The US Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in Cuellar v. United States , 06-1456, where the Court considered "whether merely hiding funds with no design to create the appearance of legitimate wealth is sufficient to support a money laundering conviction" under 18 USC 1956(a)(2)(B)(i) . The case involves Humberto Cuellar, who was sentenced [...]

At least 10 Turkish universities have continued to enforce a ban on headscarves despite recent amendments to the Turkish constitution lifting the ban, according to Monday media reports. Head of the Higher Education Board Yusuf Ozcan said in a weekend statement that universities "have the duty and responsibility to adjust practices in line with the [...]

Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II will resign his position with the US Department of Defense next month, according to an announcement from the DOD Monday. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates commented that Haynes' tenure as DOD general counsel was the longest in US history. Principal Deputy General Counsel Daniel Dell'Orto will serve as [...]

The US Embassy in Minsk and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner issued renewed calls Monday for Belarus to release all political prisoners currently in custody. US and EU officials specifically urged the release of opposition politician Alexander Kozulin , who was sentenced to over five years in prison in [...]

A district court in Indonesia held hearings Monday to consider the second appeal of three men sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings . Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Indonesia ordered the lower district court to assemble a panel of judges to review the merits of the latest [...]

US President George W. Bush Monday reiterated his support for a surveillance bill that grants immunity for telecommunications companies from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program . During a meeting with the National Governors' Association, Bush urged the House of Representatives to allow the measure to go to the floor [...]

New International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz reiterated in a Sunday interview with Serbian news site B92.net that he will do everything in his power to ensure that fugitive Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are arrested as soon as possible. In January, Brammertz said that finding [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear three cases , including Arizona v. Gant (07-542) where the Court will consider whether "the Fourth Amendment require law enforcement officers to demonstrate a threat to their safety or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest in order to justify a warrantless [...]

The Afghan journalism student who was sentenced to death in January for distributing papers questioning gender roles under Islamic practice told the Independent on Sunday that he was not afforded a lawyer to represent him during his four-minute closed court trial, and that he was not permitted to speak on his own behalf. Sayad Parwez [...]

Khalid Sekander : "An Afghan university journalism student was recently convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by an Afghan trial court for expressing the idea that polygamy may be an inappropriate practice under Islam. The sentence is on appeal, and, meanwhile a majority of the members of the upper house of the Afghan parliament [...]