US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday announced the Obama administration's human rights agenda, emphasizing human rights, democracy, and development. Speaking at Georgetown University just days after US President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, Clinton said that "a commitment to human rights starts with universal standards and with holding everyone accountable to [...]

Lavinia Stan : "On 14 December, the Central Electoral Bureau reinstated 2,000 of the 138,000 invalid votes registered in the second round of the presidential elections that took place a week before. The recounting was ordered by the Romanian Constitutional Court at the request of the Social Democrat Party candidate Mircea Geoana, who lost the [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the final challenge to the sale of Chrysler Group assets to Italian automaker Fiat . The Court granted, vacated, and remanded Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler , an appeal from a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The appeal was opposed [...]

Saddam Hussein's former lawyer on Saturday asked the British attorney general for consent to prosecute former prime minister Tony Blair for violations of the Geneva Conventions . Giovanni di Stefano, who represents former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz , sent a letter asking for consent to prosecute Blair after Blair said in a BBC [...]

Sudanese leaders reached an agreement Sunday for a referendum on independence for the south. The agreement was reached between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar al-Bashir and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of Salva Kiir , which comprise the current coalition government created pursuant to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) [...]

At least four justices on the Supreme Court of the Philippines believe the court should hear cases stemming from this month's imposition of martial law in the province of Maguindanao, despite petitions to declare those cases moot after martial law was lifted on Saturday, ABS-CBN News reported Monday. The unidentified sources, however, said the majority [...]

The Canadian government has begun reviewing its security certificate system, which allows the government to deport residents who pose a threat to national security, the Canadian Press (CP) reported Sunday. The government may consider making significant changes to the law or abolishing it completely, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan told the CP. As it [...]

Chinese prosecutors formerly charged prominent rights activist Liu Xiaobo on Saturday with inciting subversion. Liu, who spent two years in prison following the Tiananmen Square uprising, has long challenged China's one-party rule, and co-authored Charter 08 , a petition calling for political reforms in the country. Liu was formally arrested in June, but has been [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a lawsuit by four UK citizens and former Guantanamo Bay detainees against former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials. The Court denied certiorari in Rasul v. Myers , leaving in tact a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in three cases. In City of Ontario v. Quon , the Court will consider whether a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team member has a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent to and from his SWAT pager, where the police department has an official no-privacy [...]