US v. Belfast, US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, December 6, 2006 . Read the full text of the indictment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US House of Representatives Wednesday rejected by a vote of 250-162 a controversial bill that would have mandated medical practitioners to inform women seeking an abortion after 20 weeks of the pain the procedure causes to an unborn fetus. The Unknown Child Awareness Act, HR 6099 , introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) , [...]

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa ordered the Zambian Police Service Wednesday to ban future rallies led by populist opposition politician Michael Sata , disregarding recommendations by national Solicitor-General Sunday Nkonde. Mwanawasa had ordered police to stop the rallies led by Sata's supporters, but Nkonde overruled the orders and allowed the meetings to occur. Mwanawasa said the [...]

The Sri Lanka cabinet enacted strict new anti-terror laws Wednesday that ban individuals from aiding anyone "engaged in terrorism" and prohibit the wearing of uniforms "relating to terrorism." The new laws also give police and security forces additional broad powers to arrest and interrogate terror suspects. The laws come as a response to the increasing [...]

Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Roy Belfast Jr. and Charles Taylor Jr., son of former Liberia president Charles Taylor, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on charges of committing torture in the first prosecution brought under a federal anti-torture statute passed [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday mandated that Dutch officials force-feed Serb nationalist and war crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj in the event that the hunger strike he has been engaged in since November 11 threatens his life. The panel nonetheless advised authorities to proceed with caution, and to use force-feeding [...]

Rwandan President Paul Kagame publicly alleged Wednesday that France supported the 1994 genocide that wracked the African nation. Kagame previously accused the French government of providing training and weapons to Hutu militias who perpetrated the 100-day massacre that left over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus dead. This is nonetheless the first time the Rwandan president has [...]

FBI Director Robert Mueller refused to answer questions Wednesday during an FBI oversight hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee about the administration's domestic spying program , saying the information is classified. Mueller, who acknowledged that information about the program had been divulged to congressional intelligence committees, claimed that the classified status of the materials [...]

The Australian Parliament Wednesday voted to lift restrictions on stem cell research and permit the therapeutic cloning of human embryos. Members of the House of Representatives voted 82-62 in favor of lifting the previous therapeutic cloning ban; the Senate approved the measure last month. The House vote followed a contentious debate, with Australian Prime Minister [...]

A court in Yemen on Wednesday found Mohammad al-Assadi guilty of denigrating Islam and fined him 500,000 rials ($2,541) for republishing offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad earlier this year. Al-Assadi, editor of the Yemen Observer , said the guilty verdict was "baseless" and that he would appeal the decision. The newspaper temporarily had its [...]