US Central Command reported late Saturday that the last UN-made ballots, printed by a special process in Switzerland to reduce the threat of fraud, have been delivered to polling stations in Baghdad as Iraq prepares to conduct its first free elections since 1944. Read the Central Command press release. When more than 5000 polling stations [...]

A UN appeal to European Union countries to draft a joint resettlement policy that would allow for acceptance of more refugees was met with reluctance Saturday by European justice and immigration ministers gathered in Brussels. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers called on EU states to agree to measures that would allow relocating refugees [...]

Colombia officials in Bogota have announced the end of a dispute with Venezuela over the capture of leftist rebel leader Rodrigo Granda . Colombian officials have acknowledged paying bounty hunters to capture Granda, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) , on December 13, 2004 in Caracas. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is [...]

Insurgents attacked a police station Saturday in Khanaqin near the border with Iran, killing eight people and making a total of seventeen killed across the country on the eve of elections. The latest attacks came even as security forces barricaded streets, sealed the border, and closed Baghdad airport. Sunni Muslim extremists have threatened to "wash [...]

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission , a watchdog group supported by the UN and set up pursuant to the 2001 Bonn Agreement , called on the international community and the US-backed Afghan government [official website> Saturday to aid in the prosecution of war criminals. After more than two decades of conflict during the Soviet [...]

The execution of serial killer Michael Ross was postponed early Saturday morning one hour before it was scheduled to take place . Ross attorney T.R. Paulding, hired by Ross last year to speed the execution process, asked for a delay until Monday citing a possible conflict of interest but did not elaborate about what that [...]

Ross v. Rell, et al., United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, January 28, 2005 . Read the full text of the order here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Vincent Rougeau : "The 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the recent controversies surrounding the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales made me think once again of Hannah Arendt's powerful words.  The Associated Press reported yesterday that Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been subjected to interrogation practices designed to "break reliance on God."  In [...]

AP is reporting that the US Supreme Court has refused to overturn a Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that earlier Friday had lifted a restraining order against the execution of serial killer Michael Ross. Ross wishes to die but his family and public defenders had sought to stop his execution on the grounds that [...]

Julian Ku, Hofstra University School of Law: "Strangely enough, the war on terrorism is providing a slight boost for plaintiffs lawyers specializing in tort suits alleging violations of international law. This week, the UK released four men who had previously been detained at Guantanamo Bay. Lawyers for the detainees are threatening to sue. A number [...]