Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos acknowledged Thursday that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) planes transporting detainees to secret prisons in Europe may have stopped over on its soil. Moratinos told a European Parliament committee that although the US had assured Spain that no suspects were aboard the planes, the islands of Palma de Mallorca [...]

The Supreme Court of Japan rejected a death penalty appeal Friday by former cult leader Shoko Asahara , who was convicted of masterminding the 1995 nerve gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system . Asahara, the former head of Aum Shinrikyo , was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 2004 for releasing sarin nerve [...]

The US House of Representatives voted 283-138 Thursday for a bill providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence along the US-Mexico border designed to curb illegal immigration . The Secure Fence Act of 2006 also provides that the Department of Homeland Security take control of the border in 18 months and gives border patrol [...]

The Colorado Division of Civil Rights (CCRD) has ruled that an employer violated the state's anti-discrimination laws when it fired an employee who was preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Intermountain Testing claimed David Cornwell, now known as Danielle Cornwell, was let go because of a decline in business and a low performance rating. Cornwell, [...]

US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is expected to plead guilty to at least one criminal charge stemming from his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff , Republican officials announced Thursday. Ney is expected to admit to filing a false House disclosure report, where he claimed to visit members of the Scottish Parliament in 2002 when in [...]

The US Senate Armed Services Committee voted 15-9 Thursday to send a bill authorizing military commissions drafted by Republican Senators John Warner, Lindsey Graham and John McCain to the full Senate for consideration despite objections from the White House, which has offered its own proposal . The stricter Bush administration bill to establish military trial [...]

Under Fire: Hezbollah's Attacks on Northern Israel, Amnesty International, September 14, 2006 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A Missouri judge ruled Thursday that a state law requiring voters to show a Missouri-issued photo identification at the polls violates the state constitution because it is "an impermissible additional qualification to vote." Those who support the law say it would prevent voter fraud; opponents say it would place an unnecessary burden on voters, effectively [...]

The Rwandan government Thursday threatened to stop working with the UN-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) because it believes the ICTR employs genocide suspects. Rwanda pointed to the ICTR's pressure on Tanzania to free Callixte Gakwaya, a lawyer accused of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide , as evidence of the tribunal's alleged corruption. [...]

The US Senate unanimously approved a port security bill Thursday that would require the government to install radiation-detection devices at US ports and to test the feasibility of scanning US-bound cargo overseas. Senators nonetheless voted 61-37 against setting a four-year deadline for all US-bound cargo to be scanned for nuclear weapons at foreign ports. While [...]