The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England concerning whether the state of New Hampshire can require parental notification before a physician can perform an abortion on a minor. The two exceptions to the notification requirement of the New Hampshire Parental Notification Prior to Abortion [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced Haradin Bala to 13 years in prison Wednesday for torture, cruel treatment and murder at a prison camp run by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Bala, a commander and guard at the Lapusnik prison camp, is the first Kosovo Albanian to be found guilty for war [...]

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has accused the Australian government of pursuing laws that would reverse "centuries of advances" in human rights and the protection of individual liberties against state power. Fraser, who has previously spoken out against tough new anti-terror proposals now going through the Australian parliament, delivered his broadside attack in a [...]

UK rights group Liberty has threatened to take legal action against the British government and senior police officers unless they agree to investigate allegations that the US Central Intelligence Agency has operated "torture flights" that have landed in the UK. In recent months, reports have surfaced that CIA flights carrying terror detainees have landed in [...]

US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's responses to the US Senate Judiciary Committee nomination questionnaire, released November 30, 2005. Read the full text of the answered questionnaire .

Bangladesh police on Wednesday detained 22 suspects in the latest round of suicide bombings outside courthouses around the country. Nine people died and over 65 were wounded when two bombs detonated Tuesday, in what police and lawyers call a campaign by Islamic militants to press the judiciary into introducing Islamic Sharia law . Two judges [...]

Indonesian human rights groups have denounced the suggestion of East Timor President Xanana Gusmao that a report from the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation , which is investigating East Timor's past human rights violations, should be kept under wraps. Gusmao said Monday that the commission's recommendations could be used to "manipulate our people's state [...]

US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton has requested that the UN Security Council put Myanmar on the council's agenda for the first time, alleging that Myanmar's military rulers are destroying villages, targeting ethnic minorities, seeking nuclear power capabilities and failing to initiate democratic reforms and repressing political opponents such as pro-democracy leader Aung San [...]

Acting head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Richard Kinley said Tuesday that parties to the Kyoto Protocol mandating that industrialized nations cut greenhouse emissions in order to curb global warming will likely need up to 3-5 years to work out a successor to the pact, due to expire in 2012. Kinley's comments [...]

Former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nuaimi said Wednesday that a request has been made for Saddam Hussein to run as a candidate in future Iraqi elections and that Hussein's defense team has been asked to examine the necessary legal steps to "present Saddam Hussein as a candidate for elections," first as a member of the [...]