The Australian Senate on Tuesday voted to approve new counter-terrorism laws that broaden the offense of sedition and allow for the detention of suspected terrorists for up to seven days. The legislation passed the lower house last week after vigorous debate. The government blocked opposition attempts to amend the bill , allowing less than four [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday held that Kansas did not unconstitutionally impose a tax on distributors of fuel that was sold on an Indian reservation. In Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation , the Court considered whether Kansas' motor fuel tax applies to fuel delivered by off-reservation non-Indian distributors to a gas station owned [...]

Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled to reinstate six joined cases against DuPont for hiding evidence about Benlate , a fungicide sold by the company, so that it could more easily settle crop loss cases in violation of the federal RICO statute and state law. [...]

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered a clarification of rules on how US troops are to respond if they witness mistreatment of detainees by other forces. The request is a result of the confusion that occurred when Rumsfeld stated that US forces in Iraq are to simply report abuse while Marine General Peter Pace [...]

Chilean Judge Victor Montiglio announced Tuesday that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet will face a new round of human rights charges. As the judge continues to investigate Pinochet's role in Operation Colombo , where a dozen members of the opposition were allegedly kidnapped and murdered, he found enough evidence to connect Pinochet to the abduction [...]

The chief United Nations investigator leading the probe into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri will leave his post on December 15 after submitting his final report to the UN, a spokesman said Tuesday. The spokesman said that German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis indicated he would conduct the investigation for only six to [...]

The US Army Monday dropped charges against an officer who was charged with murder for giving permission to soldiers serving under him to kill two Iraqi civilians, including an Iraqi teenager who was suffering from severe wounds in the aftermath of a US attack and was killed "to put him out of his misery." The [...]

Former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma was charged with rape Tuesday in Johannesburg Magistrate's Court and was freed on 20,000 rand bail until the case opens on February 13, 2006. A family friend who viewed Zuma as a foster parent reported the alleged rape last month. Zuma has gained popularity due to his anti-apartheid [...]

China on Tuesday denied the findings of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak who, after a two-week visit to China, criticized the country for the widespread torture and abuse of prisoners. Nowak, a UN envoy acting on behalf of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) , also said his investigation was hindered by [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ed Richards, Director of the Program in Law, Science, and Public Health at the Louisiana State University Law Center, says that President Bush's bird flu plan raises a number of legal issues even apart from the question of whether it's the right policy response to the threat of a flu pandemic… Over [...]