Turkish police on Thursday arrested approximately 30 more people, including eight army officers, nine policemen, and a union leader, in an investigation of an alleged plot to overthrow the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) . The latest arrests included journalist Unal Inanc, political polling analyst Erhan Goksel, Turkish Metal Union Chairman [...]

A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced two people to death and several to life imprisonment for their involvement in the melamine-tainted milk scandal that sickened almost 300,000 children and killed at least six. Chairwoman of the now-bankrupt Sanlu Group Tian Wenhua pleaded guilty in December and received a life sentence Thursday. The Shijiazhuang court ordered [...]

US President Barack Obama issued an executive order Thursday directing that the Guantanamo Bay military prison be closed "as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order." The order also instructed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to immediately halt military commission proceedings pending a comprehensive review of all [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday ruled that an Illinois state law requiring a moment of silence in public schools is unconstitutional. Judge Robert Gettleman held that the Illinois Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act , which requires state schools to observe a moment of silence [...]

Dawn S. Sherman, a minor, through Robert I. Sherman, her father and next friend, on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated, v. Township High School District 214, US District Court for the Northern of Illinois, January 21, 2009 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ended a decade-long battle by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to have the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) declared constitutional by denying certiorari in the case of Mukasey v. ACLU . By denying review, the Court has decided that the law, which imposes civil and criminal [...]

US President Barack Obama retook the presidential oath of office Wednesday, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts , following minor mistakes the two made in the wording of the oath during Tuesday's inauguration ceremony . White House lawyer Greg Craig addressed the issue on Wednesday, maintaining that Obama was already properly sworn in despite the [...]

The Supreme Court of Uganda on Wednesday ruled that the death penalty is not prohibited by Uganda's constitution because it does not constitute cruel and inhuman punishment. The decision comes on an appeal by over 400 inmates on death row of a 2005 ruling of the Constitutional Court that held the death penalty was legal. [...]

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued the first executive orders of his presidency, focusing on White House ethics and transparency. The executive order on Presidential Records grants broader public access to the records of previous presidential administrations, reversing restrictions implemented by former President George W. Bush. The second executive order on Ethics Commitments by [...]

A military judge on Wednesday suspended for 120 days the military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay against five alleged 9/11 co-conspirators , including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , granting a request by lawyers acting at the behest of President Barack Obama . In a separate case, another military judge suspended proceedings Wednesday against Canadian detainee Omar [...]