China's State Council Thursday responded to US State Department human rights reports issued Monday that had blasted China for human rights abuses by issuing a report of its own on US human rights practices highlighting abuses committed by the US in Iraq. The document, China's sixth annual response to the US publication, cited atrocities committed [...]

One of France's biggest-ever criminal trials got under way Thursday as sixty-six people led by two former sex offenders stood accused of participating in a pedophilia ring in which children and babies were prostituted for food and small sums of money. All of the accused come from the poorest and least educated sections of society. [...]

Saddam Hussein chief lawyer Ziad al-Khasawneh said Thursday that the upcoming trial of his client should be delayed in the wake of the murder this week of a judge appointed to the Iraqi tribunal charged with hearing the case against the former dictator. Al-Khasawneh insisted that Iraq was still too dangerous for the trial and [...]

The GOP-dominated Senate Wednesday pushed ahead proposed bankruptcy overhaul legislation by defeating a series of Democratic amendments that would have sheltered seniors and sick people. Senators voted 59-40 to reject an amendment which would have given older Americans a special exemption which would have allowed them to keep their homes even if they file for [...]

Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund v. US Department of Agriculture, United States District Court for the District of Montana, Judge Richard Cebull, March 2, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion and order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US House of Representatives late Wednesday approved a job-training bill that would allow faith-based organizations which receive federal funds to consider the religious beliefs of prospective employees. The vote on HR 27, the Job Training Improvement Act of 2005 , was 224-200 , largely along party-lines. Under current law, faith-based organizations must obey the [...]

An Indonesian court Thursday found radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir guilty of conspiracy to commit the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. The five-judge panel found that although Ba'asyir was not directly involved in the bombings, he did give his approval for the attack. The panel sentenced Ba'asyir to two and a half [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, March 3. The US Senate will convene at 9:30 AM ET today, and it will consider S.J.Res. 4 , expressing disapproval over a Department of Agriculture rule, and S. 256 , the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act [...]

Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2004, International Narcotics Control Board , March 2, 2004 . Excerpt: Despite efforts made by the Government of Afghanistan, with the assistance of the international community, the drug control situation in Afghanistan continued to deteriorate in 2004. Widespread cultivation of opium poppy and the processing of and [...]

Queen v. Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School, Supreme Court of Judicature Court of Appeal , Lord Justice Brooke, March 2, 2005 . Excerpt: All this is for the future, and this case has achieved the result of ensuring that schools will set about deciding issues of this kind in the manner now required [...]