The Association of Muslim Scholars on Thursday urged Iraqis to reject the draft Iraqi constitution when it comes up for referendum on October 15 . A spokesman for the influential Sunni group asserted that even with the Iraqi government's latest agreement intended to win Sunni support, the draft constitution still risked a breakup of the [...]

Faced with a growing problem of overcrowded jails, British officials are considering fitting some prisoners with electronic tags and releasing them, a government minister said Thursday. According to a report in the Times, the plan calls for criminals sentenced to four years in prison to be freed after just 18 months, while those sentenced to [...]

The Mexican government is concerned that Texas Gov. Rick Perry's "Operation Linebacker," a pledge of $9.7 million to beef up security along the US-Mexico border, will lead to human rights violations. In a statement released late Wednesday, Mexican officials said that their government remains committed to combating crime on both sides of the border, but [...]

Following up on a report in JURIST's Paper Chase earlier today, Saddam Hussein will likely face charges of premeditated murder, torture and forced expulsion and disappearances for his alleged role in a 1982 massacre of Shiites when his trial begins next week, a court official said Thursday. Hussein was charged in July in connection with [...]

Chaplains in the US Air Force will no longer subscribe to a code of ethics that endorses the evangelizing of service members not affiliated with any religion, Air Force officials have announced. The move comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed by a Jewish graduate of the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) who claims [...]

A federal judge has ruled that State Street Bank and Trust Company will not be held responsible for major losses in a United Airlines (UAL) employee stock-ownership plan. Over 70,000 United employees and retirees filed a class action lawsuit in 2003 alleging that the trustee bank held on to UAL stock for too long, watching [...]

Lawyers for Platon Lebedev, business partner of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky , said Thursday that they have asked the Russian General Prosecutor's Office for information on the whereabouts of their client and have also requested to see him. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office previously said that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev would face new [...]

Serbian authorities issued a new arrest warrant for the wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic Thursday. Mirjana Markovic , who fled Russia in 2003 in the face of an international warrant, failed to appear before a Belgrade court for alleged corruption charges. The international warrant was revoked in June when her lawyers promised she [...]

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional for judges to require cash-only bonds pending trial. In a 4-3 ruling Wednesday, the court said that a 1993 decision that said that Ohio defendants can meet bond requirements by cash deposit, pledges of property or securities, or by bail bond was not changed by [...]

The UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has said that it will allow former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj to participate in politics during his provisional release pending his war crimes trial. The tribunal eased the conditions of Haradinaj's release , giving the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) the ability to allow [...]