The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution Thursday urging Sudan to address human rights violations and to prosecute perpetrators of rights abuses. The resolution, introduced by Egypt, also acknowledged that Sudan had instituted some measures to protect human rights, a concession apparently included to avoid a contentious vote. Last week, the UN High Commissioner [...]

Proposals put forth by the European Commission to regulate passports and create a centralized fingerprint database fail to adequately address privacy concerns, the head of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said in an opinion letter released Wednesday. Peter Hustinx said the Commission's plans do not adequately address the inherent imperfections of biometric systems, especially [...]

A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico charged Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 associates with 27 counts of conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes related to campaign financing, and other crimes in an indictment unsealed Thursday. The charges stem from the alleged improper financing of [...]

Journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal , convicted in 1982 of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner after a traffic stop, may escape the death penalty after the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Thursday issued an opinion affirming a federal judge's allowance of a new sentencing hearing in the case. [...]

The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made good on earlier promises to investigate high-ranking governmental officials on Wednesday by formally launching an investigation into former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo . An EFCC spokesperson advised the public to be patient with the pace of the investigation, which he said will take time to produce [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged the United Nations to scrutinize the Philippine government's response to accusations that the Philippines military has engaged in extrajudicial killings of left-wing activists since 2001. HRW's press release comes two weeks before the UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold the first meeting of the Universal Periodic [...]

Baseer Naveed : "The election of Mr. Mohammad Yousaf Raza Gillani as prime minister of Pakistan is itself a threat of the old regime of President General (retired) Musharraf and even his very existence. Mr. Gillani was loyal to Ms. Benazir Bhutto, the lifetime chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party and is also very loyal [...]

EU and NATO forces on Thursday raided the homes of family members of wanted Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic , looking for information on Karadzic's location. In a sunrise raid, the forces entered the homes of Karadzic's wife Ljiljana Zelen Karadzic, his daughter Sonja Karadzic Jovicevic and alleged aide Smiljka Popov. The forces [...]

An Indonesian court cleared former Indonesian President Haji Mohammed Suharto and his heirs Thursday of civil liability in a corruption case involving state funds allegedly stolen by a charitable foundation run by Suharto. Dismissing the $1.1 billion damage claim leveled against Suharto, the court ordered the foundation to repay $110 million out of $440 million [...]

A federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan on Wednesday struck down a Michigan election law that limits access to information on presidential primary voters to the Democratic and Republican parties, blocking the state from releasing the voter lists from the Jan. 15 presidential primary election to the two political parties. The ACLU of [...]