The UK government has informed at least two of the four British men recently released from Guantanamo Bay that they cannot obtain passports. An attorney for Martin Mubanga and Feroz Abbasi said that both had received a letter from the government informing them that they would not be issue passports due to evidence against them [...]

Iraqi political parties have filed at least six challenges to the results of the Jan. 30 elections, the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq reported Tuesday. The Commission has given parties until Wednesday to challenge the election results , which it announced on Sunday, before it will certify them. At least one complaint was lodged by [...]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has refused to respond to charges by a former intelligence officer that the Australian government knew of abuses by coalition troops in Iraq, despite claims to the contrary. Rod Barton, formerly an officer with the Defense Intelligence Organization , said he saw evidence of abuse during his tenure and he [...]

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that two British activists found guilty in the UK of libel against fast food chain McDonald's did not have a fair trial and were deprived of their freedom of expression. Helen Steel and David Morris were subject to the longest trial in English legal history for accusing [...]

International Committee of the Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger met with President Bush Monday to discuss ICRC concerns about detainees at Guantanamo Bay . The Red Cross regularly visits the detainees and, according to a leaked memo, has accused the US of using tactics "tantamount to torture" on terror suspects. The Pentagon has denied the [...]

The US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has said that former head of the UN Oil-for-Food program Benon Sevan made over $1 million from allocating oil from Saddam Hussein's regime. An independent UN inquiry into the Oil-for-Food program concluded that Sevan solicited oil deals in an improper manner , but stopped [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Feb. 15. The US Senate convenes at 9:45 AM ET today and is scheduled to consider the nomination of Judge Michael Chertoff for Secretary of Homeland Security. A vote on Chertoff's nomination is expected at 4 PM ET. Watch [...]

Baltimore Sun Co. v. Ehrlich et al., District Court for the Northern District of Maryland, Judge William D. Quarles Jr., February 14, 2005 . Excerpt: Because, as discussed above, the Sun seeks the declaration of a constitutional right that neither the Supreme Court nor the Fourth Circuit has recognized—and, in fact, seeks more access than [...]

As he promised in December , President Bush announced Monday that he has re-nominated for federal judgeships some 20 candidates whose initial nominations failed, and who generally were derided by Democrats as too right-wing on a wide range of issues. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded to the re-nominations [...]

In the first trip by a Serbian leader through the province since the end of civil war in 1999, President Boris Tadic has forcefully asserted his country's claim to Kosovo, which has been run by the UN for the past five years after being under Serb control during the rule of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan [...]