A Jan. 21 account from the pan-Latin American Matriz del Sur agency claiming that Somalia's pirates are seeking to send booty as aid to Haiti's earthquake victims has made an Internet splash, picked up by Venezuela's Aporrea and translated into English on Metamute. The report only uses the word "pirates" in quotes (prefaced with "so-called" on first reference), but the pirate leader who is quoted is not identified by name or organization. No alternative term for the pirates is offered.

Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against the US and UK over their use of depleted uranium bombs, an Iraqi minister says. Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah newspaper that the suit will be based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment finding an increase in the number of babies born with defects in the countries' southern provinces. The US and UK are said to have dropped nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs following the 2003 invasion. (Tehran Times, Feb. 2)

A jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York Feb. 3 convicted Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, on charges of attempting to murder US personnel at the Afghan facility where she was being held. Prosecutors claimed that while in US custody in Afghanistan, Siddiqui lunged for and grabbed an unsecured M-4 rifle and opened fire on her captors. US personnel returned fire, injuring Siddiqui—who denies both handling the weapon and attacking the personnel. In addition to two counts of attempted murder, the jury found Siddiqui guilty of armed assault against US officers, and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. The jury found that the attempted murders were not premeditated. Neither Siddiqui nor her lawyers have announced whether they will appeal the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for May. (Jurist, Feb. 4)

The Swiss Federal Council announced Feb. 3 that it would accept two Uighur detainees from Guantánamo Bay. The council decided to admit the detainees for humanitarian reasons, despite the Chinese citizenship of both Uighurs and recent warnings by the Chinese Embassy that Switzerland would jeopardize relations with China by accepting the detainees. After psychological tests and further investigation, the Council concluded that the detainees did not pose a security threat. Authorities from the canton of Jura, where the detainees will be housed, announced that it was prepared to issue a residence permit. The Council has instructed the Federal Migration Office to approve the permits.

US Attorney General Eric Holder Feb. 3 defended his decision to charge suspected "Christmas Day bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in US federal court. Holder, who has resisted calls from high-level Republicans to try Abdulmutallab in a military tribunal, said that the civilian criminal justice system was capable of handling his trial. In a letter to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Holder cited longstanding policy, first initiated under George W. Bush, that suspects apprehended on US soil are tried in civilian court. Holder also defended his decision to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda warnings as consistent with FBI policy on custodial interrogations.

The deaths of three elite US soldiers in a Taliban suicide attack in Pakistan Feb. 3 revealed the existence of military assistance program that authorities have sought to keep quiet. The soldiers were among some 100 members of a Special Forces team that trains Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps in counterinsurgency techniques.

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Feb. 3 reversed a Pre-Trial Chamber decision that denied the application for an arrest warrant on genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The reversal was procedural, and did not address the question of whether al-Bashir is responsible for genocide.

The US and Russia have reached an agreement for the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty since 1991, officials said Feb. 1. The landmark treaty, which will replace the recently expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), will include significant reductions in both the number of deployed nuclear weapons as well as the number of nuclear-delivery systems. US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller is in Paris to finalize the treaty after an agreement in principle was reached last week between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.