A Niger opposition leader who opposed a constitutional referendum to allow President Mamadou Tandja to remain in office said Monday that he had been charged with financial crimes. Mahamadou Issoufou, leader of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) , claims the corruption charges are politically motivated . The charges against Issoufou come after [...]

The US officially took its place on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time Monday. In an address to the council, US Assistant Secretary for the Organization of International Affairs Esther Brimmer discussed four themes the US sees as key to its role on the council: the universality of human rights, the importance [...]

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bank of America Corporation, US District Court for the Southern District of New York, September 14, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The 2008 Crime in the US (CIUS) report released Monday by the FBI indicates that the level of violent crime in the US dropped by 1.9 percent between 2007 and 2008. Specifically, between 2006 and 2007, the estimated number of forcible rapes dropped by 1.6 percent to 89,000, the lowest figure in the past 20 [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday began the trial of former high ranking Bosnian Serb officials Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin . Stanisic, former Bosnian Serb interior minister, and Zupljanin, a former regional police chief, are charged with persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, and torture of non-Serb civilians in Bosnia and [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday rejected a $33 million settlement agreement between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Bank of America (BOA) . The SEC had charged BOA with misleading investors regarding billions of dollars paid to Merrill Lynch executives during the acquisition [...]

US President Barack Obama stressed the need for stronger financial industry regulations Monday in a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings. Obama warned that signs the economy is beginning to turn around should not cause Wall Street to forget the lessons of the past year, saying "ormalcy cannot lead [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearings Monday in a treaty dispute between Argentina and Uruguay. Argentina argues that a pulp mill built on the Uruguay side of the Uruguay river, which divides the two countries, violates the 1975 Statute of the River Uruguay , a treaty calling for consultation and agreement between the [...]

Three men convicted of attempting to smuggle liquid explosives onto airplanes to blow them up were sentenced to life in prison Monday by the Woolwich Crown Court in London. Abdulla Ahmed Ali , the ring leader, was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison, while Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were sentenced to [...]

Bangladesh's Supreme Court recommended against military trials for Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) members who took part in February's border guard mutiny , Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed announced Monday. President Zillur Rahman asked for the court's opinion to determine whether the accused should be tried under the Army Act of 1952 or whether they should face civilian [...]