Seven Icelandic government officials acted with gross negligence in their management of the country's financial system prior to a 2008 bank collapse, according to a report released Monday by a parliamentary panel. The Special Investigation Committee (SIC), convened in 2008 by the Icelandic Parliament to investigate the collapse of the country's three largest banks, determined [...]
US President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) withdrew her candidacy on Friday. Dawn Johnsen , nominated as the OLC's Assistant Attorney General in January 2009, has faced over a year of objection from Republicans for her criticisms of the interrogation methods approved by the OLC during the [...]
A Moscow City Court judge known for presiding over cases involving neo-Nazi groups was killed Monday morning while leaving his apartment. The murder of Judge Eduard Chuvashov is suspected to be a contract killing in light of the death threats he faced after presiding over the trials of members of neo-Nazi gangs . Last week, [...]
US Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) on Sunday said that Senate approval of the so-called New START treaty will not happen this year. Speaking on a morning talk show, Alexander stated , "there's not a chance the treaty will be approved this year. It took a year and a half to approve the START I treaty." [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Monday released a report criticizing some European nations' practice of seeking "no-torture" assurances from other countries in order to remove foreigners. According to the report, the assurances are used to return people to countries with records of human rights abuses. AI described these deals as unreliable and unenforceable, and called for [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sunday accused both Israel and Hamas of failing to conduct meaningful, credible investigations into accusations of war crimes during the January 2009 Gaza conflict . In a 62-page report HRW described the alleged law of war violations committed during the combat, along with the deficient responses from both sides: More than [...]
US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) predicted Sunday that President Obama will nominate a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in time for hearings to be concluded over the summer. In an appearance with Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on NBC's "Meet the Press" discussed the coming confirmation battle over [...]
The US District Court for the District of Columbia late last week made public two previously unreleased rulings relating to habeas corpus claims by Guantanamo detainees. In a decision ordering the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi , Judge James Robertson held that the government had to release Slahi because it was unable to prove that [...]
Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon on Saturday appealed an indictment that charges him with abuse of power for launching an investigation of alleged war crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War . Garzon alleges that the indictment issued by Spanish Supreme Court judge Luciano Varela is politically motivated , compromises judicial independence and seeks [...]
Polish Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski became the interim Polish president on Saturday after elected President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash . Komorowski must now announce the date of the next presidential elections within two weeks. The elections must be held within two months of the official announcement. Under Article 131 of the Polish [...]
