International brief ~ Putin pushes mandatory retirement legislation for Russian judges News
International brief ~ Putin pushes mandatory retirement legislation for Russian judges

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced legislation Tuesday to the state Duma that would set a maximum service age for judges and justices of the peace at 70 years old. The stated goal of the legislation is to create uniformity in Russia's courts and to protect the independence of the judiciary. Itar-Tass has more…. Following up on a story reported Monday by JURIST's Paper Chase, Under-Secretary for the Sudanese Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Abdel Rahman Abu Doma announced Tuesday that the Sudanese government is reconsidering an expulsion order for the two country heads from UK-based humanitarian aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children. The Sudanese government stated that it believed the two aid agency chiefs had crossed the line from humanitarian assistance to political commentary and had broken the law. They were declared persona non grata and given 48 hours to leave Sudan. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called on Khartoum Monday to remove the ruling, pointing out the vital role that Non-Governmental Organizations play in relieving the suffering of the Sudanese people. The Sudan Tribune has more…. A UK High Court judge is expected to rule Tuesday on whether a local council should block a husband from taking his wife to Switzerland in order to give her access to assisted suicide. The woman, whose identity is being withheld for privacy reasons, suffers from the terminal illness of cerebellar ataxia, and asked her husband to help her end her life. Assisted suicide carries a 14 year sentence in the UK, but is legal in Switzerland. What is unclear is the local council's role in allowing travel to a country that would permit assisted suicide. The facility that provides the treatment in Switzerland has become the subject of protests over 'suicide tourists' that travel to Switzerland simply to end their lives. BBC News has more.