Myanmar’s Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will hear the appeal filed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi asking for her release from house arrest on October 29. Suu Kyi’s lawyers will present their arguments before the Special Appellate Bench, a multi-judge panel, in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw. Lawyers for Suu Kyi filed the appeal [...]

Two Sudanese men suspected of committing war crimes related to the ongoing violence in the Darfur region of Sudan agreed earlier this week not to contest the charges during an upcoming International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmation hearing, marking the first waiver of its kind for the ICC. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed [...]

Environmental advocacy groups Defenders of Wildlife, Gulf Restoration Network and Save the Manatee Club filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against oil British Petroleum (BP) for the ongoing harm to endangered and threatened wildlife caused by the company’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The suit, filed in the US District Court for [...]

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) affirmed most convictions of two accused war criminals Thursday but slightly reduced their respective sentences. Emmanuel Rukundo , a priest convicted of genocide, had his sentence reduced from 25 to 23 years of imprisonment . The chamber also reversed Rukundo’s conviction for genocide by [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday ordered parliament to review a constitutional amendment that gives the legislature the right to appoint judges. The court expressed concern over the ability of the judiciary to remain independent and out of politics if the legislature is allowed such power. This case came to the Supreme Court as [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a temporary stay on Wednesday preventing the suspension of the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. The one-page order granted the government’s emergency motion to stay last week’s decision from the US District Court of the Central District of California requiring the US [...]

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced a settlement in a class action discrimination lawsuit filed against the USDA in 1999 by Native American farmers. Under the agreement, the USDA will distribute $680 million to all eligible class members who alleged they were denied low-interest rate loans [...]

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) invalidated 1.3 million votes Wednesday due to findings of fraud during last month’s parliamentary election . The ballots, constituting nearly one-fourth of the 5.6 million votes cast nationwide , were thrown out due to findings by the IEC that the 2,543 polling stations that the votes had been cast at [...]

A US soldier is currently being held in connection with the fatal shooting on Sunday of a Taliban detainee, who was found dead in a holding cell in Kandahar province, according to US Forces in Afghanistan . The US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Afghanistan officials have launched individual investigations into the death. Officials [...]

Chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) Claudio Grossman on Tuesday urged nations to “reconnect with the values” of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and increase efforts to combat torture . Grossman stated that the need for heightened measures is particularly important in emergency situations where [...]