Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a series of reforms Tuesday designed to address the backlog of claims by aboriginal tribes over land seized by the Canadian government, saying a system would be created to solve the disputes "once and for all by impartial judges on a new Specific Claims Tribunal." The proposal, titled the [...]

Eric Linge, Pitt Law '09, files from Mumbai: Settling in Mumbai after having spent my first quarter century in the U.S., I have quickly developed a new personal pricing index. What I mean is, a $4 lunch is now a rather expensive lunch. A one hour ride in an auto rickshaw for $3 — wow, [...]

Appeal proceedings in the case of former Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam have been adjourned until July 3, following the orders of a judge on Tuesday. Mengistu, who received a life sentence in absentia last year for his involvement in the genocide that ravaged Ethiopia in the 1970s, has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) requested Monday that the case against Fulgence Kayishema , who was indicted in absentia in 2001 for his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide , be moved to a Rwandan court for trial. Kayishema, who was a police inspector during the war, has been charged with conspiring to [...]

Interim Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont Tuesday invited his ousted predecessor to return to Thailand to challenge allegations made against him and the recent seizure of $1.5 billion in assets amassed from the sale of the telecommunication company he founded in the 1980s. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been in exile ever since a [...]

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed a lawsuit against State Farm Monday, alleging that the insurance company committed a bad faith breach of contract related to a settlement reached on January 23 regarding Hurricane Katrina policies. State Farm says that the move could disrupt the ongoing settlement process as it was being worked out with [...]

The US Office of Special Counsel officially recommended Monday that General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Lurita Doan "be disciplined to the fullest extent" for blatant disregard of the 1939 Hatch Act . In a letter to President George W. Bush, Special Counsel Scott Bloch said that by asking political appointees at a GSA meeting in [...]

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report 2007, US Department of State, June 12, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Human Rights in China (HRIC) said Monday that the state secrets system in China gives the government virtually complete power to halt the free flow of information, "undermining healthy governance and rule of law." The group released State Secrets: China's Legal Labyrinth , an extensive 280 page report that includes English translations of many laws [...]

A US Nuremberg trials prosecutor denounced the US military commissions at Guantanamo Bay in an interview with Reuters published Monday. Henry King Jr. , now in his 80s but still a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, said the commissions violated the principles of fairness established during the trials of Nazi leaders [...]