The US Department of Defense (DOD) said Friday that charges have been referred to a military commission trial against Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri . Al-Nashiri is accused of terrorism, attempted murder, and providing material support to terrorism for his alleged role in planning the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole [...]
California Attorney General Edmund Brown Jr. on Friday urged the Supreme Court of California to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional . In a brief submitted to the court, Brown argued that Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage , should be overturned for violating the article I, section 1 [...]
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said Friday it will discontinue its controversial policy of suing suspected file-sharers and will instead seek cooperation with major Internet service providers (ISPs) to cut access to repeat file-sharers of copyrighted songs. The RIAA said it has worked out preliminary agreements with ISPs where if the RIAA suspects [...]
A panel of the UK High Court of Justice ruled Friday that Iraqis Faisal Attiyah Nassar al-Saadoon and Khalaf Hussain Mufdhi, suspected in the 2003 deaths of two British soldiers , may be transferred to Iraqi custody to face trial. Lawyers for the men had contested their transfer, arguing that it would violate the European [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday urged Indian President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil to reject the recently passed Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment of 2008 (UAPA) , which would allow the government to hold terrorism suspects for up to 180 days. The bill, which comes in response to the recent Mumbai terror attacks , was approved by [...]
Ken Gude : "The news Thursday that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is preparing for the closure of Guantanamo early in the Obama administration is more confirmation that the notorious prison's days are numbered. Yet while it is vitally important that our military leaders plan for every contingency, it is more than a little concerning [...]
A Canadian Federal Court judge ruled Thursday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) must stop monitoring phone calls between terrorism suspects and their lawyers and must erase any such calls that it accidentally records. Judge Carolyn Layden-Stevenson on Thursday morning released a two-page summary of testimony given during a secret hearing Wednesday that revealed [...]
The UN General Assembly was divided Thursday over the the issue of decriminalizing homosexuality as 66 nations signed a statement calling for decriminalization, and nearly 60 nations signed an opposing statement. The representative from Argentina, speaking on behalf of primarily European and Latin American countries, including the UK, Germany, and Brazil, read a statement urging [...]
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a measure authorizing a national referendum on a constitutional amendment that would abolish presidential term limits . The amendment would allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to seek re-election in 2012. Also on Thursday, a petition signed by almost five million people endorsing the amendment was [...]
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for a possible order from President-elect Barack Obama , a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that Gates wants to have a plan in place in [...]
