The Parliament of South Korea approved a measure on Thursday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Park Geun-hye for allegedly allowing individuals to influence state affairs. It is alleged that Park’s friend, Choi Soon-sil, was permitted to edit confidential speeches and receive funds even though she is not a political official. Choi Soon-sil [...]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday that he would consider following Russia’s example and leaving the International Criminal Court (ICC) . The threatened withdrawal may be connected to the concern issued by the Hauge-based court about the country and Dutarte’s handling of the drug-related violence over the past summer in which it is estimated more [...]

Brazilian Federal Police in Rio de Janeiro arrested former governor Sérgio Cabral Thursday on allegations of corruption . Cabral was governor 2007 to 2014 and was instrumental in bringing the Summer Olympics to Rio be Janeiro, during which it is estimated that 224 million reais, or about $64 million, was siphoned from government funds that [...]

The UK House of Lords passed the Investigatory Powers Bill on Tuesday, which places the bill in the final legislative stage, Royal Assent. The bill covers policies on acquiring communications data, equipment interference and warrants for accessing bulk information. In February the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee released a report outlining its concerns about the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist John H. Blume of Cornell Law School discusses the current state of the death penalty in the United States… On November 8th, voters in three states endorsed “pro-death penalty” measures. In Nebraska, an initiative asking voters to reinstate capital punishment following a 2015 legislative death penalty repeal (over the Governor’s veto no [...]

An independent UN human rights expert said Wednesday that strengthening the justice system in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) is essential to achieving peace. Marie-Thérèse Keita-Bocoum was speaking before a conference on the CAR held in Brussels on Thursday. Also Wednesday the UN Security Council (UNSC) requested contributions to aid in peacebuilding efforts. “Yes the [...]

The Court of Appeals of Missouri ruled Tuesday that frozen pre-embryos, fertilized eggs that are not implanted in the uterus, are legally classified as marital property, and the consent of both parties is required before the pre-embryos can be implanted. The controversy arose when the plaintiff, McQueen, wanted to have more children with her ex-husband, [...]

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released a report Thursday renewing its call for Saudi Arabia to release nine human rights activists jailed for participating in activities promoting and protecting human rights. Most of the nine activists had links with the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) , an independent human rights organization [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a lower court ruling that a class action lawsuit regarding the Flint, Michigan, water crisis should be decided in state court. The lawsuit was filed against Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam, an engineering company that worked on the Flint water treatment plant to fill [...]

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano said Thursday that Iran has repeatedly failed to keep its stockpile of heavy water below 130 metric tons. Heavy water can be used for nuclear energy or for the development of nuclear weapons. The 130 metric ton requirement was imposed on Iran by a 2015 nuclear [...]