The US has indicated in a Supreme Court filing that it has asked the state of Texas to rehear the cases of 51 Mexicans whose death sentences were recently deemed improper by the International Court of Justice as the accused had been denied access to help from their consulates as guaranteed by the 1963 Vienna [...]

Senior Shiite political leaders said Tuesday that the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity should get under way before any vote is taken on a new permanent constitution for Iraq. Muwafaq al-Rubaie, a national security advisor to the outgoing government of Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and a member of [...]

New York Deputy Attorney General Dietrich Snell, former senior counsel to the now-defunct 9/11 Commission, testified as anticipated Tuesday before a German court retrying the case of Mounir el Motassadeq , a Moroccan accused of being an accomplice in the 9/11 attacks. Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 of being an accessory to more than 3000 [...]

In a split 84-34 vote that is being claimed as a symbolic victory for the Bush administration, the UN General Assembly Tuesday urged governments to enact a total ban on human cloning , including the cloning of embryos for stem cell research. The US had worked with anti-abortion groups to support the proposal, which also [...]

While acknowledging that the March 4 incident was "accidental", Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini Tuesday disputed Washington's version of the events that led to the shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer and the wounding of a freed Iralian journalist by US soldiers at a coalition checkpoint. Fini demanded a full US investigation into the [...]

Explanation of the draft Anti-Secession Law, Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), Tuesday, March 8, 2005. Excerpt: Using non-peaceful means to stop secession in defense of our sovereignty and territorial integrity would be our last resort when all our efforts for a peaceful reunification should prove futile. [...]

UK Registrar-General Len Cook Tuesday dismissed 11 legal objections to the proposed civil marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles that had been filed in their home towns of Chippenham and Cirencester. The Registrar-General is responsible for the application of the Marriage Act 1949 and hears all objections to marriage ceremonies proposed under the [...]

Radical Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir appealed the sentence of the South Jakarta Court Tuesday, following his conviction on conspiracy charges last Thursday in connection with the 2002 Bali bombings. Wirawan Adnan, a member of Ba'asyir's defense team, filed the appeal and told reporters that it was mainly based on the unreliability of the [...]

Vice Chairman Wang Zhaoguo of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress formally presented the draft version of China's controversial anti-secession law to China's National People's Congress on Tuesday. The NPC, China's parliament, will consider the legislation this week, and is expected to approve the draft code next Monday. The legislation has become a [...]

A major international anti-terrorism summit opened Tuesday in Madrid as Spain prepared to mark the one-year anniversary on March 11 of the Madrid train bombings {JURIST report], which killed 200 people and injured some 2000 more. Leaders in attendance at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security include US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and [...]