A Russian court has shut down the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (ORCD) , a Chechen human rights group that has been exposing abuses against civilians in Chechnya and providing assistance to victims of violence. The decision follows the February conviction of group co-founder Stanislav Dmitriyevsky , who was charged with “inciting racial hatred.” Dmitriyevsky was convicted [...]

President George W. Bush signed two bills into law Friday separately imposing sanctions on North Korea and Sudan in light of the former's nuclear test earlier this week and reports of continued atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region . The North Korea Nonproliferation Act of 2006 is designed to restrict the transfer of weapons of mass [...]

A judge in Florida refused Friday to block the sale of the controversial video game Bully , ruling that it does not qualify as a "public nuisance" under state law. The suit, brought by long-time video games foe Jack Thompson , named Wal-Mart andGamestop, two video game retailers, and Take-Two Interactive, parent company of publisher [...]

Peruvian rebel leader Abimael Guzman was found guilty of aggravated terrorism Friday and sentenced to life in prison by a Peruvian civil tribunal in Callao. Guzman founded the Shining Path guerilla movement in 1980 and was blamed for tens of thousands of deaths over the group's twelve years of activity. Guzman's lover and second-in-command Elena [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the city of Philadelphia Friday for violating the rights of its Spanish-speaking voters in breach of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and said that the city had violated Section 203 [...]

A Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury issued a $78.47 million verdict against retailer Wal-Mart Friday, awarding damages to plaintiffs on behalf of current and former Pennsylvania employees for work during rest breaks and off-the-clock labor. Wal-Mart prevailed on a third count which alleged that the company had denied meal breaks to the plaintiffs. Wal-Mart [...]

Pentagon surveillance of peace activists, American Civil Liberties Union, October 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the documents. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Maryland Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a preliminary injunction this week barring the state from discontinuing Medicaid benefits to approximately 3,000 legal immigrant recipients, all of whom migrated to Maryland within the past five years. The ruling means that Medicaid benefits to those beneficiaries will be maintained while judges weigh the substantive question of [...]

The United Nations General Assembly appointed South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as the next UN secretary-general on Friday. Ban, a career diplomat, is set to succeed Kofi Annan when the two-term secretary-general steps down on December 31, 2006. Ban was nominated by the UN Security Council on Monday and the 192-member General Assembly on [...]

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said Friday that the US plans to release two Pakistani detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and that Pakistan expects the men to arrive in their home country by October 15. Sherpao also said that six other detainees being held by the US at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan will also be [...]