Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told opposition leaders in the lower house of Parliament Tuesday that while he intends to change the role of the country's military in the Japanese constitution , he does not want to make such revisions in order to go to war abroad. Abe assumed the prime ministership last week and [...]
Caroline Fredrickson : "Last week, the House and Senate adopted S.3930, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In doing so, lawmakers removed important checks on the president, failed to protect due process, eliminated habeas corpus for many detainees, undermined enforcement of the Geneva Conventions and gave a "get out of jail free card" to senior [...]
Dr. James Jay Carafano : "When Congress passed the law that will govern how terrorist suspects can be tried in military tribunals, they acted just like the Founding Fathers would have wished. They stuck fast to principles, the bedrock of values and beliefs that this nation stands for — and they compromised on particulars. Three [...]
Eight former Serbian police officers went on trial Monday in Belgrade's special war crimes court charged with the slaying of 48 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999. Their commander pleaded not guilty; the remaining defendants will enter their pleas Tuesday. All of the victims, who were killed in Suva Reka , Kosovo, in March 1999, [...]
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock is reconsidering the removal from Australian libraries of books which the government fears may incite terrorist activity. In a television interview Monday Ruddock expressed a willingness to allow structured and limited research access to two banned books on jihad by the late Palestinian Islamist Abdullah Azam which have been taken [...]
A federal judge Monday denied motions by former Alabama governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to overturn their corruption convictions. US District Judge Mark Fuller ruled there was "substantial evidence" to back jury verdicts against them. In June 2006, Siegelman was convicted on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud. Scrushy [...]
The White House announced Monday that the Bush administration will allow US military aid for nearly two dozen countries that have not signed so-called Article 98 agreements which shield US soldiers from prosecution before the International Criminal Court (ICC) . The bilateral agreements provide that neither party to a specific accord will bring the other’s [...]
Germany should consider amending its penal code to allow the use of swastikas in anti-Nazi materials, Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said Monday. Zypries' remarks follow Friday's decision by a state court in Stuttgart ordering Juergen Kamm to pay a fine of 3,600 euros (US $4,600) for selling T-shirts and badges featuring a swastika surrounded by [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday turned back a number of cases brought before it for appeal, including that of a Maine advocacy group which the Court deemed moot. The nonprofit Christian Civic League of Maine had challenged a district court dismissal of its challenge to the electioneering communication ban in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act [...]
Mexico urged President Bush on Monday to veto the Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along the US-Mexico border . A spokesman for Mexican President Vicente Fox said the bill "hurts bilateral relations, goes against the spirit of cooperation needed to guarantee security in the common, creates a climate [...]