A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Illinois on behalf of state residents against AT&T for allegedly turning over phone records to the National Security Agency (NSA) as part of its domestic surveillance program . US District Judge Matthew Kennelly noted that the plaintiffs, including author Studs [...]

A Chinese court has delayed a verdict for the second time in the trial of Zhao Yan , a former New York Times researcher accused of providing state secrets to foreigners. According to Zhao's lawyers, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ordered the delay without giving a reason or setting a new date for [...]

A federal judge in Houston denied a motion Tuesday from former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling that would have overturned his conviction on 19 out of 28 securities and wire fraud and insider trading counts because of insufficient evidence. US District Judge Sim Lake , however, has yet to rule on a defense motion to give [...]

The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of spreading HIV to more than 400 Libyan patients who were mostly children has been postponed yet again to allow the prosecutor to summon defense witnesses who have not yet appeared in court. Judge Mahmud Huweissa ordered a delay until Aug. 8, but he [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Tuesday to prevent two members of the Missouri Public Service Commission from gathering information about whether Missouri consumers' telephone records were released to the National Security Agency (NSA) in connection with its domestic surveillance program . The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in St. Louis [...]

Two Republican members of the US Congress announced a proposal Tuesday to bridge the gap between the Senate and House versions of immigration reform legislation . The plan devised by US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and US Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) incorporates elements of the Senate and House bills by implementing a temporary worker [...]

A bill that would set up a nationwide online database of sex offenders' homes and workplaces is awaiting President Bush's approval following passage Tuesday by the US House. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 , named after a Florida boy who was abducted from a shopping mall and killed in 1981, [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Tuesday it has appealed the dismissal of a highly publicized lawsuit brought by the ACLU against CIA Director George Tenet and other agency officials and employees on behalf of Khalid el-Masri , a Lebanese born German citizen who claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency seized him in [...]

Democrats in the US Senate are proposing additional exemptions for a bill that would punish those who help a minor cross state lines to receive an abortion without parental consent or notification. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) plans to offer an amendment to the Child Custody Protection Act that would shield "confidants" such as clergy and [...]

The UK Home Office announced plans to overhaul Britain's immigration system Tuesday in a review outlining how the Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) will respond to the impact of globalization, changing travel patterns and evolving international crime and terrorism. The review recommends implementing identification cards, including biometric visas for foreign nationals by 2008; [...]