The ACLU heralded [press release] the ruling. An ACLU spokesperson noted,"empowering individuals and organizations in this fashion will ensure additional transparency and oversight of police across the State." The ACLU pointed out that new technologies have made recording and disseminating information much easier and noted the importance of the people's ability to gather information about governmental conduct. It was reported that the ACLU brought the suit in preparation for the upcoming NATO summit [AP report] in Chicago. They anticipate protests and sought to protect their own observers as well as other news gatherers.

Qatada was granted political asylum by the UK in 1994. When he was arrested in 2001 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989, police seized a sizable sum of money in various currencies for which no explanation was given. Later in 2001, he went into hiding to avoid being arrested and detained under the then-proposed Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. He was arrested again in 2002 and held until March 2005 when he was released pursuant to a House of Lords judgment declaring his detention without trial to be unlawful. In February 2009 the ECHR ordered the UK to pay £2,500 in damages [JURIST report] to Qatada after determining that his imprisonment violated the European Convention on Human Rights [materials]. Despite his previous grant of asylum and fears of torture and persecution, UK Law Lords in February 2009 ruled that Qatada could be returned [JURIST report] to Jordan to face terrorism charges. The February decision overruled an April 2008 Court of Appeal decision blocking his deportation [JURIST report].

Ntaganzwa's case is the fourth to be transferred to Rwandan national courts. Last month the court confirmed and proceeded with the transfer [JURIST report] of former Rwandan pastor Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi [case materials], making him the first ICTR genocide suspect to be transferred to a national court. Uwinkindi was charged in 2001 with genocide and crimes against humanity. In December, the ICTR upheld the decision to transfer [JURIST report] the case to a Rwandan court. The ICTR initially ordered the transfer [JURIST report] in June under Rule 11 bis, which authorizes the transfer of cases to appropriate national jurisdictions. Uwinkindi pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in 2010. The other two transferred cases are against Fulgence Kayishema [case materials; JURIST report], a former police inspector, and Charles Sikubwabo [case materials], former Bourgmestre of Gishyita, Kibuye Prefecture. Both suspects remain at large.

This is not the first time there have been allegations of fraud an Armenian election. Protests following the February 2008 presidential election ended in the deaths of 10 demonstrators. Following the 2008 election demonstrations, the National Assembly of Armenia [official website, in Armenian] voted during an emergency session [JURIST report] to place restrictions on rallies and demonstrations. In March 2008, former Armenian president Robert Kocharian issued a decree lifting media restrictions put in place during a state of emergency [JURIST reports] declared after the contested election. Earlier that month, the Constitutional Court of Armenia rejected a challenge [JURIST report] brought by opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian against the election results, ruling that although polling discrepancies existed they did not affect the election's outcome.

North Carolina has wandered into treacherous terrain with [the amendment]. ... Many North Carolinians, including seniors, single women and children, could be placed in peril because the shrinking definition of family excludes them. Some might even be denied life-saving services like domestic violence protections. This is a brutal step backward for relationship recognition in North Carolina.

Same-sex marriage remains a controversial issue throughout the US. The North Carolina Legislature [official website] in September approved [JURIST report] putting the constitutional amendment on a statewide ballot. Earlier that month the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that Arizona House Bill 2013, a law rescinding health benefits for same-sex couples in the public sector, is in violation of the equal protection clause of the US Constitution. In May 2011, the Minnesota Legislature approved [JURIST report] adding a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the November 2012 ballot. In April 2011, the Indiana Senate overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage or any "substantially similar" status, and the Wyoming Senate in February 2011 approved a bill that would void in Wyoming any same-sex marriages and civil unions [JURIST reports] performed in other jurisdictions.