After hearing oral arguments Tuesday, US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein expressed hesitation over ordering the release of 97 Department of Defense photos and videotapes depicting the abuse of prisoners held by US forces at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison . The request is part of a 2003 ACLU lawsuit in which the organization contends that [...]

The Supreme Court of Nicaragua has ruled that former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman , who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003, can leave his home and move freely around Managua, Nicaragua's capital. Aleman was convicted on multiple charges, including money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and electoral crimes, during his 1997-2002 presidency, making him [...]

AP is reporting that Philippine legislators have quashed the impeachment case against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo . With opposition members boycotting, the House Committee on Justice voted to quash all impeachment complaints against Arroyo, who has been accused of rigging last year's election. AP has more. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase… Arroyo impeachment hearings [...]

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have been ordered to conduct "threat assessments" of prison inmates in order to determine whether they could commit extremist violence when released, according to a letter obtained by AP. Randy D. Parsons, acting assistant chief of the FBI's Los Angeles office, wrote that the goal behind the new policy is [...]

The Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act 1993 (amended 2003). Louisiana Revised Statutes 29:721. Excerpt : A. Because of the existing possibility of the occurrence of emergencies and disasters of unprecedented size and destructiveness resulting from terrorist events, enemy attack, sabotage, or other hostile action, or from fire, flood, earthquake, or other [...]

The Louisiana Attorney General's office late Tuesday issued a number of clarifications concerning the "martial law" assertions made earlier in the day by local officials and law enforcement agents in the wake of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. According to the AG's office, no such term exists in Louisiana state law. The declaration of a [...]

Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the Arizona Attorney General's office has announced that $101 million it seized earlier this year may belong to failed hedge fund company Bayou Management. The Connecticut Attorney General's office said last week that Bayou may have misplaced $440 million of investors' money . Arizona's AG said the state [...]

The Russian Supreme Court Tuesday overturned the acquittal of four Russian soldiers in the 2002 murder of six Chechen civilians . The acquittal was overturned due to criminal procedure violations, and Judge Alexander Koronets ordered the case sent back to the same military court that has twice acquitted the soldiers. Captain Eduard Ulman and three [...]

Impeachment proceedings in the Philippines House of Representatives tottered on the verge of collapse Tuesday when lawmakers stormed out of a committee hearing, claiming supporters of President Gloria Arroyo were trying to railroad them into a decision that could doom the case against her. Under the Philippine constitution , only one impeachment proceeding against the [...]

In a move officials described as a first among western democracies, the British government Tuesday unveiled plans to outlaw the possession of "extreme pornographic material," described as graphic, sexually explicit material that "contains actual scenes or realistic depictions of serious violence, bestiality or necrophilia." The ban would extend to internet downloads. It is already illegal [...]