Mexican ex-president Luis Echeverria was found unable to undergo a psychological examination Friday due to his deteriorating health, according to his lawyer. The former president, who held office from 1970 to 1976, has been charged with genocide and other crimes committed during his time in the Mexican government. Last week, Echeverria was placed under house [...]

The US Senate passed a bill by voice vote Friday that would make obtaining phone records through fraud or lying a criminal act. People found guilty of so-called "pretexting" would face fines and imprisonment for up to 10 years. Punishment may be doubled if the violation involves more than $100,000 or more than 50 victims. [...]

Investigation of Allegations Related to Improper Conduct Involving Members and Current or Former House Pages, US House Committee on Standard of Official Conduct, December 8, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Hadix v. Caruso, US District Court for the Western District of Michigan, December 8, 2006 . Read the full text of the injunction . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded Friday that although Republican leaders did not break any ethics rules in addressing the misconduct of disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley , they nonetheless failed to protect young pages from inappropriate communications. Following an investigation , the panel found that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) most [...]

The number of journalists imprisoned for their writings increased for the second year in a row in 2006 and one-third of those jailed are Internet journalists or bloggers, according to a new worldwide report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) . The CPJ report notes that of the 134 journalists imprisoned around the world [...]

US government lawyers asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a lawsuit against outgoing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in connection with alleged torture and abused by US personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing Rumsfeld is entitled to immunity. The ACLU and Human Rights First sued Rumsfeld and other military officials in 2005 on [...]

War crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj agreed to end his nearly month-long hunger strike Friday after an appeals chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ruled that Seselj could represent himself during trial. Last month, the ICTY stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself after he failed to appear in court, despite [...]

The US District Court for the Western District of Michigan ruled Thursday that the Michigan Department of Corrections in contempt of court for failing to conform with medical care requirements mandated by the court in a prior ruling. The court ordered the department to correct its medication and staff deficiencies on or before February 1, [...]

An internal investigation has found that French police officers improperly handled a case that sparked weeks of rioting outside Paris and around the country late last year, a lawyer involved in the case said Thursday. The mass rioting began in the poor Paris suburbs in October 2005 after two immigrant youths – one from Tunisia [...]