Sudanese-born Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was removed from the UN Security Council Al Qaeda Sanctions List (1267 List) on Thursday. Abdelrazik was added to the list while being held in Sudan in 2006 based on suspected ties to al Qaeda . He was seized while visiting Sudan in 2003 on a request from the Canadian [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian government. Pillay said that during the eight-month uprising the death toll in Syria has surpassed 4,000 with tens [...]

An order made public Thursday awarded Madoff trustee Irving Picard the right to appeal the dismissal of his $19 billion suit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. . >Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York indicated in her order that, in the interest of an expedited decision, both [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government to control the country’s security forces and prevent violence against the political opposition following the country’s presidential election. HRW reported that 18 civilians have been killed and about 100 seriously wounded during unrest following the presidential elections in the DRC on [...]

Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo began seeking an arrest warrant on Friday for Sundanese Defense Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004. Ocampo began the process by asking Pre-Trial Chamber I to review the evidence [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that a police officer does not have standing to challenge Arizona’s controversial immigration law . Tucson patrol officer Martin Escobar challenged the law last year, claiming standing as an officer “mandated to enforce SB 1070.” He argued that he has standing because, “if he [...]

Lawyers in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday called a one-day strike to demand the revocation of what they consider to be harsh emergency laws within their revolt-ridden region. The laws, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) , were introduced in India in 1990, and both grant significant authority to [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that a federal law prohibiting payment for vital organs does not apply to all types of bone marrow transplants, opening the door for compensation to be paid to a specific type of bone marrow donors. The court held that the 1984 National Organ Transplant [...]

The US Senate on Thursday voted 93-7 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 , including a controversial provision authorizing the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to detain individuals suspected of terrorism. The Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment to the bill that would have struck the provision and instituted [...]

Top UN officials with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) decried post-election violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Thursday and called for restraint. Acknowledging reports from international observers, MONUSCO indicated Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Roger Meece, shares the concerns expressed by the observer missions, in particular [...]