AP is reporting that Nepal's King Gyanendra has called for general elections and has promised dialogue with the opposition. Opposition political parties have been staging pro-democracy protests for over a week, calling on Gyanendra to abdicate his throne and allow free national elections. In February 2005 Gyanendra seized control of the government and dismissed elected [...]

The majority of the provisions in the UK Terrorism Act 2006 took effect Thursday amidst criticism from rights groups that the measure stifles freedom of speech and will lead to the prosecutions of legitimate political protestors. The law, prompted by the July 7 London bombings , was approved by Parliament last month and makes it [...]

Egypt has released approximately 950 former militants from the Islamic group Gamaa Islamiya over the last several days, according to lawyers for the prisoners. Some had been held as long as 25 years. The government began small-scale releases in the 1990s after the group's leaders declared a truce and renounced violence but never have so [...]

Police in Nepal Thursday fired rubber bullets at a peaceful rally of lawyers in the capital Kathmandu, injuring four. Seventeen other lawyers were injured when police charged with batons. 72 lawyers were arrested in total. The lawyers were holding a silent rally demanding democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the [...]

Women in Iraq had better quality of life and received more respect for their rights under Saddam Hussein's regime than the current system, according to a survey conducted by the Baghdad-based Woman Freedom Organization . According to the group, women's rights were guaranteed in the constitution under Saddam, and women held important government positions. Now, [...]

A medical officer in the British Royal Air Force was found guilty Thursday of five charges laid against him for refusing to go to Iraq for a third tour of duty. Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith was dismissed from the military, sentenced to eight months in jail, and has to pay £20,000 in costs incurred after [...]

Reilly v. EPA, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, April 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard testified Thursday before a government commission and said that he had not seen several cables sent to his office which were meant to warn the Australian government that the country's leading wheat exporter was paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's former regime between 1997 and 2003. In a written statement released [...]

Lawyers for former vice-presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said in a court filing Wednesday that Libby told a grand jury two years ago that President Bush and Vice President Cheney had authorized him to released previously classified information in response to criticism of the Iraq war, but not the identity of CIA [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Thursday expressed shock and dismay at the use of violence and arbitrary detention by police and security forces in the ongoing unrest over pro-democracy protests in Nepal . Arbour issued a statement calling on the Nepalese government to reign in police officials and reminding the government [...]