US authorities on Thursday announced charges against two former employees of security firm Blackwater in connection with the May 5 shooting death of two Afghans in Kabul. Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff each face 13 counts under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) , including two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, [...]
The Iranian judiciary said Thursday that five people arrested during in last month's violent riots will be tried for Moharebe, or warring against God, which is punishable by execution. The names of the accused have not been released. The protests, which were the largest since those that followed the June presidential election , interrupted the [...]
The New Jersey Senate voted 20-14 Thursday to defeat a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state. The Senate Judiciary Committee had voted 7-6 in favor of the bill last month, marking the first time that any body in the state legislature had approved same-sex marriage legislation. The bill's sponsors, Democratic senators [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law says that in order for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to function properly, the Senate must confirm Judge Denny Chin as soon as possible after returning from recess, and President Obama should promptly nominate candidates for the other [...]
United States of America v. Volungus, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, January 8, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the Adam Walsh Act.
About 12 percent of youth held in US juvenile detention facilities reported being sexually abused in the past year, according to a report released Thursday the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) . According to the report, about 2.6 percent of youth reported an incident involving another inmate, while 10.3 percent reported an incident involving staff. [...]
US security firm Blackwater on Wednesday reached a settlement agreement in seven federal lawsuits filed by Iraqi citizens. The suits claimed that Blackwater, now known as Xe, created a reckless culture that resulted in numerous deaths, including the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in September 2007 and the 2006 killing of an Iraqi guard. The [...]
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday proposed stricter smog standards that would replace the Bush administration's broader 2008 national smog regulations , complying with scientific recommendations. The new smog restrictions would reduce the amount of smog emissions to between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) from the previous 0.075 ppm. The EPA [...]
An official from the US Department of Defense (DOD) said Wednesday that about one in five detainees freed from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay have returned to terrorist activities, according to a new Pentagon report. The report, which remains classified, shows an increase from the 14 percent recidivism rate reported last spring. That [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided on a military prosecution for Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainee Obaidullah , according to court filings Wednesday. Obaidullah was initially charged by the military in 2008 with hiding and storing anti-tank mines to be deployed against US forces in Afghanistan. He has been held at Guantanamo since 2002. [...]
