Top US military lawyers signed two letters sent to Congress earlier this week supporting President Bush's proposed legislation on military commissions after being urged to do so by the Pentagon's politically-appointed top civilian counsel, the New York Times reported Saturday. Members of the Judge Advocate General's Corps signed the letters Wednesday addressed to Rep. Duncan [...]

Voters in Portugal could go to the polls in January 2007 to vote in a referendum on the legalization of abortion after the ruling Socialist Party made the proposal on Friday. A party spokesperson stated that current legislation that bans abortions is "socially unjust." The opposition Christian Democrats, however, plan to fight to keep abortion [...]

A US Army spokesman said Friday that the Army has added a new specification to charges against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada based on a speech he gave in August to Veterans for Peace in which Watada advocated that "to stop an illegal and unjust war, soldiers can choose to stop fighting it." The Army says [...]

UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland told the UN Security Council on Friday that sexual abuse of women and girls by soldiers in the strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo "has become a cancer in Congolese society that seems to be out of control", and said the country's leaders needed to condemn and prosecute it. Egeland acknowledged [...]

Leftist protestors objecting to the official results of Mexico's July 2 presidential election took down their so-called "resistance camps" on Mexico City's Reforma Avenue Friday. Supporters of losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated that they will find alternate means to protest the election, while Obrador told supporters "I am not giving up nor giving [...]

Two members of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, previously found guilty on charges of conspiracy, murder, and racketeering in July, will now serve terms of life in prison without parole after the death penalty phase of their proceeding ended in a mistrial Friday. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of the District Court for the [...]

Letter to members of Congress from retired federal judges, September 15, 2006 . Read the full text of the letter . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006, passed by the US House of Representatives, September 15, 2006 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

At a press conference in the Rose Garden Friday, President Bush urged members of Congress to approve his proposed legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for terror detainees and enemy combatants, currently competing for passage with another bill approved Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee . Bush said:The bill I have proposed will [...]

US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said in a speech Friday that Cuba should hold a referendum on democracy as a countervailing force to the ongoing dictatorship of Cuban President Fidel Castro . Gutierrez, a Cuban-American, suggested that the Organization of American States could sponsor the referendum in a manner recalling its successful campaign to [...]