A judge in the US District for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a temporary restraining order Monday blocking child pornography charges against three teenage girls who appeared in photographs distributed by cell phone throughout their high school. Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. had told the girls and their parents that unless the [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed as improvidently granted the writ of certiorari in Philip Morris USA v. Williams . The Court had originally granted certiorari to consider for a third time a $79.5 million punitive damages verdict against tobacco company Philip Morris USA . The Court previously ruled that the punitive damages award [...]
Former Khmer Rogue leader Kaing Guek Eav , also known as "Duch," on Tuesday formally accepted responsibility and apologized for the torture and murder of an estimated 12,000 Cambodians at the prison he ran for the regime. Kaing made the admission during his trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) where he faces charges of crimes against [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a joint motion Monday for a stay of proceedings against Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Ayman Saeed Batarfi, allowing for his eventual transfer. Batarfi, one of the longest held terror suspects at the military prison, had been detained without charges as an enemy combatant since [...]
North Korean state media outlet Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday that indictments are being prepared against two American journalists detained earlier this month while allegedly attempting to enter the country illegally from China. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were reporting on North Korean refugees in China for Current TV when they allegedly crossed [...]
Israeli military officials closed an internal investigation Monday into allegations of war crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel against Palestinian civilians, concluding that there was no wrongdoing . The investigation was launched last week by the IDF in response to comments made by soldiers concerning reports of civilian killings and vandalism under liberal [...]
JURIST Dateline Editor Kristine Long, Pitt Law '11, lived in the Philippines with her family for 5 years… Filipino women currently face a reproductive health care battle for the right to obtain contraception. In 2008, a group of legislators drafted House Bill 5043, which is a two-pronged plan to broaden the reproductive rights of Filipinas. [...]
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch has called on the League of Arab States to urge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow expelled foreign aid agencies back into the country, according to a letter released by HRW on Monday. Bashir took the action after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges. [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Travelers Indemnity v. Bailey , where the Court will consider whether a bankruptcy court has jurisdiction to approve a third-party injunction provision in a plan of reorganization or related confirmation order. The cases arise from the bankruptcy of asbestos manufacturer Johns-Manville Corp. . The US Court [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear oral arguments in the case of South Carolina v. North Carolina to decide whether additional parties may intervene in a lawsuit between two states, over which the Court has original jurisdiction. A special master recommended that three parties – the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, the Catawba [...]
