The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that Halliburton Energy Services has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Halliburton stands accused of destroying the results of an internal investigation into the well’s construction to determine what caused the accident. [...]
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday intervened in the public hearing of the Constitutional Court to defend the Framework for Peace , a proposed constitutional amendment that brought about peace talks with the FARC and ELN , two rebel paramilitary groups. The country has been plagued by an internal war with these rebel groups [...]
US Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Thursday introduced a bill to address popular concerns about personal privacy and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court . If the bill is passed, the court will be presided over by judges that are nominated by the president and confirmed by congress. Additionally, it would require implementation of an adversarial [...]
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday filed a announced charges against SAC Capital Advisors , the hedge fund run by billionaire Steven Cohen . Although Cohen was not charged in the indictment, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil action against Cohen last week accusing him of [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will ask a federal court in Texas to subject the state to a preclearance regime similar to the one required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) . In June, the US Supreme Court ruled in Shelby [...]
China’s former Communist Party leader Bo Xilai has been formally charged with corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power, the state-run news agency, Xinhua , announced on Thursday. Bo allegedly used his position in the Communist Party of China (CPC) to accept bribes in the form of property and money for himself and others. Bo’s case [...]
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday condemned the assassination of Tunisian opposition leader and member of the National Constituent Assembly , Mohamed Brahmi. Brahmi was shot dead outside his home in Tunis, sparking protests throughout the country. Pillay called upon Tunisian authorities to investigate the assassination and bring those responsible [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday urged Israel to reconsider a law that, if adopted, is likely to result in the demolition of up to 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev desert. The proposed Law for Regularizing Bedouin Habitation in the Negev (Prawer-Begin Bill) seeks to offer Bedouins limited compensation on [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that the 2005 trial and conviction of former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev was not politically motivated. The court, however, did find that various aspects of the court proceedings violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights . Among [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Wednesday that Israel cannot be listed as the place of birth on US passports for citizens born in Jerusalelm. Section 214(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act requires the State Department to list Jerusalem, Israel, as the birthplace for US citizens born in [...]
