The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in three cases. In Jones v. Harris Associates , the Court heard arguments on whether a shareholder must show that a fund's investment adviser misled the fund's directors in order to have a cognizable claim of an excessive fee under section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act [...]

Geoffrey Lomax : "CIRM welcomes Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth's dismissal of Sherely v. Sebelius. The National Institute of Health (NIH) Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research represent sound public policy consistent with the approach adopted by CIRM, other states and the international community. The NIH Guidelines support autonomy by offering individuals with embryos leftover [...]

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of the presidential election after challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the runoff election to which both parties agreed last month. Abdullah withdrew from the race on Sunday saying he could not be certain the upcoming vote would be free or fair. The [...]

Human rights abuses in Zimbabwe's diamond mining industry were on the agenda Monday at the annual meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) , the global organization dedicated to suppressing trade in so-called "conflict diamonds." The objective of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is to curtail trade in conflict diamonds, or rough diamonds used by [...]

The War Crimes Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Friday convicted former Serbian commander Predrag Kujundzic of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 22 years in jail. The court found Kujundzic in violation of Article 172 (1) h) of the Criminal Code of BiH . The court found that as the commander of [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Sunday that Mexico's extradition of 11 fugitives to the US on Saturday has brought the number of extraditions this year to a record 100. The individuals face charges ranging from conspiracy to distribute and distribution of narcotics, to money laundering, molestation, and murder. The announcement of the extraditions [...]

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama objected Monday to plans by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to question military commander General Sarath Fonseka about the alleged war crimes committed during the civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) . Fonseka, holding a diplomatic passport and a Green Card, is traveling [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in three cases. In Hamilton, Chapter 13 Trustee v. Lanning , the Court limited its grant of certiorari to "hether, in calculating the debtor's 'projected disposable income' during the plan period, the bankruptcy court may consider evidence suggesting that the debtor's income or expenses during that period [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday signed into law a bill that introduces stricter punishments for those convicted of manipulating the stock market. Traders and journalists convicted of market manipulation involving more than 1,000,000 rubles may now face prison time between two and seven years, along with fines . The law passed through the State [...]

The Obama administration on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) . The suit was brought in July by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and challenges the DOMA on constitutional grounds. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that states that allow same-sex marriages cannot force [...]