Attorneys general from California, New Mexico and Oregon have challenged a decision by the US Forest Service to allow road building and other development on more than 58.5 million acres of national forest previously protected. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said allowing construction of roads on the lands would pave the way for mining and [...]

A Texas law requiring doctors to get parental consent for minors seeking abortions will take effect Thursday even though the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners hasn't finalized the specifics of how doctors should comply with it. The Texas Parental Consent Act is one of many abortion laws that have been passed by state legislatures [...]

Lebanon on Wednesday released a former lawmaker questioned in the investigation into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . Nasser Qandil, a pro-Syrian legislator, refused to comment on what he told investigators after he turned himself in Tuesday to the UN commission investigating the killing after a warrant was issued for his arrest. [...]

Officials struggled Wednesday to control looting in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as tiring law enforcement officers and National Guardsmen undertook more rescue and relief efforts. Widespread looting throughout the city has been reported, with crowds of people stealing food, clothing and other supplies in demand. Terry Ebbert, homeland security chief for [...]

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday approved changes to procedures for military commissions used for trying certain detainees held at Guantanamo Bay . The changes to Military Commission Order No. 1 primarily increase the role played by the presiding officer, while reducing that of other panel members on the commissions. Presiding officers on [...]

Indonesia released over 1,400 Achenese rebel inmates Wednesday, granting them blanket amnesty in accordance with a decree signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Tuesday night. The newly freed prisoners have agreed to honor their monumental peace accord with the Indonesian government, which allowed the rebels to form a local political party in exchange for [...]

Revised draft of the final Iraqi constitution received by the Iraqi National Assembly, August 28, 2005. Read the full text as translated from the Arabic by the Associated Press .

US District Court Judge Denise Cote has ruled that a suit filed by the First Presbyterian Church of Sudan against Canadian oil and gas producer Talisman Energy should continue, despite US and Canadian government attempts to have the case dismissed. The church filed suit under the Alien Tort Claims Act , providing US district courts [...]

The Chinese government signed a Memorandum of Understanding Wednesday agreeing to collaborate with the UN's human rights agency to reform the Chinese legal system in preparation for the adoption of a key UN treaty on civil and political rights. The agreement to revise China's Criminal Procedure Law, its lawyers' law, and other related laws and [...]

Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky , who is serving a nine-year prison sentence on fraud charges, officially announced his intention Wednesday to run for a Russian parliamentary seat . The election for Khodorkovsky's intended district in the State Duma , the lower house of the Russian parliament, will be held in December. The Central [...]