The US Supreme Court on Friday granted certiorari in five cases. In Doe v. Reed , the Court will consider whether the First Amendment allows a state to compel the release of identity information about petition signers. The case arose over an order to publish the names of those who signed a Washington state petition [...]
The corruption trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resumed Friday but was immediately postponed to February 27. Judges for the tenth section of the Milan Tribunal postponed the trial as requested by Berlusconi's lawyers but refused their request to have earlier proceedings thrown out. Berlusconi is accused of paying his former lawyer David Mills [...]
Chinese lawyers and US-based rights group ChinaAid on Friday called on Beijing police to conduct a search for missing Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng . Police reported Thursday that Gao, who has been in police custody since February, went missing in September. Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, stated Thursday that police believe his brother "got lost [...]
The Obama administration is considering bringing charges in a Washington, DC, federal court against Guantanamo Bay detainee Riduan Isamuddin , the suspected planner of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing , the Associated Press reported Friday. According to the AP, administration officials have begun a security review to determine what measures would need to be taken [...]
The Russian State Duma on Thursday passed a resolution to ratify Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights , making the Russian Federation the last Council of Europe (COE) member-state to ratify the provision. The ratification passed with 392 votes out of 450. COE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland called the move "a significant [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) that combating financial fraud is a priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) . When asked whether the reallocation of DOJ staff from financial fraud to terrorism investigations over the past decade had thwarted efforts to fight white collar crime, [...]
A Honduran Supreme Court judge on Thursday charged top military personnel with abuse of power for removing former president Manuel Zelaya from the country after he was ousted from power last June. Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera issued charges against six military commanders, including armed forces commander Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, air force commander Venancio Cervantes, [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday that four men have been charged in connection with the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India and an attempted attack on a Danish newspaper. The superseding indictment reiterates the 12 charges against Chicago resident and US citizen David Coleman Headley filed last month and adds [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday declined to hear an appeal brought by an anti-abortion advocate who refused to pay taxes on the basis that the money could be used to fund abortion . David Little was convicted in 2007 of tax evasion for failing to file tax returns for 2000, 2001, and 2002. [...]
A judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that a law allowing Washington DC to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere is not subject to a public referendum. Reverend Harry Jackson, along with 39 Republican congressmen , urged the court to force the DC Council to allow the public to vote [...]
