Insurance giant Lloyd’s of London is in negotiations to provide insurance for nascent space tour provider Virgin Galactic. According to the Lloyd’s site, Bruno Ritchie, director of the aerospace division at Hiscox Global Markets, says that insurance is likely to be sought for the hull value of the spacecraft, with the price of cover dependent on the safety and reliability of the venture...
As I noted below, the campaigning for membership of the new U.N. Human Rights Council has begun in earnest (34 nations have declared themselves). The United States, however, will not be seeking a seat. The strategy behind staying off the new Council is unclear. The U.S. has pledged to fund and support the new council, but it...
In case anyone is interested in the latest efforts to combat the financing of terrorism, I wanted to let you know that I will be moderating a panel tomorrow on this topic. The symposium (sponsored by the New York International Law Review, the International Law and Practice Section of the New York State Bar Association and St. John’s University...
Folks in D.C. have many choices for conferences on Monday because, in addition to the American University conference, Georgetown Law is convening its inaugural Sam Dash Conference on Human Rights. This conference includes lots of top-notch scholars as well, including blogosphere personalities like Orin Kerr and Marty Lederman. It definitely seems worth attending. ...
There is a fascinating, if too brief, interview with Mikhail Gorbachev in today's USA Today. During the interview, Gorbachev not only defends Putin's "reforms," but opines that the Soviet Union should have been preserved. Here's a snippet: Q:Many Russians criticize you because in their opinion, you gave away the Soviet empire and weakened Russian power. Is this characterization accurate?...
The AP has an interesting story discussing the fact that Suharto, the murderous dictator who ruled Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, has managed to avoid being brought to justice by the international community, even though he is responsible for far worse crimes than Milosevic, Saddam, and Charles Taylor. Suharto continues to live unmolested in a wealthy area of...
Discussions have begun between the UN and the Burundian government about establishing two transitional justice mechanisms for dealing with the atrocities committed during Burundi's 12-year civil war, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 500,000: a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and a special criminal tribunal empowered to investigate and prosecute genocide, war crimes, and...
Professor Ken Anderson is holding a conference entitled "Institutionalizing the War on Terror" on Monday, April 10 at the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington D.C. (full details can be found here). Here is a brief summary: The Bush administration and many others have declared that the war on terror is a long term effort that will...
Harold Koh is having a brilliant career: Supreme Court clerk, advocate for Haitian refugees, seminal scholar, public servant under the Clinton Administration, dean of the Yale Law School. These are the things we think of when we think of Harold Koh. But what does Google think of Harold Koh? Google Harold Koh and one of...
Those who follow human rights know that each year the State Department publishes an annual country report on the status of human rights in virtually every country in the world. But what be lost on many is that the USTR publishes something similar for trade. It is called the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE)...
The race to succeed Kofi Annan can begin as the Security Council moves to begin consulations on the question in June. The Washington Times interviews one openly declared candidate, Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka. Other candidate mentioned include Finland's current President . The race is far too early to call (if there is indeed a race). This...
The World Bank used to resist calls to use its loans as instruments of domestic legal reform, but that resistance has fallen away in recent years during the Bank's campaign against domestic corruption. This IHT op-ed argues that the World Bank's anti-corruption policies should extend to loan conditions mandating the protection of a free press in the country of...
