The 2008 fiscal year led to record deportations of undocumented immigrants in the US according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports Thursday. Nationwide, ICE deported 349,041 immigrants during the 2008 fiscal year ending September 30, as opposed to the 288,663 reported as removed in the 2007 fiscal year and 2004's 174,000 deportations. The [...]
Malaysian High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad ordered the release of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin on Friday, finding insufficient grounds for his arrest under the country's Internal Security Act (ISA) , which allows for indefinite detentions. Raja Petra, the editor of anti-government website Malaysia Today , had been in a detention camp since [...]
Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday began habeas corpus hearings for six Algerians challenging their detention at Guantanamo Bay. The hearings are the first to be held since the Supreme Court granted detainees at the facility the right to challenge their captivity in Boumediene v. Bush [...]
The UN General Assembly and Security Council on Thursday elected five new judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) . Judges Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh of Jordan, currently the vice president of the court, and Ronny Abraham of France were re-elected. Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade of Brazil, Christopher Greenwood of the United Kingdom, and Abdulqawi [...]
The British and Falkland Islands governments announced Thursday that they have agreed on a new constitution for the disputed South Atlantic Islands, a British territory also claimed by Argentina. Under the new constitution, primary governing power is vested in the Falkland's local government , but the British governor to the territory retains the power to [...]
Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon has declared a state of emergency for Tacna province in southern Peru where violence broke out last week after the government passed a law reducing the province's share of revenue from mining operations in the region. The new law levies taxes based on how much mineral wealth is produced, whereas [...]
The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) Thursday called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to open a probe into death threats allegedly sent by a group called Mahason Balakaya to the Sri Lankan human rights lawyers who represent suspected terrorists. IBAHRI said the government's failure to initiate an investigation violates both the country's [...]
The government of India issued a warning Thursday on illegal land sales to foreigners in the country, especially in the state of Goa . Located in the western part of India, Goa is known for its seaside views and inexpensive housing, which attract many foreigners. The statement by the Ministry of Finance said: It has [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a statute mandating that five percent of Department of Defense (DOD) contract spending be awarded to minority companies, is unconstitutional. The opinion, written by Chief Judge Paul Michel and issued Tuesday, found that the evidential standard of determining who is a minority violated the [...]
A ballot measure to prohibit holders of government contracts totaling more than $100,000 from contributing to political parties or candidates appeared to win narrow approval from Colorado voters Tuesday, while a similar measure in South Dakota was easily rejected. In Colorado, Initiative 59 (also called Amendment 54) amends the state constitution to ban such "pay [...]
