UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday urged the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to avoid the "political maneuvering" that plagued the rights body's predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission , telling the 47 member states...
The South African National Council of Provinces has approved the Civil Unions Bill , legislation that would make South Africa the first African nation to recognize same-sex unions if President...
Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a land redistribution bill Tuesday that he hopes will allow his government to give 77,000 square miles of unproductive land to the country's poor. The president signed the...
The trial of six German defendants accused of breaching their fiduciary duties during the takeover of telecom giant Mannesmann came to an end Wednesday, with the defendants agreeing to pay substantial financial settlements in exchange for no...
The Thai cabinet Tuesday approved a measure to lift martial law in 41 of the country's 76 provinces, including Bangkok, despite a recommendation by coup leader and Army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin Monday to retain martial law...
A group of United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday urged the Iraqi government to refrain from carrying out the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein earlier this month for crimes against humanity [charging...
Two Russian prosecutors were convicted Monday of accepting a $10,000 bribe from a construction company in the country's latest example of corruption in the court and police systems. Sergei Kocherov and Ruslan Fedosenko of the district prosecutor's office in...
A North Carolina state court judge Monday ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the families of four US contractors killed in Iraq against Blackwater Security Consulting could move forward after being stayed for nearly two...
The Lebanese cabinet on Monday sent a draft measure concerning the creation of a UN-supported international tribunal to try suspects accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [official...
Former US Attorney General Janet Reno joined seven other former US Justice Department officials Monday in opposing an interpretation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) that would deny suspected terrorists...