The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority on Wednesday ordered Internet service providers to block social networking site Facebook in response to a competition created by a group of the website's members entitled "Draw Muhammad Day." The PTA issued the order following a decision by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to block the website indefinitely after Pakistan officials [...]
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday reaffirmed his commitment to comprehensive federal immigration reform, calling the recently passed Arizona immigration law "misguided." Obama held a joint press conference with Mexican President Filipe Calderon where he expressed concern that the law could be applied in a discriminatory fashion and indicated the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [...]
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday affirmed the acquittal of former Macedonian interior minister Ljube Boskoski , while upholding the sentence imposed against Macedonian police officer Johan Tarculovski for alleged war crimes. In 2008, Boskoski was found not guilty of neglecting his responsibility as a superior [...]
The French Cabinet on Wednesday approved legislation that would make it illegal to wear the Islamic burqa or other full face veils in public. Under the bill, women who wear the veil can be required by police to show their face, and, if they refuse, they can be forced to attend citizenship classes or be [...]
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced in a committee hearing Wednesday that confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will begin June 28 . Leahy's confirmation schedule mirrors the timelines followed for recent nominations, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The schedule should allow the confirmation hearings to [...]
The judiciary oversight committee of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) on Tuesday approved a request by judge Baltasar Garzon allowing him to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) . Garzon was suspended last week by the CGPJ for abusing his power by opening an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed under [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that the Philadelphia Immigration Court has ordered the deportation of former SS guard Anton Geiser to Austria for serving as an armed guard at the Sachsenhausen and the Buchenwald concentration camps during World War II. Geiser, who has been living in southwestern Pennsylvania since 1960, admitted to [...]
A Somali man charged with piracy pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of hijacking, kidnapping, and hostage taking related to last April's attack on the US container ship Maersk Alabama . Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was originally charged with five counts relating to the pirate attack on the Alabama, including committing an act of piracy as defined [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee released a bipartisan questionnaire on Tuesday submitted by Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan regarding her prior experience, financial status, potential conflicts of interest, and various other details of her past. The majority of the questionnaire is made up of various cases handled during her tenure with the solicitor general's office, [...]
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release of three individuals accused of crimes committed as part of the "Christian warrior" militia called Hutaree . Judge Victoria Roberts of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the release of the suspects, two men and one woman, after federal prosecutors withdrew their [...]
