Proposed amendments to the Russian Constitution extending term limits for the president and members of parliament officially took effect Wednesday when the text of the updated constitution was published in the state newspaper Rossiikaya Gazeata . Under Russian law, constitutional amendments take legal effect the day they are published in the newspaper. The amendments extending [...]
The Paris prosecutor's office on Tuesday announced that it has opened an investigation into the French business operations of US financier Bernard Madoff , following accusations of abuse of confidence and fraud. The inquiry was sparked by a French citizen's suit against the Swiss firm UBS for fraud and betrayal of trust, after the firm [...]
The US Supreme Court issued decisions in five cases Wednesday. The Court ruled unanimously in Pearson v. Callahan that the test for whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity, established by the Court in 2001 in Saucier v. Katz , is no longer mandatory in every case. Under Saucier, a judge first had [...]
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday allowed a second deadline to lapse without filing formal answers to his impeachment charges . The Illinois State Senate established a January 17 deadline to file an answer and a January 20 deadline to seek dismissal of the charges, with impeachment proceedings set to begin January 26. A spokesperson [...]
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday sent a memorandum to agency and department leaders requesting the review of pending regulations that were advanced late in the administration of former US President George W. Bush . The memo, issued just hours into the administration of President Barack Obama , calls for 60-day extensions [...]
Lawyers for the families of 213 Chinese children sickened or killed by melamine-contaminated milk petitioned the Supreme People's Court , China's highest court, to hear a class action lawsuit against 22 dairy companies involved in the contamination. The petition, mailed last Friday, seeks more than $5 million in compensation from the companies, including individual amounts more [...]
US President Barack Obama has an obligation to bring charges against former President George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for ordering illegal interrogation methods at Guantanamo Bay , according to a statement made by UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Manfred Nowak in an [...]
US President Barack Obama on his first day in office Tuesday directed military prosecutors to pursue a 120-day continuance in military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay against five alleged 9/11 co-conspirators , including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed . The motion cites the new administration's desire to evaluate the detainees' cases and determine the proper forum for [...]
Liz Griffith : "President-elect Obama's apparent decision to close Guantanamo has received wide support in the UK government. Nine UK nationals were returned to the UK in 2004 and 2005 following extensive campaigning by civic society and high level representations from the UK government. Three men who were previously lawfully resident in the UK were [...]
Ambroise Pierre : "As head of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders' Africa desk, I am both concerned and exasperated by the harsh conditions in which the Zimbabwe authorities are holding journalist and human rights activist Jestina Mukoko. First of all, I am concerned because her state of health has seriously deteriorated in the last few weeks. [...]
