US military sources in Iraq announced Saturday that earlier this month the Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentenced 16 security detainees accused of terrorism law breaches, illegal weapons possession and border breaches to punishments ranging from death to a year's imprisonment. The heaviest punishment was imposed on a Libyan accused of being a member of [...]

Organizers and observers of a Moscow rally held Saturday by a coalition of opposition parties protesting Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly-restrictive rights record were quoted in press reports Sunday as saying that police pulled hundreds of would-be demonstrators off buses heading for the unusual rally even before it took place. Some 320 protestors were said [...]

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki opened a national reconciliation conference in Baghdad Saturday by signaling a reversal of the ban on former Baath Party members in the Iraqi government that has applied since the days of the US Coalition Provisional Authority. In a speech to delegates Maliki indicated that although he would still "draw a [...]

Raed Juhi , the Iraqi judge who presided over the investigative stage of the legal proceedings against ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein , said Saturday he was stepping down from that position after the other judges of the Iraqi High Tribunal chose another judge of that court to succeed him. The position of chief investigative [...]

Russian police Saturday arrested several dozen activists among some 3000 protesting in Moscow against President Vladimir Putin's alleged infringements of rights and constitutional freedoms in the country. Authorities said the demonstrators disobeyed police orders to cease yelling and waving signs as they exited a central Moscow square. The demonstrators belonged to a diverse coalition of [...]

Nepal government negotiators and Maoist rebels Saturday reached a somewhat-delayed agreement on the terms of an interim constitution for the country. The interim constitution is notably silent on whether King Gyanendra will retain head of state duties; all executive power is vested in the Prime Minister. The issue of the monarchy will not be settled [...]

Japan's upper house of Parliament on Friday passed two bills lauded by proponents as bolstering national confidence, one elevating the Defense Agency to its pre-World War II status as a full ministry, and the other mandating that Japanese classrooms "cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the nation and home country." The [...]

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicated Friday in court papers that he was "not aware" that any government witnesses in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby intended to invoke executive privilege to avoid testifying, "and the government does not otherwise anticipate any of its witnesses moving to quash or limit trial subpoenas." Vice President Dick [...]

Morales v. Tilton, US District Court for the Northen District of California San Jose District, December 15, 2006 . Read the full text of the memorandum. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A federal judge issued a memorandum of intended decision Friday, concluding that California's lethal injection procedure creates "an undue and unnecessary risk" of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. The memorandum came in the case of condemned killer Michael Morales , who argued that it was not [...]