Bales will not be the first US soldier prosecuted in relation to deaths of civilians in Afghanistan. In February, the US Army dropped charges [JURIST report] against Army Specialist Michael Wagnon, the last of five soldiers to be charged in connection with the killing of three Afghan civilians. In November, US Sgt. Calvin Gibbs was convicted on 15 charges [JURIST report] of murder, assault and conspiracy in the same case. Before Gibbs was convicted, in March of last year, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock admitted to three counts of murder [JURIST report] as part of a plot with him and other soldiers to kill Afghan civilians.

BiH continues to try individuals associated with the Srebrenica massacre. Last week, US resident Dejan Radojkovic was deported to BiH [JURIST report] to face charges related to his actions as a police commander in Srebrenica in 1995. Earlier this month two Bosnian Serbs were sentenced to prison [JURIST reports] for their roles in Srebenica massacre. The trial of former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic [ICTY case materials; JURIST news archive] began earlier this month but was postponed due to evidence disclosures [JURIST report]. In April a Bosnian-Muslim woman pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to war crimes after being extradited from the US. The trial of eight Bosnian-Muslims [JURIST report] who were charged with abuse and torture of Serbian prisoners began that same month. In February, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Milan Tupajic [JURIST report] to two months in prison on two counts of contempt for refusing to testify against accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic.

Forced labor has been at the center of human rights controversies recently. In November, the human rights group Partners Relief and Development [advocacy website] declared [JURIST report] that soldiers in Myanmar may be committing war crimes, including forced labor, against ethnic communities. Earlier that month, the UN criticized North Korea for allegedly abusing political prisoners in forced labor camps [JURIST report]. In August, the UN urged Thailand to combat forced labor [JURIST report], especially with regard to human trafficking. During the same month, BBC reported [JURIST report] that the government of Zimbabwe are running illegal mining camps using forced labor.

Discrimination and violence against women is a global issue. In March, HRW urged [JURIST report] the Afghan government to release around 400 women and girls who were imprisoned for "moral crimes" including flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence and "zina," sexual relationship outside of marriage due to rape or forced prostitution. In July of last year the UN Women [official website] released [JURIST report] a report detailing the persisting discrimination against women around the world. The report also examined how the rule of law discriminates women and found that rule of law does not provide adequate protection for women in practice. A month earlier UN Special Rapporteur Rashida Manjoo [official profile, DOC] stated [JURIST report] that even the US is facing continued violence against women, especially poor, minority and immigrant women. In May 2011 the Council of Europe (COE) [official website] introduced [JURIST report] the first international convention to combat violence against women [text] to create a legal framework that would better protect women against violence. The same month UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged [JURIST report] Tunisia and Egypt to ensure that women's rights receive constitutional protection.

Chen urged the US on Thursday to "try harder" to promote the rule of law in China [JURIST report]. He arrived in New York last month after he left the US embassy [JURIST reports]. His arrival resolved a US-China struggle that began when he escaped from his house arrest in April and sought refuge in US embassy [JURIST report] in Beijing. US officials had previously called for his release. He was placed under house arrest after he served four years in prison to which he was sentenced [JURIST reports] for damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic."

The fiscal treaty was signed [JURIST report] by leaders from 25 EU member states in March. Only two countries, the UK and the Czech Republic, did not sign the measure. The EU has continuously sought methods to deal with financial instability. In February Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website, in German] held [JURIST report] that use of a parliamentary subcommittee to fast-track decisions related to eurozone bailouts is unconstitutional. In September the same court rejected [JURIST report] as unfounded that three constitutional complaints against German and European legal instruments and other measures in connection with both the European Monetary Union rescue package and the financial aid package for Greece. In 2010, the court also rejected [JURIST report] a temporary injunction against the German government's €22.4 billion (USD $28.5 billion) contribution to a bailout package for Greece, which had approved [JURIST report] austerity measures to avoid bankruptcy few months earlier.

The issue of which court is going to try Saif al-Islam has been in dispute since he was captured [JURIST report] by Libyan rebel forces in November. Prosecutor-General Abdul Azizi al-Hassadi told reporters on Thursday that Libya will begin the prosecution of senior officials [JURIST report] who served under former Gaddafi in June, in a series of trials that will likely be considered test cases for Libya's ability to fairly try high-profile Gaddafi officials. In April, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] stated that the maximum penalty for Saif al-Islam in the ICC would be life in prison, but if convicted in a national court he could face the death penalty [JURIST report]. Earlier that month, Ocampo asked the ICC to report Libya to the UN Security Council [official website] for failing to turn over Saif al-Islam. Libya expressly denied [JURIST report] the ICC's request for such action and stated that Saif al-Islam will face trial within the country. In February 2011, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to refer the matter in Libya to the ICC prosecutor [JURIST report]. The ICC claimed jurisdiction over Saif al-Islam despite its announcement in November that it may allow Libya to conduct the trial [JURIST report].

Only two days ago, Bokova expressed her concern [JURIST report] over a Somali journalist's death who was shot in Mogadishu, Somalia. Earlier in May Amnesty International [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] the Sudanese government to cease its press censorship which significantly interfered with journalists' right of expression. In early May UNESCO condemned the murder of a Mexican journalist who was found in Veracruz despite the legislative effort by the Mexican government to protect [JURIST reports] them. Syria was also criticized [JURIST report] for its continued practice of torturing and detaining journalists in an effort to undermine the freedom of expression.

UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General Dr. Augustine Mahiga told the press [JURIST report] last week that the Elders of Somalia will select delegates for the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) by June 20, which will convene on July 2 to approve Somalia's new constitution. The NCA will have until July 10 to adopt the constitution, and the new Somali Parliament will be chosen by July 15. Mahiga announced this after returning from a three-day trip to Somalia for meetings with the signatories of the Roadmap for the End of Transition in Somalia [text, PDF]. Earlier this month, a UN expert urged Somalia to establish a new judicial system [JURIST report] that conforms to international human rights standards. In February, the TFG was criticized [JURIST report] by Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] for failing to stop recruitment of child soldiers. Earlier that month, parties to the TFG were commended by the UN for coming to an agreement at the Garowe II Constitutional Conference [JURIST report] that set guidelines for establishment of a new parliament.

The recent massacre in Houla diminished the hope for the success of the peace plan [text, PDF] that was laid out by Kofi Annan [official profile], Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States. Last Thursday the UN's three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria released [JURIST report] a report [text, PDF] that alleged Syrian security forces as well as anti-government groups are responsible for the continuing violence in Syria including torture of children. Syria has been urged to end the escalating violence against civilians that started in March of last year. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released numerous reports alleging that Syrian government forces committed war crimes against civilians and thereby violated human rights within the last few months. In early May, HRW reported [JURIST report] such violation when government forces killed at least 95 civilians in the province of Idlib during ceasefire negotiations. In April, HRW released [JURIST report] a report showing that Syrian security forces have executed more than 100 civilians and opposition fighters.

The DRC has been criticized several times for its failure to quash the increasing violence. Last month Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic [official profile] stressed [JURIST report] that the government must restore the state's authority and establish the rule of law to bring peace into the country. In March the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC [official websites] released [JURIST report] jointly as the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) a report alleging that military forces in DRC committed human rights violations during the presidential elections last year.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General told reporters that Tymoshenko may face additional criminal charges [JURIST report], including charges relating to the 1996 shooting of lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban and his family. Earlier this month her trial was postponed for the second time [BBC report] at the request of the prosecution after she was again unable to attend due to health issues. The trial was first postponed in April [JURIST report] due to concerns about Tymoshenko's health. Earlier that month Tymoshenko was returned to prison after being sent to a clinic for medical treatment. She is currently appealing a conviction and seven-year prison sentence [JURIST reports] to the ECHR and has discontinued all appeals [JURIST report] in the Ukraine on that issue. Although her previous conviction was on charges of corruption and abuse of power during her time as prime minister, Tymoshenko is now accused of hiding $165 million of corporate revenue and accumulating $5.8 million through tax fraud while the head of the UESU.

For the executor to establish, on behalf of the estate, an affirmative defense on the basis of the doctrine of laches, she must demonstrate that the museum failed to exercise reasonable diligence to locate the tablet and that such failure prejudiced the estate. ... The executor did not establish that the museum failed to exercise reasonable diligence to locate the tablet. ... The executor's contention that the museum failed to exercise reasonable diligence by not reporting the tablet stolen to law enforcement authorities or listing it on an international stolen art registry is not, under the circumstances of this case, dispositive. The executor's argument that, had the museum taken such steps, the tablet would have surfaced earlier, is mere conjecture and, moreover, is not supported by expert or other evidence.

The Appellate Division's ruling reverses a 2010 ruling by the Nassau County Surrogate Court [official website], which ruled in favor of the Flamenbaum family. In support of its decision, the surrogate court cited the failure of the Vorderasiatisches Museum to locate the tablet [NYT report]. It is unclear how Flamenbaum obtained the tablet after his liberation from Auschwitz in 1945.

California's prison system has been criticized for overcrowding. In January the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] ruled that California prison officials have failed to comply with its ruling in a 1994 suit requiring prisons to provide reasonable accommodations for inmates w by not providing them with wheelchairs and other mobility assistance devices. In August, California's Legislative Analyst's Office [official website] reported that California is most unlikely to reduce the state's prison population by 34,000 inmates within the Supreme Court's two-year deadline [JURIST reports]. The ruling issued in May 2011 in Brown v. Plata [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] was to remedy the problem of the state's overcrowded prisons.

So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out exactly the same function or specification of any methods used in the Java API. It does not matter that the declaration or method header lines are identical. Under the rules of Java, they must be identical to declare a method specifying the same functionality - even when the implementation is different. When there is only one way to express an idea or function, then everyone is free to do so and no one can monopolize that expression. And, while the Android method and class names could have been different from the names of their counterparts in Java and still have worked, copyright protection never extends to names or short phrases as a matter of law.

The ruling came a week after a federal jury found [JURIST report] that Google's use of the APIs was not an infringement of Oracle's patents. Earlier in May, the jury found itself deadlocked [JURIST report] on the issue of whether Google's use could be considered "fair use," making it difficult for Oracle to win a large damage award. Oracle had claimed damages in the amount of $1 billion after the case went to trial [JURIST report] in April following a break-down of settlement negotiations.

The plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction is not issued, first because the denial of a right of this magnitude under circumstances like these almost always inflicts irreparable harm, and second because when a plaintiff loses an opportunity to register a voter, the opportunity is gone forever. If an injunction does not issue now, there will be no way to remedy the plaintiffs' continuing loss through relief granted later in this litigation.

Changes to state voting laws have been the subject of contentious debate recently. On Wednesday the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota [official website] filed a petition [JURIST report] seeking to eliminate a proposed ballot initiative to require citizens to present photo identification in order to vote. Last month Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed Virginia's new voter ID legislation, which will require voters to show one form of acceptable identification [JURIST report] in order to cast a vote. In March Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill requiring voters to present photo identification [JURIST report] in the upcoming November election. Also in March, a Wisconsin judge ruled unconstitutional [JURIST report] the state's voter ID law requiring a voter to display photo ID when entering a polling place to vote. In February, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed suit against the US Department of Justice over its ruling that barred South Carolina [JURIST reports] from enforcing its voter ID law. In November, Mississippi voters approved a ballot measure [JURIST report] to implement a voter ID law.

The US Supreme Court ruled in January in the government's attachment of a GPS device to a vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The federal government sought Supreme Court review after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled [JURIST reports] in 2010 that prolonged use of GPS to monitor suspects' vehicles violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Affirming the decision below, Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the court, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, stating, "We have no doubt that such a physical intrusion would have been considered a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted." Justice Sonia Sotomayor also filed a concurring opinion. Justice Samuel Alito filed a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Alito "would analyze the question presented in this case by asking whether respondent's reasonable expectations of privacy were violated by the long-term monitoring of the movements of the vehicle he drove."

In March of last year Chin rejected an amended class action settlement agreement that was reached in 2008 between Google and the plaintiffs, who brought the copyright suit [JURIST reports] in 2005. The settlement agreement stated that Google would pay $125 million to the authors and publishers of copyrighted works in exchange for the permission to display up to 20 percent of the work online. The court reasoned that the settlement agreement would allow Google too much rights to exploit copyrighted works in the future. This ruling came a month after Chin delayed [JURIST report] it because he was not ready.

France's same-sex marriage ban has been a subject of controversy in the country. Last year the Constitutional Council [official website, in French] ruled that the country's same-sex marriage ban does not violate the constitution [JURIST report]. The council emphasized it may only interpret existing laws under the constitution, but that the legislature has the power to make new laws allowing gay marriage. The Court of Cassation [official website, in French], the country's highest court of appeals, ordered the Constitutional Council in November 2010 to rule on the constitutionality [JURIST report] of the law. The order was made after a gay French couple challenged the ban in a Reims court, saying it limited their personal freedoms.

Last year UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that hate crimes against LGBT people are on the rise worldwide [JURIST report]. In the US, some measures have been taken to stop hate crimes against LGBT individuals. Last spring US lawmakers introduced legislation to protect LGBT students [JURIST report] in federally funded public elementary and high schools from bullying. In 2009 US President Barack Obama signed into law [JURIST report] a bill that contained a measure extending the definition of federal hate crimes to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

In February, the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios rejected [JURIST report] an arbitration decision by The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) [official website] which had the effect of temporarily enjoining the $18.2 billion judgment that was upheld in January after an appeal [JURIST report] until a final judgment was made by the PCA. The Ecuadorian court reasoned that citizens' human rights supersede international trade law and allowed the proceeding to go before the Supreme Court of Ecuador. A month earlier, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] reversed [JURIST report] the injunction against enforcement of the multi-billion judgment granted to Chevron by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] reasoning that judgment-debtors like Chevron can challenge a foreign judgment's validity under the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act [text, PDF] only defensively and in response to an attempted enforcement which was not initiated by the plaintiffs. The original judgment was set for $8.6 billion [JURIST report] but was more than doubled for Chevron's refusal to pay "moral reparations" to the Ecuadorian government, as required by the original ruling. Plaintiffs initially filed suit in the Southern District of New York in 1993 against Texaco that caused the pollution in the Amazon in the 1980s.

Violent clashes of government forces and rebel groups since last March have raised international concern. Last Thursday the UN's three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a report [JURIST report] alleging Syrian security forces as well as anti-government groups are responsible for the continuing violence in Syria including torture of children. Syria has been urged to end the escalating conflict that has led to violence against civilians. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released numerous reports alleging that Syrian government forces committed war crimes against civilians and thereby violated human rights within the last few months. In early May, HRW reported [JURIST report] such violation when government forces killed at least 95 civilians in the province of Idlib during ceasefire negotiations. In April, HRW released [JURIST report] a report showing that Syrian security forces have executed more than 100 civilians and opposition fighters.

The issue of which court is going to try Saif al-Islam has been in dispute since he was captured [JURIST report] by Libyan rebel forces in November. In April ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] stated that the maximum penalty for Saif al-Islam in the ICC would be life in prison, but if convicted in a national court he could face the death penalty [JURIST report]. Earlier that month Ocampo asked the ICC to report Libya to the UN Security Council [official website] for failing to turn over Saif al-Islam. Libya expressly denied [JURIST report] the ICC's request for such action and stated that Saif al-Islam will face trial within the country. In February 2011 the UN Security Council voted unanimously to refer the matter in Libya to the ICC prosecutor [JURIST report]. The ICC claimed jurisdiction over Saif al-Islam despite its announcement in November that it may allow Libya to conduct the trial [JURIST report]

While the federal government must be a credible deterrent to those who would chose to violate our fair lending laws, the best policing is often policing that comes from within. That work is vital to ensuring fair and equal treatment for borrowers. And the success of thoughtful and comprehensive compliance work and attention to fair lending is reflected in the fact that the vast majority of lenders are not violating the law. That is why I believe that SunTrust should be commended for implementing strong fair lending policies.

In December Bank of America (BOA) [corporate website] agreed to a $335 million settlement [JURIST report] for discrimination by its subsidiary, Countrywide Financial, against Hispanic and African-American home buyers. The DOJ filed a complaint against BOA alleging that Countrywide engaged in discriminatory practices, charging minority borrowers higher fees and interest rates and steering them into sub-prime mortgages based not on their creditworthiness, but rather on their race or national origin.