The US Navy announced Monday that it will appeal an appeals court ruling overturning the conviction of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III . Hutchins, who was convicted in 2007 for the 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania , remains in the brig at Camp Pendleton while the Navy appeals to [...]

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday launched an internal investigation of the May 31 Israeli raid on several Turkish ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip . Chief of the General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi named Major General Giora Island to head an internal team of experts to investigate the flotilla operation. The team is [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Monday urged European leaders to stop the upcoming deportation of asylum seekers to Iraq because their human rights may be violated in unsafe regions of the country. Authorities in the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands are taking part in a joint effort to return the refugees to Iraq after [...]

A Rwandan judge on Monday denied the bail request of US lawyer and JURIST Forum contributor Peter Erlinder . Judge Maurice Mbishibishi of the Gasabo Intermediate Court cited flight risk in ordering that Erlinder be detained for 30 more days as the investigation is pending. Mbishibishi also stated that Erlinder's defense team had failed to [...]

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced Sunday that national police chief John Numbi has been suspended as part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya. In addition to Numbi's suspension, several police officers, including a police colonel who reportedly confessed to being involved in [...]

Bank of America (BOA) subsidiary Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. on Monday reached a $108 million settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve charges that the subsidiary collected excessive fees from homeowners facing foreclosure. The agreement allows the FTC to create a fund to provide refunds to borrowers affected by Countrywide's improper fees. [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition for certiorari in the case of Pontiac School District v. Duncan, which challenged whether the No Child Left Behind Act could impose requirements upon school districts without providing funding. The plaintiffs allege that Congress cannot impose requirements on local school districts without providing adequate funding to [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday held in Krupski v. Costa Crociere that the appropriate application of "mistake" in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(1)(C) is whether the party being added to the case knew or should have known about the dispute. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the rule [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 8-1 in Hamilton, Chapter 13 Trustee v. Lanning that the "projected disposable income" of a debtor filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy must be calculated using the "forward-looking approach." In finding so, the court resolved a dispute about the meaning of the statutory term "projected disposable income." The petitioner argued [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday decided 6-3 in Barber v. Thomas to uphold the method used by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for calculating "good time" sentence reductions for federal prisoners. The Sentencing Reform Act permits federal prison authorities to award prisoners credit against prison time as a reward for good behavior. The [...]