JURIST Special Guest Columnist Wendy J. Keefer, former senior counsel and chief of staff in the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy and now with Bancroft Associates in Washington DC, says that the US Senate should join the House in quickly approving reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act to secure both public safety [...]

The US House of Representatives late Wednesday voted 308-122 in support of the so-called McCain Amendment , designed to prohibit the cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees in US custody. The non-binding vote instructs negotiators working to finalize the 2006 military spending bill, to which the amendment is attached, to include the amendment in [...]

After the US House voted to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act Wednesday, Senate Republican leaders are working to prevent the renewal from being blocked by a bipartisan group of senators that is concerned that the reauthorization measure gives too much power to the government without adequate safeguards. The reauthorization bill could face a filibuster in [...]

Iraqis voted Thursday in Iraq's parliamentary elections to choose their first full-term parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. There was large voter turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas that had been disinterested in balloting last January, including in several insurgent strongholds such as Ramadi and Haqlaniyah. Sunni Arabs are hoping to end Shiite [...]

USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005, HR 3199, passed by the US House of Representatives December 14, 2005. Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Chemical giant DuPont has agreed to pay over $10 million in fines and another $6 million for environmental projects in order to settle allegations that the company hid information about the dangers of a chemical used in the manufacturing of Teflon, the US Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday. The EPA had sued DuPont under the [...]

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said Wednesday that so far there is no evidence that confirms allegations that the CIA operated secret prisons in Eastern Europe. Frattini's comments come the day after the Council of Europe , Europe's human rights watchdog, said that it has gathered information that reinforces the credibility of the secret prison [...]

Iraqi border police seized a tanker Tuesday evening that had just crossed the border with Iran which contained several thousand forged ballots. According to an Iraqi official, the truck driver told police that at least three other trucks had successfully crossed the border into Iraq, but the official did not say what the driver meant [...]

AP is reporting that the US House has voted 251-174 to renew provisions of the USA Patriot Act that were set to expire at the end of this year. The reauthorization bill now goes before the Senate, where the legislation could face a filibuster. The reauthorization compromise would modify but make permanent most of 16 [...]

An additional 114 people went on trial Wednesday in Uzbekistan on charges stemming from the May 2005 Andijan uprising , which led to government troops killing as many as 500 protestors . The Uzbek Supreme Court has released a statement that 78 civilian defendants are charged with "taking part in terrorist acts" in the eastern [...]