UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers submitted his letter of resignation to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Sunday, citing a lack of confidence in him due to allegations of sexual harassment . Saying that the sexual harassment claims could not be substantiated, Lubbers wrote "For more than four years I gave all my energy to [...]

The legal battle over Terri Schiavo could wrap up this week if either Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeals or the Pinellas Circuit Court act to end appeals in the dispute over the fate of the brain-damaged Florida woman. Both courts, which have previously upheld her right to die, are expected to issue rulings this [...]

The Economic Community of West African States has announced that member countries will impose sanctions against Togo as world pressure mounts for Togo to hold democratic elections. Faure Gnassingbe was appointed president on February 5, within hours of the death of his father, who ruled the country for 38 years. Opposition has been demanding an [...]

The UN General Assembly's legal committee has adopted a non-binding resolution against all forms of human cloning, including techniques used in stem cell research. After several days of debate , the committee voted 71-35, with 43 abstentions, to adopt the resolution, which was put forward by Honduras and backed by the Bush administration. The measure [...]

A federal judge has delayed the start of the class-action fraud suit against WorldCom until March 17, so that lawyers can interview witnesses from former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers fraud trial after it ends in the next few weeks. US District Judge Denise Cote also issued strict guidelines for testimony and arguments, and ordered that [...]

An Arabic translator who took computer disks full of classified documents out of the Guantanamo Bay naval base was sentenced Friday to 20 months in prison by the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts . Ahmed Mehalba admitted taking the documents, but said he was only trying to do a good job by [...]

Log of (and links to) CID reports of investigations into US treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan, US Department of Defense, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, February 16, 2005 . Read the full text of the reports here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Voters in Spain head to the polls Sunday to decide a national referendum on the European Constitution. Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia have already ratified the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe in parliamentary votes, but eight additional states – including France, the UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Poland – are [...]

Supporters and opponents turned out Saturday on the first day of the British fox-hunt ban. The ban, passed by the House of Commons last year , outlaws hunting with dogs, but allows for exercising hounds, chasing a scent and flushing out foxes to be shot. A number of confrontations and arrests occured Saturday after police [...]

Human rights groups criticized Bush pick for intelligence director nominee John Negroponte Friday, stating the current US ambassador to Iraq has a record of supporting human rights violations. Critics allege that during his role as ambassador to Honduras in the early 1980's, Negroponte dramatically underplayed human rights problems by backing Contra rebels and supporting Honduran [...]