The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that Switzerland was wrong to prosecute former Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek for denying that the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was genocide. The court, by a vote of 10-7, held that Perinçek’s remarks were protected under Article [...]
Death row inmates in Indonesia have been denied the right to counsel, beaten and coerced into confessions, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report published Thursday. The country has executed 14 prisoners since President Joko Widodo took office in October 2014, all for drug charges. AI reported that in half of the cases it analyzed, [...]
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet announced on Wednesday the government has begun the process of drafting a new constitution. According to Bachelet the new constitution is necessary because the current version was created during a dictatorship and does not accurately reflect the ideals of democracy. She explained that although changes have been made to the document [...]
Myanmar President Thein Sein signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with eight armed rebel groups on Thursday in an effort to establish peace in Myanmar. The agreement is a move towards incorporating rebel groups into the political process, although seven armed groups involved in the talks did not sign the final deal. Of the seven [...]
The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova stripped former prime minister Filat Vladimir of immunity on Thursday and later detained him on suspicion of involvement in a 2014 bank fraud scheme. The allegations suggest Filat was involved in the disappearance of up to USD $1.5 billion from three banks prior to the November 2014 elections. [...]
A group of top Iranian jurists and theologians approved the nuclear deal with world powers on Wednesday, marking the completion of the last step before implementation of the deal may begin. The Iranian Parliament accepted the nuclear agreement on Tuesday and moved the process on to the Guardian Council , which determined the legislation was [...]
The Cairo Criminal Court found the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri innocent of terrorism charges on Thursday. Mohamed al-Zawahri was the leader of the Jihadi Salafist group and was an ally of ex-president Mohammed Morsi, who is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed al-Zawahiri was tried with 67 other defendants in the case referred [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Wednesday. In Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) v. Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) , the court heard oral arguments on the issue of federal versus state authority over the sale of demand response in electricity markets under FERC Order 745 . The case is [...]
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an injunction freezing opposition party efforts to start impeachment deliberations against President Dilma Rousseff . Despite the injunction, lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha said that he would continue to review impeachment requests. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling allows Rousseff some time to gather support in Congress pending a decision [...]
Attorneys for former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell on Tuesday asked the US Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and his two-year prison sentence on corruption charges . The charges stem from McDonnell and his wife’s involvement with Virginia businessman Jonnie Williams, who was trying to build a commercial product to market and reached out to [...]
