Myanmar’s Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hold a hearing October 18 to decide whether to consider an appeal filed in May by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi challenging her continued house arrest. The hearing will occur less than a month before November 13, when Suu Kyi’s house arrest is scheduled to end [...]

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Friday that proceedings can continue against accused Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo . The trial chamber had ordered Lubanga’s release in July after previously ordering a stay in the proceedings until the prosecution complied with a directive to provide certain information to the defense. [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday requested UN assistance in relocating former Rwandan transportation minister Andre Ntagerura . Ntagerura is presently living in Tanzania, with the ICTR paying for his accommodations. He was acquitted in 2004 of charges of playing a role in the 1994 genocide of the ICTR, including the brother-in-law [...]

The majority of Bolivian newspapers engaged in a joint protest Thursday against a proposed anti-racism law that they claim would damage freedom of expression. The newspapers shared one message on their front page, “There is no democracy without freedom of expression,” in response to a decision by President Evo Morales to maintain certain provisions of [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Thursday that a provision of the recently enacted health care reform law requiring all individuals to maintain health insurance or pay a penalty is constitutional. The suit , filed in March by conservative public interest group the Thomas More Law Center [...]

The League of Human Rights (LDH) on Thursday accused French authorities of improperly collecting DNA samples from Roma migrants . French police may collect samples of genetic material from indicted individuals, though the organization contends that police have subjected the Roma to such procedures without being either arrested or charged . The allegations come shortly [...]

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Thursday that it has secured INTERPOL red notices for five Pakistani citizens, including two military officials, for their suspected involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166. The red notices stem from NIA’s investigation into US citizen David Headley, who pleaded guilty to his role in [...]

The French Constitutional Council ruled Thursday that a bill making it illegal to wear the Islamic burqa , niqab or other full face veils in public, conforms with the Constitution. Under the legislation, women who wear the veil can be required by police to show their face, and, if they refuse, they can be forced [...]

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton announced Wednesday that the US government has deported a record number of illegal immigrants during 2010. About half of the more than 390,000 illegal immigrants deported allegedly have criminal records. Napolitano explained the deportation figures: This [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a South Carolina detention center rule that bans all books, including magazines and newspapers, from being sent to prisoners. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Prison Legal News against the Berkeley County Detention Center in Moncks Corner for First and Fourteenth Amendment violations. [...]