Michael Kelly : "Russian Duma Speaker Gryzlov's determination this week that the Russian constitution would not be changed to allow Putin to run for a third term as president is a triumph for democracy, but will not likely be the end of the story. Speculation is mounting that fresh off his recent "re-election" (stolen as [...]

A panel from the US House Committee on International Relations sharply criticized China's human rights record on Wednesday, ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's Thursday visit to the White House . At a Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations hearing , subcommittee chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said: This week's visit of [...]

The Supreme Court of the Philippines Thursday ruled unconstitutional a 2005 executive order from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which prevented government officials from being questioned in investigations against her regarding vote-rigging and election fraud in 2004. Arroyo escaped attempts to impeach her last September and implemented the order when two military officers answered questions in an [...]

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps , a private organization of volunteers who patrol US borders, said Thursday that they would begin building a security fence on land owned by supporters along the US-Mexico border if President Bush doesn't direct the government to do so. The debate on immigration reform is expected to be an important [...]

A travel ban on Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been extended for another year, Vanunu's lawyer said Thursday. Israel's Ministry of Justice has rejected Vanunu's appeal, saying that he could reveal more military secrets. Vanunu has said he had no more secrets to tell and that he wanted to start a new life abroad. [...]

Svetlana Bakhmina , a lawyer for the Russian oil company Yukos , was convicted Wednesday of tax evasion and embezzlement for her part in a scheme to strip assets worth over $300 million from a Yukos subsidiary. Bakhmina was sentenced to seven years at a high-security penal colony. Bakhmina pleaded not guilty and argued that [...]

Leading Thursday's international brief, at least three protestors were killed in Kathmandu as hundreds violated a day-long curfew in the capital city ordered by the Nepalese government aimed at breaking the continued pro-democracy protests staged against the rule of King Gyanendra . The three individuals were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital and doctors [...]

According to figures compiled by Amnesty International , 2,148 people were executed around the world in 2005, with the most executions being performed in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the US. In its report released Thursday, Amnesty noted that China executed 94 percent of the total number, while 94 people were executed in Iran, 86 [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the author of an amicus brief on Guantanamo detainee appeals recently filed on behalf of legal scholars in the US DC Circuit, says that interpreting the Detainee Treatment Act to eliminate habeas corpus [...]

A Bosnian immigrant admitted in a US district court Wednesday that he lied to US immigration officers about his participation in ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War when he allegedly participated in the 1995 killings of 1,200 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. Marko Boskic currently lives in the Boston area and has not been [...]