Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation on Thursday upheld a jail sentence for former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax fraud in October. The court’s decision upholds a four-year prison sentence, marking his first definitive court conviction after years of court battles over charges, including paying a minor for sex. The court, however, [...]

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Thursday signed House Bill 1 into law, making Illinois the twenty-first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act is one of the strictest laws to do so, requiring users of the drug to carry an identification card, enroll in a confidential multi-agency verification [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday approved a settlement wherein Citigroup will pay its investors over $590 million for misrepresenting its assets in securities linked to the sub-prime mortgage crisis . The case reached a preliminary settlement in April , but Judge Sidney Stein refused [...]

JURIST Guest Columnists Douglas Cox and Ramzi Kassem, Associate Professors at the City University of New York School of Law say that the National Security Council needs to return to previous levels of oversight and legal restriction…

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report Thursday documenting brutality by Bangladeshi security forces in responding to street protests, resulting in the death of at least 150 protesters and the injury of at least 2,000 since February. Brad Adams, executive director of HRW’s Asia Division, urged the government to take firm action to rein in [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday struck down Regulation II (Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing) of the Federal Reserve , which held that the maximum interchange fee a bank can receive from a single debit card transaction is 21 cents. US District Judge Richard Leon said [...]

Civil liberties and gay-rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two same-sex Virginia couples. One of the couples is seeking to enter into a same-sex marriage, while the other couple is seeking recognition by the state of Virginia of their out-of-state [...]

A Bangladesh high court ruled on Thursday that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) was illegally registered as a political party and therefore cannot bring forward candidates for the country’s January 2014 election. The court stated, however, that JI may be re-registered if it amends its charter and reapplies for registration. The ruling came after a petition asserting that [...]

A North Dakota judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction against legislation that would have forced the Red River Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota, to close. The law imposes requirements that any physician performing abortions in the state must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, but the Red River Clinic is frequently [...]

The lower house of the Uruguayan Congress on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow the national government to take charge of production and distribution of legal marijuana. The legislation passed by a vote of 50-46 but still has to be approved by the Senate in order to become effective. The bill is highly controversial, as [...]