Both the Maine House of Representatives and Senate approved a joint resolution Thursday refusing to implement the federal Real ID Act . The resolution had broad support across both parties, with the House of Representatives approving the resolution 137-4 and the Senate 34-0. The federal act, scheduled to take effect in 2008, mandates that state [...]
READ MORE ▸
The US Department of Justice asked the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Thursday to drop the DOJ's appeal of a lower court ruling declaring the NSA domestic surveillance program unconstitutional. The Justice Department argued that the lawsuit is moot because "electronic surveillance not subject to the FISC court" no longer exists. Ann [...]
Some non-Cambodian judges involved in the multinational Khmer Rouge genocide trials may resign because of a protracted dispute over procedural rules among the various jurists overseeing the upcoming tribunal, the International Herald Tribune reported Thursday. Tribunal judges convened in November to establish court rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) scheduled [...]
Italy is set to become the latest country in Europe to criminalize Holocaust denial after the cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi unanimously approved a draft bill Thursday. The draft, written by Justice Minister Clemente Mastella , will now be given to parliament for debate. It makes it a crime punishable by up to [...]
Bangladesh Attorney General AJ Mohammad Ali stepped down from his post Wednesday in what is believed to be a response to demands for his resignation from a left-leaning 14-party coalition led by the Awami League (AL) . The AL accuses Ali of instituting policies for a currently-suspended national election that would have favored the center-right [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Senegal to accelerate the process of bringing former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre to justice in a briefing paper released Thursday. Following a recommendation from the July 2006 African Union assembly , Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade agreed that Habre should be tried in Senegal, but Senegal has yet to legalize such [...]
Indonesia Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh announced Thursday that by the end of the month the state plans to bring a civil action against former president Haji Mohammad Suharto for alleged misuse of charitable funds. The suit will concern the Supersemar foundation, created by Suharto in 1974 as a scholarship fund for students, and could [...]
A Seoul court ruled Thursday that cancer patients suing South Korean tobacco firm Korea Tobacco and Ginseng Co. (KTG) do not have enough evidence to link their diseases to negligence on the part of the companies. The court conceded the link between smoking and the plaintiffs' illnesses, but said that there was insufficient evidence to [...]
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that the increasingly-controversial issue of whether Catholic adoption agencies would have to permit adoptions by same-sex couples under new equality regulations will be decided in cabinet next week. The rules would ostensibly prohibit discrimination against same-sex couples wishing to exercise their new right to adopt children , but [...]
A North Carolina state judge on Thursday issued an injunction blocking two executions until Gov. Mike Easley issues new procedures to execute capital defendants without the presence of doctors. The new execution protocol is required after the North Carolina Medical Board last week changed their capital punishment policy , taking the position that "physician participation [...]
