The United Nations on Tuesday fired Carina Perelli, head of the UN's Electoral Assistance Division , for alleged employee harassment and management failures. Allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation in Perelli's office were first reported in March of this year. In August, the UN formally accused Perelli of employee harassment . UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [...]

Defense lawyers for German citizen Ladislav Niznansky , the 88-year-old former Slovak Nazi commander accused of wartime massacres, demanded Tuesday that their client be acquitted and given compensation for his time in prison, saying there was no evidence showing his guilt. Niznansky was convicted in absentia and sentenced to death in then-communist Czechoslovakia in 1962 [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against former CIA Director George Tenet and other CIA officials Tuesday on behalf of Khaled el-Masri , a German man who claims he was wrongfully imprisoned in 2003. The complaint alleges that Masri was a victim of the CIA's extraordinary rendition practices, during which detained terror [...]

As the fourth session of the Saddam Hussein trial came to a close Tuesday, Hussein shouted at the judges that he would not return to an 'unjust court' when the Iraqi Special Tribunal reconvenes Wednesday. Hussein asked whether Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin is "deliberately hauling defendants before the trial when they are exhausted" and [...]

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Ohio election officials of violating constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. The League of Women Voters sued state election officials, claiming that the current system deprives citizens of voting rights, citing examples from the 2004 election . LWV insists that Ohio's system [...]

The Australian Senate on Tuesday voted to approve new counter-terrorism laws that broaden the offense of sedition and allow for the detention of suspected terrorists for up to seven days. The legislation passed the lower house last week after vigorous debate. The government blocked opposition attempts to amend the bill , allowing less than four [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday held that Kansas did not unconstitutionally impose a tax on distributors of fuel that was sold on an Indian reservation. In Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation , the Court considered whether Kansas' motor fuel tax applies to fuel delivered by off-reservation non-Indian distributors to a gas station owned [...]

Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled to reinstate six joined cases against DuPont for hiding evidence about Benlate , a fungicide sold by the company, so that it could more easily settle crop loss cases in violation of the federal RICO statute and state law. [...]

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered a clarification of rules on how US troops are to respond if they witness mistreatment of detainees by other forces. The request is a result of the confusion that occurred when Rumsfeld stated that US forces in Iraq are to simply report abuse while Marine General Peter Pace [...]

Chilean Judge Victor Montiglio announced Tuesday that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet will face a new round of human rights charges. As the judge continues to investigate Pinochet's role in Operation Colombo , where a dozen members of the opposition were allegedly kidnapped and murdered, he found enough evidence to connect Pinochet to the abduction [...]