The government's lead counsel in its lawsuit against the tobacco industry on Wednesday withdrew from the case, as an investigation continues into whether political pressure forced the government to lower its demands in the case. Sharon Eubanks, a US Department of Justice attorney, had pursued a racketeering case against the tobacco industry since being named [...]

The California Supreme Court late Wednesday denied a request by Stanley Tookie Williams , the Crips gang founder turned anti-gang activist, to halt his scheduled execution. Defense lawyers for Williams challenged forensic evidence in the case in a last-ditch effort to halt his execution scheduled for Dec. 13. The Supreme Court denied the petition in [...]

Authorities in France and Belgium have arrested fifteen suspects connected with a suicide bombing attack in Iraq on November 9 carried out by a woman who has been confirmed as a Belgian national married to an Islamic radical. The suicide attack is thought to be the first by a European female. Fourteen of the suspects [...]

A UK High Court has heard an extradition appeal by three British men charged in connection with the Enron scandal challenging the validity of the British government's approval of a US extradition request . Britain had granted a US request for the extradition of three former Natwest bank executives, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew, and Giles [...]

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says he has written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , on behalf of EU nations , questioning the landing of CIA planes in nineteen airports in England and Scotland as well as in other European Union countries. Straw's letter came the same day as UK-based civil rights [...]

Samuel A. Alito to the US Solicitor General, Memo re: Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians, US Department of Justice, May 30, 1985 . Read the full text of the memo from the National Archives. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

List of "Ghost Prisoners" Possibly in CIA Custody, Human Rights Watch, November 30, 2005 . Review the full list. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday released a list of 26 "ghost detainees" , terror suspects that HRW alleges the US has not reported but is holding incommunicado and is possibly torturing. Many of the people on the list are suspected of involvement in past terror attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , the alleged Sept. [...]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday bowed to pressure from back-benchers and agreed to several amendments to proposed anti-terror legislation that will soften several of its provisions. After a day of meetings with members of the Liberal Party, Attorney General Philip Ruddock reportedly agreed to most of the changes recommended by a Senate report [...]

Prosecutor v. Fatmir Limaj, Haradin Bala, Isak Musliu et al., International Criminal Tribunal for ths Former Yugoslavia, November 30, 2005 . Read the full text of the judgment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.