EU
won't rule by Charter - 21 November
The EU's Lisbon Treaty comes into force on 1 December - and with it the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The UK, Czech Republic and Poland have
negotiated opt-outs from the Charter. But here Damian Chalmers,
Professor of EU Law at the London School of Economics (LSE), argues that
the Charter repackages EU law that is already applied by the 27-nation
bloc. - BBC News website
EU
finance ministers agree new European regulation deal - 2 December
European Union finance ministers have agreed plans for a new Europe-wide
system of financial regulation. The deal paves the way for the
establishment of several new watchdogs responsible for supervising the
financial system in all EU countries. - BBC
News website
Objections
to abortion could be overruled - 30 November
The Council of Europe, which is larger than the European Union, is
considering a draft resolution that would deny the right of hospitals to
opt out of doing abortions. The title of the resolution is "The
Women's Access to Lawful Medical Care - the Problem of Unregulated Use
of Conscientious Objection." Joseph Meany of Human Life
International tells OneNewsNow that the Council is not concerned
about ethics or religious beliefs. - OneNewsNow
website
Russia
prompts crisis of European human rights justice - 9 December
At 50 years old, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is
sometimes held up as a model for the rest of the world - the only
supranational court devoted to protecting individual human rights
against abuses of state power. But its future is now the subject of a
highly sensitive debate that is also seen as a litmus test of Russia's
long-term commitment to human rights and democracy. A record 120,000
cases are waiting to be dealt with, and the backlog is growing all the
time. Commonly it takes six years or more after a case is registered for
a judgement to be made. Critics say that justice delayed is justice
denied, and the system is in crisis. - BBC
News website
Germany
Nazi
guard Demjanjuk to stand trial in Germany - 30 November
John Demjanjuk, an 89-year-old former Nazi camp guard, is due to stand
trial on Monday on charges of helping to force 27 900 Jews into gas
chambers in 1943. Demjanjuk is expected to appear in a wheelchair before
a packed court in the southern city of
Munich
at what is likely to be
Germany
’s last major trial from the Nazi era. - Eye
Witness News website
Russia
Russia
'is now a criminal state', says Bill Browder - 23 November
Russia has now turned into a "criminal state", according to
the man who was once its leading foreign investor. Bill Browder of
Hermitage Capital was reacting to the news that his lawyer had died in
prison in Russia after being held for a year without charge. He told the
BBC that his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, had in effect been
"held hostage and they killed their hostage". - BBC
News website
Switzerland
Minaret
ban marks start of tough Swiss debate on Islam - 30 November
In Switzerland the soul-searching has begun following Sunday's
nationwide referendum in which voters surprisingly backed a plan to ban
the construction of minarets. No-one can quite understand how a proposal
widely regarded even by its supporters as destined for failure at the
ballot box actually came to be passed. - BBC
News website
Minaret
ban 'a security risk' : Swiss minister - 1 December
A decision by Swiss voters to ban the construction of minarets poses a
risk to Switzerland's security, the country's foreign minister says.
Micheline Calmy-Rey said the Swiss government was "very
concerned" about the ban, adopted by voters on Sunday. "Each
limitation on the co-existence of different cultures and religions also
endangers our security," she told the European security body, the
OSCE. - BBC News website
The
Swiss ban on minarets and why it should concern us - 3 December
Although little reported on in our press, a firestorm of controversy has
been unleashed by the result of a Swiss referendum at the end of last
month banning the construction of new minarets - the distinctive tall
spires attached to Islamic mosques - 57.5% of the participating voters
supported the proposal. Incongruous though this may seem, proponents of
the ban insist that they are taking a stand against oppression, not
implementing it. - David Saks on the Thought
Leader blog
Bail
for Roman Polanski met with surprise from some legal experts - 25
November
Roman Polanski is expected to spend the holidays under electronic
monitoring at his posh Alpine chalet after a Swiss court agreed to a
$4.5-million bail request by the famed director. Legal experts said the
bail is likely to lengthen what is expected to be a fierce battle over
whether Polanski should be extradited to Los Angeles to face sentencing
for unlawful intercourse with a 13-year-old girl more than three decades
ago. The decision also raises other questions, given that Polanski fled
from the US just before his sentencing in 1978. Swiss justice
officials have repeatedly denied his bail requests, saying he's a
flight risk. - Los Angeles
Times website
Roman
Polanski awaits move from prison to house arrest - 27 November
Film director Roman Polanski will not be released from prison until
Monday at the earliest, the Swiss justice ministry has confirmed.
Officials say arrangements for his house arrest at his chalet in the
Swiss Alps will not be in place before then. - BBC
News website