Afghanistan president awaits high court ruling on foreign minister dismissal News
Afghanistan president awaits high court ruling on foreign minister dismissal

[JURIST] A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai [official website] said Saturday that Karzai would await a Supreme Court [Wikipedia backgrounder] ruling on the legality of parliament dismissing government ministers before relieving Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta [official profile] after Spanta lost a no-confidence vote. A previous effort to oust Spanta on Thursday failed by a narrow margin, but parliament did vote that day to remove Repatriation and Refugee Minister Mohammad Akbar Akbar. Karzai, who accepted Akbar's dismissal, has asked the high court to decide whether parliament can force out a minister on a matter not directly related to his portfolio.

Both ministers came under fire for not doing more to oppose the expulsion of thousands of Afghan refugees from neighboring Iran [RFE/RL reports]. The refugees are now living in an Afghan border province but have no shelter. Some 2 million Afghan refugees remain in Iran. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

First Fleet departs from England to establish penal colony in Australia

On May 13, 1787, the First Fleet departed from England, carrying 780 British convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia. Led by Captain Arthur Philip, all eleven ships arrived safely in Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia in January of 1788.

Read Captain Philip's account of his voyage on Project Gutenberg, and learn more about the journey and its impact from First Fleet online.

Federal government denied funding to segregated school districts

On May 13, 1966, the US federal government took its first action against violators of the desegregation guidelines of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by denying federal education funding for 12 segregated Southern school districts. Learn more about school desegregation.