White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday there is no immediate plan to release six of eight women detained by US forces in Iraq. His comment and similar ones from US military spokesmen follow statements by Iraq's Justice Ministry earlier in the day that the women were being freed . The ministry said the move [...]

Nigeria’s government has announced plans to ban same-sex marriage and any protests urging same-sex unions. Government officials have said the legislation is a preemptive step in light of other nations legalizing same-sex unions around the world. President Olusegun Obasanjo has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriages in Africa . BBC News has more.

Leading Thursday's environmental law news, Maine has became the first state in the US to require manufacturers to pay the cost of recycling computer monitors and televisions under a program that began Wednesday pursuant to Maine's amended E-Waste Law . The state has approved 5 consolidation centers that will sort through the materials and bill [...]

The International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE) released its report on the December 15 parliamentary elections Thursday, endorsing the election results despite finding isolated instances of fraud. The IMIE, a 10-nation oversight group led by Elections Canada, agreed to review results in the wake of widespread Sunni protests over alleged voting fraud . The IMIE [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced during a speech at the Georgetown University Law Center Thursday that he intends to vote against the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, citing Alito's expansive views on presidential power. "Based on his record, I'm concerned that Judge Alito will not be [...]

Carla Del Ponte Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Thursday that former Serbian general and indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic is still being shielded from authorities by the Serbian army he once commanded, and has not fled to Russia as alleged in a Wednesday Moscow Times report . [...]

The US military said Thursday that the number of detainees participating in hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay had reached its lowest point since October 2005, but offered no reasons for the dropoff. The number of hunger strikes has dropped from as many as 131 to only 22 prisoners with 17 of those receiving nourishment via [...]

The Iraqi High Criminal Court (IHCC) (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal ) confirmed Thursday that Sayeed al-Hamashi, who was selected to preside over the Saddam Hussein trial on Monday, will retain his position despite allegations that he belonged to the banned Baath party . Ali Faisal, executive manager of Iraq's Debaathification Commission , said Wednesday [...]

The Human Rights Watch annual report released Wednesday alleges an increasing amount of human rights abuses in Iraq, including torture of detainees and attacks on civilians, and assigns some of the blame to the US and its military. The report finds a deteriorating situation in Iraq partly due to US leadership in the country: Counterinsurgency [...]

The European Parliament announced on Wednesday that it would investigate claims that the CIA has been illegally detaining and torturing terrorism suspects in European countries or using European air bases as transit points to send suspects to other countries to be tortured, a process called extraordinary rendition . The 46-member temporary committee will have wide [...]