A federal shield law for reporters introduced by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Rep. Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) was called "bad public policy" by US Deputy Attorney General James Comey in written remarks submitted at a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on reporters' privilege legislation . Comey was scheduled to testify in person but was [...]

The commissioner of Israel's prison service Ya'akov Ganot told a Knesset committee on Wednesday that Israeli detention facilities were equipped to hold as many as 2,300 anti-pullout activists predicted to take part in illegal protests against the pullout from Gaza now slated to begin in August. Ganot added that the prison service had set up [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Wednesday that a bill he is co-sponsoring to end asbestos injury lawsuits is unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate before the August recess. The statement comes after Specter earlier in the month urged the bill to be brought forward despite a tight schedule. The Fairness [...]

Thailand's National Human Rights Commission said Wednesday that a security decree passed by the Cabinet Tuesday giving Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra new power to deal with an insurgency in the country's Muslim south should be abolished. The group argues that the law violates United Nations human rights covenants and infringes on rights and liberties secured [...]

According to a working draft of the new Iraqi constitution obtained Tuesday by the New York Times, Islamic law would play a strong role in the Iraqi legal and political system and women's rights would be cut back. Under the text, equality for women would be allowed only insofar as it did not conflict with [...]

The Canadian Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would make Canada the fourth nation in the world to legalize gay marriage after the Netherlands, Belgium, and, most recently, Spain . Bill C-38 , which passed the House of Commons in late June, now goes to Canada's Governor-General for royal assent in the name of the [...]

In the wake of an Italian judge's decision last month to issue warrants for 13 CIA operatives wanted in connection with the kidnapping of radical Muslim cleric Abu Omar off the streets of Milan in 2003, Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro asked an appeals court Wednesday to issue six more arrest warrants for purported CIA agents. [...]

Nine senior staff members of the Iraqi Special Tribunal , each former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party , were dismissed on Tuesday, apparently at the instance of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and former Iraqi exile leader and Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi , currently in charge of the Iraqi government's "de-Baathification" program. The dismissals are [...]

Former Philadelphia City Treasurer Corey Kemp was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for corruption. Kemp was convicted in May 2005 on 20 counts of accepting kickbacks during his time in office that included gifts, favors and cash after phone conversations recorded by the FBI showed that Kemp and Democratic fundraiser Ronald A. White [...]

Interest groups from across the political spectrum are weighing in with their reactions to the White House nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to the US Supreme Court . Conservative groups have largely welcomed the announcement. C. Boyden Gray, chairman of the Committee for Justice which promotes constitutionalist judicial nominees, said in a statement Tuesday [...]