The controversial Identity Cards Bill narrowly passed its critical second reading in the British House of Commons Monday evening despite efforts by opposition parties and rebellious backbenchers from British Prime Minister Tony Blair's own Labour Party to stop it. In two years, anyone applying for travel or immigration documents in the United Kingdom will be [...]

As part of its probe into allegations that the CIA ran secret prisons in EU member countries, a committee of the European Parliament Monday outlined an investigation plan and reviewed a list of people it might want to question. Possible witnesses include senior members of the US administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld , Secretary [...]

Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2006, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, February 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the bill. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force: A Progress Report to the Attorney General, February 13, 2006 . Excerpt: Since the establishment of the Task Force in September 2005, 23 United States Attorneys across the country have charged 212 people with various hurricane fraud-related crimes, including charity fraud, benefit fraud and political corruption, and have obtained 40 [...]

The American Bar Association called on President Bush Monday to stop warrantless domestic surveillance or change the laws to make it legal. At the Association's midyear meeting in Chicago the ABA's policy-setting House of Delegates voted on several policy proposals set out in the report of a special ABA task force set up to investigate [...]

Recent race riots in the Los Angeles jail system have prompted authorities to begin transferring county prison inmates to the state corrections system. After several riots in various jail facilities left two inmates dead and many others injured, the latest fatality being Sunday at the Men's Central Jail , 200 prisoners were transferred and another [...]

Government investigators told the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in a hearing Monday that the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina had been plagued by fraud and abuse costing taxpayers millions. Alice Fisher, the Justice Department official chairing the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force set up in September by US Attorney General Alberto [...]

The principals of a US contracting company accused of defrauding the US government during the Iraq war will appear Tuesday in a federal court in Virginia in the first Iraq contract civil fraud case to go to trial. Scott Custer and Michael Battles were hired by the US government to help distribute a new currency [...]

Members of the Knesset , Israel's parliament, debated a draft national constitution at a special session Monday but came away sharply split. The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee presented a 9,000 page report on CD containing various proposals for the Constitution, explanatory materials, and other supporting documents. Currently a series of Basic Laws provides [...]

Pakistani police Monday fired tear gas to stop approximately 7,000 students from protesting controversial and allegedly-blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have now been re-published in newspapers in Europe and around the world. The police took action to prevent students from marching on the Governor's residence in Peshawar, and the students also marched to [...]