The trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Wednesday that the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will begin on October 26. Karadzic will stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity after the ICTY Appeals Chamber rejected his plea for immunity, allegedly [...]

Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications announced Wednesday that broadband Internet access would become a legal right for all citizens. Becoming the first country to institute such a policy, the agency declared that Internet providers must afford everyone a connection that is at least one megabyte per second. Communications Minister Suvi Linden said that the [...]

A federal judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss a case challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage . Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said that a trial is needed to determine issues regarding the level of constitutional protection afforded to same-sex couples and the state's motivations [...]

Chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo confirmed Wednesday that the Guinean military is under preliminary investigation for the September 28 incident at a Conakry pro-democracy rally in which soldiers allegedly opened fire, killing more than 150 civilians and wounding more than 1,200. Ocampo's preliminary investigation will determine "whether crimes falling [...]

Chilean Subsecretary of the Interior Patricio Rosende announced Tuesday that Chile will use a 1984 antiterrorism law to prosecute indigenous Mapuches for attacks allegedly committed in the southern region of Araucania. The Chilean government has declared that it will apply the measure to criminals regardless of their ethnicity, and that only a minority of Mapuches [...]

Former Hutu intelligence chief Idelphonse Nizeyimana on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to charges related to his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . The ICTR indicted Nizeyimana in 2000 for genocide and crimes against humanity, but the military leader had evaded authorities until his arrest last week. [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases. In Alvarez v. Smith , the Court heard arguments on whether the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires state and local governments to allow probable cause challenges to property seizures, and if so, what the requirements for those hearings should be. Six [...]

An international convention is needed to protect the victims of organ, tissue, and cell (OTC) trafficking, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Council of Europe (COE) and the UN. The report calls for a separate OTC convention in addition to the convention against human trafficking, drawing a distinction between OTC trafficking and [...]

The US Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to approve a health care reform bill Tuesday. The America's Healthy Future Act, introduced by committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) , would require most US citizens to obtain health insurance and would create tax breaks for low-income families purchasing insurance. The bill would also prohibit insurance companies from [...]

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) dismissed an appeal claiming immunity by former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in a ruling released Tuesday. Karadzic, who stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, argued that the ICTY cannot prosecute him because US diplomat Richard Holbrooke promised him [...]