A Russian law banning all foreigners from the country's retail industry took effect Sunday. The new law, passed by the Russian assembly last year, is expected to affect tens of thousands of workers from the former Soviet Republics. The complete ban follows an earlier phase out of foreign workers in the retail industry. Beginning January [...]
A federal district judge in San Francisco has ruled that the US Forest Service violated environmental laws when it promulgated a 2005 regulation governing the management of national forests. On motions for summary judgment in combined lawsuits brought by environmental groups, US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the Northern District of California Friday enjoined the [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed Saturday that the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia are cooperating with the transitional government of Somalia to secretly detain people who have fled the recent conflict there. HRW deputy Africa director Georgette Gagnon said: "Each of these governments has played a shameful role in mistreating people fleeing a war zone. Kenya [...]
The FBI released a 464-page report Friday containing details from the autopsy of Emmett Till . Till was fourteen when he was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Mississippi in August 1955 and murdered, reportedly for having whistled at a white woman. The publicity surrounding his brutal slaying helped propel the civil rights movement [...]
An Iranian ambassador has said his country could put 15 detained British military personnel on trial for violating international law, according to reports in state media Saturday. Iran detained eight British Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines in waters along the disputed Iraq-Iran border last week, denouncing the British forces for their "illegal and [...]
Iraqi Justice Minister Hashim Abderrahman al-Shebli told AP Saturday that he had submitted his resignation to the Cabinet Thursday, citing internal "differences" within the coalition government. Al-Shebli did not specify the particular "differences" that led to his decision to resign, but the secular Iraqi National List and Sunni representatives from the Iraqi Accord Front have [...]
A US military commission at Guantanamo Bay recommended sentencing Australian detainee David Hicks to seven years in prison late Friday but all but nine months of that were effectively suspended by a military judge under the terms of a plea agreement kept secret from the panel of military officers during its deliberations. Hicks is expected [...]
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a resolution on "Combating defamation of religions" by a vote of 24 to 14, with 9 abstentions Friday, expressing a "deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations… and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities… in the aftermath of the [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended his role in the firings of federal prosecutors Friday, admitting that there has been some confusion but that his involvement in the matter was limited to signing off on recommendations made by his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson . Gonzales told reporters that his motivations for the decisions [...]
Judge Arthur Hunter of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court issued a delayed order for the release and suspension of prosecution for as many as 42 criminal defendants Friday in light of the fact that the city's public defender's office does not have the resources to adequately represent the indigent suspects. If Hunter's order stands, [...]
