Prisoners released from the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and returned to their home countries should be closely monitored to prevent their torture at the hands of their governments, according to a group of lawyers, activists, and family members speaking Saturday. A statement issued jointly with Amnesty International called on the United States to [...]

Thirteen refugees being held in immigration detention centers in Australia inflicted wounds upon themselves Saturday, protesting recent reforms in Australia's immigration policies that stop short of freeing all "unauthorised arrivals" currently imprisoned in refugee camps. The Australian Immigration Department confirmed that one woman had attempted suicide and a dozen men cut themselves on razor wire [...]

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announced Friday that he will sign an order on July 4 to restore voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences. The decision will end a system that had disqualified one out of every four black Iowans from voting . In total, the order will reinstate the voting rights of [...]

The Palestinian parliament voted Saturday to pass a new law creating an electoral system which will allow districts to choose 50% of the lawmakers with the other 50% coming from a list of national party candidates. The new law has opened the door to reschedule the July 17 parliamentary elections which were postponed earlier this [...]

CardSystems Solutions, Inc. said Friday that the FBI told them to refrain from releasing any informing regarding a security breach which potentially exposed over 40 million cardholders to fraud. CardSystems said they first discovered the breach on May 22 and were surprised by MasterCard's decision to inform its customers in light of the FBI's recommendation. [...]

Spc. Sean Baker, an ex-US military policeman, has sued the Pentagon alleging that his constitutional rights were violated during an assault by fellow soldiers in a January 2003 training session that went awry in Guantanamo Bay. Baker voluntarily dressed in an orange jumpsuit and was told to act as an unruly detainee in a training [...]

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops Friday voted to extend a policy to ban abusive priests from working in the church by a margin of 228-4. The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People , originally written in 2002, has prompted the removal of hundreds of clergy accused of abusing children during the [...]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has spoken out against the United Nations Reform Act of 2005 , passed by the US House of Representatives on Friday, which will cut 50% of US dues to the organization if the UN does not meet certain reform goals. The UN's 60th General Assembly Summit is scheduled to be held [...]

UN Reform Act, passed by US House of Representatives on June 17, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

MasterCard announced late Friday that a security lapse at CardSystems Solutions , a third-party processing company in Tuscon, Arizona, has potentially exposed more than 40 million cards to fraud, and that it has notified banks of the problem. Some 13.9 of the cards affected carry the MasterCard brand. In a statement, Mastercard said that "vulnerabilities [...]