The Taiwan High Court convicted Chao Chien-min, son-in-law of President Chen Shui-bian , of insider trading Tuesday. The decision affirmed a lower court's verdict , which also imposed a $900,000 fine, but increased Chao's prison sentence from six years to seven years because the insider trading exceeded $3.5 million. The court also affirmed the guilty [...]

Outgoing UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith said Tuesday that the UK should initiate an inquiry into how interrogation techniques outlawed by the Geneva Conventions and the European Convention on Human Rights were authorized and used by UK soldiers deployed in Iraq. Goldsmith, speaking before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights , said he [...]

Britain's largest defense contractor BAE Systems said Tuesday that the US Department of Justice has initiated a formal investigation into BAE's compliance with anti-corruption laws amid allegations that BAE established a $120 million slush fund for members of the Saudi Royal family in exchange for defense contracts. Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesperson said that the [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Tuesday upheld a Belgian law codifying the European Union's Third Money Laundering Directive , which obligates lawyers to report facts or suspicion of their client's money laundering. The law was challenged by Belgian bar associations, but the court held that the requirement does not infringe on the right to [...]

The Election Commission of Thailand is proceeding with criminal charges against two former government ministers under former Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra for their alleged role in committing election fraud during the voided April 2006 parliamentary elections . Election Commission Secretary General Suthiphol Thavichaikam said Tuesday that the commission will charge Thammarack Issarangura na Ayutthaya, former [...]

A federal judge from the US District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner, a US Army Reserve officer, to 21 months in prison Monday and imposed a fine of $144,500 for Hopfengardner's involvement in a construction bidding and kickback scheme to defraud the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq. [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild, says that FBI surveillance of National Lawyers Guild members and activities between 1940 and 1975 – highlighted in a recent New York Times report drawing on newly-released documents – was motivated by a desire to blunt the Guild's [...]

Iraqi security officials issued an arrest warrant and raided the home Tuesday of Culture Minister Asad Kamal al-Hashimi to investigate allegations that al-Hashimi masterminded an assassination attempt against a parliamentary candidate in February 2005. Al-Hashimi, a Sunni, is the first member of the Iraqi cabinet to face an arrest warrant. Al-Hashimi's party, the General Council [...]

Google is urging the US government , including the Departments of State and Commerce, the Office of the US Trade Representative , and various House and Senate committees, to fight the rise of global Internet censorship , according to Monday reports. Google's Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Andrew McLaughlin said in a statement [...]

The government of Canada , currently investigating whether detainees in Afghanistan were abused while in Canadian custody , will not make inquiries into allegations of torture or abuse after the detainees were transferred to Afghan officials , according to Monday reports. Lieutenant-Commander Philip Anido, a spokesman for the board of inquiry in charge of the [...]