Iraqi lawmakers Tuesday failed to nominate a parliament speaker in a raucous second session of the country's National Assembly, as the role of Sunni Arabs in the new Iraq government remained a question. Assembly members had promised an agreement on a Sunni candidate for the position during the session, but negotiations quickly broke down after [...]

Fifty-nine former US diplomats have sent a letter to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar, calling on the Senate to reject the nomination of John Bolton for US ambassador to the United Nations . Saying Bolton "is the wrong man for the position," the former diplomats who signed Tuesday's letter cited Bolton's "exceptional [...]

Ljubomir Borovcanin , the Bosnian Serb former police chief charged with complicity in genocide in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, will surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , Bosnian media reported Tuesday. According to his initial indictment , Borovcanin will face charges of complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and [...]

UN member countries pledged Monday to contribute over $38 million dollars to finance a tribunal to try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders with war crimes. Pledges fell short of the $70 million requested by Cambodian officials , but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has estimated the UN-backed court's three-year budget to be about $56 million, [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, March 29. The US Supreme Court hears oral argument in two cases today. At 10 AM ET, the Court will hear arguments in MGM Studios v. Grokster , 04-480, in which it will decide whether file-sharing services are liable [...]

Supporting Human Rights: The US Record 2004-2005, US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, March 28, 2005. Excerpt: Unlike the 196 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Supporting Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004-2005 highlights US efforts to promote human rights and democracy in only 98 countries and entities — [...]

Draft Bhutan Constitution, Constitution Drafting Committee, March 26, 2005 . Read the full text of the proposed constitution here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A new interim report on the UN Oil-for-Food Program for Iraq is set to be released Tuesday, and officials within the Bush administration believe that the conflict-of-interest findings might place US Secretary-General Kofi Annan's job in jeopardy. Tuesday's report is expected to address whether the secretary-general unduly influenced the contract application process for his son [...]

The UN special mission to Burundi has recommended that the nation create a non-judicial truth commission and special prosecuting chamber within its court system in order to deal with perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The recommendations, filed in a report forwarded to the Security Council by Secretary-General Kofi Annan , gained [...]

The US State Department Monday released its third annual report on American efforts to support and promote human rights around the world. In Supporting Human Rights: The US Record 2004-2005 , the US said it will make respect for human rights the test for its bilateral relations around the world, although it also indicated it [...]