Colombia Tuesday extradited 14 former militia leaders suspected of organizing violent massacres and drug smuggling operations to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. The guerrilla leaders had surrendered to Colombian authorities under a peace deal in which Colombian President Alvaro Uribe suspended warrants for their extradition, but Justice Minister Carlos Holguin told local [...]

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation began work at its new location in St. Petersburg Monday. The move from the Court's former home in Moscow began in February and is expected to be completed by May 21, with the Court's first session in its new home to take place the following day. RIA Novosti [...]

The Japanese House of Representatives , approved a bill Tuesday that would allow the country's space program to be used for defense purposes, including the development of spy satellites. A lower house committee approved the bill late last week. The new bill is expected to be approved by the House of Councillors , the upper [...]

Japanese authorities on Tuesday arrested five officials of Pacific Consultants International and its affiliate, Abandoned Chemical Weapons Disposal Corp. (ACWDC), for allegedly defrauding the Japanese government of $1.1 million in connection with a government program to remove abandoned chemical weapons left in China by Japanese troops at the end of World War II. ACWD has [...]

Khalid Sekander : "The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2006 that military commissions to try Guantanamo detainees were unconstitutional because they violated Common Article 3, Geneva Conventions, which states that detainees must be treated humanely and be afforded the same judicial guarantees "which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people." So earlier this month the [...]

Stephen Page : "Australia, like the USA, has a two party system. On the left side of the fence is the Australian Labor Party and on the right the Liberal/National coalition. Australia is now at an historic point because for the first time in its history, with the election of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, [...]

The US Department of Defense has dropped criminal charges against Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi Arabian citizen being held at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay . Al-Qahtani was known as the "20th hijacker" for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 attacks . According to US Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, his military lawyer, [...]

Death penalty charges against Guantanamo detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men allegedly involved in planning the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States have been confirmed by the Convening Authority for the US military commissions and sent to defense lawyers, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday. Charges against a sixth man, Mohammed [...]

Rick Kirgis : "If the state of Texas goes ahead with the planned execution of José Ernesto Medellín without allowing him any judicial reconsideration of his murder conviction and his death sentence (to determine whether he was prejudiced by the Texas authorities' failure to notify him of his right to contact the Mexican consulate after [...]

Israeli police Monday raided the offices of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as part of an investigation into allegations that Olmert accepted bribes from an American businessman during his tenures as mayor of Jerusalem and as Israeli Minister of Industry Trade and Labor. The businessman, Morris Talansky, was questioned Monday, but denied wrongdoing during an [...]