Mexico extradited drug kingpins Osiel Cardenas and Hector "El Guero" Palma and thirteen other major traffickers to the United States Friday as part of an effort by new Mexican president Felipe Calderon to follow through on a promise made by former President Vincente Fox to make increased extraditions to the US . Since taking office, [...]

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett admitted Friday in a written response to a parliamentary question that Britain was "aware of the existence of a secret US detention program" prior to a September speech by President Bush acknowledging the existence of CIA-operated secret prisons for terror detainees. A cabinet Intelligence and Security Committee report has also [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday declined to consider whether the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University can delay implementing Proposal 2 , an amendment to the Michigan Constitution banning affirmative action in public employment, public education and state contracting. In December, a federal judge ruled that the universities could delay implementing [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday granted certiorari in five cases and ordered all briefings on a challenge to the limits on pre-election advertisements introduced as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) , upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003, to be completed by April 18. The two consolidated cases, FEC v. Wisconsin Right [...]

The organizers of a Moscow Gay Pride parade that was denied a permit in May by Moscow's mayor, and then when held anyway in protest was marred by anti-gay violence, are considering filing a lawsuit against the Moscow city government in the European Court of Human Rights . Before any move to the international court, [...]

Former US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) was sentenced Friday to 30 months imprisonment for receiving gifts and campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. Ney pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy and making false statements in relation to his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff . In response to the political corruption scandal, the Republican congressman [...]

Members of a German parliamentary committee investigating the detention of German-born Turk Murat Kurnaz at Guantanamo Bay alleged Thursday that the government of German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder allowed him to remain a prisoner for years, even after US officials offered to release him into German custody. Kurnaz, arrested by US officials in Pakistan shortly after [...]

The trial of 22-year-old Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil , who has been in detention since November on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife in his blog , has begun in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Nabil’s writings are often critical of Islamic authorities and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak , who he has [...]

A jury in California could not reach a decision on the third of a series of questions on a verdict form in the consolidated cases of two men who blamed their heart attacks on the painkiller Vioxx , leading Judge Victoria Chaney of the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County to declare a [...]

US District Judge Reggie B. Walton has placed 10 more potential jurors on standby in the CIA leak trial of former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby . On Thursday the court still did not have a full jury pool and lacked six of the required 36 impartial jurors for final jury selection. Jury [...]