UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said through a spokesperson Wednesday that freedom of expression should take into account respect for religious beliefs . The comments come in response to the recent controversy over the reprinting of a cartoon depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Ban's spokesperson added that the UN has made [...]

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is urging the US Department of Justice to charge resigning Cuban leader Fidel Castro with murder for the 1996 killings of four US aid workers, according to Wednesday media reports. In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Ros-Lehtinen said that prosecution would be possible as Castro will relinquish his immunity [...]

Kenyan opposition leaders said Wednesday that they would begin renewed demonstrations next week if the government does not make progress on writing a new constitution. Negotiations between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition candidate Raila Odinga appear to have stalled, but last Thursday both sides did agree to write a new constitution , a possible [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday filed a complaint accusing former Refco Inc. CEO Phillip R. Bennett of committing civil fraud in connection with allegations that he reported false information about the futures trader's financial health. The civil fraud charges follow Bennett's guilty plea last week to every charge in his 20-count [...]

Russia Wednesday condemned a decision by the European Union to send a task force of police, prosecutors and judges into Kosovo to support the rule of law there after the expiry of the current UN mandate, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling it "in breach of the highest international law." The roughly 2,000-strong police [...]

The Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill legalizing euthanasia , in a move that could make Luxembourg the third European Union country to allow the controversial practice. Before it can take effect, the bill still has to be approved in a second reading. Provisions in the bill require that euthanasia be [...]

Lawyers for a US Marine charged in connection with the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005 filed motions Tuesday requesting that the charges be dropped . Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani faces court-martial on April 28 for dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order based on the allegations that [...]

Pakistani lawyers will resume protests in Islamabad unless the superior court judges ousted in November 2007 by President Pervez Musharraf are reinstated, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan said Wednesday. Ahsan, originally detained in a security sweep after Musharraf's November 3 proclamation of emergency and put under house arrest again earlier this month [...]

The United States engages in widespread and systematic racial discrimination in violation of its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) , human rights groups said Wednesday. US Human Rights Network Executive Director Ajamu Baraka told reporters that the US has not adequately implemented ICERD since it [...]

Indictments for the leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) still remain in effect despite a recent agreement between the LRA and the Ugandan government to establish a national war crimes court , the International Criminal Court prosecutor's office said Wednesday. The ICC functions under the principle of complementarity and can therefore only act if [...]