The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in three cases , including Philippines v. Pimental (06-1204) , in which the Supreme Court will consider whether the government of the Philippines had the right to be a party in litigation on claims to a $35 million account for a Panamanian corporation allegedly formed to hide [...]

The military government of Myanmar Monday rejected calls from the United Nations for the country's constitution-drafting process to be opened to outside groups, saying that the new constitution would be drafted solely by a 54-member constitution-drafting commission . The constitution-drafting commission, announced in October, will be comprised of both civilian and military members, all of [...]

A unanimous panel of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Monday denied bail to former Khmer Rouge official Kaing Guek Eav , also known as Duch, for fear that he might flee or threaten witnesses. Defense lawyers had argued last month that Duch should be granted bail in the months before his [...]

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Monday pardoned British school teacher Gillian Gibbons, convicted of insulting Islam last week for allowing her students to name the class teddy bear Muhammad. Last Thursday, Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code. Gibbons had originally been charged with inciting [...]

Incoming Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday that he has signed Australia's instrument of ratification for the Kyoto Protocol , ending nearly 10 years of Australian opposition to the pact. Rudd was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Australia on Sunday, replacing the more conservative John Howard, who he handily defeated in the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Wes Rist of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that especially in the context of its troubled pursuit of Ugandan rebels, the International Criminal Court in The Hague might take a leaf from the book of the new Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and pursue a more cooperative [...]

Venezuelans have rejected sweeping constitutional reforms proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by a narrow margin of 51 to 49 percent, preliminary results of Sunday's constitutional referendum showed on Monday. Chavez, accepting his first electoral defeat, acknowledged that his proposed reforms – which would have allowed him to stand indefinitely for re-election, handpick local leaders [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won parliamentary elections Sunday amid claims of vote-rigging and fraud. United Russia won 64.1 percent of the vote according to preliminary results, far ahead of the Communist Party challenger with 11 percent of the votes. Election observers from the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organization for Security [...]

Venezuelans went to the polls on Sunday to vote on a controversial set of constitutional reforms proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez . The two-part referendum will determine the fate of 69 proposed constitutional amendments that would extend the presidential term from six to seven years, eliminate the limit on the number of terms a [...]

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said at the end of a visit to Baghdad Sunday that the US will hold Ali Hassan al-Majid , better known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali", and two other former members of Hussein's former regime condemned to death by an Iraqi tribunal until Iraqi leaders have [...]