Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Tuesday sent Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a memo detailing the pros and cons of all possible legal methods the government may use to investigate the country's conduct in the Middle East conflict . The memo, which was not released to the press, lists at least five options, the [...]

The kidnappers of two Fox News journalists who were abducted in Gaza City on August 14 have demanded that the US release "Muslims detained in American prisons" within 72 hours in exchange for the safe release of the journalists. The self-named "Holy Jihad Brigades" faxed their demand to news stations, and sent a video of [...]

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL , will be authorized to use force to protect civilians under immediate threat and act in preemptive self defense according to a draft copy of its proposed rules of engagement obtained by wire services. UNIFIL was given an expanded mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 , unanimously [...]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may not tax monies that Washington, DC plaintiffs receive to compensate for emotional distress injuries, according to a ruling released Wednesday by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit . The plaintiff in the case was fired from her previous job, brought suit against her employer, [...]

Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Israel of deliberately inflicting unnecessary damage on Lebanese civilian infrastructure during the Middle East conflict , acts which Amnesty says rises to the level of war crimes. In its report , Amnesty cited as evidence instances of Israeli airstrip's on remote bridges "of no apparent strategic importance," the destruction of [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has assigned counsel for Vojislav Seselj , ruling that Seselj may not conduct his own defense in his war crimes trial. According to the ICTY press release : In coming to its decision, the Trial Chamber described numerous instances where Vojislav Seselj behaved in an obstructionist, disruptive [...]

Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a 36-year-old Pakistan-born Australian immigrant, on Wednesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a minimum of 15 years served for his plan to wage a "holy war" by detonating homemade bombs around Sydney. New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Anthony Whealy said the maximum sentence given to Lodhi should be [...]

Xia Shuqin , a survivor of the 1937-1938 Nanjing Massacre , was awarded $200,000 by a Chinese court Wednesday in a lawsuit against two Japanese historians who claimed she fabricated her recollection of the atrocities. Shuqin claims to have suffered psychological trauma and damage to her reputation after the historians published two books claiming her [...]

A Russian court has affirmed the right of the city of Moscow to reject an application by organizers of a gay pride parade, ruling that there was a legitimate safety concern in banning the parade, though lawyers for the parade organizers said the ban infringes on gay rights. A separate court upheld the ban in [...]

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht , who was reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in May for his support of former US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers , defended his actions to an appeals court Tuesday. Hecht was issued an "admonishment" , the least severe sanction allowed, following complaints filed with the [...]