In Tuesday's international brief, the Russian government has rejected a petition initiated Monday by KPRF , the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, requesting a Duma vote of no-confidence. The government denied the that there existed any real reason for the government to resign, and said that the KPRF and its allies are merely arguing [...]

Iran's judiciary has said that a mistake was to blame for the issuance of a summons to Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi , calling her to appear before the Revolutionary Court , which normally handles political and security cases. A judiciary spokesman explained that the summons actually referred to a private complaint against Ebadi [...]

AP is reporting that the US Supreme Court denied Tuesday an appeal over government's use of military trials for foreign detainees accused of terrorism. JURIST's Paper Chase will have more information as the order list becomes available. 10:45 AM ET – The Court denied certiorari in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 04-702, meaning the appeal [...]

Members of the Cobb County school board have voted to appeal a federal district judge's ruling that stickers calling evolution a "theory, not a fact" should be removed from science textbooks. Board members voted 5-2 Monday to appeal the ruling of US District Judge Clarence Cooper, which was issued last week. A statement issued by [...]

Trials involving former corporate leaders of Tyco International and WorldCom, now MCI, are both set to begin this week, with both expected to last weeks to months, as the executives are tried on a variety of fraud charges. Former Tyco execs Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz are being retried on charges of stealing $600 million [...]

A UK soldier facing court-martial in Germany on charges of mistreating Iraqi civilians pleaded guilty Tuesday to one assault charge, but denied another charge. Two other soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers , Corp. Daniel Kenyon and Lance Corp. Mark Cooley, pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing detainees at a camp outside Basra [...]

AP is reporting that Ukraine's Supreme Court has said that the country's presidential election results can be published Wednesday, which will allow challenger Viktor Yushchencko to take office. 8:35 AM ET – The Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that election results can be published Wednesday, despite the fact that the court is still hearing an [...]

Adolfo Scilingo , the former Argentine naval officer on trial in Spain for committing genocide and crimes against humanity during Argentina's "Dirty War" , took the stand for the first time Monday and told the Spanish court that he had made up a previous confession concerning "death flights." In 1995, Scilingo told a journalist that [...]

Iraqi officials said Tuesday that beginning January 29, all land borders will be closed for three days in an effort to increase security before the January 30 elections . The Iraqi Interim Government has also declared January 29-31 public holidays, closing shops and offices, and has said that only vehicles with official permits will be [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Jan. 18. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases today beginning at 10 AM ET. In the first case, Rompilla v. Beard , the Court will consider whether a jury must be instructed that a life [...]