California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a plan to release some prisoners convicted of nonviolent crime to alleviate the burden on California’s overcrowded prison system . The move comes in response to various federal actions, including one as recently as last week by US District Judge Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District of California [...]

A South African court Friday dismissed charges against eight South African mercenaries suspected of plotting a coup against the president of Equatorial Guinea . The Pretoria judge found that the state had not proven its case against the men. Lawyers for the defendants argued that South African officials were behind the failed plot, but the [...]

Members of Guinea's National Assembly voted unanimously Friday to reject the request of Guinean President Lansana Conte for an extension of martial law in the Republic of Guinea . Conte declared martial law in the country last week, and the measure is set to expire at midnight Friday. Conte said Thursday that he would seek [...]

Hilmi Aydogdu, leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party , was charged by Turkish authorities Friday with inciting hatred after stating that any Turkish attack on Kirkuk , a city in northern Iraq with a large Kurdish population, would be comparable to an attack on all Kurds. Aydogdu could face up to three years in [...]

State Farm Insurance filed papers on Thursday to have US District Court Judge L.T. Senter, Jr. recused from certifying a class action lawsuit against the company over Hurricane Katrina damages. The insurer questioned Senter's impartiality as fellow judge John Roper and Terri Brown, a federal court clerk, could be plaintiffs in the class action suit. [...]

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the Afghan capital of Kabul Friday to support an amnesty bill that would shield alleged war criminals who participated in the anti-Soviet resistance during the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war from prosecution. The lower house of the Afghan parliament approved the measure at the end of January [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Saudi government of violating international law when it beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and placed their bodies on public display in the country's capital, Riyadh, on Monday. According to HRW, the four migrants, who were badly beaten , had been imprisoned for years without access to legal representation. [...]

Forty-six of 49 countries participating in the the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions on Friday agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. Hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 46 nations vowed in the Oslo Declaration to conclude a [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that the government's use of security certificates to indefinitely detain and deport foreigners with suspected ties to terrorism violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . Three Arab Muslim men – Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei and Mohamed Harkat – argued before the high court last year that [...]

The UK High Court has rejected the legal bid of Algerian-born pilot Lotfi Raissi for compensation for his wrongful detention. Raissi was held under a US extradition warrant after being indicted by a federal grand jury in Arizona shortly following the September 11 attacks . US prosecutors alleged Raissi offered pilot training to the hijackers, [...]