A Moscow court Thursday initiated preliminary hearings for exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky who is accused of embezzling millions from Russian national airline Aeroflot , granting Berezovsky's court-appointed lawyer a two-week postponement of further proceedings so that the defense can prepare for the case. Berezovsky, who has been residing in the UK since 2001 as [...]

US Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and a bipartisan group of cosponsors Wednesday proposed a new piece of anti-pollution legislation that is supported by some of the country's largest coal-burning companies and their labor unions. Informally called the Low Carbon Economy Act , the bill aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere [...]

EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini rejected targeted assassinations of terror suspects in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland Thursday, adding that he is personally against all forms of the death penalty. Frattini, responding to controversial comments made by German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble during an interview published on Monday by [...]

Initial Benchmark Assessment Report, White House, July 12, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Ghazi al-Awadi, an Iraqi-born naturalized US citizen, pleaded guilty to spying for the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein Wednesday, admitting in Detroit federal court that he provided the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) with information about anti-Hussein organizations and individuals. Under the plea agreement, Al-Awadi, who is 78 years old and in poor health, will receive [...]

The Sudanese government defended its handling of military and police personnel allegedly involved in human rights abuses in Darfur before the UN Human Rights Committee Wednesday, denying allegations that the government was collaborating with armed militias that have committed some of the worst atrocities against civilians while insisting that the Sudanese judiciary is capable of [...]

Amnesty International Thursday condemned Israel and Hezbollah for failing to investigate alleged war crimes and humanitarian law violations during the summer 2006 Lebanon conflict , calling upon the United Nations to establish a "comprehensive, impartial, and independent inquiry" to investigate the alleged violations and setup provisions to compensate the victims. Amnesty criticized Hezbollah for indiscriminately [...]

An investigating officer in the probe of 24 Iraqi civilian deaths at Haditha in November 2005 has recommended that Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani , commander of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines , should face a court-martial for dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order, according to a report obtained Wednesday by the Associated [...]

The French National Assembly Thursday approved an overtime reform measure championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy , which if enacted as law, would make overtime pay tax-free and reduce payroll fees for employers. The measure, which supporters say will encourage growth with additional work, would weaken the absolute 35-hour workweek adopted in 2000 under the socialist [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says it is a sad day for America when respected legal scholars writing in the New York Times are advocating a separate US judicial regime – what they call a "national security court" – to govern preventative detentions… After reading an op-ed [...]