The Supreme Court of Pakistan judge presiding over the case challenging the legality of President Pervez Musharraf's re-election bid said Friday that the court will move ahead with hearings and will likely issue a verdict by November 6. Although Judge Javed Iqbal has previously said that hearings would be delayed until November 12, he said [...]
US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Friday that he will not support the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US attorney general, citing Mukasey's continuing reluctance to unequivocally denounce waterboarding as torture. Mukasey must receive ten votes from the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to advance to the full Senate with a [...]
The Chad Supreme Court ruled Friday that a group of European citizens connected to the attempt by French charity Zoe's Arc to fly 103 children believed to be orphans from the embattled Darfur region of Sudan to France will be transferred to stand trial in the capital of N'Djamena. Six French nationals have been charged [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard arguments Thursday on whether a 2003 Virginia law banning so-called partial-birth abortions is constitutional. In a 2-1 split in 2005, a panel of judges on the same court ruled the law unconstitutional because it lacked an an exception to protect the [...]
The UN Human Rights Committee Friday called on Libya to end the use of torture and to investigate torture allegations by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had been detained in Libya for eight years on suspicions that they deliberately infected hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus . The call came [...]
Canada's ruling Conservative Party government said Thursday that it will not ask Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer to commute the death sentence of a Canadian-born man on death row in Montana . The announcement marks a sharp departure in Canadian foreign policy; the Canadian government has traditionally tried to save Canadians from execution in foreign countries. [...]
Two environmental advocacy groups Thursday filed an amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of the Real ID Act in response to actions taken by US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last month. Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club argued that Chertoff violated the constitutional separation of powers by using his power under the Real ID [...]
The government of Pakistan plans to amend the Pakistan Army Act to include a provision enabling the army to court-martial civilians for certain offenses, Pakistan Attorney General Malik Qayyum said Friday. The offenses that could subject civilians to court-martial trials include abduction, use of arms and terrorism, and will particularly apply to offenses committed by [...]
Maureen Aung-Thwin : "The Burmese military junta crossed a line when they killed the monks. When thousands of maroon-robed monks led peaceful protests across Burma against the 500% overnight increase in fuel prices, there was hope that the military would respond with restraint. Instead, the whole world watched in horror at the violent images of [...]
The military junta in Myanmar has released an additional 46 people detained during the recent government crackdown on opponents of the military junta, officials said Friday, after releasing 87 other demonstrators last week. Six other dissidents were released on Tuesday. Most of the demonstrators released are members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led [...]
