Increasing institutionalization of racist political ideologies and violent expressions of racism seriously threaten democracy and human rights, a United Nations expert told the General Assembly Wednesday. In his report to the General Assembly's Third Committee , UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Doudou Diene wrote that ethical [...]

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Wednesday ordered eight Croatian journalists to be questioned about possible contempt of court violations for revealing confidential information. Three national television journalists and five newspaper writers will be investigated for revealing confidential portions of indictments against former generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac . The [...]

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Awzar Thi : "The renewal of protests in Burma during recent days should come as no surprise to anyone other than those persons who have written foolish articles making out that what happened in September was somehow not the doing of the people there themselves but rather a consequence of covert American foreign policy. Every [...]

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The government of the Republic of Georgia has declared a state of emergency following days of protests in the capital city of Tbilisi, according to a televised speech Wednesday. Reading a prepared statement, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil [...]

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The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel , 06-989, where the Court considered whether parties can contractually agree to vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) . Hall Street Associates leased property to toy manufacturer Mattel and filed suit after Mattel failed to clean up [...]

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Former chairman and CEO of mortgage finance company Freddie Mac Leland Brendsel agreed to a consent decree Tuesday to settle administrative charges filed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) , which maintains government oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, in December 2003. Under the consent order, Brendsel will pay a $2.5 [...]

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