The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a Virginia federal court judge lacked the necessary power to order the federal government to turn over grand jury transcripts of the Zacarias Moussaoui criminal trial for use in a civil suit brought by families of 9/11 victims against the airline industry. The [...]
Google Inc. announced a new user privacy policy on Wednesday where, "unless is legally required to retain log data for longer," Google will anonymize search information, such as the query entered, IP addresses, and cookie details, after 18 to 24 months. Google further said: By anonymizing our server logs after 18-24 months, we think we're [...]
Chiquita Brands International, Inc. has reached a plea agreement with the US Justice Department to settle claims that Chiquita paid approximately $1.7 million to a Colombian terrorist group between 1997 and 2004 to protect banana harvesting operations in Colombia, according to a criminal information filed by the DOJ in federal court Wednesday. Chiquita itself released [...]
Raich v. Gonzales, US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, March 14, 2007 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Hong Kong investigators on Wednesday dropped a case that alleged Yahoo!'s Hong Kong branch aided China in the prosecution and ten-year imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao for divulging state secrets abroad. The Hong Kong Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data found insufficient evidence to prove that Yahoo! actually gave personal information to China in [...]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , long thought to be the strategist behind the Sept.11, 2001 attacks, confessed to masterminding the 9/11 attacks during a hearing Saturday at Guantanamo Bay , according to a transcript released by the US Defense Department Wednesday. Mohammed also claimed responsibility for 29 other planned terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade [...]
Hazleton, Pennsylvania mayor Lou Barletta testified Wednesday in a Pennsylvania federal court on the constitutionality of two city laws that make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to live or work in the city. Testifying in Lozano v. City of Hazleton , Barletta said the local ordinances in question were designed to lower the town's [...]
President Bush on Wednesday said he was "troubled" by what he called a lack of straightforward communication between the US Justice Department and Congress regarding the firings last year of eight US Attorneys that may have been politically motivated . Speaking at a news conference in Mexico, Bush nonetheless said he continued to have confidence [...]
Thirty-one Egyptian women have been appointed as judges despite ongoing resistance from the nation's conservative Muslims, according to a decree published Wednesday by the head of Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council . Council chief Mukbil Shakir selected the judges from a pool of state prosecutors who had passed a test for the positions, though it is [...]
Texas lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill to rescind a landmark executive order by Governor Rick Perry (R) requiring that school-age girls receive a vaccine against cervical cancer. The Texas House of Representatives approved the bill by a margin of 118-23, garnering enough votes to override a potential veto. The Public Health Committee of the [...]
