In a letter released Wednesday, the Judicial Conference of the United States formally requested congressional and presidential assistance in providing additional security measures. As a result of violence toward federal judges and their families in recent months and the emotional Terri Schiavo case which bred threats against members of the bench, the letter stated that [...]

Stephen Johnson , President Bush's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency , faced some tough questioning Wednesday at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee . Johnson, a 24-year veteran of the EPA and currently its Acting Administrator, took criticism from several Democratic committee members of the committee over several [...]

A French appeals court Wednesday upheld a lower court decision absolving former Yahoo! CEO Tim Koogle of criminal responsibility for auctions of Nazi paraphernalia held through Yahoo's website. Yahoo was found liable in 2000 for allowing Nazi collectibles to be sold on its auction pages in violation of a French law barring the display or [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia agreed Wednesday to allow Serbian General Sreten Lukic 30 days to enter his plea on war crimes charges so that he can undergo a medical exam following heart surgery last week. Lukic arrived at ICTY Monday to face charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the [...]

Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC has approved the extenstion of the "trade-through" rule to electronic exchanges which will subject the vast majority of stock transactions to guidelines designed to give investors the best stock price. Chairman William Donaldson cast the deciding vote in a rule widely opposed by companies including Nasdaq [...]

US District Judge James Moody sentenced white supremacist Matthew Hale to 40 years in prison for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to murder US District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow . In an earlier, trademark infringement suit, Lefkow had ordered Hale's group to stop using the name World Church of the Creator, which was already taken [...]

Hong Kong's Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Wednesday that it is "accurate and necessary" to ask China's National People's Congress to interpret Hong Kong's Basic Law in order to settle a constitutional dispute over the term length of Hong Kong's next chief executive. After Tung Chee-hwa resigned as chief executive last month, Beijing decided [...]

A German court Wednesday found Tunisian national Ihsan Garnaoui not guilty of charges of founding a terrorist organization and planning bomb attacks against American and Jewish targets in Germany. Garnaoui went on trial last May on allegations that he trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and was returned to Germany with instructions to bomb [...]

The Vatican announced Wednesday that the College of Cardinals has set April 18 as the beginning of its secret conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II, who died Saturday . The conclave will begin that afternoon, and according to the governing apostolic constitution on papal succession , one ballot will be held [...]

The National Human Rights Commission of South Korea issued a non-binding recommendation Wednesday that the country's death penalty be abolished. Eight of the nine officials on the Commission approved the resolution, which will be forwarded to the National Assembly . The Legislation & Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly is currently considering an abolition bill [...]