[JURIST] Vietnamese newspaper editors Le Hoang and Nguyen Cong Khe have been dismissed from their jobs at the Tuoi Tre and Thanh Nien [media websites, in Vietnamese] newspapers after protesting the arrests of two journalists [JURIST reports] working for their respective papers earlier this year, according to Thursday reports. The two newspapers are the most popular in Vietnam and were vocal in their protests about the May arrests. According to Thanh Nien, Khe will retain his position [AP report] as board chairman with the paper.

Journalists Nguyen Van Hai and Nguyen Viet Chien were arrested in May for abuse of power after reporting on a government corruption scandal. They were later convicted of abusing freedoms and sentenced [JURIST report] in October to two years in prison. Media in Vietnam are state-controlled despite a "freedom of the press" provision in Chapter 5, Article 61 of the Vietnamese Constitution [text]. Reporters Without Borders (RWB) [advocacy website] ranked Vietnam at 162 [RWB report, text] out of 169 countries for press freedoms in 2007.

[JURIST] The British government is willing to help the United States close the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison by accepting some released prisoners who have no previous connection to the UK, the Times reported Thursday. The paper quoted unnamed officials who indicated that the Foreign Office was the department most supportive of the position, although accepting non-UK detainees for resettlement may pose immigration and other problems affecting other government ministries. UK officials said previously they might consider accepting detainees on a case-by-case basis [JURIST report], and that may still be the case, but the officials quoted in the Times appeared to endorse a more pro-active policy in assisting the new US administration as it moves towards eventual closure of the controversial facility. Britain's opposition Conservative Party has urged the government [Independent report] to clarify its position.

Germany and Portugal [JURIST reports] have already said they will consider taking in released Guantanamo detainees, and have encouraged all EU member states to cooperate in formulating a plan for accepting prisoners who cannot be returned to their homelands because of risk of torture. On December 18, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down [press release; JURIST report] the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for a possible order from President-elect Barack Obama. The US government has reportedly been in contact with some 100 foreign governments asking them to consider taking in detainees who it says cannot be returned to their home states. Last Tuesday, US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack called the European response to the need to relocate detainees "quite encouraging" [press conference transcript], although some EU states have been notably reticent [JURIST report].

[JURIST] US Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. [official profile] pressed his call for raises for federal judges in his 2008 year-end report [PDF text] on the federal judiciary, released Wednesday. Roberts compared the $6.8 billion allocated to the federal judiciary to the $3 trillion federal budget, labeling the judiciary's cost miniscule. He detailed steps that have been taken by the judiciary to reduce spending on rent, personnel and information technology and insisted that ts members' requests were modest. He wrote:

Congress must provide judicial compensation that keeps pace with inflation. Judges knew what the pay was when they answered the call of public service. But they did not know that Congress would steadily erode that pay in real terms by repeatedly failing over the years to provide even cost-of-living increases.