A Chilean judge sentenced General Manuel Contreras, former chief of police under the reign of Augusto Pinochet , to 15 years in prison on Thursday for murdering an opposition activist. Left-wing activist Ramon Martinez was allegedly tortured and shot while in police custody in 1975. Martinez was a member of the Revolutionary Leftist Movement and [...]

All nine justices of Myanmar’s Constitutional Court resigned Thursday after Parliament voted for impeachment. President Thein Sein has reportedly accepted the resignations of all nine justices. The parliament was created as part of Myanmar’s constitutional reforms. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDP) party, which is currently in [...]

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) , Cambodia’s UN-supported war crimes tribunal, announced Thursday that it would declassify more than 1,700 documents including “victims’ ‘confessions’ and biographies, witness statements, transcripts of in camera hearings, and rogatory letters.” The documents being declassified are those which were part of “Case 001” which resulted in [...]

The Fair Trade Commission of Korea (KFTC) on Thursday said that South Korean regulators are investigating an Apple complaint alleging that Samsung Electronics is unfairly competing in the market to the disadvantage of its competitors. The antitrust claim avers that Samsung is breaching fair trade laws by abusing its dominance in wireless technology patents. This [...]

Government officials from both the US and Afghanistan have said that the American military will maintain control over foreign detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for the indefinite future, and will also continue holding and screening newly captured Afghans. According to the New York Times, America’s commitment to the control and maintenance of dozens [...]

The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered three proposed constitutional amendments to appear on the ballot during the November election. The court’s decision outlined four proposed amendments, approving three of them for general approval by the voters. The three approved measures include a union-backed measure to amend the state constitution to include a right to [...]

Canadian authorities received documents and materials about Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee and convict Omar Khadr from US authorities on Wednesday and will now consider whether he can be transferred into Canadian custody. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters that he will review the documents and make a decision on the transfer [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged the Chinese government to halt the deportation of Myanmar refugees. In a letter sent to the Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs, the rights group said that the return of at least 4,000 ethnic Kachin refugees from Myanmar is a violation of international law. HRW dismissed claims by the [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the government of Pakistan on Wednesday to ensure that minority Shia Muslims in Pakistan are protected from attacks by Sunni militant groups. HRW noted that attacks against Shia communities have increased recently and that 320 Shia have been killed in targeted attacks in 2012. HRW Asia Director Brad Adams [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the city of Los Angeles violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US constitution when it seized and destroyed the abandoned property of homeless people. The plaintiffs were several homeless people whose possessions were seized by the city and destroyed. The Ninth [...]