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 [...]

Incoming US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has added to his DOJ staff three of his former aides from the White House Counsel's office. When he took over earlier this month as Attorney General, Gonzales brought with him Theodore Ullyot, Raul Yanes, and Kyle Sampson, all of whom worked under him for the past four years, [...]

In Monday's environmental law news, a US citizen has settled a claim against Australian home products manufacturer James Hardie Industries for asbestos-related injuries. The confidential settlement is believed to be the first payout from the Australia-founded company (now incorporated in the Netherlands) outside of Australia and New Zealand. The company has an established settlement fund [...]

UK High Court Justice Ronnie Weatherup has dismissed an application by Irish republican party Sinn Fein for a judicial review of the British government's decision to withdraw taxpayer funding of a development grant worth about £100,000 annually after a report released by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) found that the IRA command, which includes Sinn [...]

Spanish prosecutors are seeking 74,000-year prison terms for each of the three suspects accused of using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The prison terms correspond to all the charges, including 2,973 murders for those who died in the September 11 attacks. However, Spanish law limits [...]

US District Court Judge William D. Quarles Jr. has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Baltimore Sun challenging on First Amendment grounds an order from Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. which barred thousands of state employees from contact with two Sun journalists. Judge Quarles dismissed the case because the newspaper was seeking more access [...]

The California Republican Party has changed a party rule which allows the party to endorse Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger 16 months before the 2006 gubernatorial primary. Schwarzenegger, who still has not decided whether he will seek re-election, can now have the party pay for early expenses such as bulk mailing and voter registration drives. The change [...]

US District Judge Barbara Jones Monday suspended the fraud trial of former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers until Wednesday without explanation. The postponement comes just before the defense's cross-examination of the government's star witness, Scott Sullivan, the former finance chief at WorldCom. Sullivan implicated Ebbers in the company's $11 billion accounting fraud during his testimony. Specifically, [...]

DNA tests announced in a Sri Lanka court Monday confirmed that "Baby 81," a baby boy rescued from debris in the wake of the tsunami, does in fact belong to the couple who had launched a legal battle for his custody. The finding ended weeks of drama concerning the fate of the baby, who became [...]