Australia's justice minister has denounced the five year detention without trial of Australian citizen David Hicks in Australia's boldest official statement in several months concerning the Guantanamo prisoner. In a speech in Perth to the International Criminal Lawyers' Conference, Christopher Ellison said of the Australian government, "We have made it clear that we do not [...]

US President George W. Bush has authorized the first changes to the US space policy in nearly 10 years by asserting authority to deny access to space to any adversary hostile to US interests. An unclassified version of the new US National Space Policy is posted on the website of the Office of Science and [...]

Michael Dewayne Johnson, a death row inmate in Texas, committed suicide Thursday, 15-hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection . Johnson was convicted of murdering a gas station attendant in 1995, but maintained that he was only a companion to the shooter. Johnson's companion was released from prison after serving an eight-year [...]

Ali Khan : "One great accomplishment of the 1945 UN Charter has been its prescription against the threats of use of armed force. Article 2(4) states: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other [...]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that she raised concerns over China's human rights records during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing that focused on North Korea and Iran's nuclear activities . Rice did not give specifics but said that she discussed "human rights and the importance of several cases." The [...]

US District Judge Ricardo Urbina has ordered the Secret Service to release visitor logs for the personal residence and office of Vice-President Dick Cheney . In his ruling Wednesday, Urbina gave the Bush Administration until next week to either release the records or provide a reason why they are being withheld. The order was issued [...]

Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions During Conflict, Human Rights Watch, October 19, 2006 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Portugal's Parliament Thursday approved holding a national referendum allowing voters to decide on making abortion legal up until the 10th week of pregnancy. Current Portuguese abortion law allows the procedure up until the 12th week of pregnancy, but only in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or risk to the mother’s health. Parliamentary approval of the [...]

International Committee of the Red Cross President Jakob Kellenberger said Thursday that certain provisions of the newly-signed Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) are too vague and could weaken protections guaranteed under the Geneva Conventions . In an interview , Kellenberger expressed particular concern with the Act's broad definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" and the [...]

The New York State Supreme Court Thursday ordered former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard A. Grasso to pay back a major portion of the compensation paid to him while he held that position between 1995 and 2003. Justice Charles E. Ramos held that Grasso "failed in duty" to keep the other directors appraised of [...]