JURIST Guest Columnist Diana Ginn of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University says that a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada affirms the nation’s multicultural heritage at the expense of its promise of religious freedom, and that both values could have been maintained by more carefully adhering to precedent… On February [...]
The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would require voters to show photo ID at the polls. Supporters of the proposed legislation say that it will combat voter fraud, but opponents fear that it will disenfranchise poor, elderly and minority voters who may find it difficult to obtain a photo ID. The bill [...]
The European Union said Wednesday that Hungary must change two controversial laws that went into effect with the country’s new constitution on January 1 in order to comply with EU law before aid will be provided to the country. Hungary requested financial aid from the EU and the International Monetary Fund last year . The [...]
The North Cairo Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted a police officer, Mohamed Abdel Moneim, charged with killing 20 protesters and injuring another 15 protesters. Moneim’s defense lawyers argued that he was just attempting to protect himself and the police station. He had no intent to kill the protesters, and, due to the chaos of the [...]
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday demanded a 28-year prison sentence for former Serb nationalist politician and war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj . Delivering closing arguments, Prosecutor Mathias Marcussen claimed that Seselj was responsible for tens of thousands of rapes, murders and unlawful detentions during the Balkan conflict. [...]
The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday urged member states to put an end to sexual orientation-based violence and discrimination. In a video address , UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that sexual orientation and gender identity are sensitive subjects, but said action needs to be taken because lives are at stake. He called the violation [...]
Virginia Govenor Bob McDonnell on Wednesday signed legislation that will require women to have an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion . The bill was approved by the House of Delegates and the Senate , and is a scaled-back version of a similar bill that was considered last month. The current version of the bill removes [...]
The US government on Tuesday handed over 15 suspected Somali pirates it captured in January to the Republic of Seychelles for prosecution. The suspects are accused of attacking a ship and kidnapping 13 Iranian fisherman, all of whom the US Navy rescued. They will be tried in Seychelles’ court established in 2010 to prosecute international [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt said Tuesday that states should refrain from using official state religions as a means to enhance their national identity politics, “as this may have detrimental effects for the situation of individuals from minority communities.” The statement was part of a presentation at the UN [...]
Samsung Electronics filed a patent suit on Tuesday in the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea alleging Apple infringed three of its utility patents. Samsung alleges that Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2 infringe patents it owns involving methods of displaying data, the user interface and text messaging. This latest filing brings the litigation [...]
