A group of asylum-seekers originating from Asia and Africa has begun a hunger strike in a detention camp in southwest Morocco in an attempt to gain refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) , the Moroccan Association of Human Rights said in a statement late Monday. Of the 247 illegal immigrants held [...]

Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien and his chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, must be held accountable for the flawed running of the federal sponsorship program from 1994 to 2003, said the first report on the scandal from Justice John Gomery, released in Ottawa Tuesday. Gomery also chided several others for their parts in the [...]

The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform , created by President Bush to find simpler and more economically productive methods of taxation, has recommended two different tax plans, both of which would change the way all individuals and businesses pay and file their taxes. In its final report released Tuesday, the panel proposed that [...]

In a document to be released later this month, the European Commission will set forth nearly 150 requirements, all of which must met by Turkey within two years, in order for the Mediterranean nation to be accepted into the European Union , the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Chief among the document's requirements will be a [...]

Joshua Colangelo-Bryan an American lawyer for Guantanamo Bay detainee Jumah Dossari , recently became the first outsider to witness an attempted suicide at the military prison. Human rights advocates say Dossari timed the attempt so that it would be witnessed by someone other than a prison guard as a cry for help meant to reach [...]

The leading Islamic party in Tajikistan has criticized the country's recent ban on Islamic headscarves in secular schools . The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) said the ban was unconstitutional and against the interests of a majority of the country, which is more than 90% Muslim. Education minister Abdudjabor Rakhmonov announced the ban on October 19, [...]

The Michigan Court of Appeals Monday complied with a request by state Attorney General Mike Cox seeking to delay a lower court ruling which allowed public-sector employers to offer domestic partner benefits to employees. In September, a County Circuit judge ruled that providing the benefits did not conflict with a state constitutional amendment defining marriage [...]

Syria has agreed to allow Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , to interview two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad . The Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Sami al-Khiyami, told the BBC Tuesday that the president's brother and brother-in-law would agree to [...]

Magistrates in Zimbabwe told court officials Monday that they are starving and unable to afford three meals a day, as the country's inflation soars and more than 75% of the population lives below the poverty line. The statement by magistrate Enias Magateto was made in response to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa's urging that magistrates refuse [...]

Abdurahman Jafar, vice chairman of the legal affairs committee of the of the Muslim Council of Britain , warned the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights Monday that the country's anti-terror proposals may undermine the Muslim community's commitment to combating terrorism. Jafar expressed concern that the toughened laws would have a "really horrific counter-productive [...]