The American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, set to begin his confirmation hearing next week. The rights group urged Senators to "fully consider his legal and judicial philosophy, his approach to decision-making, and his possible impact [...]
READ MORE ▸
A federal judge has said that detainees held in the US terror suspect prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must be asked for permission to have their names released before the government can release them to the Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request. Earlier this year the government released transcripts of Combatant [...]
Human trafficking of women and children is on the rise worldwide, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Tuesday. Addressing an Asia-Pacific human rights conference in Beijing, Arbour called for closer regional partnerships to combat human trafficking , which Arbour says results in millions of women and children ending up as sex slaves, [...]
Lebanon has arrested three former pro-Syrian security chiefs, and the head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan turned himself into authorities after an arrest warrant was issued for him in connection with the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , sources said Tuesday. The four men were brought before the UN commission investigating the [...]
The 32 UN ambassadors who make up the intergovernmental negotiating group named by the UN General Assembly president last week continued negotiations Tuesday on the text to be submitted to September's summit on UN reform . The group is conducting a week-long meeting to respond to last-minute revisions to the draft submitted by US Ambassador [...]
Zimbabwe's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms that opposition lawmakers and many observers claimed would drastically reduce the rights of the country's citizens. The legislation, approved 103-29 in a legislature dominated by the Zanu PF party , the party of President Robert Mugabe , halts legal challenges by white farmers to government land seizures, [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denounced the increasingly large role politics and moral issues have played in recent judicial appointments and decisions in a speech Monday at Chapman University . Scalia blasted "judge moralists" and said he was disappointed that the US Supreme Court was increasingly deciding moral issues not found in the Constitution, [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has openly criticized the Senate version of the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 which was unanimously approved last month. Gonzales told Washington Post reporters Monday that the legislation contained "certain provisions….that make it more difficult to protect our country" against future terrorist attacks. The Senate version [...]
The Bangladesh High Court ruled Monday that the country's 1975 military takeover was "illegal" and "void" and that a martial regulation incorporated into the fifth Amendment to the Bangladesh Constitution was invalid. In their opinion, the judges ruled that the "Taking over the powers of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh with effect from the morning [...]
New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV is reporting that martial law has been declared in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish after levee breaks caused major flooding in the city Tuesday morning, sending waves of water through the downtown and French Quarter. Mayor Ray Nagin is estimating that 80% of the city has been flooded. WWL-TV provides [...]
