A three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reinstated a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against drug maker Merck & Co. over claims relating to its prescription painkiller Vioxx . The lawsuit had been dismissed by the US District Court of New Jersey in April 2007. In its ruling, the three-judge [...]

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday vacated the conviction of former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member James Ford Seale for his involvement in the 1964 deaths of two 19-year-old black teens. Seale was sentenced to three life terms in August 2007, two months after his conviction [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Monday rejected claims that federal and state drug laws violate the constitutional and statutory rights of a priest in the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church (EZCC) , which embraces the sacramental use of marijuana. The St. Louis-based court affirmed a decision by the US District Court [...]

Safiya Ghori-Ahmad : "For many American Muslims, the case of Sami Al-Arian has become the most prominent illustration of the Bush administration's post-9/11 political prosecutions. Sami Al-Arian, a former University of Florida professor, was arrested in 2003 on charges of funding terrorism. In December 2005, the jury acquitted him of 8 of the 17charges brought [...]

The government of the Netherlands on Tuesday detailed its plans to ban the burqa in and around all primary schools, including Muslim institutions. In a letter to parliament , Education Minister Ronald Plasterk predicted that a bill to prohibit the head-to-foot garment would be presented to lawmakers next year and could be enacted by 2010. [...]

The Taipei District Court on Tuesday cleared former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian of defamation charges stemming from Taiwan's 1991 purchase of six frigates from France. Six retired Taiwanese admirals filed suit against Chen following his 2005 televised comments suggesting that the group received $20 million in improper kickbacks from the deal. The court held that [...]

Three of the four sitting US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) members on Monday denounced a report released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) as "a blueprint for radically weakened enforcement" of federal antitrust law. The report explores single entity violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act , in which a competitor seeks or [...]

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet were ousted Tuesday following a guilty verdict from the Constitutional Court of Thailand on the charge that Samak violated the constitution when he accepted payment for his appearance on a television cooking program . Section 267 of the Constitution of Thailand states in part: Except for holding [...]

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday that she has been summoned to testify before Ukraine's Prosecutor General’s Office on September 11. An official for the office has said that her testimony is being sought by prosecutors investigating the 2004 poisoning of President Viktor Yushchenko , but Tymoshenko has said the real reason for the [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Monday revived the possibility of several state-law claims against individuals and entities connected to Enron Corp. by ruling that Texas courts may decide whether the period allotted for bringing such claims has lapsed. The court, based in New Orleans, reversed in part a ruling by [...]