Human rights organizations on Friday criticized the UN Human Rights Council for passing a resolution on Yemen that does not call for an independent international war crimes investigation. The Netherlands, backed by other Western countries, had proposed the UN inquiry resolution, but the Council instead adopted a resolution mainly drafted by Saudi Arabia, which only [...]

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The company that manufactures American Spirit cigarettes is the subject of a new class action lawsuit . The lawsuit, filed by a Florida law firm Wednesday against Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company and its parent company Reynolds American, Inc. , claims that the company’s marketing strategies mislead consumers into thinking that their products are healthier [...]

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The interim government of Burkina Faso on Thursday apprehended the leader of the week-long military coup in September, announcing that he will face military justice. Gilbert Diendere was a general in the national army and the alleged leader of the the group known as the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) . Diendere is associated with another [...]

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Officials from the US Department of Defense (DOD) said Friday that they are sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of President Barack Obama’s ongoing efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Officials plan to visit ADX Florence, a federal Supermax prison, along with a medium-security prison nearby and the Colorado State Penitentiary [...]

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Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court ruled Friday that officials investigating corruption allegations at Petrobras , a state-run oil company, may question former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a witness. In ruling on the motion filed September 11, Justice Teori Zavascki stated that Lula may only be interviewed as an “informant,” not as a suspect. [...]

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A lawyer for former Guantanamo detainee Younous Chekkouri said Thursday that the Moroccan government is not upholding the diplomatic assurances it provided to the US State Department regarding the release of his client, namely that it would not prosecute Chekkouri and would release him within 72 hours. Chekkouri was released to Morocco in September after [...]

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