US Army Col. Richard Basset traveled to the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Wednesday to begin an investigation into accusations of abuse . The US Defense Department last week ordered US Southern Command , which oversees the military facility, to investigate allegations that military guards beat detainees and took away their personal items for [...]

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed judges and political opponents for the disappearance of two terror suspects during his monthly news conference on Wednesday, insisting that his attempts to enact stronger terrorism legislation "were prevented by opposition in Parliament and then by the courts in ensuring that was done." The missing uncharged suspects were under [...]

The father of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has said that Hicks' defense team will challenge the Military Commissions Act of 2006 signed into law by President Bush Tuesday. Terry Hicks said Tuesday that the new legislation leaves the previous system for military commissions virtually intact, although it was ruled unconstitutional by the US [...]

The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , claiming the agencies illegally employed information from databases such as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which tracks predominantly Muslim visitors, immigrants, and students to the US. The lawsuit, filed [...]

Russian hockey team Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Wednesday sued Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the NHL in a dispute over the star hockey player's move from Russia to the National Hockey League, the second such lawsuit to be filed this week by a Russian Super Hockey League team. The lawsuit, seeking an injunction blocking Malkin [...]

Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews has defended a new crime bill introduced by the country's Conservative Party government which could require repeat criminal offenders to convince courts that they are no longer dangerous instead of requiring Crown prosecutors to establish a continuing threat. Toews resisted criticism calling the proposed law unconstitutional, saying the presumption of [...]

Defense lawyers acting for Saddam Hussein in his genocide trial again failed to appear in court Wednesday, despite an agreement with the chief judge allowing them to rejoin the proceedings. The lawyers have been boycotting the trial to protest the behavior of Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, appointed by the Iraqi government after the original [...]

The Turkish Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning a French bill that criminalizes any refusal to characterize the WWI-era mass killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide, but did not take any further retaliatory action. The bill passed France's lower house last week but still needs approval by the French Senate and President Jacques [...]

US Army Col. Thomas Pappas testified Tuesday that the senior officer running the interrogation center at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison was concerned when he was chosen that he did not have the proper training or experience questioning prisoners to assume that role at the facility. At the Article 32 hearing , which will determine whether [...]

Advocacy groups and policymakers have reacted strongly to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 , signed into law by President Bush on Tuesday, calling it a denial of civil liberties while predicting it will fold under court scrutiny. The ACLU said the bill denies due process and constitutional protections to detainees, placing Guantanamo Bay and [...]