Royal proclamation to the nation from King Gyanendra of Nepal, April 24, 2006 . English-language translation from eKantipur.com: Beloved Countrymen, Convinced that the source of State Authority and Sovereignty of the Kingdom of Nepal is inherent in the people of Nepal and cognizant of the spirit of the ongoing people's movement as well as to [...]

Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, April 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Legal arguments began in Colchester, England, Monday in the court-martrial trial of four British soldiers accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in May 2003. The four soldiers are accused of forcing Ahmed Kareem, one of four Iraqi prisoners captured on suspicion of looting, into a canal where he [...]

Text of a letter on the "nuclear option" to President George W. Bush from thirteen leading US physicists, including five Nobel Laureates, April 17, 2006 . Excerpt: Using or even merely threatening to use a nuclear weapon preemptively against a nonnuclear adversary tells the 182 non-nuclear-weapon countries signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that their [...]

President Bush Monday rejected the option of deportation for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the US, asking Congress to keep in mind “that we are talking about human beings, decent human beings” as it prepared to take up the immigration reform issue again after a two week recess. In a speech to the [...]

So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States, Human Rights Watch, April 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in Brigham County v. Stewart , a case in which the Court will clarify the type of emergency situation required to justify a warrantless entry made by police without knocking and announcing their presence. Four police officers in Brigham County, Utah, entered a home without a [...]

A federal judge in Boston Monday dismissed a suit filed in 2004 by twelve members of the US armed forces represented by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) challenging the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy requiring them to keep their sexual orientation secret or face discharge. The case was one of first impression for [...]

Kenneth Lay , former CEO and founder of Enron , told a jury Monday that the collapse of the company in 2001 has caused him "hurt and destruction and pain" on a level that compares, he said, to “absolutely nothing in my life.” Lay and another former Enron CEO, Jeffrey Skilling , have been charged [...]

Forty-nine leftist Philippines politicians, including six current lawmakers and former Senator Gregorio Honasan , face charges of rebellion for allegedly conspiring with the Communist Party of the Philippines to kill and replace President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , officials announced Monday. According to Senior State Prosecutor Emmanual Velasco, the accused "established a tactical alliance" and conspired [...]