The administration of US President Barack Obama on Monday proposed the development of a binding international treaty to regulate global mercury levels. The announcement by US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development Daniel Reifsnyder came at the 25th Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environmental Forum , a meeting of global [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Nancy Rapoport of the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas, says that until we recognize that smart people can and will do some very dumb and even crooked things, no amount of regulation will stop the financial shenanigans that are wrecking America's economy…. Not too long ago, [...]

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said Monday that additional charges will be filed against Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky . The charges include allegations of embezzlement and theft, contending that Khodorkovsky and a group of investors embezzled more than $100 million from his former company Yukos . Additional charges will also be filed against Khodorkovsky's [...]

The government of Pakistan reached an agreement Monday with Islamic militants in the Pakistani North West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat to implement Islamic Sharia law , according to Pakistani government officials. The implementation of Sharia law in Swat is contingent upon peace between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants linked with the Taliban [...]

Manuel Alvarez-Rivera : "When voters in Spain's Basque Country go to the polls next March 1st to elect members of the self-governing community's 75-seat regional parliament, they will have a choice of fifteen parties taking part in the contest. However, for the first time since the region regained its devolved government in 1979-80, following the [...]

Counterterrorism policies adopted by countries around the world since 2001 pose a "serious threat to the integrity of the international human rights legal framework," according to a report issued Monday by a special panel of human rights experts convened by the International Commission of Jurists . The panel, Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and [...]

The French Council of State , France's highest court, ruled Monday that the French government bore responsibility for deporting Jews during World War II, while denying further reparations for individuals. The council was asked by the Paris administrative court to issue an advisory opinion in the case of a Holocaust victim's daughter who was seeking [...]

Criminal proceedings against Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer general and cabinet member-designate Roy Bennett were delayed Monday, as members of his party continued to protest his arrest . According to the MDC, Bennett faces charges under Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act for "attempting to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage." Bennett, who [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday granted in part the prosecution's motion to amend the indictment against former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic . Karadzic is now charged with two counts of genocide instead of one, with the first count referring to the crimes committed in [...]

UK resident and Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed was found by British authorities on Sunday to be healthy enough to return to the UK if the US government acquiesces to the request for his release. A group sent to the prison by UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) , which included a doctor, worked with [...]