The Getty Museum Tuesday signed a formal agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture Heritage and Activities to return 40 allegedly looted Italian artifacts to Italy over the next several months. In exchange, Italian officials agreed to drop a civil lawsuit against former Getty Museum curator Marion True. Criminal charges against her, which allege she [...]

The military government of Myanmar Tuesday banned public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a curfew in response to anti-government protests . These measures come the day after the government threatened to punish the demonstration leaders. The protests are being led by Buddhist monks who object to rights abuses by the government, including [...]

The Pentagon Tuesday declared its intention to "expeditiously" move forward with the trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr , following a Monday decision from the Court of Military Commissions Review (USCMCR) granting jurisdiction to military trial judges to hear the case. In June, a military commission judge dropped terrorism charges against Khadr, ruling that [...]

United States of America v. Omar Ahmed Khadr, US Court of Military Commission Review, September 24, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US President George W. Bush Tuesday addressed the UN General Assembly and called on fellow member states to abide by the dictates of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by opposing dictatorships and aiding countries seeking to establish democracies. In his speech at the opening of the General Assembly's 62nd session , Bush also [...]

The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois Monday filed a federal lawsuit against state of Illinois in an effort to invalidate a state law that wold prevent employers from using the voluntary E-Verify program maintained by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) . E-Verify tracks whether potential employees can legally work [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday granted certiorari in 17 cases for the October Term 2007, among them notable cases dealing with lethal injection, voter ID laws and subsequently seized evidence. In Baze v. Rees (07-5439) , the Court will consider whether lethal injections of death row inmates constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation [...]

The Iranian government ended the four-month detention of Iranian-American peace activist Ali Shakeri Monday, releasing him on bail in the amount of 1 million rials (approximately USD$110,000). Shakeri, a founding member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding , is the fourth dual US citizen Iran has detained in recent months on [...]

Hungarian officials announced Monday that the government has begun granting entrepreneur licenses to sex industry workers, despite critics' claims that the licensing scheme encourages human trafficking and violates Hungary's obligations under the 1950 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others . The licenses [...]

The Supreme Court of Israel Monday ordered the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to end its discriminatory policy of selling land only to Jews, ruling that the JNF's mandate to provide land for Jewish resettlement cannot deny equal rights to non-Jewish Israelis. The high court also accepted a temporary arrangement in which the JNF will allow [...]