The Brazilian Senate voted 59-7 Tuesday to approve amendments to the country’s Forest Code. Supporters of the bill, including Brazil’s National Agriculture and Livestock Federation , say that this change will assist in lowering the carbon emissions while continuing to require farmers and ranchers to preserve significant amount of forest. On the other hand, critics [...]
A UN panel of independent human rights experts warned Wednesday that recently-passed legislation in Malaysia would severely curtail the right to peaceably assemble in that country. The Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 , which passed the lower house of Parliament last week, would limit free speech rights by forbidding Malaysian citizens under the age of 21 [...]
Bank of America (BOA) agreed Monday to pay $315 million in a settlement of claims brought by investors alleging they were misled with respect to mortgage-backed investments. Court papers disclosing the settlement agreement were filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York . The claims were a part of a [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Allyn Taylor of the Georgetown University Law Center says countries’ efforts to protect their citizens from the public health danger of tobacco may suffer a chilling blow from a successful tobacco company lawsuit in Australia…
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange has suggested repealing specific provisions of the state’s controversial immigration law . Strange sent a letter to leaders of the Alabama legislature suggesting the removal of at least two of the sections that are currently on hold as a result of a federal court order. The sections Strange recommended for [...]
An Egyptian court on Wednesday rejected the prosecution’s motion for a new judge in the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak and fined the prosecution for making the request. Lawyers representing Mubarak’s alleged victims filed the petition, claiming that presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat showed bias in favor of Mubarak and overlooked proper courtroom procedure. Due [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee returned Tuesday to the longstanding debate over whether to televise the proceedings of the US Supreme Court , including whether Congress, as an equal branch of government, has the authority to require the court to admit cameras. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) submitted the Cameras in the [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. In Williams v. Illinois , the justices heard the latest in a series of arguments over the Confrontation Clause and will decide if a defendant’s rights are violated if the state permits an expert witness to testify about the results of a DNA [...]
Lesbians and transgender men in South Africa face discrimination and fear violence on a daily basis from both private individuals and government officials, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Monday. The report argues that the government has failed to protect lesbians and transgender men under the “equality clause” of the South African Bill of Rights. [...]
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) issued preliminary findings on Sunday stating that the Russian election was “characterized by frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation.” The report noted that the vote count was assessed was “bad or very bad” in 34 of 115 observed polling stations, voting counts were interrupted [...]
