Sudan on Tuesday attempted to prevent the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) from considering a report by a UNHRC team sent to investigate conditions in Darfur . The report , issued Monday, calls for immediate protection of victims in the war-ravaged region of Sudan. In response Tuesday, Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi accused team [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he will not resign from his position in response to growing controversy over the firings last year of eight US Attorneys that may have been politically motivated . Gonzales nonetheless accepted responsibility and admitted "mistakes were made" when the US Department of Justice (DOJ) publicly dismissed the US [...]
High-ranking officials in the Australian government pressured the US government to reduce terror charges against Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks , according to a report in The Australian on Tuesday. Attorney General Philip Ruddock and other officials personally asked the US Department of Defense and the Department of Justice to expedite the charges, starting [...]
Lawmakers dismissed last week by Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) fought police as they tried to enter the Congress of Ecuador on Tuesday, sparking violence that led to the suspension of the legislature's activities for a week. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Tribunal rejected an appeal by lawmakers to resolve the dispute between the legislature and the [...]
Charges were dropped Tuesday against the last of seven British soldiers accused of causing the 2003 death of Iraqi civilian Baha Musa . A military panel cleared Major Michael Peebles and Warrant Officer Mark Davies of negligently performing their duties. Charges against Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca and four other soldiers were dropped in February, and [...]
The Washington State House of Representatives has passed a bill by a vote of 73-22 that will require public and private schools to provide information about human papilloma virus (HPV) , a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer, and its newly-developed vaccine to parents of sixth grade students. The bill stops short of mandating [...]
Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a civil suit brought against Sudan by families of US military personnel killed in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole . The families say Sudan has provided material support to al Qaeda since 1991, without which the attack that killed the US personnel would not have been [...]
Zimbabwe opposition presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai , arrested by government forces at a protest in Harare Sunday, was taken to a hospital Tuesday after a brief appearance in court along with 50 other detainees. On Monday, Tsvangirai's lawyer and party officials said he was beaten while in police custody; he appeared in court Tuesday with [...]
The trial of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former lawyer David Mills began Tuesday in Milan on charges of corruption arising from Berlusconi's alleged payment of $600,000 to Mills for favorable testimony at trials in the 1990s. Last month, the Italian Court of Cassation ruled that Berlusconi should face trial in an appeals [...]
The French Cour de Cassation held Tuesday that same-sex marriages are not valid under French law and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The case arose in 2004 when Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married , after which both a local court and intermediate appeals court ruled that the [...]
