The Fiji government Monday charged three people with plotting to assassinate current self-appointed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama in the wake of the 2006 military coup which ousted former Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and installed Bainimarama last December. According to police Monday, sixteen men were arrested late Sunday and several, including some former military [...]

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour Monday criticized the weekend imposition of a state of emergency in Pakistan, saying that she was "alarmed by the suspension of fundamental rights" in the country. The former Canadian Supreme Court justice also questioned the propriety of imposing emergency rule in the face of alleged judicial interference [...]

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Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a Monday New York Times op-ed that he supports granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that complied with government requests for phone records following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Ashcroft's comments come as the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 , [...]

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Pakistani security services pressed ahead with arrests of leading lawyers across Pakistan Monday as the government sought to suppress dissent against Saturday's declaration of emergency rule by President Pervez Musharraf. In addition to hundreds arrested after riot police clashed with lawyers at the Lahore High Court , at least 25 lawyers in Karachi – including [...]

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Parliamentary elections in Pakistan will be held in mid-January as scheduled, despite Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's weekend proclamation of emergency rule , Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Monday. Aziz's comments came amid fears that the elections would be postponed because of the imposition of emergency rule and ensuing demonstrations by Pakistani lawyers throughout the [...]

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Eleven more detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo Bay , the US Defense Department said Sunday. According to the DOD announcement, eight detainees were transferred to Afghanistan and three were transferred to Jordan. The names of the eleven men were not released. In October, another six detainees were transferred to Afghanistan . With the transfer, [...]

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