Jérémie Zimmermann : "A controversial bill dealing with online filesharing was rejected by the French National Assembly in a very surprising move last week, at the final vote of the emergency procedure in which it was considered, (which means only one lecture in each room. such a last minute rejection happened for the last time [...]
The government of China on Monday issued its first national plan aimed at protecting human rights. The Information Office of the State Council published the National Human Rights Action Plan of China, which sets forth the government's human rights policy for 2009 and 2010. Academic, legal, and civil-rights groups helped government officials draft the plan, [...]
The Zimbabwean House Speaker announced Sunday the formation of a committee to draft a new constitution. The drafting of a new constitution was part of the power sharing agreement signed last September by President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and now-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirari . The committee will be composed of [...]
Bolivian President Evo Morales vowed Sunday to continue a hunger strike until the Bolivian National Congress approves the final details of a new election law . Morales declared himself on hunger strike Thursday until congress passed the law because the 60-day period decreed in the new Bolivian constitution had lapsed earlier in the week. The [...]
Moldova's Constitutional Court on Sunday ordered the nation's Central Election Commission to conduct a recount of last week's controversial parliamentary election. The ruling Communist party won nearly 50 percent of the vote , leaving them only one seat short of the 61 seats needed to select the next president unopposed. Opposition groups claim that falsified [...]
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Sunday killing of Sitara Achakzai, a women's rights advocate in Afghanistan and a member of Kandahar's provincial assembly. Achakzai, who had returned to Afghanistan to pursue women's rights after living in Germany during the Taliban's rule, was shot outside her Kandahar home after being approached by gunmen on [...]
Chinese police have begun an investigation into the Saturday death of another prisoner in the country's jails, state news service Xinhua reported Saturday. It was the second death to occur in the facility this year, and comes after last week's announcement of an earlier death in a separate facility. The investigation into this death comes [...]
A "legal framework" is needed to enforce existing international laws against piracy , Adm. Thad Allen , Commandant of the US Coast Guard , said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday morning. Allen said the latest acts of Somali piracy , in which American Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage after a struggle [...]
Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday instituted a state of emergency in Bangkok and several provinces and cancelled an ongoing summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in the country following an outbreak of protests calling for his resignation. The protests were lead by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship [...]
Philip D. Cave : "The Military Commissions have been insufficiently transparent over the years, and this has lead to a great deal of skepticism and mistrust from the public. As I and colleagues have counseled elsewhere, we should be careful of litigation by media. (Disclosure, I know and have worked with all three – Colonel [...]
