Bangladeshi Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed on Thursday declared his government's desire to restore Bangladesh's 1972 constitution . The move signals an intent to return to the four principles of nationalism, democracy, secularism, and socialism that Bangladesh endorsed after its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Ahmed told the Daily Star that the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist and German human rights lawyer Stefan Kirchner, a member of the American Society of International Law and the Faculty of Law at Georg-August-University in Gottingen, says that new litigation between Germany and Italy in the International Court of Justice over Italian courts' awarding of compensation to relatives of civilians killed by German [...]

A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced democracy advocate Wang Rongqing to six years in jail on charges of subverting state power. The 65-year-old activist, who has pressed for democracy since the 1970s, was tried in Hangzhou City Intermediate People’s Court, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, on charges relating to his organization of the China [...]

Former US Army Pfc. Kimberly Rivera who fled the US for Canada after serving in Iraq announced Wednesday that the Canadian government had ordered her deportation. She, along with her husband and children, had sought asylum on humanitarian grounds to avoid a second tour in Iraq. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney defended the practice of deporting [...]

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Wednesday directed the attorney general and information minister to review a controversial media bill that gives power to a communication commission to regulate broadcasting with threats of fines or incarceration. The Communications Amendment Bill of 2008 , which was signed into law by Kibaki on Friday, allows the minister of [...]

Turkish police on Wednesday arrested approximately 40 people, including three retired generals, in an investigation of an alleged plot to overthrow the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) . Police searched the home of the country's former top prosecutor, Sabih Kanadoglu. Police also arrested the former head of the police anti-terror unit, [...]

US President-elect Barack Obama will appoint Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs , according to reports Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post . Sunstein will be responsible for governmental regulations and will deal with issues including changes to the financial services industry, [...]

A Spanish court on Thursday began the trial of three Basque leaders accused of meeting illegally with members of the Batasuna party to negotiate a ceasefire with the illegal Basque separatist group ETA . Basque President Juan Jose Ibarretxe and two senior members of the Basque branch of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's party [...]

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Thursday announced that it will open an investigation into the UK business operations of US financier Bernard Madoff to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed in the UK. The focus will be on victims in the UK, and the SFO has asked that anyone involved with [...]

The US Army on Wednesday announced that Sgt. John Hatley will be court-martialed for his alleged role in the killings of four Iraqi citizens in April 2007. Hatley, along with soldiers Sgt. Michael Leahy, Jr. and Sgt. 1st Class John Mayo, was charged in September with premeditated murder, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Hatley is [...]