China's new "Enterprise Bankruptcy" law came into effect Friday, officially introducing broad sweeping regulations governing the resolution of outstanding business debts for the first time in China , which is gradually amending its laws to address the changing conditions brought about by China's quick transition to a market economy. The regulations, which will allow creditors [...]
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Jack Kevorkian , a former doctor convicted of second degree murder for assisting the suicide of a patient with Lou Gehrig's disease, was released from prison in Michigan Friday after serving 8 years. Kevorkian, who will remain on parole for two more years, has pledged that he will not assist people in committing suicide and [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Friday confirmed the transfer to The Hague of newly arrested Bosnian Serb war crimes indictee Zdravko Tolimir . Tolimir, a former Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Security of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), has been charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, [...]
The US District Court for the District of Colombia Thursday dismissed a derivative lawsuit filed by shareholders of home financial services corporation Fannie Mae to force former CEO Franklin D. Raines, former CFO J. Timothy Howard, and other former board members and executives involved in a major accounting scandal to repay their bonuses and severance [...]
Myanmar's extended detention of democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi violates the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights , the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in an opinion released Thursday. The condemning ruling follows the the military government of [...]
A Polish court Thursday sentenced 15 riot police officers involved in the 1981 shooting deaths of nine coal miners, handing down sentences ranging from eleven years to at least two and half years in prison. The coal miners were protesting a martial law crackdown on dissent by the beleaguered Communist government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski. [...]
Eric Linge, Pitt Law '09, files from Mumbai: When the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1949, Indians had the fundamental right to property. Since then, this right has pestered the government. It was chipped away and chipped away until it was officially downgraded from a fundamental right to merely a statutory right in 1978. Primarily [...]
The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence questioned whether the secret CIA detention and interrogation program "is the best means to obtain a full and reliable intelligence debriefing of a detainee" in a report published Thursday to accompany the 2008 intelligence appropriations bill . The report said that both the Congress and the Executive "must [...]
US military officials Thursday identified a deceased Saudi Arabian detainee who apparently committed suicide at the military prison Wednesday as Abdul Rahman Ma'ath Thafir al-Amri. Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) said in press release that al-Amri, a 34-year-old Saudi military veteran held at Guantanamo Bay since February 2002, had admitted that he "volunteered to fight with [...]
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and new French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Wednesday that they both back proposals for a limited constitutional treaty that would amend the organization and powers of the European Union (EU). German Chancellor Angel Merkel , whose government currently holds the six-month EU rotating presidency , has pressed for [...]
