The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) released updated voter turnout statistics for the October 15 Iraqi constitutional referendum Friday, reporting a 63 percent turnout among the country's 15.5 million registered voters. The referendum drew a three-percent higher turnout than the Sunni-boycotted parliamentary elections in January . Official referendum results are expected next week after [...]

The Moscow Bar Association reported Friday that it had found no evidence to disbar three lawyers on the defense team of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky . On September 23 the Russian Prosecutor General's office requested that eight of Khodorkovsky's lawyers be stripped of their law licenses for dragging out his appeal, allegedly to [...]

Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) made his first court appearance in state criminal court in Austin Friday since his indictment earlier this month on criminal conspiracy and money laundering charges, but his arraignment has been postponed pending his lawyer's request for a new judge in the case . DeLay defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin noted that Judge [...]

President Bush Friday called for the UN to convene an urgent meeting to consider what he characterized as the "deeply disturbing" findings of the Mehlis report suggesting that the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could not have taken place without Syrian involvement. US ambassador to the UN John Bolton meanwhile called [...]

Members of the defense team for Saddam Hussein demanded Friday that his trial be delayed or moved outside of Iraq after the body of a kidnapped defense lawyer for one of Hussein's co-defendants was found Friday. The lawyers called for the trial to be postponed past November 28 , the scheduled date for the trial [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, Wisconsin state legislators held a public hearing before a joint meeting of the Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees Thursday to discuss a bill that would require plaintiffs in manufacturer liability cases to prove a specific product caused their injuries and was made or marketed by the defendant company in order [...]

Retiring US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor called for clearer rules regarding prisoner detention and interrogation during a speech at West Point Thursday. O'Connor said the situations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay reflected the confusion of soldiers and a need for guidance. The US Supreme Court has ruled that foreign-born detainees should have [...]

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that illegal underage sex cannot be punished more harshly if it is homosexual. The case before the court involved convicted sex offender Matthew Limon , who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy when he was eighteen. If the underage [...]

The European Commission agreed Friday to negotiate with Bosnia to form a cooperation agreement that may result in the country's full membership to the European Union. The commission said that in order for talks to move forward, Bosnia should improve relations with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , adopt public broadcasting laws, [...]

Report of the International Independent Investigating Commission Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1595 (2005) . Excerpt: The present report details progress made in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1595. In that resolution, adopted on 7 April 2005, the Security Council, condemning the 14 February 2005 terrorist attack in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed former [...]