional branch of the Supreme Court of Nicaragua on Monday struck down a constitutional provision that bans presidential candidates from running for two consecutive terms. Under Article 147 of the Nicaraguan Constitution , a president can serve a maximum of two terms in office, but the terms cannot be consecutive. Monday's decision will allow [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary order Monday prohibiting the publication of the names of those who signed a Washington state petition to overturn a state law giving same-sex partners the same rights as married partners. Kennedy's order, which reversed an order issued last week by the US Court of Appeals for [...]
Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam denied any wrongdoing Sunday, promising to fight charges brought against him in one of the US government's largest insider trading cases to date. Rajaratnam was arrested Friday and charged along with five other individuals and two business entities with insider trading. The complaint alleges that the individuals, including [...]
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday agreed to a runoff election against challenger Abdullah Abdullah after the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) announced Monday that it had invalidated election results from 210 polling stations in Afghanistan's disputed August presidential elections . The EEC found clear and convincing evidence of fraud and also ordered Afghanistan's Independent [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that 14 victims of Hurricane Katrina have standing to sue companies for allegedly contributing to global warming , which they claim played a role in increasing the severity of the hurricane. The court found Friday that the plaintiffs had presented enough evidence against the [...]
Khalid Sekander : "Mr. Barakzai resigned from the Electoral Complaint Commission (ECC) because he views foreign interference as a negative consequence to the Afghan democratic experiment. Meanwhile, Peter Galbraith, former deputy of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), recently stated that UNAMA head Kal Eide is favorable to the Karzai government by covering-up [...]
The Honduran interim government officially eased restrictions on protests and opposition media Monday, two weeks after acting-president Roberto Micheletti promised to repeal the executive decree issued in September suspending several constitutional rights. The decree suspended five articles of the Honduran Constitution and was issued in response to protests being organized in support of deposed president [...]
The Israeli government on Friday rejected a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution endorsing the final report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict . The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the resolution "one-sided" and called on the international community to join Israel in rejecting it, issuing the following statement:The adoption of this [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday commenced the confirmation of charges hearing against Sudanese war crimes suspect and rebel leader Bahr Idriss Abu Garda , the first suspect to appear before the ICC in regard to the Darfur situation. Abu Garda is accused of committing war crimes by orchestrating a September 2007 attack against [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidelines Monday directing federal prosecutors to respect state-sanctioned medical marijuana use and distribution, ending raids on facilities complying with state law. The memorandum outlining DOJ priorities concerning illicit trafficking directs prosecutors not to focus on individuals acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. Though the DOJ declared [...]
