Pakistan held rescheduled parliamentary elections Monday, after a month-long postponement following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto . Final tallies are expected in the next few days, although initial results suggest some gains by opposition parties, which have voiced concerns over potential large-scale fraud. BBC News Monday reported several incidents of voting irregularities [...]
Incarcerated former Yukos executive and lawyer Vasily Aleksanian has been kept chained to his bed since his transfer to a Moscow hospital for medical treatment earlier this month, his lawyer said Monday. Aleksanian was initially denied medical transfer by Russian authorities, despite three calls from the European Court of Human Rights to move Aleksanian to [...]
Control orders imposing restrictions on uncharged suspects under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 should not exceed two years in duration except under extraordinary circumstances, the UK's counter-terrorism law ombudsman said in his third annual report Monday. Lord Carlile of Berriew found that the current system of control orders is "a justifiable and proportional safety [...]
The United States and several key European Union powers formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state Monday, one day after the Assembly of Kosovo unilaterally declared Kosovo's independence from Serbia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement on behalf of the United States which "formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state," [...]
Morten Messerschmidt : "Since the terrorist attack against the United States in 2001 all Western countries have reinforced their legal armoury in the fight against Islamic terror. In Denmark this amongst other measures led to a strengthening of our immigration laws in 2002, especially regarding the administrative possibilities of expulsion. In accordance with international law [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Sunday criticized Nepal for failing to hold military and government officials accountable for human rights abuses. Arbour spoke on the anniversary of the 2004 death of a 15-year-old-girl who died during an interrogation by the Nepalese Army, characterizing the government's failure to effectively prosecute military officers [...]
A tentative agreement between the Israeli government and Hamas for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been hindered by disagreements over the identity of the Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for Shalit, Israeli Army Radio reported Monday. Hamas is demanding the release of 350 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Israel [...]
A number of Canadian politicians are urging the Canadian parliament to pass new legislation aimed at permitting the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to conduct surveillance on Canadian citizens outside Canada in the wake of a controversial court ruling issued Friday which declined to assert jurisdiction over a dispute between CSIS and the Canadian Security [...]
Egyptian police on Sunday arrested 51 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood , most of whom were expected to run in upcoming provincial council elections scheduled for April 8 . Egypt's provincial councils administer local municipal government services. These municipal elections were originally scheduled for 2006, but the Egyptian legislature passed a law to delay [...]
The Serbian Interior Ministry on Monday filed treason charges against Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci , President Fatmir Sejdiu , and Speaker of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi, for their role in organizing the Assembly of Kosovo's Sunday declaration of independence from Serbia . Thaci, former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army , was convicted in absentia [...]
