Steve Fox : "The purpose of the Amendment 44 campaign in Colorado was to stimulate a debate in the state about the rationality of laws that allow adults to use alcohol while prohibiting the use of marijuana. Specifically, the Amendment 44 campaign framed all of its arguments so that the listening public would be educated [...]

William B. Neaves, Ph.D. : "The Stowers Institute is pleased that a majority of citizens voted for the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative on Tuesday. Our attention will now be directed toward further recruitment of the world's leading scientists to the Stowers Institute, including stem cell researchers. The support shown by the voters [...]

The president of the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal told tribunal judges Thursday they should allow Muslim lawyers to wear veils in their courtrooms unless it interferes with the "interests of justice", as long as their clients approve and all parties to the proceedings can hear the representatives speak. Judge George Glossop adjourned an immigration [...]

Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the country's new constitution Thursday, which limits his power to dissolve the parliament, gives the legislature the right to form the government and enlarges the parliament from 75 to 90 deputies. The People's Assembly adopted the new constitution Wednesday after opposition party members and pro-government supporters reached a compromise Monday. [...]

Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday approved the lifting of a ban on public gatherings of more than five people, according to Assembly President Meechai Ruchapan . The Council for National Security , formerly the Council for Democratic Reform, announced the ban on public gatherings one day after the Thai military led a bloodless [...]

Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court in China, has encouraged Chinese courts to refrain from passing death sentences , telling judges to always lean toward life when possible . Xiao's comments, reported in the state media Thursday, follow recent legislation passed by the National People's Congress to amend the Organic Law on the [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a hearing Thursday to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed to trial in the case against a Congolese militia leader. Thomas Lubanga , founder of the militant Union of Patriotic Congolese , was formally charged with enlisting child soldiers in the violence-plagued Ituri district . Lubanga is [...]

The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the acquittal of two Chechens accused of murdering Forbes magazine editor Paul Klebnikov in 2004 and ordered a new trial in the case. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, who did not appear in court Thursday, were acquitted by eight jurors in the Moscow City Court in May after [...]

The Ethiopian government is responsible for the deaths of thousands of student protestors and demonstrators over the past 15 years, Judge Teshale Aberra told the Guardian in an interview Wednesday. Aberra, who was president of the Oromia Supreme Court and a judge in Ethiopia for 12 years, defected to the UK in October and is [...]

US District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California on Wednesday blocked the enforcement of provisions of Proposition 83 , a measure approved Tuesday by 70 percent of state voters that prohibits registered sex offenders from residing "within 2,000 feet of any public or private school or park where children regularly gather." Illston [...]