California state corrections officials say that an emergency proclamation by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger aimed at relieving prison overcrowding by transferring prisoners to out-of-state facilities is set for implementation next month. The program, intending to reduce the overcrowding of 172,000 inmates in facilities designed for about 100,000, is intended to relieve the California Department of Corrections [...]

Arizona v. Gonzalez, US Supreme Court, October 19, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Notice of Military Commissions Act of 2006, US Department of Justice, October 20, 2006 . Read the full text of the notice . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) says that a Moroccan detainee held at Guantanamo Bay who was supposedly transferred to the government of Morocco on October 12 is missing, according to his family. Younes Chekkouri was allegedly arrested in Afghanistan for helping Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar recruit Moroccan supporters. A letter from the [...]

UK Home Secretary John Reid is soliciting bids for the provision of prison ships to house approximately 800 inmates to relieve pressure on Britain's overcrowded jails. The system has neared its 80,000 inmate limit and the country's reconviction rate has reached a record high. Currently, Great Britain has only one prison ship, HMP Weare, but [...]

US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has urged the US Justice Department to appeal this week's federal court ruling vacating the conviction of former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay . Feinstein wrote to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Friday, calling the ruling "disconcerting" and warranting "immediate attention." US District Court Judge Sim Lake Tuesday vacated [...]

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Saturday that she believes that Bosnian war fugitive Ratko Mladic "is in Serbia, in and around Belgrade". Del Ponte has been critical of Serbian efforts to catch Mladic, calling the failure to apprehend him "inexcusable"" and urging the EU to hold off [...]

Repeated allegations of widespread human rights abuses in Myanmar continue to go uninvestigated by the military government and its inaction remains the primary obstacle to securing human rights in the country, according to a new UN report presented Friday. UN Special rapportuer for human rights in Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the UN General Assembly's [...]

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried Friday condemned the passage of a bill last week by the French lower house of parliament making it a crime to deny that killings of Armenians in 1915 in the then-Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) was genocide. Fried said the bill, which still needs approval by the French Senate [...]

Rogelio Pfirter , director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has urged North Korea and several Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy their weapon stockpiles. Speaking to the UN General Assembly Friday, Pfirter said that all nations must join the [...]