The UN special mission to Burundi has recommended that the nation create a non-judicial truth commission and special prosecuting chamber within its court system in order to deal with perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The recommendations, filed in a report forwarded to the Security Council by Secretary-General Kofi Annan , gained [...]
The US State Department Monday released its third annual report on American efforts to support and promote human rights around the world. In Supporting Human Rights: The US Record 2004-2005 , the US said it will make respect for human rights the test for its bilateral relations around the world, although it also indicated it [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case examining the rights of foreigners in death penalty cases. In Medellin v. Dretke , a Mexican citizen was convicted of murder in a Texas state court and sentenced to death. In denying a petition for writ of habeas corpus, the Fifth Circuit held that [...]
Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the SEC has subpoenaed twelve executives at American International Group Inc. (AIG) . The subpoenas relate to several probes into questionable transactions at the insurance giant which led to an improper bolstering of its financial standing. The newspaper also reported AIG [...]
Cambodian officials will appeal to the UN on Monday for more than $70 million needed to establish a tribunal to prosecute remaining members of the Khmer Rouge regime , responsible for the deaths of two million Cambodians from 1975-1979. Japan has already pledged half the court's budget, and $10 million will come from Australia, France, [...]
The Supreme Court today declined to hear Troy Publishing v. Norton (docket 04-979), letting stand a ruling that appears to limit Constitutional protection of the press. Without comment, the Court denied the appeal of a 2004 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court holding that neither the state nor the Federal Constitution protected the so-called "neutral [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear Brown v . Sanders (docket 04-980), in which it will rule on the application of the "harmless error" doctrine to death penalty cases. The case concerns California's death penalty law, Cal. Penal Code 190.2 , under which the accused is ineligible for capital punishment unless "special circumstances" [...]
Sudanese justice minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin announced Monday that 15 Sudanese military officials have been arrested and accused of human rights offenses including rape, burning of villages and killings in the Darfur region, marking the first arrests of government officials in connection with the Darfur violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives [...]
Florida governor Jeb Bush said Sunday that he had no legal authority to do anything more for Terri Schiavo , the brain-damaged Florida woman now entering her 11th day without food or water at a Pinellas County hospice. Speaking publicly on the case for the first time since Thursday, he told reporters after an Easter [...]
Sunday and Monday saw more arrests of protestors by authorities in Nepal at planned protests against King Gyanendra's assumption of power on February 1 . Nepal's Kantipur Online is reporting that 24 Nepali Congress members were arrested Sunday in various parts of the country, and 41 more NC members were arrested Monday in the capital [...]
