U.S. move to resume death penalty bucks domestic and global trends, U.N. says
The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday the Trump administration's decision to reinstate the death penalty at the federal level goes against the domestic and international trend to abolish or halt executions. The U.S. Justice Department last Thursday reinstated a two-decade dormant ...
Swiss prosecutors say they have been assisting investigations in Japan into former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who has been indicted on charges of financial misconduct and breach of trust. Tokyo prosecutors requested Swiss assistance on Jan. 14, and the request was forwarded to ...
U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump use disputed Pentagon funds for border wall
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday handed President Donald Trump a victory by letting his administration redirect $2.5 billion in money approved by Congress for the Pentagon to help build his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border even though lawmakers refused to provide funding. The ...
Japan's top bar association urges Diet to legalize same-sex marriage
In a first, the country's top bar association on Thursday called on the government and the Diet to legalize same-sex marriage. The current legal system "infringes upon the freedom of marriage and violates the Constitution, which states all people are equal under the law," the ...
Plaintiffs in wartime labor case seek sale of Mitsubishi Heavy assets in South Korea
Mitsubishi Heavy is the third Japanese company to face a similar asset liquidation request in the country’s legal system following court rulings over wartime forced labor.
Three given prison terms over bogus Tokyo land sale to Sekisui House
Three people were given prison terms Wednesday over a bogus Tokyo land sale in 2017 that targeted home builder Sekisui House Ltd. In the first ruling related to the case, in which 10 people were indicted, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Masami Haketa, 64, and ...
Two men get suspended sentences for negligence in death of mentally disabled man left in vehicle
Two men were each sentenced Tuesday to 12 months in prison, suspended for three years, for professional negligence resulting in death after a man with a mental disability who died from heatstroke after being left in a welfare facility's service vehicle. The Saitama District Court ...
Osaka High Court confirmed Tuesday a 16-year sentence for a mentally ill man who killed an elementary school student in 2015, imposing the same punishment as a lower court despite a new psychiatric assessment finding he suffers from a different condition than the one ...
Ecuador tribe's victory in legal battle over selling ancestral Amazon land is upheld
A court in Ecuador has upheld a ruling that prevents the government from selling land in the Amazon rainforest to oil companies, a move activists called a historic win for the Waorani indigenous tribe living there. The government had appealed an earlier court ruling in ...
Japanese artist's plagiarism claim over goldfish-filled phone booth rejected by Nara court
A court has rejected a plagiarism claim by an artist who argued a merchants' association in Nara Prefecture had copied one of his artworks featuring a telephone booth filled with water and dozens of goldfish. Nobuki Yamamoto, 63, a contemporary artist, filed a damages suit ...
The government needs to come to grips with its responsibility for the suffering of the families of Hansen's disease patients.
At court hearing, journalist Shiori Ito says she was 'desperate to protect' herself during rape
Journalist Shiori Ito, who has accused a prominent former television reporter of rape, said in a damages lawsuit Monday that she tried to stop him and was "desperate to protect" herself. Ito, 30, is seeking ¥11 million in compensation from Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a former reporter ...
