Recently in International Law Category

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with an American father on Tuesday in a strange international custody dispute over a girl who has been living outside the country under a lower court order.

The Supreme Court, by a 9-0 vote, ruled in favor of Chafin, who challenged the awarding of his daughter Eris to her mother, Lynne Chafin, a Scottish national.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed Jeffrey Chafin’s appeal, saying the issue was moot because the girl by then was already in Scotland and beyond its control.

The High Court disagreed.

The U.S . can lawfully kill an American citizen overseas if it determines the target is a "senior, operational leader" of al-Qaeda or an associated group and poses an imminent threat to the country, according to a Justice Department document published by NBC News.

The document defines "imminent threat" expansively, saying it does not have to be based on intelligence about a specific attack since such actions are being "continually" planned by al-Qaeda.

"In this context," it says, "imminence must incorporate considerations of the relevant window of opportunity" as well as possible collateral damage to civilians. The document also provides a legal rationale behind the Obama administration's use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects.

Exactly what constitutes an "imminent" threat is not specifically defined, however.

David Matusiewicz, a divorced Delaware optometrist, pleaded guilty today to federal bank fraud and kidnapping charges.

Since his crime spree reads like a television drama, it should be no surprise that he was profiled on America's Most Wanted

In 2007, Matusiewicz told his ex-wife that he was taking their 3 young daughters to Disney World in Florida. Instead, he fled with them to Central America via Mexico, taking his elderly mother along for the ride in a 33-foot mobile home.

That's not all.

It's official: Englewood, New Jersey sued the Libyan government and its contractor, Quattro Construction, for a temporary injunction to enforce stop work orders issued against the current work on the Libya-owned property.

You can read the complete lawsuit and stop work orders here:

Englewood, New Jersey's City Attorney Bill Bailey told FindLaw that the city's lawsuit seeking an injunction to halt all construction on the Libyan government's Englewood property  would be filed in approximately one hour -- around 4 p.m. EST / 1 p.m. PST.

Englewood's Mayor, Michael Wildes, also told FindLaw that the city was suing the Libyan government over the property's construction.

After Scotland's release last week of a convicted Lockerbie bomber from Libya, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi reported plans to set up a large tent on the country's Englewood property, creating a firestorm of controversy.

Bradley Birkenfeld -- the American former UBS banker who played a central role in breaking the Swiss bank's secrecy and confidentiality in trying to protect its U.S. clients from evading payment of their U.S. taxes -- was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison today.

Birkenfeld helped turn Swiss Bank account secrecy's cachet -- at least for U.S. clients -- into 'cachet-less accounts,' the likes of which heads of state, terrorist leaders, and reputed drug traffickers have benefited from over the years.  The United States settled a lawsuit with UBS this week over the bank's refusal to turnover a list of its U.S. client accounts, and the Swiss government agreed to help them divulge the identities of at least 4,450 clients without breaking Swiss law.

Exactly what did Birkenfeld give the feds in exchange for today's sentence?