The Washington DC City Council on Tuesday passed emergency temporary legislation to amend the city's long-standing ban on handguns. The amendment is intended to bring the city ordinance more in line with the recent US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller , which found that the ban violated the Second Amendment to [...]
The Spanish Justice Ministry Tuesday filed a challenge in Spain's Constitutional Court to block a planned Basque region referendum on increased autonomy. The referendum, approved by the Basque Parliament last month, will ask citizens whether the Basque government should begin negotiations for increased regional self-determination and whether it should initiate peace talks with Basque separatist [...]
Charles Stimson : "One thing you don't hear a lot about is the practical side of telecom immunity. Think about all the government contractors contributing to our national security who are fearful that doing their duties could lead to massive civil liabilities. The point was driven home to me earlier this summer, when I sat [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Monday that the US terrorist watchlist is too large, contains inaccuracies, and should include more safeguards to prevent the unnecessary targeting of passengers for additional security screenings. The group estimated that the register now includes more than one million names , which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [...]
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme submitted his resignation Monday night because of his coalition government's inability to successfully divide federal powers between the Flemish- and French-speaking communities. Leterme had set a deadline of July 15 for the four-month-old coalition to agree on constitutional reforms to grant increased autonomy to the two regions. Leterme said that [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a libel case brought against the New York Times by former US Army biodefense research scientist Dr. Stephen Hatfill . In its ruling, the court agreed with the decision of the US District Court for the [...]
An Italian court Monday found 15 police officers and medical staff members guilty of abusing anti-globalization protesters who were taken into custody during the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa . The protesters said they were subjected to threats and physical abuse, and were denied food and access to their consulates while being held in a [...]
The Australian Federal Court ruled Tuesday that a law giving police regulatory powers over potentially "annoying" behavior during World Youth Day (WYD) was unconstitutional and possibly exceeded legislative intent. Section 7(1)(b) of the World Youth Day Amendment Regulation 2008 , designed to amend and supplement Section 58 of the original World Youth Day Act 2006 [...]
Indonesia on Tuesday formally accepted a joint Indonesian-East-Timorese Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) finding that Indonesia was responsible for human rights violations following a 1999 referendum in which East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia . This is the first time that Indonesia has accepted any responsibility for the attacks in East Timor, which [...]
Malaysian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim following his failure to appear at a Malaysian police station to give a statement regarding sodomy allegations made against him by a former aide. According to police, Ibrahim had been scheduled to appear at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters Monday at 2:00 PM [...]
