A Spanish court began hearing the fraud trial of former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Rodrigo Rato and more than 60 other bankers on Monday concerning allegations the defendants fraudulently used secret credit cards from Bankia bank to pay for personal luxuries. Rato also served as economic minister of Spain, was a member of the [...]
A southern China court on Monday sentenced three prominent labor organizers to suspended prison terms, almost nine months after they were arrested during a crackdown on civic organizations working outside of the Communist Party. Zeng Feiyang, who was indicted on claims of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order” was sentenced to three years with [...]
Swiss voters on Sunday voted to approve a new surveillance law allowing their national intelligence service broad powers to spy on ‘terrorist’ suspects and cyber criminals, as well as the ability to cooperate with foreign intelligence agencies. While Switzerland is a country where the right to privacy is considered very important, the new law will [...]
Pakistani police are committing serious human rights abuses , Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Monday, calling for a complete overhaul of the country’s police system. The report , “This Crooked System,” looks at the history of the Pakistani police and details occurrences of arbitrary arrest, torture, extra-judicial killings and sexual violence, especially among religious minorities [...]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will enact laws to have stricter regulations on the sale and operation of drones, according to a statement by the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Monday. The regulations will focus on imports, sales, and performance and will also address separate regulations for heavier drones and pilotless aircraft. The GCAA [...]
Bosnian Serbs voted in a referendum Sunday to maintain January 9 as a national holiday in defiance of a court ruling. The date remembers January 9, 1992, when ethnic Serbians declared their own state within Bosnia and triggered a deadly conflict in which it is estimated 100,000 people died. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Ciara Torres-Spelliscy of Stetson University College of Law discusses how Kansas, Georgia and Alabama pushed forward with efforts to require additional proof of citizenship by new registrants, despite the Supreme Court decision on invalidating state’s requirements on proof of citizenship beyond the federal requirements… In my new book Corporate Citizen? I contend [...]
The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Congo , Jean-Claude Gakosso, embraced the country’s new constitution on Saturday before the UN General Assembly , which he said will improve political, economic and social governance. The new constitution, which Gakosso said was “more adapted to the requirements of the rule of law in its most commonly [...]
Attacks in Aleppo, Syria’s capital, were called a “breach of international humanitarian law” in a joint statement by EU officials on Saturday. The EU is urging countries with influence on the parties to encourage negotiations to cease the attacks and allow humanitarian aid to victims in need. Suffering in Aleppo has become worse in the [...]
The Brazil Supreme Court approved a motion by prosecutors to open a preliminary investigation into accusations from Sergio Machado, former Transpetro head, that president Michel Temer sought illegal campaign donations in 2012. It was revealed by the Supreme Court in June that portions of Machado’s plea bargain testimony allege that Temer requested contribution from an [...]
