Rasim Delic , the former commander of Bosnia's Muslim army during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, pleaded not guilty Thursday in his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague on charges of violating the laws of war by murder and cruel treatment of ethnic Croat and Serb prisoners. Prosecutors [...]

Lawyers for former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien filed a motion in Canada's Federal Court Thursday to remove Justice John Gomery from the chairmanship of a judicial commission of inquiry investigating Chretien’s involvement in improper payments made by a defunct national unity program. Last month Gomery refused to step down after Chretien's lawyers alleged that [...]

In Thursday's international brief, two US Senators have called for the UN Security Council to impose heavy sanctions on the Sudanese government for forcing the genocide of thousands in Darfur to end. Senators Sam Brownback and Jon Corzine introduced a bill Wednesday that calls for the US government to push for economic and diplomatic sanctions [...]

Bank of America Corp. said Thursday that it will pay $460.5 million to settle class-action lawsuits brought against it by former shareholders of WorldCom. In a statement released by the company today, Bank of America denies any wrongdoing and emphasized that the settlement will "eliminate the uncertainties, expense and distraction" of protracted litigation. Last year, [...]

Job Training Improvement Act of 2005, passed by the US House of Representatives March 2, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

China's State Council Thursday responded to US State Department human rights reports issued Monday that had blasted China for human rights abuses by issuing a report of its own on US human rights practices highlighting abuses committed by the US in Iraq. The document, China's sixth annual response to the US publication, cited atrocities committed [...]

One of France's biggest-ever criminal trials got under way Thursday as sixty-six people led by two former sex offenders stood accused of participating in a pedophilia ring in which children and babies were prostituted for food and small sums of money. All of the accused come from the poorest and least educated sections of society. [...]

Saddam Hussein chief lawyer Ziad al-Khasawneh said Thursday that the upcoming trial of his client should be delayed in the wake of the murder this week of a judge appointed to the Iraqi tribunal charged with hearing the case against the former dictator. Al-Khasawneh insisted that Iraq was still too dangerous for the trial and [...]

The GOP-dominated Senate Wednesday pushed ahead proposed bankruptcy overhaul legislation by defeating a series of Democratic amendments that would have sheltered seniors and sick people. Senators voted 59-40 to reject an amendment which would have given older Americans a special exemption which would have allowed them to keep their homes even if they file for [...]

Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund v. US Department of Agriculture, United States District Court for the District of Montana, Judge Richard Cebull, March 2, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion and order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.