Four Republican Senators introduced a bill Thursday that would legalize but limit warrantless domestic surveillance of US citizens. Sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio with Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 would not, in DeWine's words, give the President a [...]

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and the Israel chapter of Physicians for Human Rights Thursday accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of violating international law by allowing the press to photograph Palestinian detainees seized in Tuesday's Jericho prison raid virtually naked, clad only in their underwear. They made the allegation in a letter to Military [...]

The UK House of Commons and House of Lords Thursday continued their protracted duel over controversial provisions in two key security bills, with the Commons voting – over Lords' objections – to reinsert a "glorification" offense into the Terrorism Bill and to make registration for national ID cards compulsory for those requesting passports. The terror [...]

Carla Martin, the Transportation Security Administration lawyer who improperly coached witnesses against defendant Zacarias Moussaoui in his September 11 sentencing trial, was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday. According to trial judge Leonie Brinkema, Martin egregiously violated federal rules when she sent witnesses e-mails about their upcoming testimony that disclosed parts of the government's case [...]

Manfred Nowak , the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture told reporters Thursday that the European Union should push the US to close its detention center at Guantanamo Bay due to documented human rights violations , and that EU countries should put some of the detainees on trial in their own courts. Last month, Nowak called [...]

Adrian Severin, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus , censured the Belarusian government headed by President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday for a series of allegedly abusive tactics ahead of Sunday's presidential elections. Severin appealed for the release of Lukashenko's political opponents and activists, including candidate aides, opposition supporters, and members [...]

Leading Thursday's environmental law news, Nebraska's Bostwick Irrigation District has voted to sell its 2006 water allotment from the Republican River to the State of Nebraska for about $2.5 million. The deal will include 10,100 acre-feet of water currently in the Harlan County reservoir, and 5000 acre-feet of water below the reservoir. The approximately 260 [...]

Protests by students across France increased on Thursday in response to the First Employment Contract (CPE) , a controversial labor law which allows employers to hire workers under 26 for a conditional two-year period at the end of which they can be dismissed without cause. The law, which took effect last week and was proposed [...]

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice held Thursday that the US can seek extradition of Abdullah Khadr , who has been detained in Canada there since December 2005 on a US arrest warrant for terrorism issued by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts . Prosecutors will meet to discuss a date for [...]

The former US Army commander of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison said Wednesday that the Army lacked clear rules regarding the use of dogs during interrogations of Iraqi prisoners. Col. Thomas Pappas , who has been given immunity, testified at the court-martial of dog handler Sgt. Michael J. Smith, who has been charged with [...]