Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday abandoned the proposed Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill that would have required asylum seekers arriving by boat to be processed at offshore camps after it became apparent that the Senate would not approve the bill . Senator Judith Troeth, a member of the governing Liberal Party , [...]

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri, a Shiite judge, will preside over the second Saddam Hussein trial by the Iraqi High Tribunal, this one involving the so-called "Anfal" operation that killed 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s. In the new trial, scheduled to begin on August 21 , Hussein and six co-defendants are charged with genocide [...]

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , the leftist candidate challenging the results of Mexico's disputed July 2 presidential election , said Sunday that his supporters would continue their protests in Mexico City until September or later, unless the Federal Electoral Tribunal orders a full ballot-by-ballot recount of votes. After rejecting Lopez Obrador's request for a full [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Robbie Sabel of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem, Israel, offers his thoughts on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Middle East conflict involving Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon… Borrowing from Professor D'Amato’s initiative I would like to comment on UNSC Resolution [...]

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested Sunday that the US could benefit from revised anti-terror laws that allow for increased electronic surveillance of terror suspects. Chertoff, who also suggested that the US consider allowing increased detention of terror suspects while speaking on Fox News Sunday and ABC's This Week , cited last [...]

Delegates from around the world will meet Monday in New York in a bid to resolve differences left after a drafting session earlier this year to frame a 33-article draft convention designed to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. If negotiations are successful, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [...]

Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks may serve up to seven more years in US military custody before facing trial under a new military tribunal system, his military lawyer Major Michael Mori said Sunday. Since the US Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld found US military commissions as constituted illegal under military law and [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the US to deny a request from Israel to provide cluster munitions for use against targets in Lebanon. HRW wrote a letter to National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley Friday in response to a New York Times report that revealed Israel had requested expedited delivery of short range M-26 [...]

Ali al-Shemri, head of Iraq's Ministry of Health , alleged Sunday that US troops wrongfully detained five members of his personal security force and stole their salaries during an early morning raid of the Health Ministry Building. An anonymous coalition official said the raid was conducted following a tip related to a kidnapping. Al-Shemri denied [...]

The Australian government's proposed Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill that would require asylum seekers arriving by boat to be processed at offshore camps faces a close vote in the Senate this week, Australian media reported Sunday. The bill passed the Australian House of Representatives on Thursday by a margin of 78-62. The Liberal party [...]