The US was elected to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the first time Tuesday. The US received 90 percent of the votes from the UN General Assembly . In total, 18 countries were elected to the 47-member council responsible for the global promotion of human rights. Countries with questionable human [...]

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will discuss a possible peace treaty between the two nations at a G8 summit in Italy in July. Putin spoke at a news conference following talks with Japanese officials during his visit to Japan . A dispute over [...]

Internet piracy law as amended, French National Assembly, May 12, 2009 . Read the full text of the legislative materials . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

An act to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to the ability to marry, New York State Assembly, passed May 12, 2009, . Read the full text of the bill. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Nuremberg trials prosecutor Henry King Jr. died Saturday from cancer at the age of 89. King, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a JURIST Forum commentator on war crimes issues, was one of the last three surviving Nuremberg prosecutors, and at 29 was the youngest US prosecutor at Nuremberg [...]

Alabama's Jefferson County Circuit Court on Monday began hearing a $2.6 billion derivative lawsuit brought by HealthSouth shareholders against company founder and former CEO Richard Scrushy for his alleged role in an accounting fraud scheme at the company. The shareholders claim that Scrushy encouraged others to purposefully inflate company profits in order to qualify himself [...]

Jernej Letnar ÄŒerniÄ : "The US government published in February 2009 its decision that it will not renew its contract with the private security corporation formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide. Such a decision comes as no surprise given the allegations of killing 17 civilians by Blackwater guards, coupled with the Iraqi government's refusal to extend [...]

Accused Nazi prison guard John Demjanjuk arrived in Germany Tuesday to face accessory to murder charges for his alleged involvement at the Sobibor concentration camp after being deported by the US. Demjanjuk was deported after exhausting his appeals when US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens denied an application for stay of deportation last week. [...]

US District Judge Samuel Kent was sentenced Tuesday to 33 months in prison for obstruction of justice for lying to a judicial panel investigating sexual harassment allegations against him. Kent was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $6,550 in restitution as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped additional charges against [...]

Tamara Taraciuk Broner : "Mexican President Felipe Calderón has relied heavily on the armed forces to fight drug-related violence and organized crime. The need to improve public security is clear. Mexico is facing violent turf battles among powerful drug cartels, an influx of sophisticated weapons, and a large number of kidnappings and executions in several [...]