Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) chairman Jerome J. Verdier said Friday that the TRC is facing severe financial difficulties and has fallen three months behind schedule, noting that it has been "very unfortunate that as a truth commission we have to do fund-raising ourselves" as the Liberian government's "minimal commitment" is not sufficient to [...]
The US Supreme Court Friday agreed to hear the appeals of Guantanamo Bay detainees who are seeking habeas corpus review of their detentions. The Court denied petitions for certiorari in April, but reversed itself Friday: The petitions for rehearing are granted. The orders entered April 2, 2007, denying the petitions for writs of certiorari are [...]
The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress adopted a new labor contract law Friday, passing reforms intended to improve workers' rights by formalizing standards in labor contracts, rights of temporary workers, and severance pay privileges. The law, which will enter effect on January 1, 2008, also codifies administrative and criminal penalties for employers and [...]
The US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania sentenced Russian nuclear engineer Mark M. Kaushansky to 15 months in prison Thursday for his participation in a corruption scheme with former Russian Atomic Minister Yevgeny Adamov . The two were accused of stealing up to $9 million in aid designated to upgrade unsafe Russian [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan granted bail Thursday to Shumail Raj and Shahzina Tariq, a same-sex couple sentenced to three years in prison for perjury by a Lahore high court for "misrepresenting" Raj's sex, and agreed to hear an appeal in the case. Raj underwent surgery 16 years ago to remove her uterus and breasts [...]
The United States has renewed pressure on Myanmar to release democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi , a US State Department spokesperson said Thursday. Spokesman Tom Casey said that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric G. John met with officials from Myanmar earlier this week in Beijing for a [...]
Ryan Olden, Pitt Law '10, files from Prishtina: The former Yugoslavia was a federal country comprised of many different ethnicities – Slovenes, Bosnians, Serbs, and Albanians and others. After the death of strongman Josip Tito in 1980, the federation began to break down as new leader Slobodan Milosevic tried to assert Serbian dominance. The inevitable [...]
Ali Khan : "President Musharraf is no King James I and Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is no Chief Justice Edward Coke, but since Pakistan has been part of the British Empire and the common law traditions continue to inform the Pakistani legal system, a brief narrative of the tensions between James I and Chief Justice [...]
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) was sentenced to over seven years in prison for bribery and obstruction of justice Thursday. Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy were convicted in June 2006 on federal bribery and fraud charges . Siegelman was convicted on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud. Scrushy was found [...]
A Quebec court Wednesday sentenced former Canadian advertising executive Jean LaFleur to 42 months in prison for his role in the Canadian federal sponsorship scandal . Lafleur pleaded guilty in April to billing the Canadian federal government for work which was never done, and ultimately bilking the government of almost $1.6 million in contracts his [...]
