President Bush signs law to extend Nazi War Crimes records panel News
President Bush signs law to extend Nazi War Crimes records panel

[JURIST] President Bush signed SB 384 [bill summary] into law Friday, extending the existence of the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group [official website] by two years, through March 27, 2007. The panel was established under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 [PDF text], and is charged with declassifying federal documents pertaining to Nazi war criminals. The new legislation is in response to the CIA's reluctance to release information related to the agency's Cold War espionage against the former Soviet Union. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Republic of Ireland Act enters force

On April 18, 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act went into force, creating a republic in the state of Ireland. The Act repealed the Executive Authority Act, which had given governing authority in Ireland to the King of England.

Treason charges against poet Ezra Pound dropped

On April 18, 1958, treason charges against American poet Ezra Pound, first laid in 1943 in connection with his wartime broadcasts for the Italian Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, were dropped.

Read Jonas Doberman, The Treason Debate: Ezra Pound and his Rome Radio Broadcasts[PDF].

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