US District Judge Ivan Lemelle on Monday refused to order changes to New Orleans municipal elections scheduled for April 22. Lemelle held a hearing Monday morning to consider arguments from civil rights groups that the elections should be postponed due to the large numbers of African-American residents who have been displaced outside Louisiana due to [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday softened HR 4437 , the controversial immigration reform bill passed by the House in December, by adopting an amendment by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) that would protect charitable organizations, churches and individuals providing aid to undocumented immigrants from all criminal charges. Under the House legislation, knowingly aiding an [...]

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided in a 6-0 vote Monday to approve rules that include subject Internet advertising to current campaign finance laws. The rules will regulate only paid advertisements on another person's website, and will not include blogs, e-mails, and other online publications. The FEC introduced the proposed rules Friday in response to [...]

Algimantas Dailide , a retired real estate broker from the Cleveland and Gulfport FL areas, was convicted Monday in his Lithuanian hometown on charges of helping the Nazis commit genocide against Jews in the town of Vilnius during World War II. As a result of his conviction, Dailide faced 5-20 years in prison, but the [...]

AP is reporting that al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui has testified that he and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid were meant to hijack a fifth airplane and fly it into the White House as part of the Sept. 11 attacks . Moussaoui took the stand Monday in his sentencing trial to determine whether he will face [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal in Lawrence v. Florida , concerning a challenge to rules surrounding the one-year filing deadline for making habeas corpus claims in federal court. Florida death row inmate Gary Lawrence is questioning whether the deadline is suspended while the Supreme Court reviews his petition for [...]

A UN delegation led by Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel arrived in the south African nation of Burundi Monday to help establish a truth and reconciliation commission and war crimes court. According to Michel, the 5-member group will facilitate negotiations between local transition government leaders on the "necessary juridical framework" to establish the commission [...]

Microsoft on Monday appealed a ruling from the South Korean Fair Trade Commission that the company breached antitrust laws by bundling its Windows operating system with Microsoft programs. In the decision handed down in December 2005, the Commission ordered Microsoft to pay $33 million and unbundle its media player and messaging service from its Windows [...]

Zimbabwe government on Monday announced new anti-terrorism laws that would allow the government to outlaw any group it declares to be a "foreign or international terrorist organization." The proposed Suppression of Foreign and International Terrorism Bill comes two weeks after the government arrested 15 members of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change for possessing [...]

The sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui on Monday enters what analysts expect to be a critical week, with testimony from Moussaoui and other key witnesses. Prosecutors concluded their case for giving Moussaoui the death penalty last Thursday, during which the defense team consistently highlighted failures by the CIA and FBI to investigate Moussaoui after his [...]