Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday asked the Israeli government to stop official plans to demolish or confiscate the homes of those suspected of terrorism, calling such plans a violation of international law. The request by HRW came after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday ordered the demolition of a home owned by the [...]
Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr has filed suit against Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in an effort to compel Harper to demand his release. Following last month's discovery of documents showing that the Canadian government knew Khadr had been mistreated , Harper has come under heavy criticism for refusing to interfere with US proceedings against [...]
Members of the Muslim group Hizbut Tahir Indonesia (HTI) held a demonstration outside the US Consulate General and the US embassy in Jakarta Sunday to protest a letter sent by members of US Congress asking for the release of two Papuan prisoners. In 2005, an Indonesian court sentenced Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage , both [...]
Bolivia on Sunday held a national referendum on whether to keep Bolivian President Evo Morales , Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and Bolivia's nine governors in office. Morales himself actually proposed the idea of a recall election last December in response to accusations that his process for rewriting the Bolivian constitution has been illegitimate, but [...]
A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday sentenced Tai Shen Kuo, a naturalized US citizen and Louisiana businessman, to 188 months in prison for his part in a conspiracy to deliver national defense information to China . Judge Leonie Brinkema also required Kuo to forfeit $40,000 after [...]
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. disclosed Friday in its quarterly report that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating possible breaches of procedure by one of the bank's subsidiaries in auction-rate securities sales and purchases. Auction-rate securities are long-term bonds with varying interest rates that change based on weekly or monthly auctions. [...]
The UN observed its fourteenth International Day of the World’s Indigenous People Saturday, marking the first observance since the September 2007 adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples . In 1994, the General Assembly declared that the day would be observed every August 9 in an effort to "promote the [...]
International human rights groups on Saturday condemned any violence Russian or Georgian forces might commit against civilians in the separatist region of South Ossetia , warning that those actions may amount to war crimes. After a period of smaller conflicts, on Friday the Republic of Georgia announced that to restore constitutional order, it was launching [...]
Farzana Hassan and Hasan Mahmud : "The Iranian government's decision to commute its earlier stoning sentence against four adults convicted of adultery is the right decision and a welcome move. It is also encouraging news that Iran has put a moratorium on such punishments, however, the nation must review its current laws on adultery with [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Friday dismissed a shareholder suit against government-sponsored lender Fannie Mae for alleged wrongdoing by the board of directors. Shareholders accused the board of failing to take appropriate steps in 2004 to prevent accounting violations, and also asserted that the board should not have approved $31 [...]
