Ohio authorities on Wednesday morning executed the first inmate under new lethal injection guidelines implemented last month in a move to prevent extreme pain during an execution. In a June report and letter to Ohio Governor Bob Taft, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director Terry Collins set forth several changes in Ohio's lethal injection [...]

The fundamental rights of two terror suspects were not violated when EU member states froze their assets, the European Court of First Instance ruled Wednesday. Ireland and the UK froze the bank accounts of a Tunisian and Libyan national, respectively, after European Council Regulation 881/2002 , which implemented several UN Security Council resolutions, authorized member [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Wednesday overturned a lower court decision that had allowed law enforcement to temporarily carry out covert surveillance. Justice Michael Hartmann of the Hong Kong High Court ruled in February that an executive order on covert surveillance operations made last year by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was unconstitutional, [...]

The US Supreme Court's recent decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld has not changed the Justice Department's position on the legality of the National Security Agency's anti-terrorism surveillance program , according to a senior DOJ official writing to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) . Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella wrote Monday in response to a letter [...]

Serbian President Boris Tadic said Tuesday on the 11th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8000 Muslim men and boys that all war criminals should be punished, regardless of their nationality. In a statement, Tjadic said that the "Hague tribunal" – the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) – "must have the [...]

The UK will not implement an amnesty program for illegal immigrants, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said Wednesday, and will instead seek "fair but tough" enforcement of current rules. Byrne's comments came at the conclusion of an official review of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND), the UK office charged with controlling the country's borders, which [...]

Indonesia's House of Representatives has passed a bill giving more autonomy to Aceh province and writing into law the terms of last year's peace agreement with rebels . But former rebels have criticized the law as not going far enough, and transportation workers in Aceh – which was devastated by the 2004 tsunami – protested [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Tuesday that a proposal to limit ACLU board members from publicly speaking about their internal policies has been withdrawn by a committee of the National Board of Directors. The proposal drew criticism from editorialists, donors, and board members as a hypocritical limit on board members' ability to dissent [...]

The US Army plans to discontinue a contract to provide logistical support to US troops with oil services giant Halliburton , the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Halliburton has served as the exclusive contractor in Iraq, and Army officials said cutting ties with Halliburton is a move to employ multiple contractors in a bid to find [...]

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill to effectively ban most Internet gambling by a margin of 317-93 . The legislation would prohibit people from using credit cards and other forms of Internet payments to settle Internet bets, and also allow law enforcement and Internet providers to block access to gambling websites. [...]