The UK High Court has agreed to consider whether the UK government must put the ratification of the new EU reform treaty , properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon , to a public vote. Influential UK Conservative Party donor Stuart Wheeler launched a legal bid to force a referendum in January, arguing that Prime [...]
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor controlled about five billion dollars held at two US banks during his presidency, Special Court for Sierra Leone head prosecutor Stephen Rapp told the BBC Friday. It is unclear what funds Taylor still holds, but a June 2007 UN report concluded that Taylor may control millions of dollars held in [...]
Aleksandar Momirov : "If the recent acquittal of Ramush Haradinaj by the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had all the characteristics of a judicial earthquake, then it is only fair to say that the subsequent Appeals Chamber's Judgment in the case against Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, rendered [...]
An Al Jazeera cameraman from Sudan who had been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 was released from the prison on Thursday and flown back to Sudan early Friday morning. Sami al Haj was among nine prisoners who were transferred from Guantanamo; three were sent to Sudan, five to Afghanistan and one to Morocco. The [...]
A former US Marine sergeant, charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly killing two Iraqi insurgents during the Multinational National Force-Iraq's November 2004 offensive in Fallujah , can stand trial in federal court, according to a ruling from US District Court Judge Stephen Larson. Jose Nazario's lawyers had argued that a civilian court [...]
The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted Thursday to approve a ban prohibiting the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from allowing private contractors to interrogate detainees. The ban is part of a bill authorizing intelligence expenditures for the 2009 fiscal year which would also require intelligence agencies to give the International Committee of the Red [...]
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday dismissed an appeal of an injunction suspending a Washington state law that would require pharmacists to dispense Plan B emergency contraceptives , the so-called "morning after" pill. US District Judge Ronald Leighton's injunction effectively creates a "refuse and refer" system, allowing disapproving pharmacists to refuse to sell [...]
The US House of Representatives voted 414-1 on Thursday to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) , a bill aimed at preventing employers and health insurers from discriminating against people who have a genetic predisposition to disease. Under the measure, employers would be barred from basing hiring and firing decisions on genetic [...]
A scheduled May 10 referendum on a new constitution proposed by Myanmar's ruling junta is a "sham" designed to legitimize military rule, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW criticized the military government for arresting opposition activists and repressing media coverage in the lead-up to the referendum, saying: The [...]
An Argentine human rights activist whose Wednesday disappearance sparked a nation-wide manhunt was released by his captors Thursday. Juan Evaristo Puthod, who was held at secret prisons during Argentina's "Dirty War" , had previously testified about the treatment of political prisoners under the country's 1976-83 military junta, prompting fears that he had been kidnapped in [...]
