JURIST Contributing Editor Haider Ala Hamoudi of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that while Iraq has a long and proud legal tradition, and certainly boasts a large number of legal professionals who take their work very seriously and do it well, there are many rules, impediments and obligations that for many of [...]

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced Thursday that her office intends to launch a court challenge to last week's listing of the polar bear on the US endangered species list. The suit will be filed in US District Court in Washington and will argue that science shows that polar bears do not need to be protected. [...]

The government of Pakistan reached an agreement with Taliban-linked Islamic militants in the Pakistani North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat to implement Islamic Sharia law in the area, according to statements attributed to the militants. Under the agreement, the Pakistani army will withdraw troops from the Swat region and will not oppose the local [...]

Accused Rwanda war crimes suspect Michel Bagaragaza was transferred from the Hague back to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania Wednesday after a Dutch court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to try his case. In August 2007, the ICTR revoked a previous order transferring Bagaragaza's case to a local [...]

Witt v. Department of the Air Force, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 21, 2008 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Mike Dubrasich : "After eight years of a planning exercise called the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (SNFPA) – one that involved thousands of people, hundreds of meetings, and tens of thousands of documents, studies, reviews, rehashes, monitoring, and re-monitoring – a Federal judge last week enjoined fire-preventative thinnings created under SNFPA guidance with the [...]

The ban on cluster bombs currently being considered at the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions could impede humanitarian efforts by discouraging cooperation with non-signatories, a US State Department official said in a press briefing Wednesday. US Acting Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Stephen D. Mull said that the draft treaty would bar signatories from [...]

The US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 10-9 Wednesday to overturn a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that rejected California's request for a waiver allowing the state to impose stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards on cars and light duty trucks. Bill sponsor Barbara Boxer (D-CA) told journalists that she would not [...]

The European Parliament Wednesday adopted new rules to criminalize acts that cause serious environmental damage. Among the offenses which could now receive criminal sanctions are the illegal disposal of radioactive substances, waste management practices that harm the environment, and the slaughter or trafficking of protected plants and animals. Under the measure, each EU member state [...]

An attempt by the US House of Representatives to override a presidential veto of the new Farm Bill delayed late Wednesday when it was found that a section of the bill had been inadvertently left out of the version originally sent to President George W. Bush for signature. Bill supporters said they plan to submit [...]