Of the 15 Sunni Muslims joining members of the committee to construct Iraq's new constitution , two are accused of being former senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party while two others have indicated that they supported it, according to a report in Friday's New York Times. The new constitution, which, by law, the committee [...]

The European Commission on Thursday published a proposal to create a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights . The proposal comes in the wake of an Amnesty International report urging Great Britain's incoming EU Presidency to make fundamental rights a key issue in the EU agenda in the second half of 2005. The independent agency, [...]

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir announced in a national broadcast Thursday a plan to end the country's 16-year state of emergency by July 9. According to el-Brashir, the adoption of a new constitution and transitional government, following the January adoption of a peace treaty ending the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, will end the state [...]

In a White House interview with Danish television that aired Thursday, US President George W. Bush said that agreeing to the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change would have "wrecked" the US economy. Bush noted that other "big polluters" like India and China have also refused to accept the treaty's terms. AP has [...]

France applied the controversial doctrine of "universal jurisdiction" that allows states to claim criminal jurisdiction over persons accused of committing crimes abroad for the first time Thursday in the trial of a Mauritanian military officer. Ely Ould Dah is accused of torturing black Mauritanian army personnel in Jreida prison in 1990 and 1991. He was [...]

Nigeria's Supreme Court Friday turned back a challenge to the legitimacy of the 2003 election victory of President Olusegun Obasanjo , affirming a lower court ruling and putting an end to a lawsuit over alleged vote rigging. The legal challenge was spearheaded by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari who claimed that at least 16 of [...]

The Bush administration indicated Thursday that it is against extending the current Terrorism Risk Insurance Act when it expires at the end of the year, saying it was meant to be temporary. The law was enacted after 9/11 and offered government aid to insure against losses as a result of terrorist attacks, mainly for large [...]

Hearst Communications, Inc., et al. v. Seattle Times Company, Supreme Court of the State of Washington, June 30, 2005 . Excerpt: We conclude that the written contract between the parties is subject to only one reasonable interpretation. Losses resulting from the 2000-2001 strike by the Newspaper Guild and the Teamsters Union are included in 'agency [...]

The UN Compensation Committee approved the final claims from victims of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait Thursday, bringing the total award payments to $52.5 billion. The panel, which consists of the fifteen permanent members of the UN Security Council , made awards Thursday to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Jordan totaling [...]

Terrorising the rule of law: the policy and practice of proscription, Statewatch and other UK human rights groups, June 30, 2005 . Excerpt: The policy of "proscription", or "designation", of groups and individuals as "terrorist" is an integral part of the global "War on Terrorism" led by the United States. "Proscription" is a legal sanction [...]