Syria has removed 81 judges and improved wages, taxes and insurance for the judicial branch as part of a series of reforms, government newspaper Ath-Thawra reported Wednesday. According to the paper, the reforms were ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to improve judges' standard of living and accelerate legal reforms in the country. France granted [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law brief, the Philippine provincial government of Marinduque , a small island about 100 miles south of Manila, filed suit Tuesday against Placer Dome Inc. seeking $100 million for environmental rehabilitation and compensation to local residents. The suit against the Canadian mining company was filed in Nevada, where the company has some [...]

Russian investigators have raided the offices of various companies affiliated with the former oil giant Yukos in connection with a $7 billion money-laundering investigation, prosecutors said Wednesday. Prosecutors have previously said they were pursuing such charges against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky , who has been sentenced to eight years in prison on separate tax [...]

A group of 13 former and current employees filed a $500 million lawsuit Wednesday against the US Department of Commerce alleging that the agency discriminated in its hiring and promoting of employees. The suit, filed by 11 black and two white workers claiming to represent all black employees at the agency in the past 10 [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments on whether the federal government can halt doctors from assisting patients in taking their own lives under an Oregon statute allowing the practice. The justices appeared divided over the issue in Gonzales v. Oregon of how much authority the federal government can exercise over doctors and [...]

A third grand jury previously unrevealed by prosecutors refused to indict former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay last week, according to a written statement released late Tuesday by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle . DeLay has been indicted by two grand juries in the past week, but Earle revealed that prosecutors took their case [...]

Victims of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings are calling for the Indonesian government to immediately execute those in prison for carrying out the attacks. After new coordinated bombings in two tourist areas last Saturday, victims of the earlier explosions are saying that three convicted bombers should have their death sentences carried out immediately, rather than [...]

Two of the six radical Islamic militants interrogated in Bangladesh Wednesday in connection to their role in the simultaneous bombings of three courthouses Monday indicated association with Jamaatul Mujahideen and confessed to targeting the legal system in an effort to intimidate the judiciary into replacing the country's democratic system with Sharia law . According to [...]

Sunni Arab leaders threatened Wednesday to boycott the upcoming referendum on Iraq's draft constitution if US troops do not stop offensive operations in western Iraq. US forces Tuesday launched their second offensive in a week in Iraq's volatile Anbar province at the outset of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. According to Sunni politician Hussein [...]

Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said Wednesday that he plans to change controversial legislation that would grant amnesty to many involved in the 2000 racially-motivated coup . The Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity bill has been the subject of many protests and has even caused military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama to threaten to remove the government [...]