Italy is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe and endures continual criticism related to its disaster preparedness. The most recent earthquake occurred in May [BBC report] when a series of tremors reaching a 5.8 magnitude killed 16 people and injured hundreds of others in the Emilia Romagna region. The ancient town of L'Aquila was struck [BBC report] by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake at 3:32AM on April 6, 2009. It damaged [Corriere della Sera report] or completely destroyed tens of thousands of buildings, injured more than 1,000 people, and killed 308.

Former president Arroyo has been a target of anti-corruption efforts by President Benigno Aquino [BBC profile], and has been in and out of the Veterans Medical Center for treatment of a spine injury. Earlier this month, an anti-graft court ordered her arrest in a corruption case [JURIST report] alleging the misuse of over $8 million in state lottery funds. This was the third controversial corruption case [JURIST op-ed] pending for the former Philippines leader, who made bail in July [JURIST report] after eight months of detention in an army hospital. In April, Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to corruption charges before a special anti-graft court in the Philippines. The non-guilty plea came a month after a Philippines court issued an arrest warrant [JURIST report] against Jose on bribery charges. Arroyo faced the same charges in December when the country's authorities filed a second criminal complaint [JURIST report] against her alleging that she approved a $329-million national broadband network deal with the Chinese company in return for millions of dollars in kickbacks in 2008. Arroyo was arrested [JURIST report] in November 2011 on fraud and corruption charges in the hospital before she was able to leave the country to seek medical treatment.

North Korea has faced ongoing international criticism for human rights violations. In June the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea [advocacy website] reported [JURIST report] that the North Korean caste system is used as justification for the systematic abuse and arbitrary detention of some North Korean citizens and that members of the lower castes are classified as "class enemies" and are not afforded basic human rights. The UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights criticized North Korea's human rights record [JURIST report] last November, focusing on the treatment of prisoners and echoing a UN General Assembly resolution [text] concerning the country's human rights conditions. In March 2010 the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution [JURIST report] condemning North Korea for human rights abuses. Earlier that month, the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn reported to the UNHRC that North Korean human rights situation was continuing to deteriorate [JURIST report]. This report came after Muntarbhorn's previous criticism, in October, 2009, of North Korea's "abysmal" ongoing human rights violations [JURIST report], alleging that the authoritarian government was responsible for various abuses, including torture, public executions, extensive surveillance, media censorship, women's rights violations and widespread hunger.

Judge Tamotsu Shoji ruled in August that Samsung did not violate [JURIST report] Apple's patents for inventions allowing smart phones and tablets to synchronize music and video data with servers. The court subsequently dismissed Apple's claim for USD $1.3 million in damages along with its request for an injunction to block the sale of eight Samsung products in Japan. Apple's appeal is the most recent event in a protracted patent litigation battle [JURIST op-ed] with Samsung that spans four continents. The Tokyo court handed down its August ruling after Apple won a USD $1.05 billion judgment [JURIST report; video] against Samsung in late August in the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website]. The dispute covered everything from the shape and design of the competing companies' tablets and smartphones to the technology employed in the devices' software interface. Further, a South Korean court held in mid-August that the technology companies had violated [JURIST report] each others' patents and banned sales of several products in the country.

Claiming her situation within the appeal was unique because she did not perform, Samutsevich had previously asked for a delay in the proceedings after firing the lawyer [JURIST report] that had been representing the band as a whole. Samutsevich, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were given two-year prison sentences after they were convicted [JURIST report] in August of hooliganism in connection with "guerrilla performance" of a protest song in February at the altar of downtown Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Several days prior to the trial Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev [official website, in Russian] called for the release of the band members, saying that time served has been severe enough and that any more time in prison would be counterproductive. The Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights [official website, in Russian] has questioned the legitimacy [JURIST report] of the court's verdict and sentence. Pussy Riot's defense lawyers moved [JURIST report] earlier in August to have one of the judges recuse herself from the case, saying her decisions were politically motivated. Since the beginning of the trial [JURIST report], the group's lawyers and human rights groups have said the charges were politically motivated by Putin to discredit his opposition.

The ICC Judges have agreed there are substantial grounds to believe that the four suspects committed the crimes they are charged with and that the cases should go to trial. The four are presumed innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof is on my Office to prove the cases against them beyond reasonable doubt. Let me stress this: the people of Kenya are not on trial; the Government of Kenya is not on trial and no ethnic community is on trial before the ICC. The allegations concern individual criminal responsibility.

Bensouda was sworn in as ICC Prosecutor [JURIST report] in June. That month the ICC expressed its desire to start the two Kenyan trials simultaneously [JURIST report] to avoid any appearance of bias in the March 2013 presidential election. In May, the appeals chamber of the ICC rejected [JURIST report] the jurisdiction challenges in the two cases presented by the defense, clearing the way for trial. The defense lawyers had argued that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the cases. The appeal stemmed from the pre-trial chamber's decision to confirm the charges [JURIST report] against the four men in January. The ICC claimed jurisdiction over the case despite Kenya's calls for dismissal [JURIST report]. The Kenyan government argued that it was capable of prosecuting the accused men domestically.