JURIST Contributing Editor David Crane of Syracuse University College of Law says that as we celebrate the universality of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, we must recognize that the murder, rape, maiming, mutilation, and pillaging of non-combatants worldwide goes on unabated while the United States, once a champion of the Conventions, has stumbled and committed [...]

New Orleans Judge Arthur Hunter is slated to start reviewing the records of New Orleans prisoners in view of their possible release on Tuesday, the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina , which devastated the city and its court system last year. Some 6,000 cases are backlogged and only half of the New Orleans courthouse's [...]

US government lawyers and US military lawyers are butting heads as the White House attempts to limit the role of the latter in framing draft legislation that would change the rules for trials of suspected terrorists, the Boston Globe reported Sunday. The military lawyers are particularly concerned about not allowing detainees to see the evidence [...]

Iraqi Defense Minister Hashem al Shebli said Saturday according to McClatchy Newspapers that the notorious Abu Ghraib prison is now empty as US officials have recently finished moving the prison's remaining 3,600 prisoners to other US-run detention centers. Some prisoners were released; most were sent to either Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport or Camp [...]

Working Text, International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UN General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, August 28, 2006. Read the full working text. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Department of Defense announced Saturday that it has transferred to Afghanistan five detainees formerly held as enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay . It is unclear where these detainees are from and why they were selected for transfer. More than 300 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo to other countries since the US government [...]

Lisl Brunner : "The Casa Rosada, which houses the offices of the President of Argentina, has a pristinely pink façade: the yellowish brown hue of its other three sides, however, marks the point at which the project to refurbish the exterior ran out of funds. Commentators say this idiosyncrasy reflects many aspects of Argentina, where [...]

A US journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner working in Africa on a National Geographic magazine assignment was charged in a Sudanese court Saturday with espionage, reporting false information and entering the country illegally. Paul Salopek , a staff reporter for the Chicago Tribune , and two Chad nationals – Salopek's driver and his interpreter [...]

State of Loiusiana v. All Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers Authorized and Licensed to Do Business in the State of Louisiana, Supreme Court of Lousiana, August 25, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock told Australian TV Saturday that he has received assurances from the US government that it will not seek the death penalty in an anticipated new military trial of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks . Legal proceedings against Hicks were suspended earlier this year after the US Supreme Court ruled in [...]