US Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday announced new state secrets policies, seeking to establish greater government accountability and oversight. The new procedures and policies, set to take effect on October 1, are aimed at strengthening public confidence by limiting invocation of the state secrets privilege to instances where "genuine and significant harm to national [...]
The head of the Honduran interim government Roberto Micheletti on Tuesday called on Brazil to deliver deposed president Manuel Zelaya under an arrest warrant issued by the Honduran Supreme Court in June. Zelaya has taken refuge at the Brazilian Embassy since returning to Honduras Monday. The charges pending against Zelaya include crimes against the form [...]
JURIST Special Guest Columnist Sam Sasan Shoamanesh, a legal adviser with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and co-founder and Associate Editor of Global Brief, Canada's first international affairs magazine, says that in order for the ICC to be fully effective in protecting human rights and bringing an end to impunity, Middle Eastern [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday began the trial of former Rwandan minister of planning Augustin Ngirabatware for his alleged involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Ngirabatware faces charges of: genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitements to committ genocide; crimes against humanity for murder, extermination, [...]
The French parliament gave final approval Tuesday to a new version of a controversial Internet piracy law that would suspend users' Internet access after the third violation. The bill was approved by a joint legislative committee of the National Assembly and the Senate by a vote of 258-131. The new version, drafted after portions of [...]
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Governor David Paterson has the authority to appoint a lieutenant governor, effectively making Richard Ravitch the state's lieutenant governor. In a 4-3 decision, the court rejected the argument that Paterson had improperly relied on section 43 of the Public Officers Law in making the appointment: Where, [...]
Ingrid Burke, Pitt Law '11, attended an "alternative" G-20 event on world hunger and economic decline which was hosted by the People's Summit on Pittsburgh's North Side… This week I was given the opportunity to attend several G-20 alternative/resistance events in Pittsburgh. On Monday night, I opted for a lecture and panel discussion hosted by [...]
China appealed an August World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling Tuesday, arguing that Chinese controls on US imports of books, music, and audiovisual materials do not violate international trade regulations. The dispute originally arose in April 2007 when the US filed a complaint over Chinese restrictions allowing certain state-owned companies to reserve the right to import [...]
Democratic Party fundraiser Hassan Nemazee, accused of orchestrating a $290 million pyramid scheme, pleaded not guilty to fraud charges Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutors indicted Nemazee Monday on three counts of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum prison term of 30 years, and [...]
Taiwan prosecutors filed a new indictment against former president Chen Shui-bian Wednesday, less than two weeks after Chen was sentenced to life in prison on other corruption charges. The new charge accuses Chen of embezzling $330,000 from funds he received to travel overseas while president. Chen denies the charge and is appealing for its dismissal. [...]
