UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged Myanmar to release political prisoners in a meeting Monday with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a Myanmar government minister, according to a statement by Ban’s spokesman. Ban was satisfied with positive developments made in the meeting with Suu Kyi and the Minister for Social Welfare U Aung Kyi. [...]

American Atheists (AA) , a group that supports the separation of church and state, filed a lawsuit Monday against the display of a cross at the World Trade Center (WTC) memorial. The cross, two intersecting beams found in the wreckage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was moved to the 9/11 Memorial Museum last week from [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Ethiopian government Monday to stop using a “restrictive and vague” counterterrorism law to repress free speech. The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009 provides for penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison for publishing statements “likely to be understood as encouraging terrorist acts.” In July, an Ethiopian court used [...]

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich by a jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on 17 of counts including attempting to sell the Senate seat. He claims that his previous trial was subject to judicial bias and error that undermined his case. The motion, while asserting that the court operated [...]

Four former Guatemalan soldiers plead not guilty to war crimes charges Tuesday as the first war crimes trial over the 1982 Dos Erres massacre began. Carlos Antonio Carias, Manuel Pop, Reyes Collin and Daniel Martinez are accused of being members of a military force that allegedly killed more than 250 people in the town of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Monday ruled 8-6 that law enforcement officers are permitted to obtain DNA samples from arrestees. Law enforcement officers sought a DNA sample from defendant Ruben Mitchell after he was indicted for attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine pursuant to 42 USC § 14135a(a)(1)(A) , [...]

The Maltese parliament passed new legislation Monday legalizing divorce in a historic move for the predominantly Roman Catholic country. The Malta House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill with 52 votes in favor, 11 against with five abstentions, in a country where most laws are passed by one vote. The bill will take effect in [...]

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) and Torah Jews for Decency (TJD) filed a complaint on Monday challenging the Marriage Equality Act , which allows same-sex couples to marry in the state. The plaintiffs argue, among other claims, that the law was enacted in violation of the New York State Open Meetings Laws , that [...]

Accused war criminal Goran Hadzic on Monday refused to enter a plea before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . Hadzic was extradited to The Hague last Friday, where he now awaits trial for war crimes . Hadzic was the last fugitive of the original 161 sought by the ICTY and was [...]

A Turkish court on Monday sentenced Ogun Samast for murdering Turkish-Armenian author Hrant Dink , journalist and former editor of the newspaper Agos , who was shot and killed in Istanbul in January 2007. Samast, a minor at the time of Dink’s death and the primary suspect charged in Dink’s murder, was sentenced to 21-and-a-half [...]