Rick Kirgis : "If the state of Texas goes ahead with the planned execution of José Ernesto Medellín without allowing him any judicial reconsideration of his murder conviction and his death sentence (to determine whether he was prejudiced by the Texas authorities' failure to notify him of his right to contact the Mexican consulate after [...]
Israeli police Monday raided the offices of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of an investigation into allegations that Olmert accepted bribes from an American businessman during his tenures as mayor of Jerusalem and as Israeli Minister of Industry Trade and Labor. The businessman, Morris Talansky, was questioned Monday, but denied wrongdoing during an [...]
The US Supreme Court granted limited certiorari Monday in Bell v. Kelly (07-1223) , where it will consider whether the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals erred when, in conflict with decisions of the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, it applied the deferential standard of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), reserved for claims "adjudicated on the merits" [...]
The Iraqi Council of Ministers has amended the General Amnesty Law to exclude prisoners who have committed certain types of serious crimes, an Iraqi government official said Sunday. The legislature passed the amnesty law in February as part of the Maliki government's reconciliation effort. The bill was aimed at reducing the prison population by 5,000. [...]
An internal military probe Monday cleared members of the Australian Defence Force of allegations that they mistreated four Taliban members detained following the death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan last November. The investigation also cleared soldiers of any wrongdoing in connection with civilian deaths during the November battle, but said that such deaths were [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday affirmed a judgment by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on an anti-apartheid claims lawsuit on the rare grounds that it lacked a quorum due to four recusals. Am. Isuzu Motors, Inc., et al. v. Ntsebeza, Lungisile, et al involved a huge class of plaintiffs suing several [...]
Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a bill Monday authorizing a recall election to be held on August 10, in which Morales and Bolivia's nine governors must win both more votes and a larger share of total votes cast in the 2005 election in order to keep their seats. If Morales or the nine governors fail [...]
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) , one of the two main parties in Pakistan's coalition government, is leaving the coalition after prolonged talks in London failed to produce an agreement on the reinstatement of judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N party leader said Monday. The PML-N [...]
An estimated 200-300 detainees held by Afghan authorities at the Afghan-controlled men's prison in Kandahar who went on hunger strike last week protesting the slow nature of the Afghanistan judicial system ended their action Monday after a visit by Afghan lawmakers who said their cases would be reviewed by new judges. The Afghan Independent Human [...]
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called Monday for the prosecution of public officials involved in a judicial fixing scandal, one week after government officials ended their investigation into a video allegedly showing prominent lawyer VK Lingam brokering the appointment of the former Chief Justice of Malaysia to the Supreme Court. The person on [...]
