Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has signed off on the controversial Interception of Communications Bill , which establishes a government communications surveillance agency and authorizes the government to intercept communications across the telephone, the Internet, and other electronic communication devices. The bill, which has been criticized by opposition lawmakers as an effort to consolidate power and [...]
State legislatures across the United States have enacted at least 170 immigration-related bills in 2007 as a result of the "continued absence of a comprehensive federal reform of the United States' challenged immigration system," according to a report released Monday by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NSCL) . The report says that no fewer [...]
The Sri Lankan government is responsible for a dramatic increase in unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations since the resumption of hostilities in 2006 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) , according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said [...]
President George W. Bush signed the Protect America Act 2007 Sunday, giving the Executive Branch expanded surveillance authority for a period of six months while Congress works on long-term legislation to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) . Bush thanked members of Congress for the bipartisan effort, but urged further cooperation when Congress returns [...]
The military trial of 40 senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood resumed in Egypt Sunday despite criticism from Amnesty International regarding the country's failure to allow independent observers into the courtroom. Amnesty also questioned the government's use of a military court to try civilians, saying that "Military courts cannot be seen as independent and [...]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday that he refuses to accept the resignations submitted by six Cabinet ministers who belong to the country's largest Sunni parliamentary bloc. The Iraqi Accordance Front . The Accordance Front announced last week that it was leaving the government, in a move said to be a response to al-Maliki's [...]
Egypt's Judicial Affairs Minister Mufid Shehab said Saturday that the country will lift its 25-year-old state of emergency by June 2008, according to state news agency Mena. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak promised in 2005 and again 2006 to lift the emergency laws once a new terrorism law was passed. Shehab said, however, that Egypt will [...]
The US House of Representatives voted 227-183 late Saturday in favor of the Protect America Act 2007 , legislation that gives the Executive Branch expanded surveillance authority for a period of six months while Congress works on long-term legislation to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) . The bill was passed by the Senate [...]
A US military jury on Friday convicted Pfc. Jesse Spielman of four counts of felony murder, rape, conspiracy to commit rape, and housebreaking with intent to commit rape for his role in the March 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya"). Spielman, [...]
The US Senate on Friday passed the Protect America Act 2007 , under which the Executive Branch would be given expanded surveillance authority for a period of six months while Congress worked on long-term legislation to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) . The bill establishes legal guidelines of how the United States can [...]
