The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday denounced the state of emergency imposed Wednesday in the neighboring Georgian Republic as "a gross violation of human rights and democratic freedom." Russia urged the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the international community to call on Georgia to "fully [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Sadaf Aziz of the Lahore University of Management Sciences Faculty of Law, in Lahore, Pakistan, says that President Pervez Musharraf's continued leadership of Pakistan in an ostensibly civilian capacity while still Army Chief reflects an unresolved but fundamental tension between democracy and dictatorship… The emergency measures provision of the Pakistani Constitution can [...]
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 235-184 in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act , legislation that would extend protections against workplace discrimination to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. The bill covers hiring and firing practices, the setting of compensation levels, and promotion determinations, and makes it illegal for employers to consider an employee's [...]
The government of Nigeria filed a lawsuit in a Nigerian federal court Wednesday against local tobacco producer International Tobacco Company, Ltd. and international tobacco producers British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International . The lawsuit seeks upwards of $40 billion in damages for costs for the treatment of tobacco-related diseases in Nigeria and for [...]
Increasing institutionalization of racist political ideologies and violent expressions of racism seriously threaten democracy and human rights, a United Nations expert told the General Assembly Wednesday. In his report to the General Assembly's Third Committee , UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Doudou Diene wrote that ethical [...]
The Florida Supreme Court issued a 5-2 order Wednesday denying a stay of execution for death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab . The court ruled last week that the state could proceed with Schwab's execution after finding that Florida's revised lethal injection protocol does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment . The US Supreme Court [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Wednesday ordered eight Croatian journalists to be questioned about possible contempt of court violations for revealing confidential information. Three national television journalists and five newspaper writers will be investigated for revealing confidential portions of indictments against former generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac . The [...]
Awzar Thi : "The renewal of protests in Burma during recent days should come as no surprise to anyone other than those persons who have written foolish articles making out that what happened in September was somehow not the doing of the people there themselves but rather a consequence of covert American foreign policy. Every [...]
The government of the Republic of Georgia has declared a state of emergency following days of protests in the capital city of Tbilisi, according to a televised speech Wednesday. Reading a prepared statement, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel , 06-989, where the Court considered whether parties can contractually agree to vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) . Hall Street Associates leased property to toy manufacturer Mattel and filed suit after Mattel failed to clean up [...]
