Iraq's council of ministers on Monday took the first steps to elaborate on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national reconciliation initiative , which he unveiled to parliament Sunday. In a statement, the council said that government employees who had been detained would be reinstated to their positions and for purposes of promotion and retirement, their [...]

Opening arguments began Tuesday in the fraud trial of Tongsun Park , who has been charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and acting as an unregistered agent of the government of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in connection with the now-defunct UN oil-for-food program . The prosecutor in the trial, the first [...]

Kansas v. Marsh, Supreme Court of the United States, June 26, 2006 . Read the Court's majority opinion per Justice Thomas, along with a concurrence from Justice Scalia, a dissent from Justice Stevens and a second dissent from Justice Souter, joined by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Randall v. Sorrell, Supreme Court of the United States, June 26, 2006 . Read the court's opinion per Justice Breyer, along with a concurrence in part from Justice Alito, a concurrence in the judgment from Justice Kennedy, a second concurrence in the judgment from Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, a dissent from Justice Stevens, [...]

A same-sex couple argued in court in Boston Monday that a 1913 Massachusetts law should not prevent them from marrying in the state because statutes in their home state of Rhode Island do not explicitly ban gay marriage. Mary Norton and Mary Becker , represented by an attorney with the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & [...]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued 50% fewer warning letters to companies violating federal drug and safety regulations in the past five years under the Bush administration, according to a report released Monday by US Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) . In 2000, the FDA issued 1,154 warning letters , while in 2005, only [...]

The UK Foreign Office has said that the United Kingdom will not petition the US to release Australian national David Hicks from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay . Hicks, a suspected member of the Taliban who has been detained for over four years, won British citizenship earlier this year based on his mother's nationality [...]

Civil rights groups called Monday for the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) before Congress takes its Fourth of July recess. At a news conference in Atlanta, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta singled out two Republican lawmakers [...]

A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the state of Georgia from fully enforcing a law that restricts where convicted sex offenders can live and work. The order, issued by US District Judge Clarence Cooper in the Northern District of Georgia , applies only to the eight plaintiffs in the [...]

Voters in Italy have decisively rejected amendments to the Italian Constitution that would have given more power to the prime minister and decreased the size of Parliament . The daily La Repubblica in Rome is reporting that 61.4 percent of voters opposed the amendments in the two-day referendum that ended Monday, while 38.6 percent supported [...]