A European Commission official on Wednesday sharply criticized as "unacceptable" American attempts to negotiate with newer EU member states, reportedly offering to allow visa-free travel in exchange for extra air passenger data. Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security Jonathan Faull said American negotiations with individual EU member states were disrespectful to the EU system. While [...]
World Trade Organization (WTO) judges ruled against China Wednesday in a case brought by the US, EU, and Canada over China's taxation scheme for imported car parts. The complaint alleged that China was taxing auto parts imported from those countries at the same rate that it taxed foreign-made finished cars in violation of promises made [...]
The US government plans to approve the first stretch of "virtual fencing" for border control, which will run for 28 miles along the US-Mexico border southwest of Tucson, Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday during a congressional hearing . The virtual fence, part of the Secure Border Initiative developed to control illegal immigration [...]
Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary General, General Assembly Security Council, December 21, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Judith Sutherland : "On February 7, 2008, the French parliament enacted a law allowing for the continued detention of offenders who have already completed their prison sentences, purportedly to prevent them re-offending. The law empowers a commission of three judges to impose an additional one-year term in special detention centers if an offender is found [...]
A Turkish court sentenced a lawyer to life in prison Wednesday for the murder of Turkish Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin in May 2006. Alparslan Arslan was accused of opening fire in Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State , to protest a February 2006 ruling by the court permitting a school to deny promotion [...]
The US Senate voted 51-45 Wednesday to approve the conference report for an intelligence funding bill , which includes a provision that would restrict CIA interrogators to using only those interrogation techniques explicitly authorized by the 2006 Army Field Manual. Field Manual 2-22.3 , Human Intelligence Collector Operations, explicitly prohibits the use of waterboarding , [...]
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey discussed ongoing DOJ efforts to promote the rule of law in Iraq during his first official trip to Baghdad Wednesday. Mukasey met with three high ranking judiciary officials, including the head of Iraq's Higher Judicial Council Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, to discuss US efforts to aid in the establishment of [...]
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) plans to try as many as eight suspects on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the Khmer Rouge communist regime of the 1970s, according to an ECCC planning document reported by AP on Wednesday. The document also indicates that the [...]
EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive new border management package on behalf of the European Commission. The border security improvement initiative includes proposals for the creation of a European Border Surveillance System to prevent unauthorized border crossings and the development of new tools for an integrated European Border [...]
