A US District Court judge in Chicago has held that plaintiffs in a class action suit lack standing to challenge a new federal law requiring Medicaid recipients to present passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship at the risk of losing benefits. Plaintiffs have announced that they will appeal the preliminary ruling by Judge [...]

A Georgia judge held a new Georgia law requiring voters to show ID cards unconstitutional in a ruling Tuesday. State Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. held that the controversial voter ID law is not required under the Georgia constitution and would disenfranchise otherwise qualified voters. Bedford expressed concern with the burden placed on [...]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday urged global action to combat three challenges facing humanity – human rights and the rule of law, security, and development – as the UN General Assembly opened its 61st session . In his speech , Annan reflected on his 10-year tenure as secretary-general due to end this year, noting that [...]

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence along the US-Mexico border is going up for a Senate floor vote as early as Wednesday after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) filed a cloture motion earlier this week to break a potential filibuster . The bill designed to curb [...]

Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) frequently makes arbitrary arrests, detains suspects without charges and abuses political dissidents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released Tuesday. The monitoring group found that detainees are arbitrarily arrested and held in GID's detention facility in Amman without access to their family or a lawyer. The report [...]

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told members of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Tuesday that Congress should mandate the preservation of customer records by Internet service providers in order to aid the prosecution of child pornography offenders. Testifying at a hearing , Gonzales maintained that lack of access to this [...]

AP is reporting that the Royal Thai Army has revoked the 1991 Thai constitution and declared martial law in a coup ousting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , who is in New York for the opening of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly. Earlier Tuesday, amid rumors of a coup and reports of [...]

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has directed the FCC's inspector general to investigate the alleged concealment of a 2004 draft working paper on television ownership and a 2003 draft report on radio ownership. . FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said in a Monday letter to Senator Barbara Boxer, who obtained copies of [...]

The London Metropolitan Police pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to criminal charges under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare" of the public in causing the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, shot and killed by London police officers last year after the [...]

Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri was removed from presiding over the second Saddam Hussein trial on Tuesday, Al-Iraqiya state television reported. A replacement judge, who has not yet been named, has been requested by the Iraqi prime minister. A government spokesman told Reuters: "We have asked the court to replace the judge because he has lost [...]