Many new state laws took effect on Sunday, including measures to safeguard against child sex offenders and the misuse of personal information. Michigan strengthened its sex offender laws, and Illinois banned human trafficking, allowing state law enforcement to prosecute such crimes. Louisiana and Michigan now require companies to notify state residents when they believe personal [...]

Statement on signing 2006 defense spending bill, President George W. Bush, December 30, 2005 . Excerpt: The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and [...]

Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, as included in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006 and agreed to by the US House and Senate and signed by President Bush, December 30, 2005 . Full text from THOMAS: TITLE X–MATTERS RELATING TO DETAINEES SEC. 1001. SHORT TITLE. This title may be cited as the `Detainee Treatment [...]

Russian officials on Saturday charged former Russian nuclear minister Yevgeny Adamov with fraud and abuse of power, possibly stemming from US charges pending against him. Adamov was extradited from Switzerland to Russia , despite US attempts to require him to face trial in Pennsylvania on charges of embezzling $9 million in US Department of Energy [...]

A federal judge on Friday granted a request by John W. Hinckley, Jr. , who shot President Ronald Reagan and 3 others in 1981 , for seven overnight visits with his parents in their home in Williamsburg, Virginia, 150 miles from Washington. Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, has [...]

President George W. Bush on Friday signed a $453.3 billion defense spending bill which contains provisions banning the cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in US custody, but also eliminates the ability of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in federal court. In a signing statement the President reserved the right to construe the [...]

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has filed a petition seeking permission to appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit a December 15 ruling that declared the state's 1982 ban on corporate farming unconstitutional. The case was brought by ranchers who argued the ban, Initiative 300 (I-300) , hindered their ability to [...]

Recent US-led inspections of Iraqi-run prisons in Baghdad and Tal Afar have revealed signs of prisoner abuse and overcrowding, a US military official said Friday. Maj. Gen. William Webster, who commands security forces in Baghdad, confirmed there is a problem of overcrowding, but denied the existence of any evidence of recent abuse in the facilities: [...]

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday spoke out against pending constitutional changes that will lead, in his opinion, to an "unbalanced and ineffective government", and suggested a national referendum to decide the matter. The changes to the country's constitution , scheduled to take effect on January 1, will strip Yushchenko's power to nominate a prime [...]

The British Parliament announced Friday that the Intelligence and Security Committee will launch an official investigation into allegations that 28 Pakistani terror suspects held in Greece following the July 7 London bombings were abused by 15 Greek agents and one British MI6 officer. The announcement comes on the heels of the Greek Ministry of Justice [...]