US Congressmen Edward Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), co-chairs of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday asking the FTC to investigate allegations that Facebook is tracking users’ activities even after they have logged out of the website . Australian blogger Nik Cubrilovic broke the initial [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia Surya Subedi on Wednesday urged the Cambodian government to review a proposed law that would hinder non-governmental organization (NGO) efforts in the country. The proposed Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (LANGO) would force potential NGOs to meet strict eligibility requirements and to complete a government [...]

The US Department of Defense (DOD) Wednesday officially referred charges against a high-profile Guantanamo Bay detainee who allegedly planned the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that left 17 sailors dead and 37 others injured. Saudi-born former millionaire Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri will stand trial before a military tribunal at Guantanamo on nine terrorism, conspiracy and [...]

The Court of Appeal of Paris on Wednesday rejected a request from Rwandan officials to extradite Agathe Habyarimana, widow of assassinated Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana , to Rwanda to face trial on genocide charges. Habyarimana has been accused of helping to plan the 1994 Rwandan genocide between Hutus and Tutsis in which more than 800,000 [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on Wednesday refused to block key parts of Alabama’s recently passed immigration law. Chief Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, in a 115-page memorandum opinion , ruled that the federal government’s challenge to the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act had not met [...]

The Ivory Coast government on Wednesday launched a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to resolve conflicts stemming from the widespread post-election violence that took place earlier this year. The 11-member commission, modeled on similar efforts taken by South Africa during the post-apartheid era, is composed of Ivory Coast religious leaders and other dignitaries and is headed [...]

The Supreme Court of Mexico on Wednesday upheld a state right-to-life constitutional amendment that says life begins at conception. The amendment effectively bans abortions in Mexico’s northern Baja California state. Seven of 11 justices on the court, who argued that the issue was a federal and not state issue, voted to overturn the amendment, but [...]

A UK High Court judge ruled Wednesday that a brain-damaged woman in a “minimally conscious” state does not meet statutory requirements to allow her family to discontinue life-sustaining treatment. The woman, known as “M,” contracted viral encephalitis in February 2003, fell into a coma and subsequently emerged in what was later determined to be a [...]

Both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of 26 states filed petitions with the US Supreme Court Wednesday seeking a ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) . The petitions for certiorari filed by the DOJ and states seek review of a decision handed down by [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky ruled Tuesday that an Iraqi national can stand trial in US civilian court for terrorism-related crimes. Chief Judge Thomas Russell, in an 11-page opinion, rejected arguments made by Waad Ramadan Alwan that, under the Geneva Convention, he could only be prosecuted in [...]