Terrorists Attack French Satirical Magazine

In a still developing story from France, at least 12 people were killed and 4 others critically wounded today in a terrorist attack by two heavily armed gunmen at the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.  The magazine has been a target in the past because of its publishing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad or satirizing Islamic law.  The magazine has also satirized other religious groups. CNN reports on today's attack in a post that is being updated on a continuous basis.

Law Aimed At Religion-Based Terrorists On Fast Track In Pakistan's Parliament

In Pakistan on Saturday, the government introduced two new bills in response to the Taliban terrorist attack last month on the Army Public School in the city of Peshwar that killed 145 people (including 132 schoolchildren). The bills will sunset after two years. As reported by The News, The Constitution (21st Amendment) Bill, 2015, will allow terrorists to be tried in military courts. The Pakistan Army Act, 1952 (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (full text) adds provisions aimed specifically at terrorist groups acting in the name of a religion:

any person who is or claims or is known to belong to any terrorist group or organization using the name of religion or a sect and raises arms or wages war against Pakistan or attacks the Armed Forces of Pakistan and law enforcement agencies, or attacks any civil or military installations in Pakistan or kidnaps any person for ransom or causes death of any person or injury, or is in possession, storage, fabrication or transport of explosives, fire-arms, instruments, articles, suicide jackets or vehicles designed to be used for terrorist acts, or receives or provides funding from any foreign or local sources for such illegal activities and acts or does any act to overawe the state or any section of the public or a sect or a religious minority or to create terror or insecurity in Pakistan or attempts to commit any of the said acts, within or outside Pakistan shall be punished under this Act;

It is expected that the bills will pass in Parliament quickly.

Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself On Charges That Jewish Charitable Activities Bias Him In Immigration Trial

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on a decision last week by Michigan federal district court judge Paul Borman in which he angrily refused to recuse himself in the trial of a Palestinian woman charged with hiding her terrorism-related past in coming to the U.S. and applying for U.S. citizenship. Defendant Rasmieh Odeh failed to disclose the fact that she had spent 10 years in prison in Israel after being convicted of taking part in two terrorist bombings in Jerusalem. Her lawyers claim that Judge Borman's long history of support and fund-raising for the Detroit Jewish Federation and his organizing trips to Israel bias him and likely gave him extra-judicial information relevant to defendant's claim that she was beaten and raped while in Israeli custody.  In United States v. Odeh, (ED MI, July 31, 2014), Judge Borman wrote:

My relationship to my faith and my heritage through my activity on behalf of the Detroit Jewish Federation, reads nothing like the innuendo and rank speculation that infects Defendant’s motion.

Can State-Sponsored Terror Victims Satisfy Judgments By Attaching Internet Country Code TLDs?

BNA Electronic Commerce & Law Report [subscription required] this week reported on a fascinating legal issue facing the D.C. federal district court in connection with suits by five victims of state-sponsored terrorism brought against Iran, Syria and North Korea. The victims have all obtained default judgments against the defendant countries, and are now seeking to attach assets in the United States to satisfy the judgments. Among the assets they have identified are the Internet top-level domains assigned to each of the countries.  So the parties issued writs of attachment against the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") purporting to attach the .IR, .SY and KP country code TLDs. Earlier this week, ICANN filed a Motions to Quash (full text) arguing, among other things, that the ccTLDs are not property subject to attachment and are not owned by the countries to which they are assigned.  They also argue that forced redelegation of the ccTLDs would destroy their value.