The US State Department confirmed Thursday that the International Committee of the Red Cross does not have access to all US detainees, but said that ICRC had access to "absolutely everybody" held at Guantanamo Bay . John Bellinger, top lawyer at the State Department, declined to give further details about detainees the ICRC has no [...]

US House and Senate negotiators announced Thursday that a deal has been reached on legislation that will reauthorize portions of the USA PATRIOT Act set to expire on December 31. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said the Senate will vote on the compromise next week. Under the agreement, provisions authorizing roving wiretaps and allowing FBI access [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Thursday proposed a sweeping national ban on handguns in an effort to combat escalating gun violence in Canadian cities. In Toronto, there have been 50 homicides from gunfire this year, a new record for the city and almost twice the number from 2004. Under Martin's proposed Canada Handgun Ban [...]

Retired Croatian general Ante Gotovina was arrested late Wednesday night in Spain. Gotovina was indicted on crimes against humanity charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2001 and was considered to be the third most-wanted suspect from the 1990s Balkan wars. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said Thursday that Gotovina [...]

Leaders in the US House and Senate are still working to reach a compromise on legislation that would reauthorize portions of the USA PATRIOT Act which are set to expire at the end of this year, though officials say they are moving closer to a deal. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary [...]

Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, an officer in Britain's Royal Air Force , will face a court-martial next year on five counts of disobeying a lawful command and could be jailed for refusing to serve in Iraq. Earlier this year, Kendall-Smith refused to attend preliminary training and briefings in preparation for his posting to Basra because, [...]

US District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram has dismissed several lawsuits that sought to block reparations for Austrian Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the claims should be dismissed under the political question doctrine, because the compensation agreement had been specifically negotiated by the [...]

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) , representing Inuit indigenous peoples in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia, has filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) accusing the US government of violating Inuit human rights by failing to adequately fight the thaw of Arctic ice. The ICC argues that climate change is undermining [...]

A and others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, UK House of Lords, December 8, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinions of the Lords of Appeal . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Paul Cote Jr. has said that church-run and other private hospitals will be able to opt out from a new state law requiring emergency room doctors to offer emergency contraception to rape victims. Cote's office expects to issue regulations next week that will allow private hospitals to opt out based on [...]