A ban on smoking in enclosed public places took effect in Italy Monday in the latest European legislative move against a recognized public health hazard. As previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase, Ireland became the first country to implement such a ban in March 2004. Norway followed in June and the British government proposed a [...]
The US Supreme Court began its 2005 calendar Monday by turning down appeals on Florida gay adoption, liability of gun manufacturers, standards for nominating presidential candidates, Worldcom securities fraud, and a host of other issues in some 500 cases. No new petitions for certiorari were granted apart from one summary disposition. Review the Court's full [...]
Trials of Coalition soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi detainees get under way Monday on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, opening arguments are set to begin at Fort Hood, Texas, in the trial of Spc. Charles Graner Jr., accused of mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Graner's defense lawyer has [...]
CBS News is reporting that CBS has ousted four people – three executives and a producer – for their roles in preparing and reporting a story on President Bush's National Guard service which was based on false documents. The executives have been asked to resign; the producer has been terminated. The dismissals follow the report [...]
An internal probe of the scandal-ridden UN Oil-for-Food Program has concluded that although the program was plagued by mismanagement, especially in the handling of contracts, there was no evidence of corruption on the part of UN officials. The probe was conducted by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services; its findings, in the form of [...]
Victorious Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas pledged to supporters in Ramallah late Sunday night that he would work towards securing the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israeli officials, for their part, have already indicated they will free the Palestinian prisoners if Abbas cracks down on Palestinian rocket attacks. As previously reported [...]
Two exit polls taken of voters in Palestine's presidential election indicate Mahmoud Abbas (official campaign website here) has won a landslide victory, taking at least 66% of the vote. AP has more. The official count is now underway after polls closed at 9 PM local time (2 PM ET). 4:48 PM ET – Abbas has [...]
Palestinan election officials announced Sunday that the vote to choose a successor for late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat would be extended by two hours until 9 PM local time (2 PM ET) to accommodate what they described as a heavy turnout and also to compensate for confusion at the main east Jerusalem polling station where [...]
A peace agreement ceremoniously signed in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday between the Sudanese government (official website here) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (official website here; profile here) formally ended a 21-year civil war, the longest-running internal struggle on the African continent. The deal outlines power and resource sharing plans intended to stabiize relations between [...]
US Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins was sentenced late Saturday to six months in a military prison, a demotion in rank to Staff Sgt. and a cut in pay for ordering two Iraqis to be pushed into the Tigris river north of Baghdad in January 2004. Although prosecutors claimed one of the men drowned, [...]
