human rights

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Spielberg Sparks Storm Over China's Darfur Role

Pressure mounts for pre-Olympics change

(Newser) - Human rights groups praised Hollywood's Steven Spielberg yesterday for stepping down as artistic director of the Beijing Olympics due to China's ongoing support for the Sudanese regime. His move has opened the floodgates to a deluge of criticism over China's involvement in Darfur, giving the Chinese government a taste of...

12,000 Flee Darfur Raids for Chad
12,000 Flee Darfur Raids for Chad
Feb 10, 2008 10:27 AM CST

12,000 Flee Darfur Raids for Chad

Sudanese gov't says attacks on 3 villages aimed at rebels

(Newser) - Government attacks on Darfur villages, ostensibly directed at rebel fighters, have caused a new exodus of at least 12,000 people from western Sudan into Chad, the BBC reports. The government acknowledges bombing three villages Friday, but said it was targeting fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement. Rebel leaders...

US Backs Sham Democracies, Watchdog Says

Western powers allow autocrats to pay lip service to ideals

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch says Western powers accept too many sham democracies out of political convenience, the BBC reports. The group's annual report slams the tendency of the US and EU governments to allow autocrats to claim “the mantle of democracy" without granting authentic political freedom. It also said the...

China Shines Image for Olympics
China Shines Image for Olympics
Jan 30, 2008 2:29 PM CST

China Shines Image for Olympics

Bureaucracy in full spin mode with Games less than 200 days away

(Newser) - With less than 200 days to go before the Summer Olympics, Der Spiegel takes an in-depth look at China’s feverish preparations and finds a sprawling bureaucracy working overtime to project the perfect image to the world. But while Beijing might clean the smog, and even prevent rain, making communist...

Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider
Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider
Dec 26, 2007 4:33 PM CST

Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider

First Lady didn't handle intel but was a presidential sounding board

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton spent her 8 years in the White House informally advising her husband and jetting around the world mediating social crises, the New York Times says, but the first lady had little direct experience with war or terrorism. She didn’t do “the heavy lifting of foreign policy,...

Nepal to Ax Monarchy, Install Republic

Leaders cave after 3-month standoff with Maoists

(Newser) - After almost three months of deadlock, Nepal agreed today to end its 240-year-old monarchy and set up a republic, the BBC reports. Maoist rebels, who had walked out in October and staged violent protests, struck the deal with Nepal's leaders, which will go into effect after elections next spring.

Nepal Court Rules for Gay Rights
Nepal Court Rules for Gay Rights
Dec 22, 2007 10:23 AM CST

Nepal Court Rules for Gay Rights

Landmark decision to scrap laws discriminating against gay, lesbian, transgender Nepalese

(Newser) - Conservative Nepal must stop its discrimination against homosexuals and make laws to protect their rights, the nation's highest court ruled yesterday. The decision is a major victory for gay rights advocates in the Himalayan country, where gay men and women have long complained of discrimination and attacks, BBC reports. "...

French Divided on Qaddafi Trip
French Divided on Qaddafi Trip
Dec 12, 2007 4:38 PM CST

French Divided on Qaddafi Trip

Critics see too much carrot, not enough stick during Libyan leader's highly visible visit

(Newser) - Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s visit to Paris continues to raise questions as to whether the French president sold out by dealing with the dictator, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Activists and some government officials say President Nicolas Sarkozy ignored Libya’s dismal human-rights record in favor of business, but...

Russian Crackdown Draws Fire
Russian Crackdown Draws Fire
Nov 26, 2007 9:40 AM CST

Russian Crackdown Draws Fire

US, Council of Europe condemn police violence and arrests of opposition leaders

(Newser) - Authorities detained Russian opposition leaders yesterday and broke up a St. Petersburg rally and march in the second day of aggressive crackdowns on dissent, the Washington Post reports. Several candidates in Sunday's parliamentary elections were among the 200 held. "They have forbidden us from discussing Putin," one candidate...

8,000 Kenyans Killed by Cops, Lawyers Say

Police call charges against outlaw sect 'fictitious'

(Newser) - Kenyan cops have killed or fatally tortured more than 8,000 youth since 2002, human rights lawyers charged today. The deaths, along with 4,000 cases of missing men, are allegedly part of a state crackdown on the Mungiki—an outlawed sect the government blames for gang violence. Police have...

Khmer Rouge Jailer Has First Day in Court

Pol Pot ally held for 8 years asks genocide tribunal to set bail

(Newser) - The Cambodian “Killing Fields” tribunal heard an application for bail today from Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the math teacher who became the chief jailer of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime. Of at least 14,000 who went into Duch’s prison, only 10 survived, Reuters...

UN Inspector Vows to Tally Burma's Dead

Demands 'full cooperation' from junta or 'I'll go out'

(Newser) - A UN inspector landed in Burma today to tally the junta's detained and dead protesters, the AP reports. And he vowed to leave if officials don't give him "full cooperation." So far, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has met with officials and visited a town where the junta targeted monks...

Burmese Monks Back in Streets
Burmese Monks Back in Streets
Oct 31, 2007 8:52 AM CDT

Burmese Monks Back in Streets

More than 100 march as rights group slams junta over recruiting child soldiers

(Newser) - Picking up their quashed demands, more than 100 Burmese monks marched in defiance of the military junta today in the first marches since the government crackdown on pro-democracy protests late last month. "This is very significant... we are very encouraged to see the monks taking up action," one...

Athletes Urged to Tackle China
Athletes Urged to Tackle China
Oct 18, 2007 1:15 PM CDT

Athletes Urged to Tackle China

New Republic wants sportsmen to condemn Olympic hosts

(Newser) - US athletes have a moral imperative to take a stand at the Beijing Olympics, the New Republic’s editors assert: The American delegation should follow Lee Bollinger’s example of “spectacular rudeness” next summer, condemning the Chinese for their brutal human rights record. It’s unethical to be hosted...

Fading US Sway Leads to Darfur, Burma Inaction

China is ignoring rights abuses for economic interests, Time says

(Newser) - Diminished US influence is allowing human rights violators in Darfur and Burma to get away with murder, Harvard expert Samantha Power writes in Time. America is speaking up louder than ever, but Uncle Sam’s diplomatic nadir makes for “a void in global human rights leadership.” China has...

Rice Criticizes Putin's Iron Fist
Rice Criticizes Putin's Iron Fist
Oct 13, 2007 2:36 PM CDT

Rice Criticizes Putin's Iron Fist

She meets with human rights activists in Russia, offers support

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice criticized the "concentration of power" in the Kremlin today and pledged support to human rights activists, the BBC reported.  In Russia for already-tense talks on a proposed missile defense shield, Rice also questioned the independence of the judiciary. One rights leader, however, said the stain of...

Warrants Served for Pinochet Family, Staff

Indicted helped Chilean dictator to launder $27M into US accounts

(Newser) - Arrest warrants for embezzlement were issued today in Chile for associates of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, including his widow and five children, the BBC reports. The warrants allege that the accused helped Pinochet hide $27 million of state money in US bank accounts. The former dictator died in 2006 while...

Envoy Leaves Burma After Talks
Envoy Leaves Burma After Talks
Oct 2, 2007 9:32 AM CDT

Envoy Leaves Burma After Talks

Warned junta against quelling protests, met Suu Kyi this morning

(Newser) - UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari left Burma today after meeting with a top general and a second meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released from house arrest for the talks. Gambari, who was attempting to open dialog between the military junta and dissidents whose protests were brutally suppressed last...

Bush Unloads on Burmese Junta
Bush Unloads on Burmese Junta
Sep 25, 2007 1:40 PM CDT

Bush Unloads on Burmese Junta

Prez announces new sanctions, visa ban at UN

(Newser) - President Bush told the UN General Assembly today that the US will tighten economic sanctions on Burma and impose a travel ban on its military junta leaders. The US has long maintained an embargo against the country, which is now in its eighth day of anti-junta protests. “The people’...

Mugabe Critic Quits Over Sex Scandal

Archbishop's supporters suspect regime is behind adultery lawsuit

(Newser) - An archbishop and prominent critic of Robert Mugabe's regime has resigned his Catholic Church leadership position after being accused of having an affair with a married woman. Pius Ncube remains a bishop, and his supporters say they see the authoritarian Zimbabwean regime behind the scandal, which Ncube calls "a...

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