African and black American leaders this week considered a proposal to grant dual citizenship to American descendants of African slaves in a bid to increase investment and interest in Africa . Presidents from 12 African countries and American private sector leaders discussed the idea at a four-day summit that concluded Friday in Abuja, Nigeria hosted [...]

Omar Khadr , the nineteen-year-old Canadian citizen who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years, wrote a letter to his mother last week telling her that he has fired his US lawyers, the Globe and Mail reported Friday. A US military lawyer appointed to represent Khadr, Lieutenant-Colonel Colby Vokey, said the [...]

The editor of Indonesian online newspaper Rakyat Merdeka will face trial for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on the website in February, his lawyers said Friday. Editor Teguh Santosa was arrested by Indonesian prosecutors on Wednesday night and was held for 24 hours before his release late Thursday night. He is charged with "inciting [...]

The US Marine Corps has denied a request by defense lawyers representing seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of murdering an unarmed Iraqi man in April to visit the Hamdania site where the alleged murder occurred. The lawyers requested a site visit in an effort to interview locals and view topographical details that are [...]

A vote this week by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) at its annual meeting in Seattle to change its name to the American Association for Justice (AAJ) has drawn derision from critics of trial lawyers and the American litigation process. Incoming president Mike Eidson , a south Florida product liability attorney, said [...]

The top legal advisor to the US Secretary of State assured the UK on Friday that the three British bankers who were extradited to the US in connection with the Enron fraud scandal will receive a fair trial, and that the extradition treaty is fair. In the first official US response to the extradition controversy [...]

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Friday made his first court appearance in The Hague since leaving Sierra Leone last month. Taylor's lawyer Karim Khan told the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) , sitting at International Criminal Court (ICC) facilities, that Taylor is unhappy with prison conditions at The Hague, calling conditions at the [...]

Doctors have warned Saddam Hussein that his now two-week-long hunger strike could have adverse health effects, according to a US military spokesman Thursday. Hussein drinks coffee and fortified water, but has refused to eat since July 7. Hussein began the hunger strike in protest of trial court procedures and the killings of three defense lawyers, [...]

Following the death of former Khmer Rouge military leader Ta Mok Thursday, local observers say that with few top Khmer Rouge officials left to be prosecuted before the new Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal scheduled to begin holding trials next year, the process may already be in trouble. Former head of state Khieu Samphan and Foreign [...]

Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC) , a political committee set up by former House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) , has agreed to shut down and pay a fine for improperly reporting financial activity. ARMPAC agreed to the $115,000 penalty, imposed by the US Federal Election Commission , late Wednesday after an FEC audit [...]