The US House of Representatives voted 411-8 Tuesday in favor of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 , which requires members of Congress to disclose more information about their fund-raising efforts and gifts they receive from lobbyists, and also prohibits former congress members from lobbying for a short period of time. Other [...]
The Iranian Judiciary confirmed Tuesday that Iranian Kurdish journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed "Hiva" Botimar have been sentenced to death for being "enemies of God." Rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had earlier reported the death sentences after initial reports emerged that the two journalists had been sentenced on July 16. RSF said that [...]
The New Jersey Superior Court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court decision that New Jersey is not an appropriate forum for 98 English and Welsh plaintiffs to proceed with personal injury lawsuits against the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Merck . The court held that the UK was an adequate alternative home forum for the plaintiffs [...]
The Queen's Bench Division of the England and Wales High Court ruled Tuesday that the continued imprisonment of two inmates serving indeterminate prison sentences without the means to prove their rehabilitation constitutes arbitrary and unreasonable detention and is therefore unlawful. An indeterminate sentence, also referred to as an imprisonment for public protection sentence (IPP) , [...]
The Namibian human rights group National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) Tuesday said that it has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate former Namibian President Sam Nujoma in connection with the disappearance of over 4,200 people during the country's struggle for independence from South Africa in the second half of the 20th century. [...]
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda Tuesday rebuked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for criticizing the East Timorese-Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) . Ban said last week that the commission violates international humanitarian standards because it allows for the possibility of amnesty for perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Wirajuda said that the government of East-Timor [...]
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts was released from the hospital Tuesday after suffering a benign idiopathic seizure on Monday. In a phone conversation with President Bush earlier in the day, Roberts assured the president that he was doing well and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow described Roberts as "in great spirits" [...]
Algerian Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha filed an emergency appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Monday to stop the government from transferring him from Guantanamo Bay to his home country, after US District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer denied his motion to stay the transfer last week. The federal appeals court [...]
A group of US House Democrats said Monday that they plan to pursue a resolution instructing the House Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into whether to impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales . Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) , sponsor of the resolution, and six co-sponsors plan to introduce the measure to investigate whether Gonzales has [...]
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, was charged with crimes against humanity Tuesday by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) . Duch was questioned earlier in the day by the ECCC, the special tribunal investigating the Khmer Rouge genocide , concerning allegations of torture at the [...]
