Leading Friday's states brief, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled today that a one-room religious school must comply with health and plumbing regulations even if doing so would infringe on their sectarian beliefs. The school was closed by the Todd County Health Department after the department determined the school did not have a proper water [...]

Police in Nepal Friday arrested 87 journalists protesting restrictions placed on the media since King Gyanendra seized power in February. Police also arrested 200 other protestors at a pro-democracy demonstration in Kathmandu attended by thousands. Protests have continued throughout the country since King Gyanendra lifted a state of emergency but left heavy restrictions on the [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced Friday that it had taken Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Sredoje Lukic into custody almost seven years after he was originally indicted. Lukic, a former policeman, is alleged to have been a member of "The White Eagles," a paramilitary group led by his cousin that has [...]

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on Iraq to make its constitutional process more transparent and inclusive. Such an approach would create a broader consensus leading up to the planned Oct. 15 referendum , Annan told the UN Security Council Thursday in his regular progress report on UN operations in Iraq. Annan also warned [...]

Transcript of witness testimony at the confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts, Jr., nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States, US Senate Judiciary Committee, September 15, 2005. Read the prepared statements of the witnesses. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The UN on Friday evacuated 11 Uzbek refugees to London after they fled to Kyrgyzstan following deadly riots that erupted in Andijan last spring. The 11 refugees were accused of terrorism by the Uzbekistan government, but the UN plans to relocate them to Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Human rights groups have said that as [...]

The New Jersey Republican Party has called on NJ Attorney General Peter Harvey to investigate widespread election irregularities it said it discovered in its own four-month probe. According to Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson, more than 6,500 voters cast ballots in New Jersey and another state and 4,755 votes were cast by deceased people [...]

The Nepalese army has resorted to systematic torture to gain intelligence and confessions in its continuing fight against Maoist rebels in the country, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights said Friday. Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak, who has been investigating claims of abuse for the past week in the country, said there [...]

A federal judge on Friday gave US Airways the green light to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy , a little more than a year after the beleaguered airline sought protection. The approval clears the way for the airline to complete its merger with America West by late this month or early October. The bankruptcy was [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, four states have sued the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failing to impose effective controls against invasive wood-eating beetles. New York, California, Connecticut and Illinois filed a lawsuit which alleges that the USDA does not do enough to prevent the Asian long-horned beetle , emerald ash borer , and [...]