Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has submitted a new draft anti-terrorism law that would limit Japan's naval support for US operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom to refueling and supplying water to coalition ships in the Indian Ocean. The latest proposed extension of the current Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law would bar [...]
The Washington State Supreme Court has struck down a state statute making it illegal to lie about political opponents. Justice James M. Johnson , writing the 5-4 majority opinion handed down Thursday, said: "There can be no doubt that false personal attacks are too common in political campaigns, with wide-ranging detrimental consequences. However, government censorship [...]
Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz announced Saturday that 55 Saudi prisoners recently transferred from Guantanamo Bay back to their home country will be given a temporary release and stipend of $2,600 to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr . The release will coincide with the start of the holiday around [...]
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has announced a plan to create a supreme court for the country, as well as new appeals and general courts. The new supreme court will replace the current Supreme Judicial Council, which will be relegated to handling issues involving judicial salaries and staffing under a new administrative supreme court. The [...]
Bulgaria will not legalize prostitution as previously planned, according to Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, speaking Friday at a Sofia conference on "Legal and Institutional Mechanisms for Combating Trafficking of Women." Bulgarian Prosecutor General Boris Belchev told attendees at the same gathering that although legalization might theoretically yield income for the state, the option was unacceptable. [...]
The head of a special three-judge panel of Peru's Supreme Court announced Friday that the court would consolidate six separate charges against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori into three "megatrials" and one other trial proceeding. The first trial, set to begin November 26, will look into the 1992 murder of 25 people, including nine students [...]
A second US Army officer who sat on Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) at Guantanamo Bay has made an affidavit criticizing the panels for being inconsistent and biased towards the government. Attorneys for Adel Hassan Hamad , a Sudanese detainee captured in Pakistan in 2002, filed the affidavit in Washington on Friday claiming that the [...]
Pakistan's current president and military leader General Pervez Musharraf won an overwhelming victory in presidential elections Saturday, according to unofficial results. Musharraf collected 252 out of 257 votes in the National Assembly of Pakistan and so far has won the support of a majority of lawmakers in three of Pakistan's four provinces. Many opposition politicians [...]
US President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone Friday about their concerns over potential damage to US-Turkey relations if the US House of Representatives passes HR 106 , a resolution labeling the World War I-era killings by Turkish soldiers of over one million Armenians as genocide. While the [...]
US District Judge Benjamin Settle Friday temporarily blocked a second court-martial for US Army Iraq war objector 1st Lt. Ehren Watada that had been scheduled to begin October 9. Settle ruled that a second proceeding would include the harm that the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment was intended to prevent, and the civilian [...]
