The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General announced the indictment Wednesday of anchoring and fastening product manufacturer Power Fasteners on one count of involuntary manslaughter for the July 10, 2006, ceiling panel collapse in Boston's Big Dig tunnel project that killed one person. Massachusetts authorities allege that Powers was aware that the wrong kind of [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says that new Congressionally-approved revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act give the Bush administration wide discretion to illegally spy on American citizens… Responding to fear-mongering by the Bush administration, the Democrat-led Congress has put its stamp of approval on the unconstitutional wiretapping of [...]

The Chinese Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Kunming, Yunnan sentenced the former deputy director of the province's transportation department to life in prison Wednesday for accepting more than $5.3 million in bribes in exchange for his influence in securing construction and development contracts. The court said that Hu Xing's sentence was lenient because Hu voluntarily [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion Wednesday with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court asking the court to "disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans." The ACLU's request includes a recently disclosed FISC decision restricting the government's monitoring of e-mail and telephone conversations [...]

The Namibian High Court on Wednesday sentenced 10 defendants to prison terms ranging from 30 to 32 years after they were convicted of high treason for their roles in the 1999 Caprivi uprising . The 10, who were removed from the courtroom for unruly behavior during the sentencing, were among 129 defendants accused of fostering [...]

US Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley has refused to accept a plea agreement and maintains his innocence on allegations that he and two other soldiers killed three unarmed Iraqis and then placed weapons next to the bodies, according to an interview with Hensley's mother published in Wednesday's Asheville Citizen-Times. Hensley has been charged with premeditated [...]

French lawyer Francois Roux was sworn in Wednesday to defend former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Khek lev , also known as Duch, in his trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) . Cambodian Bar Association President Ky Tech said that Roux is the first foreign defense lawyer to receive formal [...]

A federal jury in California convicted former Brocade Communications Systems CEO Gregory Reyes Tuesday in the first stock options backdating case to go to trial. The jury found Reyes guilty of conspiracy, securities fraud, lying to accountants, and false books for backdating stock options for employees to days when the stock was low in order [...]

The US Department of Homeland Security is expected to issue stricter guidelines this week to enhance employer compliance with federal immigration regulations, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Under the proposed new rules, employers who receive notices from the Social Security Administration informing them of non-matching records between an employee's name and social security number [...]

Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan said Tuesday that although Mexico has played a large role in advocating for human rights in the international arena, the country has failed to adequately address rights abuses at home. Amnesty International completed its High Level Mission to Mexico Tuesday, finding that "flaws in the public security and criminal [...]