A controversial new anti-terrorism law took effect in the Philippines Sunday despite the objections of local Roman Catholic bishops , opposition politicians, and activists who mounted small protests across the country marking the occasion. The Human Security Act 2007 , signed in March, authorizes the 72-hour detention of suspects without charge and allows for surveillance, [...]

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh announced Saturday that Ali Hassan al-Majid, often called "Chemical Ali", will be hanged in the Kurdish town of Halabja where a notorious 1988 gas attack by Saddam Hussein's forces during the 1988 "Anfal campaign" led to the deaths of over 5000 Kurds, many of them children. In late June, [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Ali Khan of Washburn University School of Law says that Pakistan's Supreme Court should resolve the legal dispute between suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and President Pervez Musharraf by delivering a bold ruling in favor of judicial independence… Professional consensus, Islamic traditions, and the Constitution all favor a bold decision by [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin formally suspended Russia's participation in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty Saturday, signing a presidential decree prohibiting NATO inspection and verification at Russian military facilities as well as ending conventional weapons limitations. Russia said the step was necessary due to "extraordinary circumstances," a reference to US plans to locate [...]

A group of six Democratic senators sent a letter to the US State Department Friday, urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take more steps to ensure that detainees transferred out of Guantanamo Bay will not be subjected to torture. The letter, signed by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Barack Obama (D-IL), Patrick [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Friday announced the proposed launch of two oversight offices dedicated to reviewing the DOJ's National Security Division and the FBI's compliance with privacy laws, saying that the new offices will expand the scope of its oversight beyond the DOJ's "traditional oversight role" [...]

US Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Glenn A. Fine has urged the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to strengthen the role of the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) by eliminating jurisdictional limitations on the inspector general preventing the OIG from investigating alleged wrongdoing against the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney [...]

Andrew Wood, Pitt Law '08, files from Manila: As governments around the world work hard to implement legislation to aid in fighting terrorism, some common effects of such legislation are predictable and even inevitable; it is the nature of any anti-terrorism measure to both empower the executive branch and detract from civil rights. People are [...]

US House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI) issued a subpoena Friday to the Republican National Committee (RNC) to turn over any emails on the US Attorney firings sent by White House officials from RNC-sponsored accounts. Conyers also warned former White House counsel Harriet Miers that she may be subjected to contempt of Congress proceedings [...]

A former Rwandan mayor Friday pleaded guilty to a single count of extermination , a crime against humanity, as part of a plea deal International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda that eliminated eight other charges including genocide, torture and rape. Juvenal Rugambarara apologized for his actions during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide , and promised to "join [...]