The High Administrative Court of Ukraine has delayed validating the results of the Sept. 30 parliamentary election pending the outcome of a legal challenge by the Communist Party of Ukraine , a court spokesperson said Wednesday. The Communist Party argues that the vote was invalid due to alleged violations surrounding voting abroad. The announcement came [...]

Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea on Wednesday asked the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) to release him on bail. Nuon Chea's family earlier this week expressed concern over his health and urged the tribunal to release him into their custody. He is currently being held at a tribunal detention center awaiting [...]

US Attorney General nominee Michael B. Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that he opposes presidential authorization of torture, calling the controversial "Bybee Memo" "unnecessary" and "a mistake." The 2002 memo, in which the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel defined torture as physical pain equivalent in "intensity to the pain accompanying serious [...]

A Philippines military tribunal Wednesday dismissed charges against four military officers connected with a failed mutiny in July 2003 in which 300 soldiers from elite special forces took over buildings in Manila in an effort to overthrow the government of President Gloria Arroyo . An army officer and a navy ensign were released after the [...]

Japan's cabinet Wednesday approved new anti-terror legislation which would grant a one-year extension to a Japanese refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. The bill, which restricts its application to allied ships on anti-terrorism patrols, is a compromise between the leading Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) , which wishes [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has increasingly turned its focus to terrorism and immigration offenses since 2000, according to a Washington Post report Wednesday. Statistics from the Executive Office for US Attorneys provided to the Post showed significant decreases in prosecution under the Bush administration of organized crime (down 38 percent), white collar crime [...]

Anne Weismann : "The White House's recent refusal to provide assurances that it is preserving back-up copies of the millions of missing emails is clearly part of a larger, more concerted effort to hide information from the public. Other examples include the knowing use of RNC non-governmental email accounts by top White House officials to [...]

An Iranian court sentenced three university students to prison terms ranging from two to three years for insulting Islam and Islamic clerics, the students' lawyer said Tuesday. Officials arrested the students , Majid Tavakoli, Ahmed Ghassaban and Ehsan Mansouri, in May along with five other students on charges of endangering national security and insulting Islam. [...]

The planned execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid , better known in Western media as "Chemical Ali," has been further delayed while Iraqi lawmakers debate the role of the country's Presidency Council and the scope of the authority of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , a judicial source said Wednesday. Several members of the council, made [...]

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Tuesday revised security procedures relating to headwear , merging procedures involving headwear with the broader category of bulky clothing. The move came less than a week after the TSA and the Sikh Coalition held a "community meeting" in Washington DC to discuss Sikh criticism of security procedures enacted in [...]