Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday proposed new counter-terrorism legislation that would allow for indefinite detention. Turnbull announced plans to introduce Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2016, which would allow for the indefinite detention of convicted terrorists who have served their sentences but are still deemed a threat to public safety. According to [...]
Civilian casualties have reached a record high in the first half of 2016, with 5,166 civilians recorded killed or maimed, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported Monday. More than a third of those have been children, according to the report, and the total number of civilian casualties since 2009 has now climbed to [...]
The UK Home Office announced on Sunday that prosecutors will be encouraged to use tougher sentences against hate crimes in response to the nation’s increasingly hostile environment since the EU referendum. Since the middle of June over 6,000 hate crimes and incidents have been reported to the authorities, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has [...]
UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto stated on Sunday that the recent suicide bombings in Kabul amounted to a war crime. On Saturday two suicide bombers targeted Shiite Hazaras who were holding a peaceful demonstration to push for more access to electricity in the region. Over 260 civilians were reportedly wounded from the attack. [...]
Alberto Fujimori , Peru’s former leader who was jailed in 2007, submitted another request for a presidential pardon on Saturday, just five days before President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski takes office. Fujimori is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted in 2009 of committing human rights abuses during his 1990-2000 rule . The Peruvian Supreme Court [...]
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon released a statement on Friday condemning the recent fighting in Kidal, Mali . The fighting arose at the end of last week between the Platform Movement and the Coordination of movements of Azawad (CMA), two signatories to the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali. The Secretary General, along [...]
In a 4-1 opinion on Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the state’s parental “notification law” requiring doctors to inform the parents of minors seeking an abortion is unconstitutional, and cannot be enforced. The Court stated that “we are not concerned with whether abortion is right, wrong, moral, or immoral, or with whether abortions [...]
In a 4-3 ruling on Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court held that Governor Terry McAuliffe’s executive order granting a blanket restoration of the state’s felon voting rights is unconstitutional. The voter-disqualification provision in Article II of Virginia’s Constitution provides that “o person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless [...]
A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a Missouri lawmaker “who cited religious objections while challenging the inclusion of birth control coverage in his government-provided health insurance.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that health insurance issuers provide minimum essential coverage to women- including coverage for all contraceptive methods and [...]
President Tayyip Erdogan ordered the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions on Saturday. Mr. Erdogan alleges Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating last week’s failed coup and the schools and other institutions are suspected by Turkish authorities of having links to the US-based preacher. 1,043 private schools, 1,229 charities and foundations, [...]
