A federal judge Monday stopped the sale of oil and gas rights on approximately 1.7 million acres of protected land on Alaska's North Slope, which the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had planned for Wednesday to recover an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil sitting under the land. The sale of federal leases would [...]

Saddam Hussein was thrown out of court Tuesday for the third time by new chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, who took over the genocide trial after the former chief judge was removed by the Iraqi government last week. Oreibi opened Tuesday's hearing by telling Saddam that he would have to "behave" and then allowed him [...]

Schwab v. Philip Morris, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, September 25, 2006 . Read the full text of the certification . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Three US Marines charged with murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian in April in Hamdania will face courts-martial, the Marine Corps announced Monday. The decision follows preliminary hearings for the three Marines, all of whom are based at Camp Pendleton, California: Pfc. John J. Jodka III, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda and Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate . [...]

Pressure from the Bush administration and the congressional leadership to fast-track a military commissions bill met bipartisan resistance Monday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing . Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) called the habeas corpus provision of the draft legislation "inexplicable," echoing televised comments he made Sunday suggesting that the provision violates Article 1, Section [...]

An Israel Defense Forces court denied bail Monday to 18 Palestinian lawmakers on trial for charges of membership in a terrorist organization . The ruling, postponed from last week, reverses an earlier military court decision that prosecutors appealed . In his opinion, Judge Col. Shaul Gorden wrote that the court had "no choice" but to [...]

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso suggested Monday that the EU temporarily halt membership enlargement after Bulgaria and Romania join while the EU works to resolve institutional and constitutional problems. Though the Commission will likely announce on Tuesday that Bulgaria and Romania will be eligible to join the EU in January , Barroso's comments throw [...]

A spokesman for Thailand's new military leadership which seized power in a bloodless coup last week has said that the new government wants to bring deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to justice and could seek his extradition from the UK. Thaksin, a billionaire, maintains a residence in London and flew there from New York where [...]

Afghanistan women's rights advocate and director of the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs in Kandahar Safia Hana Jan was killed by armed gunmen in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday. Local officials launched an immediate investigation into the attack, presuming it was coordinated by the local Taliban insurgency in response to Hana Jan's [...]

New York US District Judge Jack Weinstein Monday certified a class action lawsuit for "light" cigarette smokers against tobacco companies accused of leading smokers to believe that light cigarettes are healthier than regular cigarettes. The class action, which includes anyone who has ever bought light cigarettes since they hit the market in the 1970s, alleges [...]