UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro has concluded that at least 31 people were killed in a crackdown on anti-government protesters this September, according to UN sources Friday. The total is significantly higher than the figure of 10 originally claimed by the government, later upped to 15. [...]

US Department of Justice lawyers advised the CIA's general counsel in 2003 not to destroy videotapes showing the "harsh interrogations" of high-value terror detainees Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , according to unnamed officials cited by the New York Times in a report Saturday. Scott W. Muller allegedly raised the option of destroying the [...]

An emerging deal to select a new Lebanese president ran into a roadblock Friday as political factions in Lebanon's parliament failed to agree on mechanisms for changing a problematic constitutional provision. The favored candidate to replace now ex-president Emile Lahoud is Gen. Michel Suleiman , but under the present Lebanese constitution the presidency cannot be [...]

Margaret R. Chambers v. Cassandra B. Ormiston, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, December 7, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum told Geo-TV Friday that emergency rule in Pakistan would be lifted and the country's constitution restored on December 15, one day earlier than the date set last week by President Pervez Musharraf in a televised address after being sworn into office for a third term. Qayyum said that two constitutional [...]

Four of the five UK residents being detained at Guantanamo Bay are scheduled to be released, the BBC reported Friday. Jordanian Jamil el Banna, Libyan Omar Deghayes and Algerian Abdennour Sameur will return to the UK, while Saudi Arabian Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer will return to his native country. A fifth detainee, Ethiopian Binyam Mohammed al [...]

The Rhode Island Supreme Court Friday ruled that a lesbian couple legally married in Massachusetts does not have the right to divorce in Rhode Island because Rhode Island does not explicitly recognize same-sex marriage. In Chambers v. Ormiston , Rhode Island residents Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers sought to end their 2004 Massachusetts marriage. Lawyers [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Friday sentenced Francois Karera to life imprisonment for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Karera, the former prefect of Kigali-Rural, was found guilty on three of four genocide and crimes against humanity counts brought against him, but was acquitted of complicity to commit genocide. In determining the sentence, [...]

US State Department officials Friday announced the resignation of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard , following a long controversy over allegations that he obstructed inquiries that could harm the Bush administration. Last month, Krongard testified before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and denied allegations that he politicized the Inspector General's Office. [...]

US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey Friday, asking that the US Department of Justice launch an investigation into whether the CIA's destruction of videotaped recordings of two terror suspects in 2002 could be considered obstruction of justice. Existence of the videotapes was verified in November after the [...]