A French court on Wednesday ordered Callixte Mbarushimana, the alleged leader of the rebel group the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) , to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Mbarushimana will be tried on allegations that he committed 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity [...]

Washington state voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to institute an income tax, with over 65 percent of the electorate voting against the initiative. Initiative 1098 endeavored to establish a tax on those with incomes above $200,000, and those filing jointly with incomes over $400,000. In return for this, the initiative would have reduced [...]

Nevada voters rejected a ballot measure Tuesday to amend the state constitution to repeal and amend provisions relating to the government’s use of eminent domain to acquire private property. The amendment sought to define five exceptions to a general prohibition against exercising eminent domain to transfer property from one private party to another. In addition, [...]

Voters in Niger have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new constitution, according to results published Tuesday. Military leaders of the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), who have held power after staging a coup in February to oust then-president Mamadou Tandja , assert that the new constitution is pivotal in returning the country [...]

Colorado voters struck down a ballot initiative Tuesday that would have amended the state’s constitution to extend rights to fetuses and would have effectively outlawed abortion . Proposed Amendment 62 , commonly known as the “Personhood Amendment,” would have changed the definition of “person” to include “every human being from the beginning of the biological [...]

The County Court of Zagreb on Wednesday sentenced six men for the murder of top Croatian journalist, Ivo Pukanic, who was killed in a car bombing in 2008. The court held that the actions committed by the convicted men constituted organized crime, which targeted Pukanic for his extensive reporting on the topic in Croatia. Pukanic [...]

The citizens of Kansas voted Tuesday to enact Senate Resolution 1611 , clarifying the right to bear arms. Kansas Amendment 1: Right to Bear Arms, which passed 89 percent to 11 percent , will amend section 4 of the Kansas Constitution , which previously read: “The people have the right to bear arms for their [...]

Martin Gutmann, Pitt Law ’11, is a student in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s new Immigration Law Clinic. He writes on the importance of cultural competency when working with clients… The University of Pittsburgh recently took stock of its changing surroundings and started an Immigration Law Clinic. Pittsburgh, like much of the country, [...]

Voters in California, Arizona, South Dakota and Oregon on Tuesday rejected a range of marijuana-based propositions, including legalization in California and medical marijuana initiatives in South Dakota and Arizona. In California, Proposition 19 , which was defeated by a 54-46 margin , would have legalized the sale and possession of up to one ounce of [...]

A Turkish Magistrate Court in Ankara reinstated the nearly-three year ban on YouTube on Tuesday, just days after it was lifted. The court ordered access to YouTube blocked after video of former opposition leader Deniz Baykal in a bedroom with a female aide surfaced on the site. Baykal resigned in May following the exposure of [...]