JURIST Guest Columnist David Christensen from Christensen Law discusses the impact of spousal benefits on the LGBT community… When the US Supreme Court ruled that states could not ban gay marriage earlier this year, it did more than just given them access to marriage certificates. The legal designation of “spouse” opens LGBT couples up to [...]

Nigerian authorities on Saturday turned over to the International Criminal Court an Islamic extremist wanted for his role in the 2012 destruction of religious and historically significant monuments in Timbuktu, Mali. Ahmad Al Mahdi Al Faqi, also known as Abu Tourab, was surrendered to the ICC’s detention center in the Netherlands, fulfilling an arrest warrant [...]

A court in Stuttgart, Germany, on Monday sentenced two Rwandan rebel leaders to multi-year jail sentences for their roles in a series of massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2008 and 2009. Leading the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) , Ignace Murwanashyaka and his deputy Straton Musoni were accused [...]

Lebanese journalist Karma Khayat was fined €10,000 Monday following her refusal to take down Internet videos made in 2012. The videos risked exposing the identities of witnesses in the case of the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Khayat had been ordered by the court to remove the video, but ignored the order. [...]

The Bolivian Legislative Assembly on Saturday approved a bill to amend the constitution to extend presidential terms. The amendment will allow current President Evo Morales to run for a fourth consecutive term in office. The bill, which was approved by constitutional committee lawmakers on Tuesday, was passed Saturday after a 20-hour session with the required [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expressed concern Monday about “an alarming upsurge in arrests, detention and killings” that have been occurring in Burundi since the beginning of September. Zeid said that many bodies have been found bound with their hands behind their back in the streets of Bujumbura with marks [...]

The Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation Monday of former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn , following accusations that the company cheated on government emissions tests by manipulating exhaust valves. The investigation will focus on determining who was responsible for the cheating scandal, but no further information was released. The manipulations were done on [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist James G. Hodge, Jr. of Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University discusses the significance of the outcome of Wollschlaeger II and its impact on the public’s health… Without question significant access to guns and ammunition implicates major public health risks. There were 33,636 gun-related deaths and tens of [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Kevin Govern of Ave Maria School of Law discusses the latest cyber security agreement between China and the US… It is a longstanding fiction that the Chinese word for “crisis” is composed of elements that signify “danger” and “opportunity.” Nevertheless, in the realm of science fiction writing, author William Gibson coined the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Karla McKanders of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Law discusses the European refugee crisis… “They are people in genuine need of our protection. There is no wall you would not climb, no sea you would not cross if you are fleeing violence and terror. I believe we have a moral [...]