A committee struck to reform Iraq's constitution said Tuesday it planned to have its recommendations ready to go before the Iraqi parliament next week. The 31-member committee, which includes Shiites, Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds, must complete its proposals by May 15, according to the Iraqi constitution . Parliament must approve any constitutional amendment by [...]
Human rights activist Umida Niyazova received a suspended sentence on Tuesday after reading a confession and expressing regret for "the crimes committed unintentionally." The Uzbek appeals court reduced the seven-year sentence she received last week after being convicted of illegal border crossing, smuggling, and distributing Islamic extremist propaganda. Niyazova worked for Human Rights Watch and [...]
Six Islamic militants have been arrested for allegedly planning an attack on New Jersey military base Fort Dix , the US Attorney for New Jersey said Tuesday. The men, who have been under surveillance for the past 16 months, have been charged with a conspiracy to kill US employees under 18 USC 1114 . The [...]
Canadian Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley refused to require the release of confidential evidence against alleged terrorist Mohammed Momin Khawaja on Monday, saying "that disclosure of most of the information would be injurious to national security or to international relations." Mosley told defense lawyers that he will summarize some of the information, but will not [...]
A New Orleans court suspended the criminal trials of 98 indigent defendants Monday, 20 of whom were released from prison. Judge Arthur Hunter of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court told the defendants that while the charges are not being dropped, the defendants will not be further prosecuted until they are able to retain lawyers. [...]
The US may attempt to force the establishment of a UN tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Al Arabiya television Monday. Under Chapter VII of the UN Charter , the UN Security Council has the power to "determine [...]
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday that a report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom that accused China of imprisoning and torturing people based on their religion was ignorant and prejudiced. In a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's website, Jiang said that the report was distorted in its attack on [...]
The twenty-sixth sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened in Bonn, Germany, on Monday, as hundreds of diplomats gathered to discuss a future compact to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. Over 160 [...]
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has neglected to censure countries committing gross violations of human rights, including Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China, according to a report released Monday by rights watchdog group UN Watch . The report stated that: Sadly, despite having some promise on paper, the new Council has not been an improvement [...]
The two Cuban soldiers who last week killed an army officer while attempting to hijack a plane to flee the island were encouraged to do so by last month's US release of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles , according to a statement Cuban President Fidel Castro sent to journalists on Monday. Castro warned that the [...]
