Leading Tuesday's states brief, the Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on whether abortion clinics should be allowed to pursue their challenge to the state's abortion "implied consent" law , which requires women seeking an abortion to have in-person counseling and then wait at least eighteen hours before having the procedure. An attorney for [...]

Leading Tuesday's international brief, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka , Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme , as Special Envoy to Zimbabwe to investigate the continuing mass evictions taking place under Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and "Operation Restore Order". Mugabe reportedly agreed Tuesday to allow Tibaijuka access to the [...]

A military court sentenced 12 French soldiers to prison for up to one year on Tuesday for robbing an Ivory Coast bank regularly while stationed with France's Licorne Force backing up a UN peacekeeping mission . The Licorne forces are supporting the UN forces in Côte d'Ivoire , where troops are needed to enforce a [...]

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered a stroke Tuesday and was taken to the hospital a day before the Santiago Appeals Court was to consider whether he could be tried for crimes against his regime's opponents. Pinochet, who reportedly collapsed while eating breakfast and lost conciousness, was to face the court as it decided whether [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Tuesday ruled that the US Securities and Exchange Commission should reconsider its rule that requires mutual funds to be run by boards with independent chairmen. The SEC originally enacted the rule to combat trading and sales abuses in the industry. Citing costs, the US Chamber of [...]

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Tuesday that holding a planned referendum in Poland on the EU constitution in October was "unrealistic." Kwasniewski, set to leave office after his second term expires this October, said he would allow his successor to decide when a referendum should be held, but added that it certainly would not be [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union released a report Tuesday describing what it calls an "assault on scientific and academic freedom" by the Bush Administration. The report purports to detail how the US government has attacked the free exchange of technology information in the name of homeland security by imposing more restrictions on the flow of [...]

A federal appeals court in Chicago has thrown out a lawsuit filed by student journalists at Governors State University who claimed that the Dean of Student Affair's demand to review their newspaper before it went to press was a violation of their First Amendment rights. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled [...]

Edgar Ray Killen has been convicted of three counts of manslaughter in connection with the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers. The conviction came on the 41st anniversary of the rights workers disappearance and a day after jurors reported being deadlocked at 6-6. Killen faces upt to 20 years in prison for each of [...]

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urged judges on Tuesday to adhere to federal sentencing guidelines, citing a growing disparity since the US Supreme Court invalidated mandatory guidelines in US v. Booker . Addressing the National Center for Victims of Crime , he said he has seen a "drift toward lesser sentences". A report by the US [...]