The Council of Europe on Wednesday repeated its calls that Russia officially abolish the death penalty . There have been no executions in Russia for over ten years as the result of a moratorium imposed by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin as part of Russia's entry agreement with the COE. COE monitors, however, on Wednesday [...]

Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a sweeping health care plan that would require all residents to have health coverage or face penalties. Massachusetts is the first state to approve a health insurance reform plan of this nature; Maine's health care plan was considerably expanded under a 2003 law , but the Maine scheme is based on [...]

Nepal's royal government on Wednesday arrested 13 lawyers for holding peaceful rallies demanding peace and restoration of democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom on the eve of a general strike called by the opposition. The group was released later in the evening, a few hours after the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the government to present [...]

UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer of Thoroton who under the UK's traditional governmental structure served three roles as Speaker of the House of Lords, the head of the UK's judiciary, and a minister in the British government, has resigned his judicial post as part of the constitutional reform process instigated by Prime Minister Tony Blair. [...]

Dutch investigators on Wednesday released their final report on their independent investigation into the death of Slobodan Milosevic , saying that the former Yugoslavian leader died of a heart attack on the morning that guards found him dead in his cell at The Hague . The report confirms earlier investigations concluding that Milosevic died of [...]

The international tribunal that is set to hear the case against former Liberian President Charles Taylor hit a wall on Tuesday as court administrators struggled to find a country willing to grant Taylor asylum if he is acquitted of 11 counts of war crimes allegedly committed during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war. Officials from the [...]

United Nations member states have begun announcing their candidacies for membership on the newly-formed Human Rights Council in preparations for elections scheduled May 9. The UN General Assembly approved the creation of the new rights body last month to replace the widely criticized Commission on Human Rights . According to the list of candidates available [...]

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle , the Texas prosecutor in the criminal case against US Rep. Tom DeLay , has said that DeLay's resignation from Congress will not affect the case. DeLay currently faces money laundering charges and a request to have criminal conspiracy charges against DeLay reinstated is pending before the Texas Third [...]

Saddam Hussein on Wednesday defended his signing of a 1984 execution order as prosecutors began their cross examination of the former dictator before the Iraqi High Criminal Court at the resumption of his trial . Hussein insisted that he approved the death sentences of 148 Shiites who had participated in an assassination attempt based upon [...]

Nepal's royal government has made its anti-terrorism law more stringent by introducing a fifth amendment to the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance (TADO), published in the official gazette on Monday. National and international human rights organizations are concerned that independent media and even parties fighting for democracy in this country hard hit [...]