US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell Monday urged senators to pass long-term legislation to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) , contending that a permanently-revised FISA is critical to fighting terrorism. Speaking at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on the status of fighting terrorism six years after [...]

An Iraqi judge and spokesman for the Iraqi High Tribunal said at a Baghdad news conference Monday that the execution of three former Saddam-era Iraqi officials sentenced to death for their role in the 1988 Anfal Campaign can proceed without the approval of the Iraqi president because of the scope of their crimes. Iraqi President [...]

The United States and other western countries repeatedly impeded efforts by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to arrest Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic , according to the memoirs of Florence Hartmann , former spokeswoman for ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte , published Monday in France. Hartmann said that [...]

Several inmates of a federal penitentiary in New York have filed a lawsuit challenging a decision by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to remove religious and spiritual books from prison chapel libraries, according to the New York Times on Monday. Prison chaplains across the country have been directed to remove from prison chapel [...]

The Supreme Court of Indonesia has awarded former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto the equivalent of $129 million in damages in Suharto’s defamation suit against Time Magazine , according to a court spokesperson. The ruling was made on August 30. Suharto sued Time over a 1999 article that said Suharto had hidden billions of dollars [...]

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has modified its Automated Targeting System to limit its ability to track persons who may be considered a security threat when they travel abroad. Under regulations that went into effect late last week, DHS will now hold risk assessments of those traveling abroad who may pose a potential [...]

The Bangladeshi interim government lifted the complete ban on all indoor political activity Monday, ahead of scheduled voting reforms talks between the country's election commission and its political parties. The ban was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in March 2007, extending the January 11 state of emergency order by President Iajuddin Ahmed which [...]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that he would resign if parliament refuses to extend a special anti-terrorism law. Abe faces opposition from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) , which has criticized Abe's ability to function and have threatened to veto the renewal of the legislation. The Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law , originally [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sunday voiced his disapproval of an administrative decision allowing Muslim women to wear veils and burqas while voting in upcoming by-elections in the province of Quebec. Elections Canada , an independent body that oversees national elections, announced Thursday that Muslim women will be allowed to wear traditional Muslim niqabs or [...]

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega will remain in a US federal prison until all appeals relating to an extradition request by France have been exhausted, despite his originally-scheduled September 9 release date , the US Department of State said Friday. Ultimately, the State Department will issue the final order on France's extradition requests. US District [...]