The New York-based Sikh Coalition Saturday expressed concern at a new US Transportation and Security Administration policy that subjects Sikhs to heightened screening procedures at US airports, including mandatory turban pat downs. On Friday TSA officials told the Coalition that in a Guidance memo issued to 43,000 TSA screeners nationwide that it had specifically included [...]

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed Law and Justice Minister Wasi Zafar and moved him to another cabinet portfolio in the wake of the reinstatement of suspended Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry . State television announced the move Saturday. Chaudhry's July reinstatement by order of the Supreme Court was a major embarrassment [...]

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said in a radio address Saturday that he expected lawmakers in the country's congress to reject a request from Ecuador's Supreme Court to lift his immunity so that a defamation case against him could proceed. Correa said "I have faith that the lawmakers will act in accordance with the law, with [...]

A Chinese draft law on criminal suspects' rights to meet with defense lawyers after questioning has been broadened to include cases involving state secrets, according to Chinese state media. A set of reforms to China's Law on Lawyers was initially presented to Chinese legislators in June, but at that time it included a provision that [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Saturday urged the interim government of Bangladesh to respect international human rights standards as it enforces a curfew and seeks to police demonstrations. The government imposed the curfew Wednesday after three days of student protests resulted in hundreds of injuries and one death. Protesters called for an end to emergency laws [...]

China's cabinet, the State Council , is considering a regulation to ban non-medical sex-selective abortions in the country, according to a senior official quoted by state media sources Saturday. Wang Yongqing, deputy head of the Office of Legislative Affairs of the State Council, said that the measure was one of several laws and regulations on [...]

US Judge Advocates General told a group of Republican senators last month that CIA prisoner interrogation methods authorized under a July executive order issued by President Bush could contravene the Geneva Conventions, according to the Boston Globe. The military lawyers were talking to John Warner, Lindsay Graham, and a top aide to John McCain, all [...]

A court in the central Asian republic of Georgia , formerly part of the old Soviet Union, has sentenced 12 opposition activists to prison terms of up to eight-and-a-half years for participating in an alleged coup plot to overthrow the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili . Lawyers for the activists immediately condemned the ruling of [...]

The Alabama Attorney General's office said Friday that Attorney General Troy King would try to prevent the early release from a Maryland state prison of Arthur Bremer , the man who shot ex-Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1972 during his independent presidential campaign, leaving him paralyzed for life. Bremer has served 35 years of a [...]

The Liberian Supreme Court ruled Friday that former interim Liberian President Gyude Bryant can stand trial on embezzlement charges. Bryant was charged in February with embezzling $1.3 million during his tenure from October 2003 until January 2006. The indictment was based on an audit conducted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) , [...]