US Senate Judiciary Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Wednesday took the unusual step of sending Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a letter listing 12 written questions that Leahy hopes Gonzales will be prepared to address when he appears before the Judiciary Committee on July 24. Leahy said he provided the questions in advance so that [...]
A warrant signed Wednesday by Florida Governor Charlie Crist ended the state's temporary suspension on executions. The ban was instituted last December by then-Governor Jeb Bush after the botched execution of Angel Diaz , who endured a 34-minute-long lethal injection that required a second injection after needles were improperly inserted into his arm. Mark Dean [...]
A military jury sitting at Camp Pendleton, California, Wednesday convicted US Marine Cpl. Trent Thomas for his role in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania . Thomas was acquitted at court-martial of premeditated murder, making a false official statement and housebreaking. Defense lawyers, who asserted that "Marines in combat don't [...]
Thailand's 2007 Crimes Act became effective Wednesday, granting authority to Thai police to confiscate and search private computers. The law is reportedly aimed at reining in Internet pornography and libel, with some violations that threaten national security carrying prison sentences of up to 20 years. Internet service providers will be required to keep individual user [...]
The Spanish Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that former Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo can properly be tried in Spain for crimes against humanity. The decision comes after months of jurisdictional disputes. Last December, the Spanish High Court ruled that the country did not have jurisdiction to try Cavallo and offered to send him back [...]
The office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday denied UN immunity from prosecution to a UN human rights investigator in Bangladesh who is charged with corruption. UN Special Rapporteur Sigma Huda was jailed earlier this month after being charged as part of a government crackdown on corruption . Prosecutors allege Huda assisted her husband, former [...]
Western nations said Wednesday they would continue working to free five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were sentenced to life in prison in Libya after being accused of infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus. The medics were originally sentenced to death , but the Libyan Supreme Judiciary Council commuted their sentences [...]
Thailand's interim-government lifted a ban on the registration of new political parties Wednesday, after the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) approved legislation formally ending the ban instituted by the military after its September 2006 coup . The move will allow members of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai (TRT) , in power before the coup, to [...]
The UK Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday formally rejected any possible proposal to try Andrei Lugovoy for the poisoning-murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in a foreign court or on foreign soil. Spokesperson for the prime minister, Michael Ellam, clarified his earlier statement that "we want the trial to be in a British Court," [...]
The Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a voter ID law in that state, ruling against critics who argued that the ID requirement is essentially a poll tax. The 5-2 decision was split down party lines, with the Republican majority deciding that since voters who don't have a photo ID can vote after signing a sworn [...]
