Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Friday signed into law a bill that would require voters to show photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots. Supporters of the measure say that it will crack down on voter fraud, but opponents say that the law unfairly targets the elderly, the poor and minorities, groups most likely not [...]

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has revived part of a 2000 lawsuit against gun manufacturers seeking to hold the companies liable for shootings carried out with automatic weapons. The entire lawsuit was dismissed in a 2002 DC Superior Court ruling, but on Thursday the full Court of Appeals ruled that DC's Assault Weapon [...]

The UN's independent expert on human rights in Afghanistan, Cherif Bassiouni says he has received reports of torture and other abuses by US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. In a report of his own released Thursday Bassiouni said he has been told that security agencies in the nation engage in arbitrary arrests and detentions, and [...]

AP is reporting that lawyers for September 11 terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui have asked the judge in his case to reject his attempt to plead guilty. 1:02 PM ET – Moussaoui's lawyers argued in a late filing made just hours before a public hearing scheduled for Friday at 3:30 PM ET that he is unfit [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman said a federal grand jury is reviewing allegations of misspending within company. The investigation into Wal-Mart began after it handed over internal documents to the Justice Department related to allegations that former vice chairman Tom Coughlin misspent up to $500,000, some of it [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, today is the 35th celebration of "Earth Day", a day first started by US Senator Gaylord Nelson as a time to reflect on the environment and mankind's relationship to it. The first Earth Day in 1970 was marked with seminars held around the country on air and water pollution, wilderness, [...]

In a rare televised address to the nation , Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apologized Thursday night for a sponsorship scandal that has shaken his Liberal Party . During his address, Martin acknowledged allegations of money laundering and kickbacks and took full responsiblility for the misuse of public funds. Martin’s comments come one week after [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, Togolese Interior Minister Francois Esso Boko told reporters late Thursday night that he was recommending that what he called the "suicidal electoral process" – the presidential election scheduled for Sunday – be postponed, warning that all signs pointed to it being extremely violent. Esso Boko said he would recommend to the [...]

The BBC is reporting that a London court has sentenced Saajid Badat to 13 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in February to conspiring with "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid to blow up an American Airlines flight.

The UN Commission on Human Rights ended its 61st and possibly last session Friday in the wake of UN Secretary Kofi Annan's announced plans to radically overhaul the 53-member body. Annan and others in the international community have criticized the commission's failure to take definite action on human rights violations throughout the world. Most recently, [...]