US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed before a Senate panel Wednesday that the Bush administration is drafting legislation authorizing military commissions for terror detainees that will allow hearsay evidence and coerced testimony to be admitted against terrorism suspects, limit their rights against pretrial self-incrimination and withhold classified evidence from them. Those provisions would be key [...]

Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk told Lebanese media Wednesday that Lebanon plans to send UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan a report outlining alleged war crimes committed by Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah that could be the basis for prosecuting it in a special international court. The first part of the document, prepared by the Lebanese [...]

US v. James A. Brown et al., US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, August 1, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider refund petitions filed by California state agencies and California businesses that claim refunds arising from the California energy crisis of 2000-2001 before the October 2, 2000 date set by the FERC. The refunds compensate the state for alleged energy price-fixing schemes, [...]

PC hardware manufacturer Rambus unlawfully monopolized four markets for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) computer chips and deliberately withheld information about forthcoming patents on the technology from a technology-standards-setting group, according to an opinion released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In the unanimous commission opinion , Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour wrote: Rambus's conduct [...]

Two Hamas officials – the Palestinian Minister for Prisoners' Affairs and a deputy speaker in the Palestinian Legislative Council – who were released from Israeli custody this week told reporters Wednesday that they had been abused while detained. Wasfi Kabha and Hasan Khurayshah said that they had were interrogated for hours, were not provided with [...]

The European Union has rejected a call by Polish President Lech Kaczynski to review the EU ban on capital punishment , European Commission spokesman Steffan de Rynck said Wednesday. Kaczynski urged the EU to reconsider the death penalty last Friday, even though the EU requires abolition of capital punishment for EU membership. Kaczynski said that [...]

Attorneys for a US soldier under investigation for civilian killings in Iraq filed a defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit Wednesday against Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) in a Washington DC federal court. The suit alleges that Murtha falsely accused US Marine Corps sergeant Frank Wuterich of war crimes during press conferences where Murtha discussed the [...]

A federal judge in Georgia has certified a class of more than 10,000 registered sex offenders living in Georgia that would be subject to a new state law barring them from living or working within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, church, school or "area where minors congregate," including school bus stops. US District [...]

The UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) on Wednesday cleared the way for the UK to resume deportations of Zimbabwe citizens seeking asylum in Britain, overturning a previous decision that all Zimbabwe citizens face a "real risk of serious harm" if deported. The AIT determination holds that " failed asylum seeker returned involuntarily to Zimbabwe [...]