The European Commission (EC) said Monday that new EU members Bulgaria and Romania must do more to achieve judicial reform and fight corruption and organized crime. An interim report on Bulgaria criticized Bulgarian efforts to counter high-level corruption and organized crime for not demonstrating "convincing results." Another interim report on Romania praised the Romanian government's [...]

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Max Jeganathan : "Civil Liberties Australia unequivocally and unconditionally rejects Mr Keelty's call for media restrictions on coverage relating to all and any operations by the Australian Federal Police Force. Clearly, the arms of law enforcement and the judicial process need to operate freely and impartially without incumberance. However, the cruciality of a free press [...]

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UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang said Sunday that unchecked human rights violations in Nepal remain a barrier to achieving sustainable peace in the country. Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist rebel leader Prachanda signed a peace agreement in November 2006 formally ending the decade-long Maoist guerilla insurgency against the [...]

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Iraq's three-member Presidency Council said Sunday that a bill allowing most former members of Saddam Huessein's Baath party to be reinstated to public life has become law. The controversial Accountability and Justice Law , passed by the Iraqi parliment earlier this month, has been publicly endorsed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Presidency Council members [...]

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