Amanda Martin : "In April 2005, the United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted a set of international principles on reparations for victims of human rights violations. These include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. Satisfaction includes a search for victims, identification of bodies and reburial, fact verification, public disclosure of the truth, public [...]

The Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on Sunday set a Feb. 19 trial date for the Iraqi journalist accused of throwing his shoes at former US President George W. Bush. The court allowed the charge of assaulting a foreign leader, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to stand, despite defendant Muntader al-Zaidi's [...]

Bolivia's new constitution , which gives more power to the country's indigenous majority, went into effect on Saturday. Announcing the event, President Evo Morales said it represented a new beginning for the country, and an earlier release by his office compared it to the Magna Carta . The new charter provides for redistribution of land [...]

Thousands of Venezuelans gathered Saturday in Caracas and other cities to protest a proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate presidential term limits in the country. The amendment, which would allow President Hugo Chavez to seek re-election in 2012, was passed by the Venezuelan National Assembly last month, but must be approved in a national referendum [...]

A judge in New Jersey granted a divorce Friday to a lesbian couple married in Canada. Speaking from the bench, Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson said her decision was in harmony with the state's tradition of recognizing valid marriages performed outside the state, but cautioned that her ruling would not extend such recognition to areas [...]

Matt Belcher : "As the "Governor Rod" story ends (for the time being) I wonder if "Citizen Rod" – the future "Defendant please rise Rod" – ever looks in the mirror and wonders how this all happened. It is a fascinating story – almost Chi-town Dostoevsky. The average cable news viewer probably only knows the [...]

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano Friday refused to sign an Italian government decree intended to stop the father of Eluana Englaro , who has been in a vegetative state for 16 years, from removing her feeding tube. Napolitano said the measure was unconstitutional because it would effectively overrule last year's decision by the country's Court of [...]

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noticeably irritated Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a joint news conference held in Moscow Friday when Barroso commented on apparent human rights violations in Russia . Barroso's comments on talks that had taken place earlier with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the rule of law in Russia upset [...]

Nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Leon Panetta said Friday that the Obama administration will not prosecute CIA officials who used harsh interrogation techniques, reiterating testimony he gave Thursday. After a second day of confirmation hearings before the US Senate Intelligence Committee , Panetta told reporters that he would not prosecute Bush [...]

Britain's House of Lords Constitution Committee released a report Friday saying that the country's use of widespread video surveillance and personal data collection pose a threat to citizens' privacy and freedom. The committee said that while such surveillance and data collection could serve legitimate law-enforcement purposes, those interests should be balanced against privacy concerns, including [...]