Amnesty International and Russia's Memorial Human Rights Center Friday accused Russian authorities of arbitrary and prolonged detentions of civilians, torture, and forced confessions . Amnesty International has released a new report claiming that Russia is utilizing its own "war on terror" to commit the human rights abuses, alleging that between 3,000 and 5,000 kidnappings have [...]
Joseph Serugendo, the former technical director of a Rwandan radio station that promoted the 1994 Rwandan genocide , pleaded not guilty Friday to five counts of genocide and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda . ICTR prosecutors allege that Serugendo "planned, instigated, ordered, committed or aided and abetted in the [...]
US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has announced that No Child Left Behind yearly academic accountability standards will be eased for schools affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Spellings said that schools in the five "major disaster" states – Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama – could delay compliance under the education act without [...]
A US music industry trade group has filed another 750 lawsuits against individuals who allegedly used on-line file sharing networks to trade copyrighted songs illegally. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) , representing labels such as Vivendi Universal and Sony/BMG , is suing 64 individuals at universities who allegedly swapped music using the high [...]
The Hong Kong government Friday appealed a high court ruling last month that said a criminal law preventing consenting males under the age of 21 from having sex was a violation of human rights . The criminal law allowed lesbians and heterosexuals to engage in sex from the age of 16, but prohibited sex between [...]
Jack Kevorkian has said that he would not assist people in committing suicide if released on parole, but said that he would campaign to legalize assisted suicide. The former doctor is serving 10-25 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction for giving a patient with Lou Gehrig's disease an injection of drugs that killed [...]
Leading Friday's states brief, as Connecticut becomes the second state to offer same-sex couples civil unions October 1, town clerks are saying they are ready, but some employers may not be prepared. While only a few town clerks offices plan to be open tomorrow and there is no way of knowing how many of the [...]
The Osaka High Court ruled on Friday that visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a Shinto shrine for war dead violate Japan's constitutional provisions for separation of church and state. The visits are also controversial because China and South Korea consider the shrine a monument to Japanese militarism during the early 20th century. [...]
Leading Friday's international brief, the South Sudan legislature has been inaugurated, marking a key step in the development of a functioning government for the now autonomous southern region of Sudan. In accordance with the January 9 Comprehensive Peace Agreements , South Sudan will create an independent government that will work together with the main Sudanese [...]
Algeria's proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation was approved by over 97 percent of the vote in Thursday's referendum as part of an effort to end a 13-year civil war in the country . Nationwide voter turnout topped 80 percent, but was skewed by some regions having near total participation and others hardly any [...]
