Protesters stepped into action across Nepal on Friday in response to the traditional new year message of King Gyanendra , in which the ruler promised to hold general elections and dialogue with the opposition. Pro-democracy protests have been staged for over a week with demonstrators demanding the abdication of Gyanendra, who seized control of the [...]

A Congolese opposition group, the Holy Alliance, has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to ban Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila from running in this year's general elections, the first democratic elections in Congo since 1960, because of his ties to the military. According to the Alliance, Kabila, who succeeded his father after [...]

The International Commission of Jurists on Friday called the arrest of hundreds of lawyers and pro-democracy demonstrators during the past few days in Nepal unlawful and arbitrary and demanded that King Gyanendra release all the detainees and lift the blanket ban on public gatherings in the center of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital city. "The ICJ and [...]

British police on Thursday arrested Des Smith, the first person held in police custody in the "cash for honors" probe , before releasing him on bail later in the day. The arrest stemmed from allegations that the government was selling "honors" such as peerages and knighthoods to wealthy individuals in exchange for educational funding. Smith, [...]

The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected the argument that Governor Bob Taft (R) has full executive privilege to keep records private in a 5-2 decision . Rather, the court held on Thursday that Taft has a "qualified gubernatorial-communications privilege," allowing public access to documents when "the requester demonstrates that the requester has a particularized need [...]

Jones v. City of Los Angeles, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, April 14, 2009 . Excerpt: We hold only that, just as the Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of criminal punishment on an individual for being a drug addict, Robinson, 370 U.S. at 667; or for involuntary public drunkenness that is an [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is re-examining the last unsolved public lynching in the US, according to an FBI agent. FBI agent Stephen Emmett did not say whether the FBI will officially reopen the case, but said that recent technology and techniques may help unlock an earlier investigation surrounding the 60-year-old crime . Civil [...]

Leading Friday's environmental law news, Magistrate Judge Robert Collings of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency must release internal documents relating to the Clean Air Mercury Rule . The rule, which has proposed a cap-and-trade emissions program for coal-fired power plants, has been controversial [...]

A Japanese court on Friday rejected a suit filed by 3,200 citizens who argued that Japan's deployment of troops to Iraq violates the country's pacifist constitution , which bans the use of force to settle international disputes. The plaintiffs also argued that the Iraq war is a war of invasion which violates international law. They [...]

US District Judge Reggie Walton has threatened to ban public statements about the case of former vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby after one of the prosecution's court filings was released to the media before it was officially filed. On Thursday, Walton issued an order in which he stated that he "would not tolerate [...]