The US Supreme Court ruled in Beard v. Banks Wednesday that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections could set regulations forbidding the most difficult inmates from reading and possessing general-interest newspapers and magazines, despite arguments that such regulations violated the First Amendment. Plaintiff Ronald Banks, a convicted murderer considered a security risk, sued the Department in [...]

Guards at Guantanamo Bay found nooses in prisoners' cells after three detainees committed suicide earlier this month by hanging themselves using clothing and bed linens, according to the US detention center's commander. Rear Adm. Harry Harris also said Tuesday that detainees stage have staged suicide attempts and hunger strikes in an effort to undermine the [...]

The US Supreme Court held Wednesday in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry and three other consolidated cases that only one of the new voting districts created by the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting plan that helped Republicans gain six seats in the US Congress is invalid under the Voting Rights Act . The [...]

Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony told the Times of London in an interview published Wednesday that he was "not guilty" of atrocities attributed to him, describing himself as a "freedom fighter" rather than a terrorist. Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 33 counts of [...]

Financial firm Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc on Tuesday agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting or denying allegations made by the SEC that Morgan Stanley failed to protect against potential misuse of insider trading information as required by law. The SEC instituted and immediately settled [...]

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday clarified vague portions of his national reconciliation proposal , saying that no insurgent responsible for the death of Iraqis or coalition forces would be entitled to amnesty. In an interview with several US newspapers, al-Maliki said The fighter who did not kill anyone will be included in the [...]

A two-year campaign to pass a physician-assisted suicide law in California has failed by one vote in a legislative committee. The state's Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 on Tuesday to reject the California Compassionate Choices Act , which was modeled on Oregon's Death With Dignity Act . The bill would have permitted physicians to prescribe [...]

European Union nations may create additional requirements to family reunification where a child is older than 12 years old and arrives in the member nation as an immigrant before the rest of the family without violating fundamental family rights, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. The ECJ dismissed an action filed by the European [...]

The US Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal judge in Detroit to dismiss a lawsuit brought by eleven Democrats from the US House of Representatives seeking to halt the implementation of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 . The law was signed by President Bush in February, but identical versions of the legislation were [...]

A proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit physical desecration of the American flag failed by one vote late Tuesday to get the two-thirds Senate approval necessary to send it on to the states for ratification. Senators voted 66 in favor, and 34 against . The US House of Representatives passed the amendment last summer. The last [...]